#i just wish he was in an adaptation worthy of his performance lmao

[sam-reid]

I was his lover and then his mother. I gave him a body.

Ted Levine as Julien Mayfair MAYFAIR WITCHES 2.05: JULIEN'S VICTROLA.

[watchmegetobsessed]

Enchanted - Adam Sackler (pt. 1)

well well well, look who’s back with a new sackler fic! i honestly don’t know where this is gonna head, im figuring it out as im writing so im not that ahead of you lmao but i’ve been thinking about this concept for a while now so let’s see how it will turn out!

series summary: You are casted as Giselle in the Broadway adaptation of Enchanted with Adam as Robert.

word count: 3.5k

masterlist

Chapter title: The man

If you had to imagine what a surgeon is feeling right before a super important operation, you’d compare the feeling to the one you always get at auditions without hesitation. The nerves are stretching to the maximum, some can’t even take it, some have odd coping mechanism, the air is thick with tension and rivalry and all eyes are looking for weak points in others. It’s a mixture of feelings that crawls up on your spine every time you wait for your name to be called and find out whether or not you were good enough to make the cut.

This time is no different as you sit in a now emptied out room that was once full of ambitious girls, all of them longing after the exact same thing, a role that would change their lives, but now it’s just the five of you. You see the similarities between yourself and the girls, you are all slim figured and judging from what you’ve seen all of you have some kind of dancer background, especially number three who is eyeing you now with a hard stare, probably deep in her thoughts what would make you better than her while you do the same. You would swear your life she used to be a ballet dancer, it’s radiating from the way she sits and walks, you can just tell it.

It’s way past ten pm and all of you have been here for the whole day, fighting your way through three rounds of audition, each of them testing something different. Singing, dancing and acting, the three compulsory things that need to be perfected if someone wants the role of Giselle, especially since the shoes you’d be putting on with this role are pretty high-end, given the fact that the first and only person to bring life to the character was Amy Adams and she made quite the impression on millions of people all around the world on the big screen when the movie came out.

Looking down at your hands you notice how they are shaking once again and you quickly hide them between your thighs not to show weakness. You can’t let them see how nerve-wrecking this is for you, that’s just not professional, not what you want to project to the world.

Then the door to the auditorium where you had to perform three times today opens and all five of you rise to your feet when the four people who have been judging you all day appear with the piece of paper that contains the results you’ve been waiting all week to know.

“Thank you for your patience, it’s been a very hard decision to make,” Petra, the production assistant speaks up with a warm smile as she looks around. “We wanted to make sure the best person will stand on the stage of Broadway when the curtains open very soon and we were convinced that all of you would be worthy of the role of Giselle.”

You catch a few confused and anxious looks around, and you can almost hear the questions popping up in the minds: so how did they decide?

“But we’ve made a decision, and we would like to thank to everyone for the hard work you put into today.”

Your heart is up in your throat, each beat feels like it pushes the top of your head as you stare at the paper, visioning your name written on it as the chosen one. Petra exchanges a knowing look with the three men, the choreographer Matt, the director Trevor and Lee, the dramaturge before she turns back to us and the final name rolls down her tongue, leaving those perfectly red lips that never stopped smiling all day.

“Y/N, we would like to welcome you to the production of Enchanted on Broadway.”

You gasp and you freeze as your own name rings in your ears and envious stares turn to you from all around the room while you are just standing there, completely shocked that you actually got the part, as if you haven’t been telling yourself it’s going to happen in the past weeks.

“Thank you for everyone, we hope to see you maybe at another audition, because you all have great potential. Y/N, please stay for a little longer so we can discuss the further steps.

You’re going on Broadway, it is finally happening. You’ll be standing on the stage you’ve been dreaming of since you were a little girl, the applause will be yours (partly) every night before the curtains close. You can’t stop thinking about it all through the next about thirty minutes as you discuss every crucial information with Petra, she hands you a schedule and makes you sign some paperwork that already has your name on them. You try to remember everything and when you give them every contact info that’s needed you finally head home.

You can’t help but feel silly when arriving back to your small apartment you put on the movie and watch as Amy Adams sings warmly on the screen with a skeptical Patrick Dempsey and as you hum to the music already knowing most of the songs you wonder who will be your Robert Philip. Petra said the auditions will end this week and you’ll have a table reading on Monday where you’ll be able to meet all the people who will basically be your family for the upcoming months during the rehearsals and once the show opens.

It’s past one am when you finally turn your laptop off putting it away and as you creep your way to your window the nightlights of the city light up your face. Climbing out to the fire escape you listen to the chaotic sounds of the city that never sleeps, watching a group of friends cross the street, spraying champagne to the asphalt, laughing their way into the night. Normally you would find them annoying, but not tonight. You wish them a great night as you dream about a glass of the sparkly beverage in your hand, drinking to your big achievement. Your eyes travel up to the gloomy sky and you let out a wondering sigh, the thought of change embracing your hopes and dreams.

 ***

 “Okay, big smile!”

You flash your widest smile into the camera Lora is holding up in front of you, holding the coffee she just bought you in your hands.

“Amazing, I feel like a mother who is taking her daughter to the school for the first time,” she jokes putting her phone away as the two of you start walking. “I’m so proud of you!”

“Thanks. I’m really excited,” you smile shyly. First day nerves are bringing the best out of you, it’s been a hard task to get some sleep last night and you only managed to rest for a couple of hours, but the excitement is definitely keeping you awake. Today is your first official day at a Broadway production in a leading role, this is a day you will never forget probably.

“You’ll be amazing and when you are finally famous, we can sell your stuff on ebay and get rich!” she cheers making you laugh. She always sees the most important things in situations.

“Great plan.” Checking the time you see that you really should get going if you don’t want to be late for the reading. “I’ll see you tonight?” you ask her stopping at the entrance of the subway.

“Sure, I’ll swing by around nine,” she nods giving you a quick hug. “Break a leg!” she calls after you as you wave while running down the stairs.

You’re not unfamiliar with the world of theater, but every theater is different and you can never know what to expect behind the scenes. It’s a whole new world on the other side of the curtains and as you walk into the building you feel like a wandering child, soaking in every little detail you see, even though it’s not even that extra like you had imagined.

Arriving to the meeting room you are fifteen minutes early, leaving only just a few people there, the long table with chairs all around it, name cards at each seat is set with water bottles and fresh fruits in bowls, a copy of the script is neatly placed at each seat.

“Y/N! Hi! How are you?” Petra welcomes you rushing over to you with that warm smile of hers, wearing an orange colored flowy dress that goes great with her dark brown locks.

“A little nervous but excited,” you chuckle.

“Don’t be nervous, we are all family now here. Come on, let me introduce you around.”

You meet some of the dancers and background actors, Trevor who you have already met at the audition and Petra also introduces you to the Misha, the costume designer who even shows you some of her sketches for the dresses you’ll be wearing on stage and they all look stunning, like a piece of art each.

You find your name at the table and put your coat to the back of the chair, running your fingers over the cover of the script with a small smile playing on your lips and pulling your phone out you shoot a quick photo of the script and your name tag before checking the names around you.

Right next to you is the one you’ve been most curious about, the name Robert Philip written in small under the name of the real person behind the character: Adam Sackler.

“I think you two will get along well,” Petra smiles at you from the other side of the table, seeing you eye the name tag. “He is—oh, he is here!” she declares, head turning to the door and she is already rushing to welcome the tall man who just walked in.

Adam Sackler is quite a man at first sight. His tall figure, broad shoulders and hair dark as the night make him appear a little dour and stern, but the smile he gives to Petra upon seeing her definitely gives his features a soft touch of warmth. He wraps an arm around her shoulders as they exchange a few words you can’t hear from this far, and you seem to be lost in the appearance of the man you’ll fall for on the stage, but you are brought back to reality when his eyes lock with yours and you notice Petra is turned to you as well. You clear your throat, feeling like a kid that’s been caught doing something naughty when you were just looking at him.

The two of them head in your way and you get yourself ready to meet the man, feeling his eyes intensely burning down at you the whole time he strides over to his seat next to you, Petra walking right beside him.

“Y/N, this is Adam. Adam, meet your Giselle, Y/N,” she smiles and when your eyes meet his again you feel his gaze in your guts. He is the definition of intimidating, expressions unreadable paired with a physique that can’t stay unrecognized.

A large hand extends in front of you, and as your palm touches his, you can’t help but notice the size difference.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” he beams, a tiny smile playing on his full lips, the lips you’ll be kissing soon.

Damn it, get your shit together! You tell yourself as you nod at him in a friendly manner.

“You too, Adam.”

Your hopes of Petra easing the nerves you are feeling from this first meeting quickly disappear when more and more people start to arrive and she leaves the two of you alone.

As your hands let go of each other you still feel the warm touch of his hand linger on your skin, both of you turning to your seats.

“So, have been on Broadway before?” he asks, glancing at your shortly as the two of you sit and he starts flipping through the script.

“No, I’m totally a newcomer. Have you been?”

“Yeah, just once a while back.”

“Any advice to be taken?” you smile at him laying your palms out on the table. He thinks to himself for a moment before turning to you.

“Leave reality behind,” he answers with a smile that seems to be hiding tens of feelings and thoughts, maybe a few stories that you are now dying to hear. Adam Sackler is definitely the person you feel drawn to in many ways and as you turn your attention towards the script, aimlessly flipping through the pages you wonder how many sides of him you will get to know by the time the lights go up on the stage for the first time.

 ***

 The reading wouldn’t take more than about two hours at most, but with so many people and even more jokes to make it’s hard to stick to the schedule. There is always just something to add, change, comment on and this is what brings the whole team together. By the time the last words of the last page are said out loud, you feel like part of the bigger whole and the nervousness long gone, replaced by true excitement and anticipation to see what’s next.

“Thank you everyone, I think we can all agree this show is going to be magical,” Trevor, the director speaks up when the reading is over and everyone nods in agreement. “First rehearsals on the stage are expected to start in two weeks, I would like to kindly ask everyone to respect the schedule and the time of others. A list of contacts will be emailed to everyone by the end of the day,” he notes before discharging everyone.

You’re soon pulled into a discussion with Clyde, aka Prince Edward and Misha, talking about preferences for the costumes in the field of comfort and practicality, but you find yourself scanning the room for one particular tall figure.

Adam is standing a couple of feet away from you, talking to a blonde woman who has her hands on the shoulders of Janelle, the girl who’ll be playing Adam’s stage daughter, an adorable little sunshine from what you’ve seen from her in the past few hours, very focused and hardworking, she didn’t have one bad word during the whole thing and read her lines perfectly.

“He is quite the sight, huh?”

Misha’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts and you haven’t even noticed that Clyde was already gone. Standing next to you, she crosses her arms on her chest, eyes glued to the man in word.

“He has a great presence on the stage I heard.”

“He does?” you ask glancing at her. She nods, tugging her bright red hair behind her ears, a cheeky smile playing on her lips.

“I mean, he has one in real life too, but the way he appears up there, it’s worth a prayer,” she chuckles. “Good luck with not falling for him.”

“I’ll stay professional,” you sternly state, pushing that little voice in the back of your mind that’s doubting your words.

“Professionalism is the first thing you lose when you find yourself in the arms of such a man,” she smirks at you before walking away, leaving you with a whirl of thoughts circling around what she just said.

Checking your schedule you see that though you’ll be pretty busy from now on, your days filled with singing lessons and dance practices, many of them are solo appointments, but your eyes spot all the times when Adam’s name is written besides yours and you have one almost every day.

Glancing in his way one last time your eyes meet his stare, a small smile playing on his lips that you return before grabbing your stuff and leaving.

 ***

 “Okay, wow,” Lora gasps as the picture of Adam appears on her computer, it’s from about a year ago, portraying him with slicked back hair wearing a long trench coat as he stares back at a guy intensely on the stage. You sip from your wine as Lora takes a good look at him.

“Yeah.”

“How tall are you compared to him?”

“My forehead is at his mouth, more or less,” you say recalling how tall he looked standing right in front of you.

“That’s a nice height difference, like, you’ll have to tiptoe to kiss him, it’s cute,” she grins at you and the thought of kissing him send a shiver down your spine. You’ve been thinking about that a lot since you’ve left the table reading, the memory of his eyes on you and the words of Misha haunting you relentlessly.

“What’s that look?”

“What look?” you ask quickly straightening your expression, taking another sip of the wine.

“Oh I know this look, the guy is already messing with your head!”

“He is not,” you shake your head, but you can’t fool your best friend.

“Oh hell yes. I don’t blame you, he looks fine.”

Turning back to the computer she starts typing, digging deeper on the internet trying to find more about him as you lean your back against the headboard, hugging a pillow to your chest. You really can’t have yourself fall this easily for a man who you’ll be working with so closely. Adam seems nice and everything you’ve heard about him is quite impressing, but you don’t know what kind of man he really is. For all you know he can be the biggest jerk in all of New York City.

“Oh my God! Look at this!” you hear Lora gasp as she leans closer to the screen. Sitting up you wonder what she found and looking at the tab that’s open there is a short film playing.

Well, it’s not the type you were expecting, because right on the screen in front of you, there is Adam’s broad back in a light colored shirt, his hair a little longer than it is now and he is… fully spanking a girl bent over a work bench, wearing only a white tank top. Your mouth hangs open as the scene carries on in front of you, the girl or more like woman grunts with each hit on her lower half begging for him to go harder as Adam calls her a slut and a whore, making it probably the most disturbing cinematic thing you’ve seen that’s not officially considered as porn.

“I’m speechless,” Lora lets out an airy chuckle as the scene soon ends with the woman jumping into his arms and you realize she is not even wearing any underwear.

“What… was that?” you whisper with wide eyes. Lora types in a few things before she can answer that question.

“It’s a short film he did last year with someone named Jessa Johnson, it was a private project. It says the story is based on events from his own life.”

“So you are saying at one point he spanked some girl he was dating and then he decided to make a movie out of it?” you grimace in confusion. This is definitely not something that you would have ever thought of him.

“Oh, and the juiciest of all is that this Jessa girl was his girlfriend,” she continues reading about the film. “This article came out six months ago, they were together then. It adapts the happenings of his private life, how he dated the best friend of his ex-girlfriend.”

“Okay, that’s pretty fucked up, don’t you think?”

“Depends,” she shrugs as she keeps scrolling. “But this film is definitely a nasty one.”

“I can only imagine what else is in it,” you mumble finishing off your wine and reaching for the bottle you pour yourself some more.

“Wanna figure it out?” she grins and you shake your head no immediately.

“I don’t need inappropriate images in my mind when I’ll be stuck with him at rehearsals.”

Knowing how your conscious works you just can’t take the risk. If he appears in more inappropriate scenes in the film, you bet your life that you wouldn’t make yourself think of anything else when you look at him the next time. The spanking is already more than you would bear with.

“I wonder what else there is about him that we don’t know of,” Lora narrows her eyes staring into the distance.

Adam Sackler has given you way more to think about than you would have ever expected from someone and you haven’t even talked to him that much. His appearance, his words to you and the things the internet is holding about him, it all shows a different person and you can’t decide which one is the real side of him or where he stands if it’s a mixture. You wish you could just ask him all the questions you have about him and get your answers without being judged or have them held against you, but you are left with silent suffering and slow observation until you finally figure this handsome looking mysterious man you’ll be forced to cross paths every day.

-

general/forever taglist for Adam Driver

i do separate taglists for different people, but not for different works of mine! if you ask to be on my Adam taglist, you’ll be tagged in all of my Adam fics!

@superdriver​ @siren-queen03​ @holacherrycola90​ @spencer-is-amazing​ @unusual-kindred-spirits @hailthemightywoecloud @holy-kylo-stars​ @kowalskibro-adamdriverblog​ @hurricanesunset​ @writerandee​ @luxury-0pps​ @prncess91​ @malefoygal​ @zaahidahhh​ @filternotincluded @fire-in-her-veinz​ @emily-strange​ @ktellmeastory​

if you’d like to be taken off or added to the list, please let me know!

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 1 reaction

So this is the one Skam remake I did not watch as it was airing! There wasn’t any reason it was this remake in particular, only that I didn’t have time to follow all of them; I was busy and already watching and taking notes on Skam NL, Skam España, and Skam Italia, and wtFOCK happened to be the “surprise” Skam remake that I wasn’t prepared for. And apparently it did very well and connected with the local teen audience, which is fantastic!

Anyway, I did want to watch it when I had time. I’m not going to do recaps for this season per episode, though I might for future seasons, but here are some thoughts about it.

wtFOCK season 1

I had heard that this remake was on the cringe-worthy side, and … yeah, I can see how people would say that. The acting isn’t the strongest, there are moments that I found exaggerated in a way that felt corny. That said, I did enjoy it overall.

Perhaps the biggest thing in its favor is its authenticity, especially with the characters. These feel like real kids. Because, well, they are real kids. The casting is age-appropriate from what I can tell. One reaction that struck me strongly was watching the scene with Jana and Robbe (Eva and Isak) after the gossip gets out at school about Jana cheating and Robbe comforts her, because I just had this big sense of wow, these are really teenagers, and that youthful vulnerability helps deliver the material. With that in mind, I’m much more willing to forgive shakier acting, because they aren’t professionals as far as I know. They’re teenagers representing themselves. The actors do not look or act like 23-year-old Instagram models, and that’s a big plus in my books.

On that note, I love that Jana had braces! Now that’s something you barely see in films and TV unless it’s like a plot point, practically, or a way to signpost that a character is young and awkward. Here it’s just a fact of life. 

In a way I’m glad I didn’t do episode by episode recaps, because some of the scenes were so similar to the original series that I really had nothing to say about them. On the other hand, there were some completely original scenes, and I liked a lot of them!

A lot of the best new material had to do with Jana and her mom. Loved that awkward scene where they run into Britt and Jana’s mom has no idea that they’re no longer friends - give Britt some credit for not ratting out Jana about the cabin trip. And I adored that Sinterklaas scene where Jana came downstairs and found all the goodies on the table, and Jana’s mom said that even though Jana forgot to place her shoe, she must still be in his good books. What a lovely scene to show that Jana’s mom still thinks her daughter is a good kid despite the fight and her bad grades. It was a different detail that Jana had lost her dad at a young age, although I wish that had been brought up a little more as to maybe how it affected her character, since it’s not the same set of circumstances as being distant from a parent who’s moved on to a new family. Touching to show her and her mom visiting her dad’s grave, though.

I also really liked that scene where Jana was eyeing Amber and Luca, and Jens was encouraging her to go talk to them. That was sweet and showed that he knew she was holding back on making new friends, making the post-cabin talk about her not having friends stronger.

Another good addition: Jana jumping straight to the worst conclusion when Jens doesn’t show up at the movies, showing her growing distrust of him, and foreshadowing that the thing with Britt is all a misunderstanding (since him not arriving to the cinema was, too).

The direction on the show is pretty standard. There’s not much ambition or #aesthetic and sometimes scenes are blocked clumsily or paced strangely. However, I could always tell what the main point of a scene was supposed to be, I wasn’t struggling to understand Jana’s emotional state, it wasn’t style over substance. So in that way, it was efficient. When it comes down to it, the characters are the most important to any version of Skam.

FreeFest was a decent way to adapt the russ storyline, although now I want to see if they continue to develop it across seasons or if it’ll fizzle out or fade into the background like I think the russ equivalent is going to with several of the remakes. One big challenge, I’ve realized, is that Skam could easily develop russ throughout the entire show, since it wouldn’t happen until graduation. However, the remakes have introduced various parties and trips and events that have less of a reason to go on indefinitely. FreeFest seemed like a lot of work, so I’m curious if it’ll continue into the second season. I didn’t catch when it was supposed to happen.

I was curious what was the point of Keisha, too, since she basically just showed up to be a red herring friend for Jana and then she disappeared. To demonstrate Jana really hates drugs? I did like her intro scene where Jana was obviously reading a little bit more into that interaction than intended, she was looking for a social connection and Keisha just kept on passing out flyers. They kept updating her IG throughout the season and even into the new year, so maybe she’ll be returning for S2, as someone working on her own FreeFest team.

Jana was great. She was a realistic teenage girl, with lots of insecurity and some bouts of confidence, and I appreciate that. She really hated drugs and smoking of all kinds in this version, it felt even more pronounced than with Eva. At times it felt a tad after-school-special but it also strengthened why Jens would hide his big secret from her.

After the cabin trip, Jens said that he thought having friends was important to Jana, and she said it was, just that Jens was more important, which I thought was a nice line, considering she had chosen Jens over Britt and established her mindset at that point.

Jens was clearly the best-looking dude around, to the point where I easily would have bought if he were the William character. Like the actual William and P-Chris characters had nothing on the Jonas (no offense to those actors, it’s not a comment on their performances) although I know their popularity is also a matter of personality and status and Jens/Jonas is supposed to be more an edgy non-conformist type. No wonder Jana didn’t know who Senne was, compared to her own boyfriend.

Loved Zoë a hell of a lot. Loved that she was so unimpressed with a lot of the guys’ bullshit. Loved that she had no time for any man’s fuckery, from Senne to Luka to Jens. She was probably kindest to Robbe, all things considering.

Also loved how they showed Jana and Zoë’s friendship in this version, such as seeing Jana having video chats with Zoë, or that they were so frequently seen together.

When Amber asked whether Zoë got turned out by guys, Zoë’s “...Yes?” felt like the least convincing thing ever. That girl does not care about dudes in the slightest. I mean, I know she does, buuuuut ... nah.

I think Zoë is the first Noora to come from Oslo, and in a way it’s kind of amazing that it took so long.

She had a pic of Laura Palmer on IG, so like Noora, she is also a Twin Peaks fan.

Yasmina was missing from the party scenes, which I guess was the actress’ choice, and I respect that. However, I did feel that it ended up undermining her character. The big moment of Sana throwing water in Ingrid’s face on behalf of Vilde was changed to Luca doing it, because Yasmina wasn’t at the party. And that was a pretty crucial moment in the Sana-Vilde relationship. I don’t think Yasmina and Amber had anything like that to make up for it. When Amber says some Islamophobic crap in the later part of the season, Yasmina doesn’t even get to counter to point out that she’s defended Amber. And I don’t think they ever explained why Luca threw the water in Britt’s face, that it was on behalf of Amber, so it ended up being some random event.

Also, because Yasmina wasn’t at the party where Amber passes out, it was Luca who stuck her fingers down Amber’s throat and helped her throw up, so that Sana-Vilde moment was gone, another one that felt pretty significant to their relationship. Again, not blaming the actress, just too bad we couldn’t get some big Amber-Yasmina moments to make up for that.

Yasmina was present when Amber was talking about her plans to sleep with Senne, and I wish they’d given her more to do in the scene, or had her speak up more, because later on she’s so blunt about Senne not being into Amber. When she’s in the scene listening to Amber talk about sleeping with him before it happens, it makes you wonder why she let it happen or didn’t say much in the first place. I guess she thought Amber was gonna Amber.

I did like Yasmina from what we did see of her. Her having all the girls breathe in and out after they get the party invite, her showing up for Amber the morning after she passes out even while not being at the party herself. I hope she gets more attention in S2. (Also? She’s gorgeous and I adore her camel coat.)

Also, having Luca throw water in Britt’s face rather than Yasmina also meant Amber was talking about getting rid of both Yasmina and Luca at some point, and that made her seem more like Cersei Lannister, lmao, like she was ready to ax people all over the place. 

I don’t think Amber’s topless pics ever came back into play, though there was more emphasis on them in this version than others, with Jana’s own topless pic serving as a parallel and Amber wondering if Senne had shown the other guys. I thought it was implied that he did, but we didn’t hear the actual conversation between Jana and Luka, just saw Amber’s sad face. I really hope he didn’t because that would make that situation even uglier, and I would need Zoë to drag Senne thoroughly for it in S2.

I believe Amber said it was Luca’s mom who had the wine tasting party, so are they eliminating that part of Amber’s background? There is the scene where they’re talking about getting alcohol and Amber starts rambling about why she doesn’t have the money, and that made me think she might have some financial problems.

I like that they made Luca kind of an unrepentant weirdo, although I wish they’d cut back on some of the Robbe flirting as it was too over the top. Although I had to laugh that one time she blatantly hit on him and he just flat-out ignored her and was like “Jana can we talk (save me plz)”

Luka was so sleazy. He was even more of a teen movie antagonist than the Chris character is usually. The most endearing thing about him was his extremely dorky vampire Halloween costume.

However, LOVED the extra scenes with him, such as Jana leaving her phone at his place. Adored that Zoë accompanied her to get it back and handled the matter completely businesslike, even though Luka was obviously disappointed when he saw that Jana didn’t arrive alone. She’s a true pal. And loved Jana going off at him when she knocked into him! Even if she wasn’t right about him spilling the beans, it was cathartic, it was Jana’s own Zoë vs Senne moment. 

Also ended up liking Robbe. They were going for a more wise-cracking, comic relief version of Isak in some ways, it felt like Robbe made more actual jokes than Isak did, but then he ended up being surprisingly more vulnerable than I expected toward the end. I thought they were leaning harder on the Jana/Robbe hints for the misdirection, but at the same time, it felt like there were some extra wink-wink nudge-nudge ironic moments about his sexuality as well, like Jens telling Robbe he’d understand acting like a lovesick puppy once he got a girlfriend, and some extra moments showing how he was affected by homophobia, like Moyo backing away from a hug at the end of the trip, telling Robbe to watch himself. Robbe didn’t even try to tell Jana he had feelings for her at first, it was Zoë who came up with that idea. It seemed very likely that he was going to confess the real truth to Jana on two separate occasions.

I also liked that his explanation of why he betrayed Jana was about feeling Jens had no time for him anymore, and even when Jana wasn’t there, Jens was still talking about her. Because that’s not a lie, that’s the truth, Robbe must have been miserable feeling unable to escape the guy he likes talking about his girlfriend, or them acting lovey-dovey, just no respite, not that it excuses his actions, obviously.

The Jana-Robbe dynamic as a whole was pretty good, I liked that he was pretty efficiently snaky - for instance, he basically coaxes her into telling him her secret about kissing Luka, and plays on their close friendship, that she can trust him, they’ve known each other a long time.

George Michael’s “Faith” being the big reveal music was an A+++ choice.

The music. Oh boy. Some of the remakes aren’t that good in their use of music; Skam’s use of music always felt purposeful and usually well-chosen, and the editing and soundtrack complemented each other. That’s not always the case with the remakes, some of which use music in perfunctory, expected ways: a pop/indie song opens the clip, a pop/indie song closes the clip, maybe a song somewhere in between. But it feels like songs are enforced because God forbid we have silence opening or ending a clip, or have scenes transition without music. And I would be willing to bet there’s some network/Powers That Be influence at play, like they want a hip teenage soundtrack to promote various artists and get the kids to follow the official playlist on Spotify, so the production teams have to use music. Skam France was guilty of this a lot. Druck is doing this more in its second season. But wtFOCK is possibly the worst offender. Too much music, used in a way that often didn’t complement the tone or editing of the scene - especially the editing, some of the songs just felt slapped over the clip rather than working with it. In the full episodes, there were some moments where a clip ended with a song and then another clip started with a completely different song in a way that was very jarring. There are some great choices, like “Faith,” but I just want the remakes to calm down and stop feeling the need to push music in every clip. Plenty of Skam scenes do not have music and they work wonderfully.

Also, disappointed that they used the exact same song for the fight scene. The fight scene wasn’t edited or choreographed that well, though I liked the guy returning Zoë’s hat at the end. And someone was actually filming the fight! I’m trying to remember if we’ve seen anyone else film the fight before, because that is something that would definitely happen in this day and age.

Another random thing I like: the characters talk about school a lot. As in, exams and homework, not just personal drama that happens while at school. Because yeah, this is a school, and teenagers are going to be concerned with passing their classes. It’s always been a thread in Eva’s season and her character overall that she’s not a great student, so I was proud that Jana ended up doing well on her biology exam! Maybe her academic performance can improve once she’s worked out some of the personal stress weighing on her.

That Mexican-themed party … not a great choice! For a moment I wondered if this party was supposed to be read as offensive since Zoë was not in costume and she’s a more “woke” character, like maybe the Beat Boys and Girls crowd (or whoever were throwing that party, I don’t recall) were supposed to be seen as clueless, but nah, I think it was just poor taste. 

It’s interesting how different versions portray the Eva/Chris kiss. In some the Eva character is the initiator, in some it’s the Chris character, in some it’s more mutual. In some it happens quickly and some Eva slowly gives in. In wtFOCK Luka was definitely initiating it and Jana was more hesitant. 

I had to laugh when Zoë was explaining the bracelets to Amber and all the girls she pointed out were conveniently displaying or showing off their bracelets at that moment, I guess because they’re much harder to notice at a glance than hoodies.

However, I liked Amber saying that she feels like it’s her fault every time and not his, because that paralleled Jana’s situation too - Jana is the one who receives the hate and blame even though Jens/Luka cheated, too. I’m glad they brought up the boys’ culpability at various points.

Zoë was keeping that period letter in her backpack and I mean, it was in a plastic bag and all, but I dearly hope she got rid of the tampon before carrying it around all day. It’s gross enough as it is.

So different that Marie didn’t come bursting out of the stall to interrupt the Jana-Britt heart-to-heart! Instead she came out after they left, and she seemed emotionally affected, like she was crying too. Maybe because she really felt like Jana was a person in that moment, and not just a nebulous boyfriend-stealer. Marie did seem to be pretty defensive when Jana confronted her later, but she quickly backed down when it was revealed what a lying cheater Luka was, and she could no longer be in denial. Jana seemed hesitant about accepting Marie wanted to be friendly with her afterwards, which was an interesting and believable touch.

A good scene when Senne was texting Zoë and Zoë lied to Amber that it was her parents asking how her exam went, and Jana covered for her by being like, I know the feeling, doesn’t your mom do that? And Amber was like, yeah, constantly. Which made me :( because I bet Amber’s mom doesn’t do that too often.

I laughed when Jana was like “That dude (Senne) is stalking you” to Zoë, so Zoë looked his way, and that got Senne’s attention and he IMMEDIATELY went up to Zoë, like good job breaking it, Jana.

I loved that Zoë learned psychological tricks from Dr Phil, but now I have this burning question: is Dr Phil like some beloved international icon?? First Eva and now Zoë turn to him for wisdom. I have seen maybe one episode of Dr Phil in my lifetime so I find it wild that the youthz are getting life advice from him. 

FINALLY we saw some characters on Skam playing a video game besides FIFA (and I guess on Skam France we saw them playing a racing game once). Jens, Robbe, and Moyo were playing Fortnite.

I am actually very eager to see Zoë’s and Robbe’s seasons because I liked their characters. Yasmina’s, too, even though I didn’t get as much of her as I would’ve liked in this season.

There weren’t a ton of text messages in the season, were there? I looked for them and only saw a few, and most of them didn’t seem to add much to the story or develop characterization. That’s something they can improve on for S2 (unless I just missed out on all the texts).

However, there was considerable effort put into the Instagram accounts, as many of them were consistently updated and they’ve maintained IG accounts even for minor characters to the present. I wonder if they’re going to keep a lot of those characters around in S2 and beyond, because that’s more work than necessary just to maintain realism, heh. But still, big props for that.

I apologize if I misinterpreted or missed something. Feel free to clarify anything!