#i always wondered what the writers would do if they decided to put sylvie in danger while matt was in oregon

[brettsey-two-tts]

Brettsey prompt - “I should’ve been your first call!”

Stella found Sylvie in the locker room staring at her phone. She assumed she was texting Casey, but she was sorely mistaken when she saw the small frown on her face.

Stella stopped in front of her locker and opened it, announcing her presence to her best friend. “Everything okay, Syl?”

Sylvie turned on the bench to face the brunette and revealed an utterly sorrow-filled expression. “Not… entirely.” Stella gave a worried look, so Sylvie elaborated. “I, as painful as it sounds, because it feels incredibly painful… I have to… change my emergency contact. It was Matt and since he moved to Oregon for a few years…” She trailed off, but Stella knew what she was getting at. She knew the emotional turmoil her best friend was going through since Casey moved. She couldn’t expect the blonde to be sunshine and rainbows all the time.

Stella immediately moved to the bench to sit next to Sylvie at the mention and protectively wrapped her arm around her. “Hey, hey,” she said softly and comfortingly. “You don’t have to do this right away, you know. You can take your time.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sylvie replied with a long sigh. “But, the last thing I want is for him to get a call from the hospital saying something happened to me. it’ll throw him for a loop and he’ll panic and then call you and Severide. Two-thousand miles is a long way away and I know if he doesn’t get on the next plane out, he’ll beat himself up and blame himself for moving, and I never want him to do that.”

Stella nodded along, completely understanding her reasoning for wanting to do it sooner rather than later. “Then why don’t you put me down? You said so yourself, if it were still Casey, he’d call us anyways.”

Sylvie looked relieved. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Stella replied with a beaming smile.

“Thanks, Stella.”

After passing Sylvie’s phone back and forth to properly update her emergency contact number through her medical account, Sylvie felt a little pang in her chest. It was like Matt was disappearing from her life, and even though that wasn’t the case at all, it still felt like it. There were parts of her days that would involve Matt or him in some capacity, but all that was gone, and they were still having some troubles with their call schedule.

Sylvie would later confess these feelings to Matt during a scheduled FaceTime call. She didn’t like the saddened expression on his face when she did, but they promised not to hide anything from each other. It took a couple of weeks to create a call schedule, but as they stuck to it, they remained happily in love.

.

.

.

Stella and Severide were lounging on the couch in their loft watching ‘Is It Cake’. Their competitive spirits were in full swing as they made bets on whether or not some realistically created cakes on podiums were in fact cake. Points were written down on a napkin and as they laughed about a certain cake that Severide thought was indeed cake (it wasn’t), Stella’s phone rang.

Stella did a double-take at the caller ID and felt her breath catch in her throat. Severide caught on and gave his fiancée a puzzled look.

“Everything alright?” he asked.

“Uh, no,” Stella replied. “Gaffney Medical is calling me.”

He looked confused. “Why are they calling you?”

Stella almost gave him a bone chilling stare. “Because Sylvie switched her emergency contact to me a couple of months ago.”

Stella answered the phone on the last ring and nodded along with the nurse that called her. When she hung up, she sprung off the couch and grabbed her jacket off the coat rack. Severide followed her and shrugged on his jacket.

“Was it Brett? Did they say anything?” Severide asked as he grabbed his keys.

Stella flipped her hair out that was tucked behind her jacket. “The nurse told me Sylvie was in the middle of an x-ray but wouldn’t tell me anything more.”

“Shit,” he swore. After they locked up, they jumped into the elevator, and then he asked the one question that was probably on both their minds. “Do we call Casey?”

As the elevator doors closed, he and Stella shared a quiet yet long stare, unsure what to do.

.

.

.

Stella and Severide walked into the hospital room and immediately saw Sylvie in a hospital gown. She looked a little banged up with a few cuts on her face and arms, but otherwise looked fine.

Sylvie looked confused as she stared at the couple. “What are you two doing here?”

“Med called me,” Stella replied, almost out of breath. “What–What happened to you? Are you okay?” She hovered over her best friend, unsure of Sylvie’s physical medical status. Was it okay to touch her? Did she break something? Was she in pain?

Sylvie looked at her arms and slightly shook her head. “I was coming back from spin class. I was stopped at a red light when this lunatic sped past me, ran the red, and t-boned a minivan. I got out of my car and called 9-1-1 and tried to help the family that was trapped. These cuts are probably from the shattered glass.” She saw Severide’s worried look.

“And the x-ray?” he asked.

Sylvie let out a heavy sigh. “I told them I had some discomfort in my forearm and they insisted on taking an x-ray just to be sure.” She raised her arm and saw small cuts on her forearm. They were very small, but also numerous. She looked regretful as she looked between Stella and Severide. “I’m really sorry they called you guys and made you worry.”

Sylvie expected to see a couple of comforting smiles but was met with some worried frowns. It almost looked like something else was on their minds. Stella and Severide shared a brief look before turning back to Sylvie.

Sylvie’s brows furrowed at her friends’ ominous expressions. “Why do you guys have that look on your face?” she asked with a suspicious and worried tone.

Stella winced at the string of bad news that she was about to tell her best friend. “We-we may have called Casey on the way here.”

Sylvie’s eyes immediately widened at the new, revealing worry and anxiety. Stella could tell what the blonde was thinking because she wasn’t privy to how Sylvie felt about the situation with Casey regarding her overall health and wellbeing, especially if it turned out to be something minor like the situation they were currently in.

“What did you tell him?” Sylvie asked worriedly.

Severide replied with regret in his tone. “That we got a call from Med about you and were on our way.”

Stella let out a small sigh. “The nurse didn’t tell us much when she called me other than that you were getting an x-ray, so we called Casey on our way here thinking the worst happened.”

Sylvie frowned at the thought of Matt pacing back and forth, wondering what happened to her or if she was okay. She knew he was probably holding his breath trying to get a hold of her.

Oh no. Her phone.

Sylvie regretfully closed her eyes as she remembered where her phone was.

“Shoot, I left my phone in my car.” Sylvie could tell that Stella felt bad about the whole thing. “It’s not your fault, you guys,” she reassured them with a hopeful smile. “You were worried and acted on instinct. I’ll call Matt as soon as I’m discharged and explain the whole thing.”

Before Stella or Severide could get a word out, Severide’s phone rang in his pocket. He took out his phone to peek at the caller ID and eyed Stella and Sylvie before answering it.

“Hey,” he began. There was a pause. “Yeah, we’re at Med and she’s right here.” Pause. Some muttering could be heard. “Yeah, she’s fine. Do you want to talk to her?” There was a slight nod before he held out his phone to Sylvie.

Sylvie saw Matt’s name on the screen and flashed a worried frown. “Thanks, Severide.”

Severide ushered his fiancée out of the room to give Sylvie and Casey some time to talk.

“Hi, Matt,” she said soothingly.

“Hey– Severide told me you’re in the hospital.”

She could tell he was out of breath, like he had been holding it for the past hour or so. Her heart crumpled under the weight of her guilt. She didn’t want him to worry about her or take him away from his day to day activities. 

“Are you okay?” he asked hastily.

“Yes, yes. I’m perfectly fine. I was helping out at an accident that happened on my way back from the gym, so all I have are some cuts and maybe some bruising. Everything is very minor and I’m in no life threatening danger.” She did everything she could to dissipate the situation as quickly as possible. She didn’t want her boyfriend to spend another second worrying about her. “I’m fine, Matt.” She muttered reassuringly, hoping his heart stopped racing, because she knew it was.

Matt had been switching between pacing in the kitchen and leaning forward against the kitchen counter for the past hour, wishing and waiting for any news about his girlfriend that was two-thousand miles away. If he were still in Chicago, he would’ve been by her side the moment he heard about it. His knuckles flashed white as he kept clenching his fists.

“I should’ve been your first call,” he blurted out. He almost sounded like he was angry at himself.

“Matt…”

“I should–” he stopped abruptly to gather his thoughts. “I want to be there for you.”

“You are,” she reassured him. “Matt, what you’re doing for those boys is important and I don’t want you to think otherwise. Good or bad, things will happen, which we both know it’s out of our control given our professions.”

“I’d hate it if anything happened to you, Sylvie,” he confessed in a single breath, reeling from the thought. “Especially since I’m so far away.”

“I know,” she replied sadly. “I feel the same way about you, but this shouldn’t overwhelm our situation.” The situation being their long distance relationship. “I love you and I want you to live your life over there, not spend every waking minute worrying about someone that’s thousands of miles away.”

He let out a small laugh. She was right; it was best not to worry, and at the same time, not to think about it. “That someone is my girlfriend, who I love very much.”

“And someone who you will be seeing in three weeks,” she replied, hoping the reminder would quell his worries.

He briefly beamed at the reminder. It had been on his calendar at the firehouse for the past couple of weeks, ever since she scheduled her visit. He really couldn’t wait to see her. After this scare, he wouldn’t mind foregoing all of their plans and spending her entire visit in doors, safe in his arms and far away from harm.

“I promise to be careful, Matt.”

“I know.” He let out a long sigh. Thankfully she didn’t follow his lead and swing off aerials or jump off buildings to escape explosions. “Would you also be able to promise me no more hospital visits unless it's for when you drop off patients during shift?”

She laughed lightly. “I will do my best, Babe. I should get going. The nurse said I’d be discharged soon.”

“Okay. I love you, Sylvie. Call me later?”

She smiled; any ounce of time with Matt was time well spent and she really couldn’t wait to see him. She really wanted time to fast forward a few weeks. “I love you, too. I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”

[twh-news]

[For you who decide to start ranting in the notes without reading: it's officially canon.]

TLDR:

Even more so than Loki just realizing he is capable of loving someone other than himself, Loki is finally willing to accept himself and all his flaws. “I don't think Loki's relationship with himself has been very healthy,” Tom Hiddleston explains. “Trying to accept those aspects of himself, which he's been on the run from, was a way of thinking about that in a really interesting way. Also, Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie. That's interesting, too. I'm really excited to see what people make of it.”

“Two variants of the same being, especially you, forming this kind of sick twisted romantic relationship? That’s pure chaos! That could break reality. It’s breaking my reality right now! What an incredible seismic narcissist! You fell for yourself!”

That’s what Mobius practically yells at Loki in the latest episode of Marvel Studios’ Loki. In trying to get to the bottom of what caused the Nexus Event on Lamentis-1, Mobius starts asking questions and prodding the God of Mischief in just the right way to get a confession out of him, without Loki actually confessing to anything. After putting the pieces together from Loki’s context cues, Mobius arrives at the only logical conclusion: Loki’s fallen for the other Variant, aka Sylvie. “You like her! Does she like you?” teases Mobius.“

That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story,” head writer Michael Waldron explains to Marvel.com. “We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy? But in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki's first real love story.”

Loki and Sylvie’s love story has an apocalyptic beginning since that’s where the two first begin to bond. Trapped on a moon on the verge of total destruction, the two are forced to work together to find a way out of this situation, only to have it completely fail before their eyes. Feeling defeated, Sylvie wonders if Lokis are always destined to lose?

Loki reassures her that while they might lose, they don’t die — they survive. He goes on to call Sylvie “amazing” for how she almost took down the TVA on her own, and it’s clear from the look on his face that even though they’ve only been together a short while, Loki’s already come to admire and respect her. As the moon literally crumbles around them, Sylvie places a hand on Loki’s arm, and that’s when it happens: A branch on the Sacred Timeline. These two Lokis are having a moment they were never supposed to have, which as Mobius puts it, is “pure chaos.”

“The look that they share, that moment, [it started as] a blossoming friendship,” continues Waldron. “Then for the first time, they both feel that twinge of, ‘Oh, could this be something more? What is this I'm feeling?’ These are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another. That's a straight-up and down branch, and exactly the sort of thing that would terrify the TVA.”

Thankfully this branch also leads to the two variants being located on Lamentis-1; unfortunately, their rescue leads to them immediately thrown into captivity at the TVA.

But what happened on Lamentis-1 clearly affects both of them in different ways, with Loki slowly coming to grips with the fact that he does have feelings for Sylvie — even though she’s “difficult, irritating, and tries to hit [him] all the time.”

This is only made more pronounced after Loki finds himself trapped in a time loop with Lady Sif back on Asgard shortly following his past-self committing a cruel prank and cutting off her hair. Sif not only beats him up (and rightfully so), but tells him many times, “You deserve to be alone and you always will be.” For the first time, Loki realizes he doesn’t want to be alone, and that there might be someone out there for him, who he can connect with on another level.

Even more so than Loki just realizing he is capable of loving someone other than himself, Loki is finally willing to accept himself and all his flaws. “I don't think Loki's relationship with himself has been very healthy,” Tom Hiddleston explains. “Trying to accept those aspects of himself, which he's been on the run from, was a way of thinking about that in a really interesting way. Also, Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie. That's interesting, too. I'm really excited to see what people make of it.”

As Mobius notes, it might just be a case of extreme narcissism, but it also makes complete sense for the character.

“Who’s a better match for Loki than himself?” director Kate Herron chimes in. “The whole show is about identity. It's about him, and he is on a very different path, and he is on a different journey. He sees things in Sylvie that he is like, ‘Oh, I've been there. I know what you feel.’ But she's like, ‘Well, I don't feel that way.’ And I think that was the kind of fun thing about it. She is him, but she's not him. They've had such different life experiences. So just from an identity perspective, it was interesting to dig into that.”

“When Loki meets Sylvie, he's inspired solely by curiosity,” reveals Hiddleston. “He wants to talk to her and understand her and try to discern what was similar about their experiences, and what was different. He keeps asking her questions because he wants to see if his experience was also her experience. I think he realizes, and she realizes, that while they're the same, they're not the same.”

Herron was careful setting up this relationship. “It was just about giving it the space to breathe and digging into it in a way that felt earned,” she explains.

Considering partnerships are 50/50, credit has to be paid to Sophia Di Martino, taking on the role of Sylvie and becoming someone who can match Loki’s own energy and chaos.

"I think something that Sophia captured really beautifully is that she’s in a different space,” continues Herron. “She's almost where Loki was in Thor in some ways where she's dealing with a lot of pain. For different reasons, obviously. It was really interesting having her in a different headspace of a different Loki.”

When production was shut down at the start of the pandemic, Herron kept working, putting together what had already been filmed. She realized that “there were tonally some things that were coming to the surface” between Loki and Sylvie that she could explore deeper.

“As we were cutting it together in the studio, everyone was, ‘Oh, this [relationship] is really cool. Let's dig into that more,’" shares Herron. “When we went back to filming, we added or tweaked scripts basically to [emphasize it].”

[zoufantastical]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they have made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action? (I'm not complaining big fan of it) Do you feel as if the show runner herself is giving Sylvie as much screen time and moments that often eclipse Loki bc she may be a character who's main purpose was to uplift and expand Loki's character, and that was her only original purpose? As if maybe she wasn't intended to last in the Marvel universe, at least in this incarnation? Seeing how most of this show is ran by the point of view of some women, that what we have with Sylvie is what we get bc of this reason? Do u feel it would have been different had it been otherwise? Or do you feel differently then my observation? Would love any point of view.

Why First Impressions Matter

Let me just say I was ecstatic over this ask. Finally something different (not that I don’t enjoy the previous asks) that forces me to talk about something that has been lingering in the back of my mind since the show started.

If you guys could be patient with me, I would appreciate it. I’m going to deviate a lil bit and talk about a point that relates to this ask and basically explains this user’s concern.

So, my mother says that she gives a show around ten minutes or so to grab her interest. At first I thought it was a bit ridiculous, since that means she’s missing out on a lot of great potentials because of this rule. I respected her opinion of course. Now, ever since the Loki show started though, I understand why she believes in it.

Marvel is very lucky they have loyal fans like us who will eat up whatever they spoon fed us. Even amongst heavy criticism. Despite people hating on the character Loki in his show by calling him “Larry” , the writers “clowns” or calling him OOC and a sidekick on his own show (please if you have the time, read the short post I linked), I finally understand their sentiment, which in a way is misplaced because of what I’m going to mention:

The first ten minutes of the first episode of Loki could should have been better.

What do I mean by this? Two things actually.

Imagine that you are a new MCU fan and you want to catch up on the movies or someone wanting to binge watch the entire saga again. You finish the first avengers movie but you decide to deviate and watch Loki, which is based on 2012 Avengers Loki. What’s one thing that’s going to throw them off immediately? Guess.

If you did congrats.

It’s the hair.

As a loyal fan, this will ALWAYS confuse me. There’s also the fact that they shot new scenes with the overly long spiky ends wig. So…why the sudden change in appearance? I started headcanoning that traveling through space and dimensions fucks up your evil blowout just for my sanity.

Already we are on the wrong path.

Now you may think this is minor and shouldn’t matter but appearances DO matter and sometimes we don’t pick up on inconsistencies right away, however, they do stay in our minds and form this domino effect later on which is what is happening with a lot of displeased fans.

The second is this joke of a scene.

If there was any time that Loki needed to display some of his abilities we were introduced at the end of episode two and throughout episode three, this would have been the perfect moment. Loki may be cocky, petty and boastful, but he is not stupid.

He just barely escaped with the tesseract. He would not approach ignorantly and all cocky mighty, a group of people who seem to look very dangerous. This is 2012 Loki. You know the dangerous god that a group of talented individuals joined forces to stop because it would have been the end of their world as they know it? A Loki who will be on high alert because not only will SHIELD and the Avengers be looking for him but eventually the Other and Thanos as well.

What I would have done to rewrite the strength and seriousness of the TVA without outright humiliating Loki in the process, this scene instead should have been a fight scene. Loki would have been full of adrenaline, displaying all his feats only to be caught off guard by B-15 and THEN you could make this infamous scene.

We already know that the TVA agents are trash fighters and easily beaten grunts based on later scenes. A scene like what I recommended would have prepared us for that. Otherwise now we are calling the rest of the fight scenes in this show also inconsistent with what we were presented in their first appearance.

Another rewrite I would have done is NOT start off the show using the Endgame Loki escaping scene. A great majority of people watching the show are because they already KNOW this Loki escaped with the space stone. Starting off with a recap, a recap all the way to the elevator scene no less, is not only way too long but unnecessary.

To peek the audiences’ interest, one should have started with a short scene of TVA hunting The hooded mysterious Variant and the latter killing them. It could be anywhere in time. Not only would that peek ones interest and wonder who this figure is, they’ll assume they are trouble and that they might cause an issue with Loki if they were to cross each other’s path etc basically you’ll have the audience’s mind scrambled and excited. THEN after the marvel logo you can put the recap scene.

[If you made it this far, congrats, because I’m finally going to start answering this user’s question]

What do you think of how much more bad ass they made Sylvie over Loki in terms of action?

And this is why I made a big deal of explaining what I’ve said above. Is not that Sylvie is more badass. In fact, Sylvie should have more scenes than the ones we are given. It’s the fact that the Loki actions scenes started off misplaced and were not started strong enough to make an impactful expression. It’s why they are calling him all sorts of things like weak, clown, OOC, stupid, inconsistent etc even though later on he is shown to be intelligent and strong.

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) Sylvie’s character has been bound by her male counterpart’s. The majority of her scenes are with Loki, whether they were fighting or developing her character. This…is not the best writing choice but given this is only 6 episodes and time is short, they are pitting these two together as early as episode two in order to establish their partnership/relationship.

This choice sacrifices character screen time so the plot can move forward. Sylvie so far has only three meaningful scenes ever since being introduced (without Loki) and personally I feel that’s not enough.

Being paired with Loki 95% of the time is why you and many believe that she is taking Loki’s shine. We hadn’t had time, as a viewer, to fully appreciate Sylvie despite her not wanting to be called or relate to the name Loki. We haven’t had time to BREATHE and actually enjoy this new character especially since the majority of her scenes she is bounded by the hip to Loki! You are also right to believe that her character seem to have been created to “uplift and expand” Loki’s character-because SHE IS! And the latest episode basically confirms that!

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sylvie is a character exclusively used for the Loki show. So far there are no plans of using her beyond the series. Which is unfortunate because it means that even with female writers behind the script, decisions were made and accepted to have the Sylvie character move and react to the plot along side a male character. It’s fine for that to happen but when it’s the majority of their screen time, then it’s an issue. So your observation is correct.

Don’t get me wrong, I have been enjoying the show so far. Not loving it but it’s been entertaining despite some of it’s…creative choices. One thing that has been in common so far in MCU series is that they aim too high with a big budget only for them to not put the same time and care on a story they want to tell.

It really is unfortunate because there are moments in the show that has been done great! But again many choices has to do with the fact that Marvel and Disney are obsessed with keeping up this schedule and milking a show as much as they can. Because that’s their brand.

I can’t tell you additionally what I would have done differently. I guess we would have to wait till the Finale for me to properly answer that question.

[sleeplessandstubborn]

Emily in Paris episode 4, or how I never got that thing about peanut butter

It's been a long time since I had revisited Miss Cooper's adventures in Paris, and many of you are over it anyway, but I was asked to go on with this so, why not? For that I had to rewatch again episode 4 and be reminded of one of its better characters/reasons to watch/whatever you want to call her. Camille. Oh I love Camille. Just like I love Sylvie. It's harsh, when in a series your least favourite character is the main one. Isn't it? but let's take a look to episode 4.

At the beginning of this episode we find our heroine trying to communicate with a very mysantropic flower seller. As we discover few minutes later, it's not that she's hostile with Emily and wants to give her a bouquet of wilting roses because she's a bubbly American but because she hates humanity. This last part is relatable but it's not good to have a job when you have to confront it constantly. Calm down Madame.

Fortunately a young, gentle Frenchwoman shows up and comes to Emily's rescue, not in a shining armour but with a smile the size of Jupiter. Evil flower seller is defeated and Emily walks away with this charming stranger and a perfect rose bouquet. Our new character's name is Camille, and she speaks good English because she watched a lot of series in her childhood. That's why we Spaniards are legendary bad at speaking other languages I guess. Everything is dubbed! Including this episode when I rewatched it. Not a copy in the original language available right now for me. Disappointing, I know.

Camille also invites Emily to the art gallery where she works at and where a famous hotelier is supposed to show up, along with other people from Chicago. Emily is a fan - its a bit weird to be fan of a hotelier, but who am I to judge - , definitely, and wants to meet him. It's also a good professional occasion, probably. The two girls part ways after accidentaly kissing on the mouth. Emily apologizes. Camille is not sorry at all and disappears from scene, big shining smile and all. We agree and are not sorry at all.

Back at home she finds the packages she was expecting from home have finally arrived. Gabriel helps up to take all that stuff inside her apartment. Unfortunately for her, the peanut butter exploded and has made a mess of what looks like a pile of magazines and the framed photo with her ex. Gabriel makes that unmistakable face. Peanut butter? Yours truly, having spent her childhood and teenagehood watching movies and series from the other side of the Atlantic, always wondered what was that thing. When finally tried it it was... so weird. Maybe it was the brand, maybe it was the concept. Who really knows. Whatever, let's go on.

(Yes, he makes that face, the face of a puzzled European I meant).

Also, I am sure Emily can find that thing in Paris, too. I live in a not very big town in Southern Spain and that thing can be found in our supermarkets. So why not in Paris? Big question that the series doesn't answer, tho, because Gabriel proceeds to ruin peanut butter forever with a simple omelette. Well done, Gabriel. But it's time to go to the office, isn't it?

So here we are, with Antoine and Sylvie clearly in the middle of an argument. While claiming she hopes she's not interrupting, Emily does interrupt the scene. Remember that thing from the last chapter when she claimed she had given up in her quest of being universally liked and/or being friends with everyone including her boss? Yeah, nevermind, that's in the past, it no longer matters. Emily tries to mediate and says Randy Zimmer (that's the hotelier's name) is overjoyed to hear Antoine's company is creating an exclusive scent for his hotels.

Sylvie goes on with Emily's lie, even if we can see she's not happy and later states - while throwing the bouquet or roses she just gave her as a "happy Tuesday" present on her desk - that she doesn't need to be rescued, and she doesn't want to take credit for ideas she doesn't know if she really likes. Sylvie is always the voice of reason and adulthood here. She teases her about the lingerie thing, tho. Emily claims her new friend Gabriel gave it to her.

I don't know about Sylvie, but Luc and Julien clearly don't believe that last bit, as they say clearly to Emily over the lunch. This is a dysfunctional workplace, she complains. Hey, smart girl, you are causing all the drama, Julien answers. His mood during the entire scene is exasperated. They tell her how Antoine and Sylvie became lovers in the first place, and warn her not to come between them. I don't think Emily has that intention.

Later that same day, Mindy is full of chaotic energy. Who cares if Antoine is married and with an official misstress? Why is Emily so disperate about becoming friends with Sylvie - yeah, Mindy, why, many of us are questioning that part of Emily's behaviour - why don't just enjoy Antoine's attention? What's more, why doesn't Emily introduce her to Antoine, since she doesn't care about what's her name? Is Mindy shipping Emily and Camille? Yes, she's one of us.

Our favourite French girl is there and warmly welcomes Emily, introducing her to Randy Zimmer who, clearly, goes to the same hairdresser than Antoine. No, really, I have certain difficulties to make the difference between the two, if Randy was wearing a suit with a tie I couldn't tell. As Camille and her fabulous bun walk away, Emily behaves like a dork with Randy. She has memorized his interviews and all. Is a bit awkward, but who am I to judge about memorizing completely irrelevant things in interviews. Randy goes from feeling a bit awkward to intrigued to totes wanting her card and finding her proposition interesting. By the way I really liked these paintings.

Randy shows up the next day at Savoir, and after smelling fragances all they agree they could go on talking about the deal with Randy's hotel empire over a good dinner. Sylvie decides to put again our heroine in difficulties by asking for an impossible reservation. By the way, I love her outfit. Sylvie, not Emily's. As she tries to do her best, Emily confronts Antoine over the lingerie thing. She clearly says it's inappropriate which is a thing I can agree with, he says he bought it for her not for him (eeeeh... are you all right?)

Even in front of the restaurant Sylvie is esceptical Emily really succeeded in her mission of doing that reservation. As usual, she's right. Emily got the dates backwards and made a reservation for November, not August. It should have been easy to find that bit of information online, as most of the world follows another datation system. Fortunately Emily lights the Gabrielsignal on and he comes to her rescue again.

The dinner is, as expected, a success, since we are in the last minutes of the episode a.k.a. in the Emily is saved time. There's a deal, Antoine is very happy with Savoir AND Sylvie. Even the latter makes a compliment to our heroine as they leave after the dinner. Less enthusiast individuals would have felt overjoyed in her place, so it's not strange that Emily decides to thank Gabriel for saving her ass, even if it's with another part of her body, that's is, her lips. Gabriel doesn't seem to object to this.

But, oh surprise in this Paris that is like "a little town" (ok... series... I am rolling my eyes at you again) a she goes out of the restaurant she bumps into our dear Camille, all smiles and charm. It turns out that she is Gabriel girlfriend. Ouch. This could be solved with a civilized chat and our three characters, that, we are about to find in the next chapters, get along together, being happy with this situation and riding into the sunset while enjoying themselves. Yeah, the three of them. Writers, unfortunately, have decided otherwise. But that's another story and will be told in another post.

[londontheatre]

Fluid (Jack O’Neill)

There are times when I really wish I could write. Not these reviews but something worthwhile. They say everybody has a book inside of them but I’ve yet to find mine. As for writing a play, fat chance. Maybe that is why I enjoy nights such as Xposed which was a new writing night of eight short plays at the Hen & Chickens Theatre.

The evening started with a play called Fluid, written by Nick Maynard, Directed by Shafeeq Shajahan and performed by Jack O’Neill. This was a monologue with Jack’s character being a rough, ‘chavy’ boy from Bolton on a stage supposedly performing a rap for the eager audience – which included his mum, brother, girlfriend and friends. Only our lad has other ideas and is going to use this opportunity to tell everyone something that he has been hiding.

Immediately the play started, my thoughts turned to “oh great, another coming out play”, but no, the writer was far cleverer and more subtle than that. This story was deeper and really revolved around the question of is there a difference between having sex and making love? The short answer is yes, definitely and Jack’s character really goes into some detail about why and how it is different. The language is quite graphic and thanks to the delivery, also much more erotic than you would have thought. A lot of this is due to Jack’s performance which feels exceptionally real and powerful in his use of tone and language to get his point across. A great start to the show.

Next up was Stars by DJ Sylvis, Directed by Edwina Strobl and performed by Tris Hobson and Jack Doyle. A tale of two people in love though they live thousands of miles apart from each other and have never met. But the two of them have an open sky full of the wonders of the universe above them and this really brings them together in a very gentle but at the same time really romantic way. Over a late night phone conversation, they discuss the stars and planets kidding each other in a soppy but loveable way as the stars shine above them.

Stars was a big change after Fluid and worked really well as a play in its own right. The story was very gentle and the two actors really seemed to work well together in bringing this long distance romance to life. I loved the starfield but my one criticism is that neither character had a phone in their hand which just really stood out as a strange anomaly in the staging . Even a fake one that lit up would have been good. However, ultimately, this was a really nice play.

Number three and it’s monologue time again with Angus Fisher’s The Scene directed by Chris Davis and performed by Freddie Wintrip. This is the story of a young lad on a gap year who on a trip to Bangkok, decides to go a little bit wild.

All the way through this play, I kept wondering how a boy as naive as Freddie’s character managed to cross the road by himself, let alone travel round the world. This was a really typical, shallow, twinkie gay guy who seemed to walk into situations with his eyes shut then be surprised when they went wrong. Whilst Freddie played him extremely well, I really had no empathy with him and at the end, was not that worried about where he went from now on.

Finishing the first half was, what turned out to be my favourite play of the evening One Night Fran by Adam Szudrich, performed by Olivia Davies, Reena Lalbihari and Tori Louis. This is the story of three women, all of whom go on a date with Fran. The three dates are virtually the same but each woman sees her time with Fran in a completely different way.

Oh, this was perfection. The writing was excellent, the direction gentle but perfect and the acting brilliant. There was a lovely lyrical quality to the three stories, told as interweaving monologues, that just worked perfectly. The twists at the end of the story were nicely timed and performed, leaving me, for one, really wanting to know what happened next when the lights went down. Awesome.

After the interval and we were back with Mark Daniels’ play Something About Billy. Directed by Jake Leonard and performed by David K Whiting, Katharine Jee and Daniella Finch, Something About Billy was a really nice story centred around Billy’s 21st birthday meal with his family. Before he arrives, Billy’s mum gets to the restaurant early as she has some news to impart to Billy’s dad about their son.

So, yes, Something About Billy is a ‘coming out play’ but it was a really lovely one. I loved the reaction from Kevin, the father, on being told – in a pretty blunt way – by his wife that their son was gay. Although my father took the news reasonably well when it was broken to him, I think that internally, his reaction was probably the same as Kevin’s internally. I also really loved Billy’s mum Michelle and her tactics of winding up her husband by repeating a certain phrase that I couldn’t possibly mention here. There was a nice chemistry between the two parents and overall, this was a heartwarming story told in a really amusing and enjoyable way.

Gold Star (left Beth Eyre ,right Roseanna Frascona)

Next up was Gold Star written by Roisin Moriarty, directed by Will Maynard and performed by Roseanna Frascona and Beth Eyre. The story of two ladies on a first date, Gold Star was a really interesting approach to a subject that, even now seems to plague the LGBT+ community, that of bi-phobia. Although I, like most people, didn’t identify with many of the comments being thrown around, unfortunately, they were all ones that I have heard round the LGBT+ community at one time and another. Overall, Gold Star confused me slightly. On a personal level, no matter how much attraction I felt for someone, I would have ended the date relatively quickly if they had spouted as many negative and at times ignorant statements that were presented by someone supposedly trying to impress on a first date. So, although I wasn’t keen on the scenario, I was impressed that the subject was raised and that for every negative point, there was a positive. The two actors looked and sounded good together, and although not entirely my cup of tea, the whole production was well put together and very thought provoking.

On to our penultimate play. Written by David Hendon, The Temp is a tale of unrequited and forbidden infatuation as Russell (Derek Murphy) falls hook line and sinker for the new office temp, Tom. Unfortunately for Russell, there is nothing he can do about things as not only is he closeted at work, he is also a married man and somehow he doesn’t think his wife would approve of his lustful thoughts over Tom. Coulda business trip to Manchester be the catalyst Russell needs to be free?

The Temp was an interesting piece. Delivered as a monologue, Russell’s story probably resonates with a number of men of a certain age who have allowed their lives to be dictated by convention and have ended up living a life that isn’t of their choosing. It is impossible not to feel sorry for Russell, though he never portrays himself as a victim. I have to admit I guessed the ending about halfway through but even so, I really felt for Russell when it happened. A nicely written piece, well directed by Sam Luffman and portrayed exceptionally well by Derek Murphy.

Finally, to end the night it was the turn of Oakley Flanagan to present their play Pray Your Wings Will Carry You. In a loud gay bar Curtis (Hassan Govia) meets Gabby (Josh Enright). The two of them hit it off and a night of passion follows. Curtis considers himself all man and sexually he takes on the traditional male role, whilst he treats Gabby – who identifies as non-binary – as a woman in the bedroom. This leads to friction and Curtis is confronted with examining the role he has assumed and the preconceptions he has formed about people’s places in theworld of love and sex.

Pray Your Wings Will Carry You (left Hassan Gavia, right Josh Enright)

A really powerful play to end on, Pray Your Wings Will Carry You tackles the subject of male/female/non-binary in a forthright and thought provoking way that is bound to get people talking in the bar afterwards. I’m pretty ‘right-on’ when it comes to the LGBT+ community but I inwardly made the same assumptions as Curtis when it came to assigning roles in the bedroom for these two, and it was really great to have these ideas – which I didn’t really realise I had – challenged in this way. The two actors circled each other beautifully – thanks to some lovely movement by Director Alex Prescot and the story flowed nicely from their initial meeting to the final moment as they looked towards… what? Well that was left for the audience to make their mind up.

Xposed was a really well curated evening by Full Disclosure Theatre with a great assortment of plays that, while centred around the LGBT+ community, covered a myriad of different themes. It was great to see subjects like men who sleep with men for pleasure, bi-phobia and non-binary genders being tackled in real style. My one gripe with this and similar events is that you rarely, if ever see a play that is about older, less perfectly formed gay men. Maybe this is because all the writers are younger people but I do worry that, to an outsider, most of these plays – with the exception of One Night Fran – made it look as if the life of gay people ends when their youth fails. Still this is a minor moan and probably says a lot more about me than anyone associated with the production.

Overall though, the evening was highly enjoyable and, as these events always do, reminded me forcibly of how much talent there is in the fields of writing, directing and acting out there and how many stories are waiting to be told.

Review by Terry Eastham

About XPOSED: XPOSED takes place on 19 and 20 November at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, near Highbury and Islington station. The night will feature eight plays by eight emerging writers, and you can read more about each one below:

Fluid by Nick Maynard Directed by Shafeeq Shajahan Now everyone’s equal and everyone’s the same. But some of us don’t want to be the same. What happens in a post-gay world when sexuality becomes fluid?

Stars by D.J. Sylvis Directed by Edwina Strobl A conversation between two universe-crossed lovers who’ve never met, brought closer by the stars that surround them both.

The Scene by Angus Fisher Directed by Chris Davis This trip to Bangkok won’t be forgotten anytime soon. A tale about what happens when you mix love, sex and alcohol.

One Night Fran by Adam Szudrich Directed by Sepy Baghaei When three women go on separate dates with Fran, they see the same things in very different ways.

Something About Billy by Mark Daniels Directed by Jake Leonard Michelle has something to tell Kevin about their son Billy. A comedy about coming out to a traditional, working-class family.

Gold Star by Roisin Moriarty Directed by Will Maynard To some, squishy bits are irrelevant. To others, they’re all that matter. A primary school teacher gives her date a light-hearted lesson in acceptance.

The Temp by David Hendon Directed by Sam Luffman Russell becomes infatuated with office newcomer Tom – he just hasn’t told his wife. A weekend away at a conference offers Russell the chance to confront who he is.

Pray Your Wings Will Carry You by Oakley Flanagan Directed by Alex Prescot A chance encounter in a gay bar becomes an examination of the roles we play in sex and love

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