#episode 1x03 discussion thread | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

zalrb · 5 years ago

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Elena stans always bring up how Elena has lot a lot of people in her life (her parents, Jenna, Jeremy at one point). They’re right Elena has been through a lot of tragedy at such an early age... and yet I still don’t find Elena to be a completely sympathetic character. Despite all this tragedy, something doesn’t click. Maybe it’s cause the show doesn’t really explore what all these deaths means to Elena i guess idk it’s hard to explain.

I think for me, I just never really felt that the deaths shaped Elena in any real way for them to matter as much as they should.

Like when we’re introduced to her in the pilot, she’s subdued.

and in 1x03 she doesn’t want to do cheer anymore

but that is essentially the extent to her sadness, like she says this

and Stefan says this

and I can believe that Elena’s life was in neutral but because we don’t see what she was like before her parents died and because we don’t see what she was like after her parents died and before she meets Stefan, and because she meets Stefan in the pilot and therefore starts to heal and feel better essentially from the moment we meet her

it’s more like I objectively know she’s sad because parents dying is sad. Whenever her parents’ deaths are brought up it doesn’t feel like it’s something that’s with her, it feels like it’s brought up for the purpose of plot.

Then Isobel dies, she’s compelled to let herself combust in front of Elena

Then Jenna dies

and Elena ALSO watches her get murdered

then she almost dies

and then John essentially dies at the same time

annnnnnnnnnnnd we don’t talk about it. Like it basically, immediately becomes about Damon

and in season 3, from what I can remember, the only sort of thread concerning Jenna and her being gone is the fact that Alaric is a mess and so his brilliant plan in 3x01 is to leave the two kids who lost their family members alone

And none of these experiences seem to shape Elena in any profound way, she just carries on. Like even when Jeremy dies, Elena doesn’t actually deal with that in any respect because it’s not even like she chooses to turn off her humanity as her way of dealing with the loss, Damon forces her to

so her having her humanity off isn’t actually her way of coping with the loss, it’s Damon’s way thrust upon her and when she gets her humanity back, Jeremy is alive two episodes later. And then nothing about her having her humanity off or burning down her house makes her a different person than she was.

And I believe that the show thought that they gave Elena a martyr complex because she’s so scared about losing anyone else that she would rather die instead but because the narrative protects Elena so much from her own martyrdom that doesn’t actually come across — she’s not the martyr of the show, Bonnie is and Stefan is, so that doesn’t work.

They hint at the fact that she’s drawn to vampires because they can live forever and therefore can potentially love her forever

but they don’t lean into it or commit to it so it ultimately doesn’t matter.

Like who is this Before Girl? I’ve never met her! If I don’t know who she is, I don’t know that you’ve actually changed and that these deaths have actually affected you. Not about death but in Gossip Girl, the show gives us flashbacks so we know exactly what Serena was like before she left for boarding school

and we see her go back to that Serena sometimes in real time

we ,don’t get this with Elena

And going back to death, in this movie Now and Then, one of the girls, her mother died when she was a kid (and part of her arc is figuring out that the way her mother died isn’t as beautiful and painless as her dad told her )

and so she’s obsessed with death and does things to try and make it seem less scary or less mysterious, like she pretends to drown to see which one of her friends will save her

and I’m not saying Elena had to do that but I never got the impression that she was shaped, she didn’t become colder or harder, she didn’t become more emotional or more sensitive, she didn’t repress, she didn’t disassociate, she didn’t do anything, it was essentially life is going on as normal until she had to sympathize with an antagonist/villain who basically had same story she did.

Even in Supernatural, there are discussions, there are [unhealthy] coping mechanisms that they do to deal with all the shit they go through and all the people they know that die and you just never really got that with Elena.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, we don’t get many flashbacks of Iroh before we meet him in the show but we hear about him, we hear about him being the Dragon of the West, we hear about his military accomplishments (mostly his defeat because his life was shattered when his son died)

and see how powerful he actually is

but then his son died

and he regrets not being able to help him so his worldview changes and he does his best to help others

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phrynefishersfrocks · 5 years ago

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The second outfit Phryne dons in “Queen of the Flowers” (Season 1, Episode 9) is her trusty white linen coat, on top of her cowl-necked shirt and white skirt, and paired with one of her many fabulous white cloches.

As Miss Fisher cancels the young Flower Maidens’ dance lessons in favor of teaching them how to defend themselves, she is dressed for traveling in her wonderfully rich honeycomb textured linen coat. The coat falls to calf-length, and features three large mother-of-pearl buttons underneath a fabulous white and gray faux fur lining the collar.

A great example of repeating wardrobe pieces, as would be used in a 1920′s fashionable ladies’ closet, this coat appears at least seven times throughout the series. It can be seen over a variety of outfits in 1x01, 1x03, 1x04, 1x05, 1x07, this outfit, and 2x08.

Her cowl-necked shirt and raw silk skirt will be discussed more in the next post, but her white felt cloche brings together the whole outfit. Marion Boyce, the costume designer, decorated Phryne’s day hat with threaded flowers sourced from a flea market in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then added gold and green beads to the spine of the flowers to add depth and detail. Visible most clearly in a scene from “The Green Mill Murder” (1x03), the flowers also extend around to the left side of the cloche as well.

Season 1, Episode 9 - “Queen of the Flowers”

Screencaps from here, promotional photos from the official Facebook (x, x), compilation photo by me, hat photo from the official Pinterest.

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spaceorphan18 · 5 years ago

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SO Watches Friends 1x01-1x03

Apparently, it’s been 25 years since Friends aired - and I’m seeing all these articles on it, how it was the greatest ever, how it sucked, how apparently the youngins are discovering it on Netflix.

So - I felt like, what they hey, I haven’t seen it in years, and I need to watch something while I have meals, so let’s see how well this show holds up.

Pilot - The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate (because how else is she going to pay for that apartment.)

It’s funny to me that this was the hot new show of the time. Because these people are... incredibly boring. The beginning montage is them sitting in a cafe talking about random boring things for what appears to be hours, then they go home and watch TV. This seems to be what they do on the weekend. I mean, I realize in the early 90s there wasn’t /that/ much to do - but still, they live in NYC, and most of the stuff they do on this show will be sitting around doing nothing.

So, let’s break down these characters, shall we?

Rachel - It’s her wedding day, but she skips out on her wedding because she didn’t love her fiance. I think this is supposed to be funny? While I do think, in general, all of the characters are more relatable (and nicer) than in later in the series, she’s such a weird amalgamation of what the writers (or network?) thought would be relatable? I mean - she’s kind of dumb, and rich enough that money isn’t a problem, and her family values are set back in the 50s - hence her getting married so her husband can support her instead of her father.

I get where the character is coming from - but while it might have been more of a progressive stance at the time -- it seems like a relic now.

Monica - Who is the most together one of them at the moment. I like early Monica, tbh, who appears intelligent (for the most part). They’ll later take her quirks and make her a neurotic nutjob - but I can appreciate her mature nature right now.

She goes on a date with Paul the Wine Guy - and again, it shows just how boring these guys’ lives are that they’re standing around her apartment with nothing better to do than to cheer her on about her date. Is this what people in ther 20s did in the early 90s? I was much too young to know. Anyway - Paul the Wine Guy is an asshate who uses lines to get Monica into bed. The network thought this would make Monica sleezy. I’m so glad times have changed enough that we can look back and be glad we can see that it’s really Paul the Wine Guy who’s sleezy, and that there are faster ways to figure out if a guy is a creep or not.

Phoebe - Phoebe has absolutely nothing to do in the pilot other than be there and be weird. I much appreciate it - because this show would be utterly boring and devoid of any quirky elements if she wasn’t there. Also - Lisa Kudrow sells the comedy while most of the rest of them (minus Matthew Perry) seem to be just reading the script.

Joey - I have no idea what Matt LeBlanc is trying to do here. Is he doing a NYC Italian accent? Is he trying out for a part? He’s kind of the most cringy during the Pilot but at least that’ll go away quickly.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about Joey, he and Chandler are like two halves of the same character at the beginning, both with little development. But - funny enough, maybe it’s age, I found myself agreeing with Joey during the whole dishing out life advice thing to Ross -- there’s no such thing as soul mates or destiny, get out there and live life :P

Chandler - Like Phoebe he doesn’t have much to do other than make quips. Granted - he did have some of the best, genuinely funny lines of the episode. Matthew Perry’s comedic chops as well - and it’s a shame there is much Phoebe and Chandler stuff on the show.

Anyway, the writers originally toyed with making Chandler gay, which I find a shame, I think that would have worked so well. And added some diversity to this really, really non-diverse cast. I completely understand why this makes lists of ‘Things Straight, White, and Loosely Christian People Like’. 25 years later, it’s incredibly glaring. Even Saved by the Bell, which was ending its run at the time, managed to be more diverse.

Ross - I’m curious as to when Ross becomes that one Friend whom everyone hates. He’s recently divorced (from a woman who figured out she was a lesbian) and being really mopey about it (which, you know, is understandable). I don’t particularly like or dislike Ross at the moment.

I will say the whole Ross and Rachel thing is telegraphed from a mile here, and it’s weird that they’re going to drag this romance out for an entire season and a half when he literally asks her out at the end of the episode, and she says yes. Why, why, why is this going to be dragged out so much. (I know the reason - sweeps week - but still.)

Is the episode entertaining? Eh. It still has a lot of the trappings of an 80s sitcom - the annoying laugh track, the forced jokes, the surface level stories - only it’s new and hip because 20-somethings had never had a show to themselves without an older mentor around. At the same time, there isn’t anything that remarkable about any of these 20-somethings, which may or may not have been the point. I suppose we’ll see.

The One With the Sonogram (of Ross’s baby that he’s having with this lesbian ex-wife) at the End

This episode is merely a continuation of all the threads set up in the pilot. You can tell Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe aren’t developed yet, as they really don’t do anything other than crack one-liners at opportune times. I shouldn’t complain that these characters just don’t feel like they’re getting enough time together as a group (because obviously, there are a ton more episodes to go where they are) but I feel like they’re spending too much time in individual plot lines that aren’t that interesting.

Plot A) Ross finds out that his ex-wife (who’s a lesbian) is having his baby (because apparently they did it one more time after she left him? Idk), and he’s not doing so well with that. Idk - I don’t hate this plot line. For being the early 90s, the show is treating being gay with much more respect than pretty much everything before that (even if the idea of lesbians is treated as a joke rather than a serious thing people are). At least the gay stuff isn’t villainized.

Plot B) Rachel gives back the ring to her ex-fiance, whom she finds out was fooling around with her maid of honor. This is the first time we meet Barry, and everything about him screams douchebag. There’s nothing remotely interesting here, and it almost feels obligatory for Rachel’s story. Also - I find it ridiculous that he and Rachel would be having private conversations with a (child) patient there.

Plot C) We meet Monica and Ross’s controlling and judgmental parents who prefer Ross to Monica. While Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles are both fantastic actors - I cannot with the amount of judgy-ness that spews forth, and really can’t wait for them to be the quirkier people they eventually become.

Oh- and I forgot, this show decided for the beginning of season 1 to have these philosophical discussions about the differences between men and women, and I feel like this episode is supposed to loosely tie into that and I kind of roll my eyes and am like -- just be the situational comedy that you’re meant to be.

Is this episode any good? Eh, not really. There are some funnier moments in an otherwise bland and obligatory story.

The One With the Thumb (in a can that Phoebe almost drinks)

This episode is so boring that it’s almost tedious to get through all 22 minutes of it. Here we go!

Plot A) Monica dates a guy named Alan that everyone likes but she doesn’t and she finds it hard to break up with him.

I get what the writers were going with here - that she’d have to tell her friends that they need to ‘break up’ with Alan, despite them all really liking him. Idk - I don’t think the whole schtick is that funny, and feels pointless when we barely get to meet Alan himself.

I do have to note that Monica talks with one of her coworkers - who is the first PoC on the show, a black woman. But we’re never going to see her again, so...?

Plot B) Chandler starts smoking again - and we get a PSA plot line about the dangers of smoking. Friends is rarely going to be a preachy show, and it’s super weird when it is. It’s especially weird that it’s centered around smoking because -- who cares?

Plot C) Phoebe accidentally has good things happen to her. It’s almost like a running joke more than a plot line that ends with her ending up with a thumb in a can that nets her $7000. It’s... just a really dumb sitcom plot line. But, hey, we learn that Phoebe hangs out with homeless people. And, the episode gets a point for tying all three plot lines together at the end.

So... I’ll probably do these three or four at a time. And the first three? Eh, not great. It’s fascinating that this show became such a hit right off the bat - because there’s not anything uniquely interesting about any of these characters yet. And the plot lines are all so generic and/or dumb that there’s little to latch on to.

We’ll see how this goes.

#friends #so watches friends

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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

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The 100 rewatch: 1x12/1x13 We Are Grounders (Part 1&Part 2)

So I’ve come to the end of my rewatch of season 1. (The season 2 opener post will come soon. I’ve already rewatched it.) Overall my opinions on the quality of the season haven’t changed much, though I did like some episodes more and some episodes less this time. It was, however, interesting to see how much foreshadowing there was of later events and how many moments later got callbacks and parallels in later seasons.

I’ve also tried to now keep track of the timeline and body count in every episode...but I’m now starting to realize, after how confusing the numbers got in 1x11 and in these two episodes, that I’ve probably given it much more thought than the writers ever did. In the end, I had to look up The 100 wiki – but it seems just as confused as I am.

Back when I first binged the show, some 7 months ago, I was posting about it on SpoilerTV in the daily discussion threads. Sometimes I wrote just a few lines, but about this two-parter, I wrote a very detailed post - and I wish I had posted it on Tumblr, too. Maybe I’ll dig it up and post it as an annex or something. Funny thing, before that, after 1x11, I made my list of predictions for the two-part finale, and all of them turned out to be true. I liked it anyway - predicting things isn’t always bad, it may mean that the storytelling is logical and that plot points were well foreshadowed. But it’s also one of the reasons why I didn’t find it as mind-blowing as the S2 one or S4 , or even S5 one. (But it’s certainly miles better than the S3 finale. Although that’s not saying much, since the latter was pretty anticlimactic and is one of my least favorite episodes.)

I’ve always felt that Part 1 was the stronger episode, and that hasn’t changed.

Ranking and ratings of season 1 episodes:

1x12 We Are Grounders part 1 - 10/10

1x13 We Are Grounders part 2 - 9/10

1x08 Day Trip - 9/10

1x10 I Am Become Death - 9/10

1x05 Twilight's Last Gleaming - 8.5/10

1x06 His Sister's Keeper - 8/10

1x03 Earth Kills - 8/10

1x11 The Calm - 8/10

1x04 Murphy's Law - 7/10

1x07 Contents Under Pressure - 6.5/10

1x09 Unity Day - 6/10

1x02 Earth Skills - 4.5/10

1x01 The Pilot - 4.5/10

Season 1 overall - 7.54/10

Part 1

One of the few things I didn’t guess about this finale in advance was Ark coming down the way it did. It’s kind of funny that Kane tried to have a sacrificial redemptive death, but Jaha got there first, and had his best and most useful and most heroic moment ever… but then the show didn’t let Jaha have a redemptive death but let him live. And then he went on to make terrible mistakes and be an antagonist for at least 2 seasons, before having a morally grey (and most suited to his character) role in S4.

Every time someone tries to sacrifice themselves on The 100, they live on, and almost every time a major character has a big heroic moment, they are brought low the next season and make terrible mistakes and/or do antiheroic things.

I like it whenever the show has a flashback of the life on the Ark or goes into the past in some other way. And it’s always nice to have another little reminder of the time when Wells used to exist for 3 episodes, which usually happens through his father’s memories or hallucinations. Here it’s Jaha watching an old video of Wells and Clarke, which helps him figure out the solution to how to bring the Ark to the ground.

And look at Jaha opening a 97 year old bottle of scotch, “The Baton” This bottle is almost a recurring character - doesn’t it also appear in the season 4 finale?

I remember that I Kane and Abby’s chemistry was so obvious in this episode, and their scenes so close and extremely friendly (what a contrast to where they started... like mother, like daughter?) that I made a comment that they seemed like they were going to start making out any moment, LOL. And I wasn’t even shipping them then, it was more like “Wait, is this going to be a thing now?” Well, I wasn’t wrong, it just took them 2 more seasons.

A few bullet points about things first mentioned in this episode:

First appearance of Tristan, sent by Lexa, who tells Clarke “I’m the man sent to slaughter your people”. Well, at least no one can say the guy is not honest and straightforward. Also the first time we hear about the existence of “the Commander” and learn that Anya isn’t actually the leader of the Grounders. An interesting bit of trivia I’ve learned since is that the Commander was originally supposed to be a child. JRoth must be really In love with this idea, since he went back to it eventually with Madi.

First time we hear about and see the Reapers, and the scenes with them looked like something right out of a horror movie and was genuinely horrifying. Lincoln not answering Finn’s question what they are but simply saying “Pray you never find out” was, of course, a way to keep it a mystery for us a bit longer, but now we know it was really more about, pray you never get to become one, which happens with Lincoln in season 2, while Finn will unleash his inner monster in another way.

First mention of Luna by name, though Lincoln had already talked about her people to Octavia earlier in the season. I wonder how much of her role was already planned in season 1. With all the Mount Weather mentions and other things like the acid fog, Lincoln’s drawings etc., it’s clear that the main arc of the first 2 seasons was planned since the beginning, with Grounders as secondary antagonists that the 100 mostly deal with in season 1, and the Mountain Men as the main villains, who will get focused on in season 2. But I’m not sure that this was the case with any of the season 3 arcs.

Lincoln finally explains why he is helping the 100 and that it’s not just about Octavia: “What my people are doing to your people isn’t right”. The same reason why Maya and the other rebels in MW will be helping the Delinquents in season 2. In the show where people too often justify their actions by “it was for my people”, it is great to have characters who prioritize what is right.

And god, how good it feels to hear lines like that again. Maybe JRoth and the rest of the writers should have rewatched season 1 and remember the things that actually happened in their own show? Back when they still hadn’t gotten it into their heads that the 100 were somehow the bad guys in that scenario because they were desperately trying to survive after being forced to go to the ground (sent by the Arker leadership because the Arkers were going to die in space), and that Grounders were somehow the good guys for attacking and trying to kill them all for no reason but paranoia and prejudice?

Two big things that happen to Finn: he has a reaction to having directly killed someone for the first time (even though it was a Reaper) and then made his big love declaration to Clarke- only to be rejected, in one of my favorite moments of season 1. I’ve always found Clarke’s reactions throughout that storyline and particularly in this scene really relatable - her feelings for him haven’t gone, but she was hurt and couldn’t trust him or go there again. “You broke my heart... I’m sorry. I can’t.” I always thought that she would never give him a chance again, and that, while the feelings were still there, she was slowly starting to move on and that, in any case, he was her past rather than her future, long before he killed a bunch of people and she had to mercy kill him. Overall, while I really didn’t like Finn/Clarke or Finn/Raven as relationships, the atypical way the C/F/R love triangle was resolved (both girls reject Finn, and become friends) was one of my favorite things about S1.

Finn’s line “I should have fought for you” always struck me as odd (that’s not exactly what I’d say was the problem: he should have been honest with her and told her he had a girlfriend, or then he should have been honest with Raven and told her the truth, he shouldn’t have been playing both of them, he should have made up his mind and been honest about it rather than waiting for Raven to dump him…), and I’m not sure what exactly he meant (fought against whom? Or did he just mean, been more decisive and not let passively wait for things to happen?) but I guess it reflects Finn’s state of mind? He was always trying to play a white knight, first to Raven on the Ark, then to Clarke. And in retrospect, this may be one of the first signs that of where he ends up in S2, when he becomes violent and obsessed with the idea that he’s going to find and save Clarke. But the show has never been fully clear on how much his mental state was PTSD due to war and fighting, and how much his increasingly unhealthy obsession with Clarke.

Speaking of saving Clarke, the fact that Bellamy was able to be very rational about the fact Clarke, Finn and Monty were missing and focus on protecting the camp rather than going on a rescue mission, as opposed to the way he acted in 3x02 when he learned Clarke was in danger and immediately got dressed as an Ice Nation warrior and went on his own behind enemy lines to rescue her, says a lot about how much Bellamy’s feelings for Clarke became stronger between the end of season 1 and beginning of season 3.

This was the episode when Bellamy definitely became one of my 2 favorite characters, with how he dealt with the Murphy situation, and showed what a leader he had become. (Which Jasper also recognized, verbally and with a big hug.) If I were to dig up my SpoilerTV post I wrote back then, you’d see a lot of very embarrassing fangirling over Bellamy. ;)

This time I was able to focus more on Murphy’s motivations and characterization, which I didn’t think that much before. When Murphy is trying to taunt Bellamy - after putting a noose around his neck - saying things like “You think you’re so brave”, “You think you’re stronger than me” – I’m pretty sure that’s what Murphy thinks, deep inside. He has a deep inferiority complex. Which is exactly why he wanted revenge on Bellamy in such a way, hoping to see him afraid and brought low. He used to defer to Bellamy in the early days at the ground, so when Bellamy threw him to the wolves, then later tried to kill him in rage, exiled him and showed multiple times how little he respected him or cared for him (compared to, say, a little girl), that must have brought on a lot of resentment. But the whole “I know the truth, you’re a coward” thing would work better if it wasn’t in a situation where Bellamy was risking his life to save Jasper and actually being just as awesome as Murphy was trying to prove he wasn’t, so the whole revenge attempt was a huge, pathetic failure by Murphy. And Murphy going on about how he’s maybe now going to become the leader of the 100 after both “the princess” and “the king” die, now seems less like a villain’s threat, and more like empty bragging that he probably didn’t even believe in himself. He knows he’s not a leader type and he’s much better at making people hate him than follow him.

The speech Bellamy gives at the camp is impassioned and emotion-driven and gets the Delinquents full of passion to stay and fight – for a moment, until Clarke gives her short speech where she simply points out that they’re likely to die if they stay and convinces them to leave. This is a good example why and how the idea of Bellamy as “the Heart” and Clarke as “the Head” makes sense: it’s not that he is all emotion and can’t think rationally or that she’s emotionless – both of these things are obviously untrue – or that he’s always acting on emotion or that she’s always making her decisions rationally (there are plenty of examples of either of them doing the opposite), but it’s how they tend to approach leadership and decision-making and the arguments they used to appeal to people: his tend to be emotional, hers practical.

Part 2

…And Clarke points that out to Bellamy when she convinces him to go with the others rather than stay on his own to fight, in one of her many pep talks to Bellamy about what a great leader he is. “You inspire them”. (She’ll tell him the same in the S4 finale.)

The Blake siblings scene was beautiful and emotional and one of my favorite scenes in season 1. But now, after that relationship got a lot more dysfunctional in the following seasons, I can’t help but notice that, while Bellamy takes back his statement from 1x06 that his life ended when Octavia was born, saying it was the opposite, Octavia never really took back her accusations that Bellamy was at fault for their mother dying and pretty much everything. (In the following seasons, Octavia will keep the tradition of always blaming Bellamy for everything ever. She does, however, tell him“I love you, big brother”. I believe she says that two more times, in the S4 finale and the S5 finale. But in the latter, it understandably doesn’t get quite the same response.

And here we go again, Murphy is once more captured and tortured by the Grounders… how many times does Murphy get tortured or has other bad things happen to him during seasons 1-3?

Fans who like Finn more than I do have argued that he jumped in and saved Bellamy during the battle because they are comrades. But since he was earlier willing to let Bellamy stay behind and probably be killed, I think the main reason Finn did it was because Clarke was showing concern for Bellamy and upset about him potentially dying.

My main problem with Part 2 was always the scene where Clarke has to pull the lever and close the dropship door, before Jasper incinerates everyone outside. Or rather specifically, the scene where she and Finn stare at each other for a couple of seconds during battle, with dramatic music and all, which was weird because he was pretty close by and it looked like she could have yelled at him to get inside, and he could have come inside, so I was never sure if the scene was just badly done, or if it was supposed to be deeply meaningful (Finn starting to lose it and desperate to prove himself as her hero? A reaction to her rejection? PTSD? All of that at once?) but it didn’t quite work because she looked frozen and emotional, but he was just kind of blankly staring at her… And I’m afraid I still don’t have no idea what the scene was supposed to be.

In any case, the entire thing with Clarke’s dramatic and heartbreaking choice to close to door on Finn and Bellamy to save the others should have felt more epic and had more weight, but it kind of does not. It happens quickly, and then there’s more focus on whether the Delinquent crowd will act inhumane and lynch a vastly outnumbered Anya. And, of course, there’s also the fact that I’m pretty sure no one in the audience ever thought Finn or Bellamy were actually dead. But at least the scene where Clarke goes outside and stares at two charred skeletons was good because you really felt what she must have been thinking.

However, I love the parallel/contrast to this scene in the S5 finale, when Clarke keeps waiting for Bellamy to come inside the ship and doesn’t pull the lever to close the door (while Raven is hurrying her to do it, same as Miller was here).

The visual of the Ark coming down is beautiful - it looks like a ‘falling star’ - a callback to the earlier conversations about making a wish on a star.

Kane and Abby looking at the Earth together kinds of reminds me of Bellamy and Clarke watching the new planet in the S5 finale. (Except the former two at this point aren’t nearly as close to pull each other in an embrace.)

The ending with the Mountain Men is well done, but that was one of the things I predicted at the time: that the finale will mostly be about fighting Grounders, and then the Mountain Men will appear at the end, and they will be very technologically advanced. With so many mentions of them, it wasn’t hard to guess they had to be the S2 antagonists who appear at the very end of S1 in a cliffhanger - shows often do that. (I actually didn’t even make the Mount Weather connection, since I’m not from USA and had no idea what it was. But the mysterious Mountain Men had to be different from Grounders and Reapers, and the opposite of what you’d normally expect from people called ‘mountain men”. Which doesn’t mean it was not a good twist - it’s just hard to fully surprise fans like me who have watched so much TV .)

Timeline: I used to think season 1 lasted about a month, month and a half, but now it seems that it can’t be more than 3 weeks, at most. And even that’s a stretch.

We know for sure that episodes 1-6 lasted 10 days (and a week passed between 1x03 and 1x04), but events in episodes 1x06 to 1x09 were happening very fast, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of days, and ditto for episodes 1x10-1x13. The only possible times when more time could have passed was between 1x9 and 1x10.

Body count:

Part 1:

1 Delinquent (Myles), wounded last episode and now murdered by Murphy as revenge for the lynching.

1 patient on the Ark that Abby wasn’t able to save.

1 Grounder killed off-screen by Lincoln

2 or 3 Reapers

1 or 2 unfortunate Grounders being eaten or about to be eaten by the Reapers.

Part 2: Lots of people.

About 300 Trikru warriors (and some of the Reapers who had been fighting them, probably) – most of them burned in the ring of fire.

Either 31 or 29 Delinquents – first a redshirt Drew, killed by a scout before the battle, then a bunch of them in battle with the Trikru (or maybe burned). This is where it gets confusing. At the start of Part 2, Bellamy feels he’s failed and says there have been 18 dead, and Clarke tries to comfort him, saying 82 are still alive. But only 16 Delinquents were killed before 1x13. So, either 1) two more died of that illness or were killed by the Grounders off-screen, or 2) he was assuming Monty and Murphy were dead or would soon be dead. And in season 3, Bellamy tells Kane “Trikru killed 37 of my friends before you even touched the ground”. Out of the 16 Delinquents who definitely died in the first 12 episodes, 6 were killed by Grounders (3 directly, 3 by bio warfare/illness). That would mean either 2 more + Drew + 29 in battle, or Drew + 31 in battle. In any case, in season 2, 48 were captured in Mount Weather, while 6 survived outside of it (Octavia, Murphy, Finn, Monroe, Sterling, and one boy killed by Tristan in 2x01) – which would make 54, plus Bellamy and Raven.

A bunch of people died in the landing of the Ark, but there’s no info how many. In 1x07 they said there were 2,237 people on the Ark. (Which means that, before they sent the 100 to the ground and Raven took the escape pod, there were at least 2339.) In 1x11, Kane said there were about 1,000 survivors on the Ark. But he also said 1,500 died in the shutdown of the Ark, which definitely doesn’t add up, as it would mean there were about 2,500 people before that, and that’s without the few hundred that died with Diana on the Exodus ship (which Kane may or may not counted?). Either Kane is terrible at math, or the writers got things mixed up. Anyway, let’s say that 1,000 survived, that means about 1,200 died either on Exodus or due to the shutdown on the Ark. But some of the 12 stations probably exploded before touching the ground, so a few hundred more Arkers probably died.

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summerseachild · 6 years ago

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I power-watched GoT Season 1

Why? Because before tomorrow, I wanted to remember what I loved about the show. Instead of liveblogging my flailing, I did it in my phone’s notes, but I thought I’d dump the whole season here (season 2 is also finished as of today). I to keep myself to three bullet points per episode, but failed most of the time.

1x01

1. They are all SO YOUNG! Kit is a bb! Maisie! Sophie! RICHARD!

2. I still love to story of Jaime jumping off the cliffs at the Rock and his impression of Tywin. (And you wonder why I fell in love with them..)

3. The years have not lessened my dislike of Robert Baratheon.

1x02

1. Lannister family breakfasts give me joy. (GIVE ME A GOOD CLEAN DEATH ANY DAY OMG JAIME)

2. Michelle Fairley was a gift.

3. (Bonus - Theon being in the trusted council Cat tells about suspecting the Lannister’s in Bran’s attempted murder = ❤️❤️❤️)

4. JUSTICE FOR LADY 2K19! I am still so angry at everyone involved that I can feel my heart rate start increasing the second the scene by the river starts, and by the time we get to the scene in front of Robert, I have to make sure there’s nothing in my hand to throw. True story: the first time I watched this, I came closer than I ever have in my whole life to throwing an actual glass at a tv. After all this time, only a lifetime of self control and respect for the people who bought us our new tv keeps me from doing it now.

1x03

1. Love the Lannister vs Stark parenting parallels: Cersei doesn’t give terrible advice to her son... Machiavellian, but canny. Ned is a good dad too... trying to explain to Arya why Sansa acted the way she did...

2. Remember when the white walkers were scary and Old Nan was the best storyteller? Remember when there were so many great minor characters like her? Like Old Maester Aemon and Syrio Forel given so much good stuff to do with not a lot of screen time?

3. I may hate Robert, but my great respect for Mark Addy as an actor has only grown. That scene in Robert’s study with Robert and Barristan Selmy And Jaime is SO GOOD. Also Jaime talking about Aerys with that look on his face like he’s reliving it is always SO HAUNTING.

4. Bonus: remember when Dany had her OG clique? Irri and Jiqui and Doreah and Rhakaro and Jorah? I do. :(

1x04

1. Tyrion’s second visit to Winterfell is great. The smile on Bran’s face when he gets the plans for the saddle is SO PURE. Theon recommending Ros to Tyrion is less pure but still hilarious before we get to the serious business of explaining why Theon is in Winterfell.

2. Awwww Pyp And Grenn and Sam are such babies! Yay brotherhood.

3. Ned’s straightforwardness is so obviously going to get him killed it’s painful.

1x05

1. Sandor Clegane is more interesting to me this time around. Also Rory McCann is brilliant.

2. Maester Luwin And Bran talking with Theon practicing archery in the background makes my heart ache. “Famed for their skill at archery, navigation, and lovemaking.” Lol

3. That skull Arya hides in has to be Balerion. It looks even bigger than Drogon! And that’s Varys talking to... Illyrio? I don’t remember a lot I’m realizing.

4. I can’t resist cackling at Littlefinger and Varys sniping at each other and Aiden and Conleth PLAYING IT UP and clearly loving every second of it.

5. Bonus bonus: that scene between Cersei and Robert where they’re discussing strategy and potential scenarios for a Dothraki invasion is fascinating on so many levels. They hate and know each other so well and Lena and Mark play off each other brilliantly. And CERSEI IS SO VULNERABLE HERE. I think this might be one of the moments I fell in love with her, weird as that sounds.

6. Triple bonus: 😂 at Jaime knocking out his own man who stabbed Ned and robbed Jaime of his fair fight with The Warden of the North.

1x06

1. This episode gets a 10/10 for amount of time Theon and Robb spend in scenes together.

2. Having watched a lot of Ripper Street seeing Bronn for the first time is a whole lot of fun.

3. FIRE CANNOT KILL A DRAGON YES KHALEESI

1x07: remember when Dan and David used to let experienced writers co-write their eps? That was fun.

1. Tywin Lannister DRESSING HIS OWN STAG like a boss. I live for this intro scene and Charles Dance’s Tywin.

2. YOU WIN OR YOU DIE. And Cersei lived and died by those words. At least she’s consistent? Anyway, SO ICONIC.

3. Sam and Jon taking their vows at the weirwood North of the Wall with the snow swirling around them still sends a chill up my spine.

4. Bonus: all the Dothraki language in this episode is cool and Jason SELLS IT.

5. Bonus bonus: BETRAYAL! ...Peter, no...

1x08

1. Let’s hear it for quick thinking dead heroes. Septa Mordane And Syrio Forel saved those Stark girl’s’ lives.

2. Poor bb Sansa all getting used as a pawn by people who have power over her. Your day will come, my Queen in the North.

3. Today’s sexuality: Robb Stark saying “call the banners”

4. Bonus: Dany did not save those women from being assaulted in that village to burn down King’s Landing out of spite

1x09

1. Maester Aemon’s speech about love and duty is so great and it reminded me of when this show had THEMES and common plot threads that WORKED.

2. Shae and Bronn And Tyrion playing games gives me joy, until Tyrion tells the Tysha story and I’m not ok ever.

3. Robb was a smart commander and one who Got How Serious his responsibilities were and I just love him ok.

1x10

1. Catelyn being like “FIRST get your sisters back THEN kill them ALL” to Robb is peak Stark bloodthirst and I love it.

2. NOW AND ALWAYS followed by Theon saying something that sounds a lot like the wedding vows but with swords is giving me a LOT OF THROBB FEELS this time through.

3. Mirri Maz Duur is SO INTERESTING and her actress is GREAT and I want to know MORE ABOUT HER.

4. Jeor Mormont being like “White walkers are COMING do you think it matters who sits on the Iron Throne?” Is super funny now. Because d and d sure don’t agree with him.

5. BABY DRAGONS!!! SO CUTE!!! Shrieky, but cute.

#summersea has feels about got

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gleesacredtext · 6 years ago

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Blessings from Glee 1x03, Acafellas

(Copy/pasting the explanation from last week’s blessings post since we’re still new at this.)

The hosts of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text end every week by offering blessings for characters who did something notable or need some extra help during the events of the chapter they’re discussing. This is something that’s very foreign to me as a secular person, but I’ve found myself appreciating it more and more as the series goes on.

What is a blessing, exactly? I guess there are a lot of different answers to that, but in this case, I think it’s an opportunity to point out what you appreciate about someone and why, or to offer someone some strength that you think they will need to get through their situation. And then, by extension, the blessing is also offered to everyone who is reading or listening who might find themselves in the same situation and in need of the same offering.

So, Jazzy and I thought it would be fun to start a thread for each episode where anyone can bless the characters. We want this to be as participatory as possible, so please, reblog this thread wherever you see it and add a blessing for any character that appears in the Glee episode Acafellas! It could be for any character in the episode, whether they do something big or small, just anything that struck you as special or important or vulnerable that they did. Hopefully by the end we’ll have a big collection of all sorts of blessings for all sorts of characters, identifying the beauty and vulnerability in each of them!

(I will reblog on my personal blog with my own blessing to start us off.)

#1x03 #glee blessings

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actuallylorelaigilmore · 7 years ago

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the ultimate citation list for Schneider of ODAAT, volume 1

A reference collection of quotes and details, organized chronologically, for the first 26 episodes of One Day At A Time. Used to create this character guide.

“Can you believe it's only been 10 months since you moved in? I remember 'cause I got my five year sober chip and your mom baked me that cake. I enjoyed watching you guys eat it." 1x01

"You're 40 and you look stupid." “I'll have you know, I was invited to several Pride parades." 1x01

Uses a “very expensive” Damascus steel hammer. 1x01

"I've been doing some outreach down at the rec center, talking to at-risk youth. You guys wanna start takin' bets? Actually, scratch that. I'm addicted to gambling.” 1x01

"Love isn't even real. It's just something your nanny says sometimes to your dad." 1x02

"Hey, I may have money in the bank and two living parents, and four living stepmothers but there is a hole in here. We never had family meals. I ate alone in front of the TV. Oh, don't get me wrong. It was a massive TV. Sometimes my nanny would join me, but only if I agreed to watch telenovelas. This one time, Rosa got jealous of the housekeeper 'cause she was makin' a move on her man, so she threatened to throw live scorpions on her while she slept. Rosa was my nanny. Ex-nanny. Now, stepmother." 1x03

[Lydia and Pen fighting] “It's startin' to feel kinda like home in here.” 1x03

Schneider cooks fancy hipster food. "Nutted quinoa, wilted broccolini with radish micro-greens, and venison carpaccio on a bed of nettles. Grab a cedar plank and dig in." 1x04

"Always interesting to be the sober one at a dinner party." 1x05

"I immigrated here illegally. I'm a Canadian. But yeah, born in the 'Couve, overstayed my student visa, forced to live in the shadows of Pepperdine University. Anyway, it's fine now. My lawyers made it all okay." 1x05

Uses sheet masks, knows about chauffeurs, butlers, estates. 1x06

“The kids barely touched my black olive tapenade.” “Thanks for helping out, but maybe next time pick a food a kid would wanna eat or has heard of.” “Yeah, and maybe next time, don't hand out masks with my face on them.” 1x07

"The members of my college band have finally put aside our differences and we're reuniting to play at the fair this afternoon. My band, Full Sail, plays yacht rock. These guys were like family. I used to show up at their dorm rooms unannounced and just hang out for hours and hours and hours." 1x07

"We were setting up for the show and our keytarist threw a decorative anchor at me. This is why Full Sail broke up in the first place. Too many passionate personalities." 1x07

Has a magnifying glass in his costume trunk. 1x07

"I know nothing about my grandparents and I never will. And they live in Pasadena!" (but he goes to 'the depot' in Pasadena) 1x09

"I have never seen such un-professionalism. This is why I don't work!" 1x09

"I need to find a new place to get my eyebrows threaded." 1x10

Has a safe. 1x10

"Well, Father believed it's best to have this kinda discussion in a car because you don't have to make eye contact. Plus, you're traveling in the same direction, which fosters intimacy. So we're in the Bentley with our chauffeur, Paco. Father said it's time to have the talk. We came to the next stoplight. He hopped out, Paco told me everything." 1x10

"I didn't get the period talk till I was 12. Paco just called it 'Shark Week.'" 1x10

"When I was a kid, there was an adult section in the back of the video store. Behind the beads. I'd always chicken out and just rent a Jane Fonda workout tape. Still worked. Still works." 1x10

"You'd be surprised how many of my hookups started with 'Ugh!' ...When I was 15, I told Father I wanted to be a professional tap dancer. He laughed. It was that lack of support that contributed to my drinking and drug problem. Oh, do you find that amusing? Because 15-year-old Schneider's drinking peach schnapps out of an unused tap shoe right now." 1x11

"You have a girl over here and you were offering to have sex with me?" - "Yes, Penelope. That's the kind of friend I am." 1x11

"My dad never came to my games. All he ever did was put me through rehab six times and buy me this building." 2x01

"Maroon 5 is the best." 2x01

"Okay, I decided to take a break from dating. See, I realized that women were just another one of my addictions, like alcohol, drugs, gambling, cigarettes, snow globes. The point is, I've broken the cycle of addiction with spinning. Five hours a day, every single day. I have to do it! Plus, it's the perfect substitute for dating, 'cause it burns a lot of energy and also numbs my junk!" 2x02

“Snow globes? Is this one of our family?” 2x02

"I come over, tell him to do stuff to me, he does it, I go home. You should get one." "I think what Nikki was kinda dancing around is that you don't always have to have a relationship with a capital "R." Sometimes all you need is what the great poets of the Renaissance called a junk buddy." "Exactly. You don't even have to like them." 2x03

"See, the great thing about having a green card is you get to live here without having to do all the stuff Americans have to, like vote or serve jury duty or become obese."

"Okay, but at least you vote in Canadian elections." "Mmm. No. Even in Canada, nothing ever changes. Clean air, sensible gun control, free health care. The system's rigged." 2x04

Can picture himself “doing it” with Elizabeth Warren, was Stephen Hawking for Halloween. 2x04

"You have to pay taxes with a green card? I just texted my accountant, and he said 'cause I'm in the highest income bracket, I don't have to pay taxes." 2x04

Keeps on hand: panic room, gas mask, water purification pills, MREs, enough cash to get to Cape Verde by boat. Followed Max on Instagram. Would be honored to be Penelope's maid of honor. 2x05

"I'm very patriotic. Look in that basket. There's a bald eagle thong." 2x06

All Elena's video game equipment belongs to him. 2x06

"Penelope, tell my third stepmother I loved her! Not the second one, though. She was kind of a jerk." 2x06

"Hummer limo's downstairs. My third stepmother used to take me to the racetrack to spy on Father. For the longest time, I thought she was saying, 'Your father is with Rebecca, that horse!' It's like I'm back at the racetrack with my stepmom. What's next? Throw a mint julep in his face?” 2x07

"I love Cuba! I've been there four times. Property manager, job's just temporary. My father owns the building. I'm really a musician. Play a lot of rap-rock-ska. I'm like a male Gwen Stefani. When you're hiring a nanny, make sure she's not too hot. That's how I met my fifth mom. I had four nannies and look at the results." 2x08

Did not speak a word of Spanish when he first met them, is interested in single moms. 2x08

"If you joined an adult kickball team after saying you were too busy to join mine, you are on a long road to forgiveness." 2x09

"Your idea of stress is when your chest-waxer goes out of town." "Roberto is the only one who doesn't make it sting!" 2x09

"I shouldn't have to need these either, but I do. To see. So it's Fourth of July, 2011. I'd been sober for a while, so I thought I'd celebrate with a beer. Woke up three days later in an alley. Then the bowling ball hit me. I was in the gutter for a long time. It's really slippery without the shoes. That was the day I truly accepted that I can't have alcohol or drugs, ever. Not a beer, not a glass of wine, not even six hits of acid at a Grateful Dead show, no matter how well it makes me dance. I kinda get where you're coming from. There's something I want that I can't have for the rest of my life." 2x09

He and Pen are best friends. Also considers Max his bestie. Wants to Netflix and chill with them both, together. 2x09

"My abuelita used to put Vicodin in her coffee. And her lemonade and her sandwiches. Maybe she had a problem. As my father said to me on my ninth birthday, 'You don't need me anymore.' I use my garage for pickling and sea horse breeding." 2x10

Loves puns. "This is Elena Alvarez, my handyman mentee. Or handy-manatee." "The toilet is a cruel mistress. She is flush with complications." 2x10

"Herb and Sherb McGurb. Her real name is Sheryl, but she gets a kick out of Sherb." 2x10

"Bonsai's for dorks. This is penjing. The gentle Chinese art of tray scenery. Now that you're working for me, I finally have some leisure time." "Oh, look, there's little people. Wait, is that my family?" "Could be any Cuban family." 2x10

"I may only look two or three years older than you, but I have the wisdom of that ancient bonsai!" 2x10

"Always take the lemonade. That's Handyman 101! So you watched Jeopardy with them and then what? Well, now we know what your problem is! You fixed their toilet, but you didn't fix their souls. Elena, growing up, I had everything. But I was always alone. I don't want my tenants to feel that way, so I do more than just fix stuff. Apartment 306, macrame with Mrs. Watson. 201, lose at chess to Mr. Roth. 402, listen to all their Cuban nonsense. That's the job. That's what takes four hours. That's the difference between being a handyman and a super." 2x10

Has heard 'you're fired' a lot. 2x10

"After a grueling 30 minutes of thought, Nikki, will you be my starter wife? You're on the rebound. That's the best time to get married. You don't have time to think. So you were never thinking about me? My emotions? My feelings? You used me, Nikki, Finn's mom! And not in the way I like! And that's not all, Sister Barbara. We knew each other. Biblically. And while we were doing it, she took the Lord's name in vain. A lot!" 2x11

"Last night, I was testing the pH of the water in my seahorse ranch and, as I looked at those vomiting little guys, I realized I suck at tests. All tests. Drug, sobriety, vision, IQ, smog. You name it, I fail it!" 2x12

"Have you ever been arrested?” “Does public nudity at a hockey game count?” “There is, uh, no mention of a public nudity charge in your file.” “Oh, you just go to YouTube and type in 'Zam-boner.'" 2x12

"Yeah, they didn't specifically ask if I got drunk and tried to ride a moose, so after that I was golden." 2x12

"How important is having kids to you?" "Never really thought about it." 2x12

"I'll have you know I babysat my babysitter's kids while she was babysitting my dad, so, yeah, I got a little experience under my belt. Oh, it's my cousin Gordy. He still thinks I'm full-on Canadian. All right, good news is Gordo bought it. Bad news is I'm judging a poutine festival in Saskatoon next week." 2x12

"You're the single greatest mother I know." "Thank you. That means a lot coming from a guy with five moms." 2x12

"Fuzzy Afghan she likes, picture of the Pope, picture of a different Pope, picture of your dad, picture of the family, picture of me with the family, picture of me by a waterfall. I'm just gonna keep talking 'cause I'm not good in crisis situations." 2x13

"It's so crazy how we're both immigrants. I mean, I would never compare my story to yours, but the parallels are spooky. You were 18, I was 18. You left your family behind. I left four step-families, a maid, a butler, a chauffeur, and a horse groomer who really got me. But Father was expanding his business to the US and so I had to go. I remember, at the airport, I was crying. But Father put his arm around me and he said, 'Son, only losers cry.' So that was a long flight. You don't know how dirty a dirty look can get until you're crying for a whole plane ride and you're not a baby. I really didn't wanna be in America. So I drank. And I recreated the snowy plains of Canada with cocaine. I'm told I attended classes at Pepperdine University, but I will have to take that on faith. So, I'm in a detox center in El Segundo. This was my fourth rehab. My re-re-re-rehab. I thought I'd been doing a kickass job keeping my drug stuff a secret from all the tenants and then you showed up in my room at that clinic. You brought me sopa de pollo and said it's Cuban penicillin. You told me, 'You eat this, you get some sleep, and tomorrow, you try again.' And then you tucked me in and kissed me good night on my forehead. Forehead kisses are wildly underrated. Just something really comforting about 'em. Then again, it might just be you. Dad never did that. Or my horse groomer. After I got out of rehab, I started hanging around your apartment a lot more, 'cause it helped. Back then, it must have felt like you had this annoying, intrusive guy over. Not like now. 'Cause now you're my family. Don't worry. I haven't legally changed my last name to Alvarez. My lawyer said it was a whole thing, so... Anyway, Pen said no crying, so I'm not gonna. Actually, for once, I agree with Father. Only losers cry. And we're not losing anybody today. Let's hit that oath ceremony soon, okay?" 2x13

#schneider #reference #odaat #one day at a time

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peterkayscarshare · 7 years ago

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Foreshadowing a Happy Ending - Part 1

I have long said that for me, the biggest proof of banjogate is not any of the evidence I’ve posted here (although that is pretty big), but it’s actually the story itself. The narrative, the style, the story, the characters - absolutely everything points to me to a happy conclusion.

I believe there is a lot of foreshadowing both for a happy ending for John and Kayleigh together, but also proof that the “it wasn’t meant to be romantic” rhetoric is utter bollocks. :D So to that end I thought I’d detail the foreshadowing I see.

Please note: The music used in the show is a category all on it’s own. There’s so much foreshadowing in the music I’ve saved it for a post all of its own. This one is only the non-music foreshadowing.

(This only covers season 1. Season 2 to follow in Part 2 as the post was just getting way too long)

Episode 1x01

1) Single Ladies

From the very start of the first episode we are made very aware that Kayleigh and John are both single. We get Kayleigh’s doorbell playing Beyonce’s Single Ladies; Kayleigh learns very quickly that John isn’t gay, and that he’s been single for some time. We also discover Kayleigh is single but looking, and that she feels she’s running out of time to have kids. The insight into Kayleigh’s drug dealing ex not only gives us an insight into Kayleigh’s personality, but also to the kind of relationships she’s had - with dubious guys who cheated on her. Immediately the viewer is sizing up John in comparison. And you don’t put such a heavy influence on their singledom and relationship pasts, if that is not part of the story. If romance wasn’t part of it, you give them partners (even unseen) or don’t make it the focus. From episode 1, their potential to be a couple way highlighted.

2) Of course, we also get the beginning of the biggest storyline in the show in ep 1 - The Christmas Team. This is something that stretches through the series, and yet isn’t “resolved” by 2x04. It hasn’t happened yet, and we don’t know what will happen. Will Kayleigh stay and work on the team? Will she leave? You don’t set up a major storyline like that which has ramifications and leave it hanging.

3) Now, this MAY be reaching too far, or it may be an Easter Egg that Peter has thrown in. I’m erring on the side of caution given that we know how much Peter put into the Forever FM aspects of the show, and the little asides…

At 13.53 when Kayleigh gets in the car for the return journey home, when John starts the engine we hear this coming from the Forever FM DJ:

“…went to apologise, and within a few years they were married.”

Foreshadowing? :D

4) In all the talk about past relationships, there are a couple of lines that may be foreshadowing John and Kayleigh’s relationship. Kayleigh asks John if Anna gave him butterflies - we can assume from the dreamy sigh as he drives away in 2x02 that Kayleigh gives John butterflies! And when John says he met Anna on a train, Kayleigh says what a romantic way to meet someone - hmm like car sharing maybe?

Episode 1x02

1) What Kayleigh wants

Episode 2 is a huge episode that sets up really the main driving force of the show - what makes people happy. With Old Ted’s funeral we are shown John and Kayleigh assessing their own lives and discussing what makes a life worth living. We have Kayleigh making perfectly clear what she wants out of life - her dream man and babies. The show has explicitly told us what Kayleigh’s happy ending is, and have got her tantalizingly close to it by the end of 2x04. You don’t set up explicitly what a character wants and needs, almost hand them it then abandon it - not in a sitcom anyway.

2) John tells us “if it’s meant to be, it’ll be”. It’s meant to be we know that (see 2x02), so that means it WILL be.

3) In the same conversation, John is the one who unwittingly makes clear what he thinks makes a man happy - good job, great wife. Although he protests that he is happy how he is, isn’t looking for a great love affair and accepts limitations, we as an audience can assume he’s either lying to himself, or lying outright. Particularly when you pair it with the fact that in 1x01 John says he can’t stand someone singing in his face, yet by 2x02 he and Kayleigh are happily singing in each other’s faces. He’s changed, his view on himself and what he likes has changed already thanks to Kayleigh. It’s an obvious clue that Kayleigh is changing his outlook on his life, and that will be a far reaching change.

Episode 1x03

1) What John wants

In a way while 1x02 shows us what Kayleigh wants from life, 1x03 is John’s turn as we see him eyeing up a lady in traffic (she’s not the one for you John, fate is telling you that!). I realise this is talking about the music, but I’m making an exception for this scene because it’s so important. The use of The Smith’s Let Me Get What I Want (this time) is a HUGE neon sign telling us that what John espoused in the previous episode about being happy on his own isn’t actually the truth. The fact that John’s scenes “chasing” the lady happy when he’s “alone” (literally alone, and then alone in that Kayleigh is asleep) show that this is a side of him he’s hiding, and only reveals when he thinks no one is looking. He KNOWS what he wants is a woman to love and be by his side, and we’re shown that what he wants is sitting right next to him asleep. He’s GOT what he wants, he just has to “wake up” to it.

2) In between John’s attempts to catch a lady’s eye, we get him reiterating that he’s not looking for love - “bollocks to love”. We now can see that it’s a lie, and once he expands on what happened between himself and Charlotte, we see WHY he’s told himself this lie. We discover that he founds himself falling into a life because he thought it was what he should do, not what he “wants”. It’s illuminating that the pain he feels over Charlotte isn’t because he was so violently hurt by her leaving him, but because he hurt her. He is afraid of being hurt, of losing himself, but most of all he’s afraid to doing what he did to Charlotte all over again (which Kayleigh expresses in her taking Charlotte’s side, we can see her in the place of Charlotte - thus hammering the message home again that Kayleigh is the woman in his life, his next partner).

3) In the continuing saga of Kayleigh’s online dating adventures we have John complimenting her twice (“you’ve got a lovely nose”, “there’s nothing wrong with you”) and we see them starting to take a turn. Not only are Kayleigh’s choice of potential partners as disastrous as ever, John is now questioning her wisdom in pursuing love using this vehicle. John’s attitude is changing, once again. Kayleigh also says about online dating that she won’t meet anyone sitting on her arse - oh wait, she already did. ;)

Episode 1x04

Really isn’t much in the way of relationship foreshadowing in this episode, except for one little thing:

1) When talking about her finances, Kayleigh says she shouldn’t have gone to see Beyonce “but sometimes you’ve got to live a little, John”. To which John replies “Very true.” Once again, showing Kayleigh’s influence on John, making him break the rules he had set for himself. (rules that would prevent someone going after a woman you love)

Episode 1x05

1) The M word

Yes, marriage. Episode 5 is the one that most explicitly shifts John and Kayleigh into positioning them as moving past friends into romance and does so via 3 different paths. The first being foreshadowing marriage.

In discussing their “first dance” songs, Kayleigh brings back the notion that what she needs in her life is to “runaway” with the man of her dreams. Meanwhile, John declares it’s not something he needs to think about becuase he’s ever going to get wed. That’ll be the dramatic irony then, when the person ASKING him to think about it is the person he’s very likely going to wed and thus he will have to think about it. It’s foreshadowing that Kayleigh is the one asking this question and will be the one asking it for real in time to come.

2) The second thread is more subtle, and comes with Kayleigh’s niece and nephew. With their presence in the car we get to see John and Kayleigh as potential parents - John trying to be the cool one, Kayleigh keeping them in line (but laughing with them at John’s OTT antics). Of course calling him “Uncle John” is a common northern thing (as Peter has pointed out in his stand up before) BUT can also be foreshadowing that he WILL be their Uncle John.

3) The most obvious thread is Kayleigh’s jealousy of Rachel. This makes it explicitly clear that Kayleigh at least is seeing John in a romantic fashion and feels possessive of him. She desperately doesn’t want him to go on a date with Rachel. Technically none of this is foreshadowing a happy ending, but it is without doubt telling us it IS a romance, using one of the most common tropes used in slow-burn relationships.

4) Now this IS foreshadowing - during the discussion about Rachel’s merits (or lack thereof) Kayleigh says “she’s just not right for you, that’s all I’m saying” And John replies “How do you know what’s right for me?” We viewers know WHY she knows, and it’s telling us that Kayleigh knows (or hopes) she’s right for him - and the narrative is telling us the viewers she’s right (especially with Rachel depicted as the Devil Woman).

Episode 1x06

(this is a bumper one!)

1) Fate!

No this is where the serious foreshadowing starts, both for what comes in 2x04 and beyond. And it begins with an innocent conversation about Bobby Ball’s braces. With this exchange we learn that Kayleigh and John shared an experience as a child, and were very likely in the same place at the same time. While John is happy to dismiss it as coincidence, Kayleigh voices what the audience will think - it’s fate. And of course, that is reinforced and brought back as a theme in 2x02. Kayleigh and John were destined to meet, and that means destined to have their happy ending.

2) Red Light Spells Danger

I love this foreshadowing, it’s possibly my fave even though it only foreshadows the events of 2x04 (so far!). John’s gift of the red lamp to Kayleigh, specifically asking her if it’s the right colour. “It’s red!” That red lamp is spelling the danger that John has fallen for Kayleigh as much as she has him, and that he’s too far gone to stop - all of which of course is reiterated in the lyrics of Red Light Spells Danger in 2x04.

3) Once again the topic of Rachel rears its head, and John finally is able to put Kayleigh’s mind to rest but in doing so he says these fateful words, “That’s your problem Kayleigh, you assume everything, and most of the time you assume wrong.” Foreshadowing Kayleigh’s “assumption” in 2x04 that John doesn’t feel the same way about her, when we know she’s wrong. And that’s something that would need to be explained and corrected, just like Kayleigh’s assumption that John was interested in Rachel.

4) Once again I’m cheating by talking song lyrics here but this is significant in several ways so I think it bears posting in this segment. When Kayleigh watches John’s Compendium song, we hear these lyrics:

You walk out alone and I follow you

The noise of the city, you know that I know

And I think that you know that I’ll only love you tonight

Woah tonight

In the city, you’re so pretty there tonight

Eyes are staring, you’re hardly wearing a thing tonight

And you know, woah, that I’m not going to let you (go)

These lyrics foreshadow Kayleigh getting out of the car in 2x04, and say that he won’t let her go - he will eventually go after her. Particularly significant when you notice that the video buffers and pauses JUST before he says the word “go”, just like the show has paused before he goes after her.

5) When talking about Compendium, John says Kayleigh should come and see him perform. Kayleigh reminds him of his no fraternising with staff rule, to which John replies “well, seeing as it’s you, I’ll make an exception”. This once again takes us back to episode 1, and his talk of not liking someone singing in his face - here’s another example that Kayleigh is the exception. Kayleigh is ALWAYS the exception, specifically when it comes to his rhetoric that he’s happy alone and doesn’t need anybody. Kayleigh is the exception. He needs her.

#Peter Kay's Car Share #carshare #banjogate #john x Kayleigh

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happilylovingchaos · 1 year ago

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Post-ep Thoughts: This was late, along with my 1x04 post. But I think this is the first time I’ve had to rewatch an episode during a rewatch period. And I already left a whole-ass live-comment stream (sorry for the clutter, Lemon). And also, this is where I admit to inserting my biases and experiences with the show becoming more relatable for me. Perhaps not only for me.

This episode really leaned into the theme of “pride” and how easy it is for one person to think another suffers from too much of it, but it being way more complicated than that— even prideful people can put their ego aside at low points or with prompting (by choice, of course), and people who don’t consider themselves prideful have moments where they crack and show that their humble-bragging leans more towards “bragging” and less towards humility.

I’ll just cover probably the least-liked (presumably) plot segment first— I like that Michelle and Dustin’s grudge wasn’t that dragged out, even if Dustin took some… coaxing from a third party to get the two of them to just sit down and listen to each other. Like, really listen.

Can the missing moments include some moments between Iris and Dustin? It seems like on some level he may have taken her for granted and he’s definitely just as vindictive as Michelle, but he clearly cared for her sister and didn’t want to see her put herself in unneeded danger.

This did seem like a good twist in Michelle’s mystery, hearing about Iris’ sudden change in personality (“You didn’t know her, and neither did I.”). That’s always hard to hear about, regardless of how much mental health is part of a loved one/ friend’s drastic change.

Future Owen: “Hey Past Me, you wanna confront this perceived dickhead, let’s at least do it smart.” Honestly, I found Owen kinda badass in the moment as much as anyone (I mean, showing up drunk at your friend’s enemy’s doorstep, puking on their shoes, pivoting to beating them up righteously and leaving with grace and an apology for the mess? What a dad move), but Michelle and Owen are supremely lucky that Dustin didn’t file a restraining order to Owen as well. Plus, foreshadowing anger and righteousness issues…

As for the featured emergencies, starting with the steak call:

*gestures everywhere to everything in the bar* This. ALL of this. Is part why I HATE eating contests and question why the hell we as humans and Americans consider it an idea of “fun.” Just divvy up those steak portions, give them to actual starving people in your area of Texas (or for that matter if it can be managed, take it statewide), and save yourself the gastrointestinal/ urinary pains. That’s literally one of the few doable win-wins anyone can do to cut down on nationwide food waste and nutritional issues in increments.

Tangent: Agents of SHIELD gave me an unexpected and relevant (????) scientific tidbit: MNT is the first compound created to make TNT. So Michelle + Nancy + Tim? MNT? Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. *wink wink nudge nudge* (Sorry, Tim.)

From what I can infer, I headcanon Tim to be the grounder/ voice of reason on this team when Michelle starts thinking steps ahead in a call. In a different procedural series like Code Black or M*A*S*H, I could def see her as a lowkey-cowgirl (turned former if dishonorably discharged) corpswoman/ combat surgeon.

To the yoga girl: I’d feel bad for her, but… I only feel bad that she got hurt at all, and that it only took one decision to leave her crippled.

The corn silo call had me the most on edge from start to end. Personally, Judd for the most part was kinda right to be mad with TK about potentially putting himself and Marjan in danger, just wrong to automatically assume TK had it easy in firefighting because of Owen.

Marjan could still have gotten sucked in then sucked out of the silo with the guy, and with/ without TK diving in to try pull her out. That said, I liked seeing Judd as incident commander even if he didn’t handle his anger at TK disobeying… in the most level way.

Besides the workings of Ramadan and the choices to wear a hijab or not, I don’t know anything else about Islam. That said, I wonder if the hijab is something that sets Natacha apart from her character? Otherwise, she does have very pretty hair. And, well, maybe there’s another (slightly less conservative) mosque or Muslim group in Texas if Zara gets to be more of an alpha bitch. (Later, there’s not a lot of accurate Muslim portrayal, or Marjan following her religion in-series, which… I get. I also think the writers’ room should both do some more research, and allow a Muslim-versed or Middle-Eastern writer onto the team if the overall goal is inclusivity.)*

I wish Marjan and Paul’s conversation had more time to continue. This was her first test of her integrity until seasons 2 and 4, and… hindsight sucks whenever there are missed opportunities. But, I like their friendship development and how Paul’s Strickland Sense plays off Marjan.

TSP: Late February (post-Valentine’s Day) to early March 2019, takes place over 9 days at least, I think 13 days at most (b/c pretty sure TK isn’t gonna heal that fast from the bar fight). General timeline: days 1-2: corn silo call —> Judd and TK fight —> brawl at The Trap —> police station scene. Day… 4-8: yoga malfunction —> 🥩 call —> Marjan and Zara —> 126 bar hangout —> Owen confronts Dustin. Day 9-10: make-ups btwn Dustin and Michelle + Judd and TK —> Day 13: tornado stinger.

TK’s timeline: days 1-2: corn silo call —> Judd and TK fight —> brawl at The Trap —> police station scene. Day 8: 126 bar hangout. Days 9-10: makes up w/ Judd.

Owen’s timeline: days 1-2: corn silo call —> day 3-8: yoga malfunction —> 126 bar hangout —> Owen confronts Dustin.

Michelle’s timeline: days 1-2: corn silo call. Day 3-8: yoga malfunction —> 🥩 call —> 126 bar hangout. Day 9-10: making up with Dustin.

Marjan’s timeline: days 1-2: corn silo call. Days 3-8: hijab fallout —> Zara —> yoga malfunction —> 126 bar hangout.

Episode 1x03 Texas Proud Discussion Thread

Please feel free to use the comment thread and tags of this post throughout the week as a place to liveblog while watching the episode, discuss with friends, post your metas and thoughts etc. Anything you’d like to discuss while watching the episode is welcome!!

Please reblog this post for visibility!!

#911 lone star rewatch 2024 #911 lone star #episode 1x03 discussion thread #michelle blake #owen strand #tk strand #marjan marwani #paul strickland #mateo chavez #carlos reyes #judd ryder #grace ryder

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