#i mean. one of many characters on a show with a great ensemble cast that i appreciate-- no fuck that. that is my baby

[judgeverse]

great shot of dr. rush from sgu 1x13 that didn’t make it into the final ep, I think. passing it along for everyone else who has a completely normal and healthy amount of opinions about him, like me

[transformers-synergize]

so is the first chapter just human characters? ):

No, it's not just human characters. Chapter 1 part 2 will be posted tomorrow, and it has robots, please be patient.

If you are a transformers fan who dislikes any humans in transformers media for the fact they are human, then Synergize is probably not going to be your thing, sorry. Synergize focuses a lot on human and cybertronian relationships. Synergize is an ensemble cast with multiple characters who get a decent amount of focus, some of those characters being human, I intend to put just as much care and time into developing the human characters as I do the bots. The human characters are not an afterthought or something I'm adding just because I felt like it, they are important members of the cast, both the human cast and cybertronian cast are essential for each other development/character arcs. cybertronian in Synergize are written to be much more alien than in most Transformers media. Synergize's cybertronains have more alien-like behavior, morals, instincts, social dynamics, social structure, anatomy and society, having human characters to contrast that help better show the alienness of the bots. Along with having a character who can learn about the bots alongside the reader and ask questions a cybertronian character wouldn't. It also creates a lot of interesting human bot dynamics and plot opportunities.

Human characters also have an extreme amount of plot utility, Sure, they can't fist-fight a giant bot, but that is not the only way a character can be useful. They have more knowledge on Earth than the bots, so even an unintelligent human has at least a little useful Earth knowledge a cybertronian wouldn't know. Earth is built to cater to humans, and my bots don't have Haloform, so if they need something done only a human can do, then they gotta rely on a human to do it. Humans are also great for disguise, and my bots are trying to stay hidden, getting pulled over and having a human in the driver's seat is way less suspicious than a car driving itself. Humans are small and quiet even compared to small cybertronian, humans joints and internals usually don't make as much noise, along with humans having a much fainter energy signal, making them perfect for stealth and sneaking around. A human might not be able to fight a robot, but if they are mechanically inclined, they could learn how to fix/repair cybertronians. Once you know how to fix cybertronians, you can usually figure out sneaky little ways to break one without needing to be a giant robot (though you still have to risk getting close to one). Humans are immune to some very common cybertronian security systems and weapon types, magnets, EMP devices, malware, and stasis tech, yes, humans are squishy, but you're not gonna kill one with magnets or EMP blast or by trying to give them malware. Also, humans are also just smaller and can fit in more places. Humans are clever creatures, and even though they aren't as strong as a bot, it doesn't mean they can't contribute a lot. Not every plot features human characters, but most do because of both their utility to the plot and the fun dynamics they have with many of the bot characters.

Synergized as a story, both plot structure-wise and thematically, does not work without human characters.

[purecommemasolitude]

There’ve been criticisms about Darry being too mean or too cruel in the musical, and I get where those people are coming from, but — and speaking as someone who hasn’t seen or listened to it but has listened to the soundtrack and follows the information account like the paper — I think this phenomenon stems from two things

First, on the side of the discussers, a lack of exposure to the musical as an actual piece of material instead of (occasionally very out of context) lines or screenshots. Obviously seeing the musical, even if one lived in New York, would be expensive as all get out, and even audios and boots are pretty hard to find for this show, but there are many details and contexts that change how lines on the page should be interpreted that simply cannot be gleaned through, well, lines on the page. As someone who has dabbled in acting & directing, and has spent time analyzing play texts in depth, delivery and direction can change everything. The entire sentiment of a line can be the opposite of what you’d expect if you took the line at face value, and unless that’s explicit in the stage directions, it can go unrealized if one is merely reading the script (which, as an aside, is exactly why I find analyzing play excerpts tricky — because without a performance or direction, scripts are often so ambiguous and versatile that they could go any way). And honestly, despite also being someone who unfortunately does not benefit from first hand knowledge of the musical, I feel like this is very evident in discussion of Darry in the show. For example, none of his lines in, say, Runs in the Family (Reprise) should be taken at face value, because if you’ve even listened to the song you can tell he’s completely spiralling and hitting a breaking point. This is a state that, historically, causes people to say things they’d never believe in real life. We’re not meant to believe Darry would ever walk out on his brothers, we’re meant to hear him talk about it and understand how deep of a breakdown he is having. As a less obvious example, from what people online have said, Darry spends the last twenty or so minutes of the musical in tears. Again, the things he says here aren’t necessarily the things he believes, or things that he’s expressing coolly or off-handedly because they line up 1:1 with his worldview, they’re things he says when he’s desperate and struggling and has no idea what the correct path is when his brother & responsibility has effectively been comatose since the deaths

Which brings me to my next point!

One of the most known things about the musical, even to people who aren’t very familiar with it, is that it goes more in-depth on Darry’s trials and tribulations, so to speak. He gets one solo at status quo, another (mostly) solo when he gets his breakdown, and a (mostly) duet in his own self-described darkest hour during Pony’s absence. All three of these songs go into detail about what his life is like and how much he’s been struggling, and even songs that aren’t about him emphasize this feature of his more than in the book: his description by Ponyboy in Tulsa ’67 & Great Expectations reminding the audience of his life’s path, his verse in GGAH making it clear that his life is a very different one with arguably more severe burdens compared to the other boys. Other than the three most important characters of the original narrative, he is now undoubtedly the most important and developed character — which makes sense in a musical format, because with the story of The Outsiders it would’ve been pretty much impossible to do a true ensemble cast other than the main three while doing any of them justice, especially if they’d kept Steve as a principle (rip king). But I digress. In my opinion, being clearer on Darry’s hardships actually gives the musical space to show him as saying crueller things, to have him make more mistakes and mess up worse. In the book, we’re clearly meant to sympathize with him by the end, but we only get Ponyboy’s infamously flawed and unreliable narration as the lense through which to view him. As such, if we went too hard into Darry messing up, while 3/4 of the book have Ponyboy going “yeah Darry’s a rock and doesn’t love me or anyone”, he ultimately would’ve come across a lot worse and a lot harder to “redeem” in the eyes of the reader (personally I never disliked him, but I’ve seen enough accounts of people who hated him on their first go at the story to know it is not an uncommon sentiment). He already slaps his brother and argues with him all the time; it would’ve been even more legwork to make him liked if he’d also been saying harsher things and making more mistakes. In the musical, however, we get that objective perspective that’s missing in the book. Ponyboy’s not narrating to us the lyrics of Throwing in the Towel, he’s not even present for the events of Throwing in the Towel! It’s a lot easier to understand and forgive mistakes if one is familiar with the psyche behind those mistakes, and the musical delivers that psyche to us at every turn. Because the audience understands Darry Curtis and how hard it is for him to hold on, the audience also has more understanding and forgiveness for when he’s spiralling. It’s also just a more specific proof of his plight — three songs with first-hand, emotionally explicit lyrics penetrate the uninvested understanding a lot easier than a second-party description of circumstances. Due to its nature and promotion of Darry’s importance, the musical simply gets more freedom to show an arguably more realistic version of him.

Also, I do believe that Darry in the musical is just that much closer to the edge than he is in the book, which is a valid character choice in an inherently emotional and transformative medium such as the musical adaptation 🤷🏻‍♀️

[absolutebl]

BL Best of 2022 - quick picks

Best KBL: Semantic Error

Best Thai BL: Bad Buddy (remember for me this falls into 2022) 

Best JBL: this was the hardest pick for me because Japan came back SWINGING this year. So... I cheated. 

Best traditional live action yaoi? Minato’s Laundromat 

Best modern BL? Takara & Amagi 

Best for me, personally? Old Fashion Cupcake 

Best Taiwan BL: My Tooth Your Love although I really adored DNA Says Love You and About Youth, the one fudged the beginning and the other the end (both are still v HEA) so My Tooth was the most consistent. 

Best director: Kato Ayaka (Old Fashion Cupcake) she did a fucking phenomenal job, and yes she had two killer actors to work with, but I am such a sucker for those long shots plus the sensual foods close ups? GIIRLLLLLLLL. Gah! 

Best kiss: honestly we had so many good kisses this year I have multiple blog posts going on the subject. But I am handing it over to the one that stuck in my head the most, Billy & Seng’s up against that chain gate with the damn blue towel sticking out of his back pocket in Secret Crush On You. 

The desperation was just insane. But I might have given it to OFC if they hadn’t already won the director category. And I flipping LOVE the Kissable Lips boys BTS smiley kiss from 304: 100% should have been on screen for us.

Best erotic moment: The shower neck make out kiss from side couple RainPayu in Oh! My Sunshine night. 

Runner up: VegasPete and the “ass to waist ratio” kiss in their kinky chain scene. 

Best O scene: Oh the whole LITA special, they knew what they were doing. Doesn’t stop me being annoyed by the whole thing, tho. 

Best cuddles: I mean it should got to 12% because, well, ENDLESSLY spectacular cuddles from SantaEarth but for me it was Star in My Mind’s cuddle+glare. I love me a vicious little “mine” moment. 

Best eye contact/soulmating/eyefucking: FirstKhao in The Eclipse although Japan did great work with THIRST this year (bit more one sided, that one). 

Best cinematography: Cherry Blossoms After Winter, I know, I know, but you know how I feel about yaoi, nostalgia and cinematic storytelling. 

Best boohoo snot bubble I’m dazed and crying: Eternal Yesterday, every fucking episode, Choco Milk Shake (I hate you Strongberry, I love you Strongberry), To My Star 2 (I just hate you and you are not forgiven). 

Most beloved character: Shin MY PRECIOUS BEAN SPROUT 

Best Pair: The Parks although I am also crazy about the To My Star and Kissable Lips boys. I really want more from all of them. Madness that it’s all Korea. 

Best Ensemble: The Eclipse had a killer cast but I expect that from GMMTV. So for all it was a mess of a story Cutie Pie wins best casting from me. All 3 couples had such good chemistry. I don’t think any other multi-couple shows out of Thailand were that on point, not even KP. 

Best siblings//family: My Ride, gotta hand it to the gay uncles and all the queer friends and the adopted son. Although DNA Says Love You was pretty darn great too. 

Best Food: There were so many food ones this year (Ocean Likes Me, Old Fashion Cupcake, La Cuisine, but none were as good food-wise as Bite Me last year) so the one where I actually wanted to eat stuff the most? What Zabb Man. What can I say? I love sweets and ramen, but Thai food is my last best hope in life. 

Best song: Eternal Yesterday’s OST Sunshower by Ayumu Imazu. I can’t believe Japan beat out Korea but I am sorry I just really fucking adore that song. I’m sucker for that raw slightly rough voice combined with Japan’s brusque style (and PINK hair). 

But Leo’s I still from Happy Ending Romance is a close fucking follow up, that boy is dripping slightly-evil honey even in falsetto, he’s a perennially ignored goddamn gift to Kpop. 

I do A LOT of best of lists, this is just the beginning. Also if you have a request of a top 10 of 2022 or any best of... name the tope lists, let me know in an RP or a comment. 

(source)

[the-muppets-present]

The Muppets Present: Chess the Musical

Chess the Musical is an underrated gem, and we absolutely love it. The concert version, considered by most to be the definitive version, can be found on youtube in this playlist, which has nearly the entire complete concert (part 12 has been removed, but the only song missing is "The Deal (No Deal)") and I highly recommend you give it a listen, because the music is honestly top tier. The concert version is what we will be referencing here, since all the various stage versions are so different from each other (this show really suffered from over workshopping). If you're new here, take a moment to review our rules for casting. NOW, onto the show.

The Show

Chess the Musical is the story of the chess world championship tournament in 1979. The cold war is raging, and the two world champions are from the US and Soviet Union respectively. The story focuses on these two players and their personal lives and dramas set against the backdrop of the political strife between the east and west, as they are unwillingly used as pawns in the conflict.

The show has a core cast of seven characters and an ensemble with a few interesting standouts who can be filled out by muppets and humans alike. These are the key players:

Anatoly Sergievsky - "The Russian": The champion from Soviet Russia—a troubled husband and father who despises the propaganda and politics of the tournament.

Freddie Trumper -"The American": The champion from the United States—a self-absorbed, fame-and-fortune-seeking, short-tempered bad boy.

Florence Vassy - Freddie's strong-willed second and possible paramour, who is strained by Freddie's brashness and begins to feel a pull towards Anatoly as the tournament progresses.

Alexander Molokov - Anatoly's conniving second who is also a manipulative KGB agent and a major force in the political games being played behind the scenes.

Walter - A financial administrator in Freddie's delegation and in some versions a secret CIA agent who serves as a political counterpart to Molokov.

The Arbiter - The coldly objective, no-nonsense referee of the championship tournament and also the president of the International Chess Federation. He is essentially the narrator, the Voice of the chorus.

Svetlana Sergievskaya - Anatoly's estranged wife who, under Molokov's machinations, must persuade Anatoly to return to his homeland and family in the second act.

The Cast

Anatoly = Kermit. Kermit usually isn't the protagonist in Muppet adaptations, because the type of character he is just doesn't fit that role as neatly, but he's the perfect fit for Anatoly. Anatoly is competent in his own work, but is really out of his depth in the situation at large, and struggles to be true to himself amidst what he feels to be his duty. An arc that Kermit himself has played out in many a muppet film. Really, the only muppet who could adequately pull Anatoly off is Kermit himself.

Freddie = Gonzo. Freddie is bombastic, abrasive, quick to speak and slow to apologize, and overall extremely selfish. He walks into a room and his personality demands the spotlight immediately. I don't think I really need to give any other reasons why Gonzo should play this character, but I'll give one anyway: imagine Gonzo banging out "One Night in Bangkok" with Camilla and the Hens as the backup singers bawking out the chorus.

Florence = Miss Piggy. Yes, she's the only female muppet of note (who can speak english, sorry Henrietta), but also she'd genuinely be a good Florence. Florence is driven, a strong independent woman who don't need no man, but that doesn't mean she don't want one, and the fact that Anatoly is played by Kermit....well, you see where I'm going with this. Also, she and Freddie have an increasingly antagonistic relationship through the show that would be great to watch with Miss Piggy and Gonzo. Again, imagine her singing "The Model of Decorum and Tranquility" and getting more and more frustrated and gravelly in her delivery. And don't forget to picture Kermit in place of Josh Groben in that scene too...again, the dynamics are top tier here.

Svetlana = Miss Piggy. I'm invoking rule 5, not only because again, the lack of other english speaking female muppets, but because I love the idea of two Miss Piggies both singing for Kermit's attention and lamenting that he'll never see her the way she sees him, that his attention will always go to his work first. "I Know Him So Well" is a duet between the two women about Anatoly, and imagine two Miss Piggies singing this in duet with each other, each knowing that the other has something to offer that she doesn't have, but also knowing that even that isn't enough, that Anatoly (Kermit) will never be able to commit to her the way she wants to to him.

Molokov = Uncle Deadly. Honestly I don't have a lot to say about this choice, it's just Perfect. Molokov already borders on cartoonishly evil, he is an immediately untrustworthy character and everyone knows it, he's the world's worst spy. Uncle Deadly is a shoe in for the role and I'll hear nothing else about it. (Also, while generally irrelevant in casting muppets in a musical, since you can re-key as needed, Uncle Deadly already fits Molokov's voice type)

Walter = Sam the Eagle. While Walter is not as overtly patriotic as Sam, in adaptation, there should be a muppet who is equally as enthusiastic for his country as Molokov is for the Soviet Union. Walter is in some ways the least emotionally complex character aside from the Arbiter, he exists to serve the plot and the ways the plot creates character conflict for Anatoly, Freddie, and Florence, so Sam (who is generally a one note patriot character) fits the role nicely. Also, just like Uncle Deadly, he fits the voice type perfectly.

The Arbiter = Daniel Craig. I call upon the power of the One Human Celebrity. Daniel Craig would be perfect for a muppet adaptation of The Arbiter, he is the type of human actor who could be surrounded by muppets and you'd 100% believe it. The Arbiter's songs require some gusto, but Craig can carry a tune and if you give him a vocal coach and 6 weeks (and re-key his solo), I think he'd be great. However, this casting ONLY works if there are NO OTHER HUMANS in the chess federation. Daniel Craig must be surrounded by muppets at all time. Just look at his solo, and tell me that it wouldn't be the best thing ever to watch Daniel Craig do this while flanked by dancing muppets.

Additional Bit Parts:

Statler and Waldorf as The Consulate. When Kermit's Anatoly is speaking to them about defecting to the UK, imagine them having this exchange. You could either rewrite the song to be a duet OR have two Statlers and two Waldorfs to fill out the quartet.

Non-Celebrity Human as The Soviet Machine. This must be a big, nondescript burly man who can sing one glorious falsetto note. He must stand stoically as evil muppets dance around and sing the Soviet Machine. Moopets can fill out the Soviet chorus line.

The Ensemble: Merano and Bangkok both have human backup dancers and chorus members as well as muppet, because these are location setting songs, and you want to establish that humans are here in this world. Mike Tyson can have a celebrity cameo in Bangkok for old time's sake.

Chess Dancers: the Hens and the Penguins supplement the human chess dancers that take stage during the two chess matches.

Reporters: a mix of humans and muppets, but no cameos during this scene, it's Gonzo's first big solo and the spotlight needs to be on him.

Fozzie Bear as the governer of Merano and as an authority figure in Bangkok: his presence in Bangkok is commented on and he loudly says "Oh no, you must be thinking of my brother!"

And that's The Muppets Present: Chess the Musical!

What other celebrity cameos would you add to the show? We'd love to read your thoughts! Also let us know if you have another musical or movie you'd like to see a muppet fancast of, we love doing these!

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Since I am posting about celebrity drama. Let's do some critical thinking here. I know a lot of people on this website aren't great at it, but let's try.

Guz Khan has been a vocal supporter of Palestine for many many years. He was vocal in his support of Palestine long before he was hired onto Our Flag Means Death. Taika Waititi was brought onboard as an executive producer on Our Flag Means Death before any of the casting had occurred, which means Waititi could have known about Khan's politics and sabotaged his casting, but he did not do that and Khan got the role. Ivan was the character on the crew with the least amount of lines in season 1 and he was on Blackbeard's crew, not Stede's. In season 2 they effectively replaced him with Archie played by Madeleine Sami, who is a New Zealand actor who doesn't have the international TV recognition that Guz Khan has. With all this data, which do we think is more likely:

A) Waititi personally fired Khan because he's a Zionist leveraging his power

B) when OFMD got it's budget cut they had to make some choices about which high payed actors in minor roles they wanted to keep, so they booked Bremner for 4 eps, Faxon for 3 eps, and did not ask Khan back, found ways to write all three of them off, and then brought on Sami for a cheaper contract than they would have gotten from Khan in order to maintain a believably sized pirate crew and keep the ensemble comedy aspects so many people loved from the first season

Like yes Taika Waititi signed a letter to Biden calling for release Israeli hostages from Hamas, the wording of which blamed Hamas for all the violence, and he's liked Gal Gadot's pro Israel insta posts but can we please not make up conspiracies about it. It's starting to sound a hair antisemitic, especially considering that no one is speaking on Con O'Neill (who, unlike Waititi, is not Jewish) also signaling that he's a zionist. he posted pro Israel stuff on his Twitter multiple times just while the Twitter algorithm was showing me his tweets, (from April 2022 until he deactivated for tweeting about a Columbians doing coke later that year).

[i-didnt-hate-it]

I didn't hate The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, I thought it was a lot of fun!

There are some movies that make a point to humanize the Nazi soldiers to add a bit more depth to the story. This movie isn't like that, and it's better for it. This isn't a war movie, it's a heist/spy thriller that is set in World War II, and it's got some good war stuff thrown in there.

The action kicks off splendidly, and the building of tension is probably the story's biggest strength. The pacing got thrown off a little toward the end, but it got back on track quickly for a fantastic payoff.

Now about the cast, with what may be slight spoilers.

I'll be honest I don't remember many of the names, there were too many accents to try and understand and remember everyone.

Henry Cavill was great as the main guy, even though he didn't really feel like the main character, and I don't mean that as a bad thing. The ensemble was very strong here. If it didn't feel so annoying, I would love to style my mustache like him. And I don't like guns, but if I had to have one I'd pick the big tube gun thing with the silencer that he uses.

Like I said, the ensemble is very strong, but I think a lot of people are going to be talking about Alan Ritchson's performance as Lassen. He's got this crazy berserker Norse energy that's a lot of fun to watch.

The rest of the team is great but of course my favorite has got to be Eiza González. If you don't already love her, you will after this. She's strikes a perfect (and I mean perfect) balance of intelligence, confidence, experience, and downright sexiness. But she's not just those things, that's something the movie does really well is show the characters falter. They aren't perfect, but when they make a mistake or a wrench is thrown in the plan, they might panic for a second, but then they recalibrate. Also, Eiza's costumes are just plain gorgeous, like you won't be able to take your eyes off of them, but not in a distracting from the story kind of way. It makes sense why she is dressed like Cleopatra, for example.

Babs Olusanmokun is also fantastic, he reminds me a lot of his character from Dune, just more sophisticated.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare isn't perfect, the plot armor on the main characters is extremely thick, and I feel like silencers aren't really that silent, but most little details don't really make a difference. The movie is a ton of fun, especially if you want to watch attractive people kill Nazi's and mess with the British

[mylittleredgirl]

Least favorite Star Trek character in each series?

i love all my children equally how could you do this to me!!!!

slightly more rational answer: i have been thinking about this since yesterday when i got the ask and it's like every time i think i have an answer i immediately go "oh but i love them for XYZ" and they move up in the ranks. ultimately most treks are ensemble shows and removing anybody from the ensemble makes it all fall apart!

gun to my head, though, bearing in mind that i love all of them:

tos: gun to my head it's chapel i'm afraid and i feel bad about it. she doesn't really get to grow much and the other most-static character is probably chekov and i had a massive crush on him. in 1967 when they went "you know this show should add a mop top for the teenyboppers out there" they were talking specifically about me 30 years later.

tng: i would take the bullet for real.

ds9: man i'm going through main characters and then secondary characters and then tertiary characters and how are they all so essential and good????? literally i have gone thru a list of characters and a list of episodes and am coming up blank. even the villains are fantastic. eddington is annoying but he's supposed to be and his episodes are all great. sloan himself is fun it's just what section 31 did to star trek in general that sucks. like????? there's not a single name that shows up in the credits that doesn't make me go YEAHHHHHH.

voy: if we can count recurring characters i'm saying barclay. i liked him a lot as a character in tng and but go "for fuck's sake" whenever i see "guest star dwight schultz" on the voyager credits. i dislike pretty much every earth-contact episode after "message in a bottle" so maybe i don't like voyager-barclay because he just happens to be there?? for main cast it'd be neelix shut up shut up i love him in the ensemble but sometimes when they give him his own episode it's too much.

ent: sorry malcolm lovers this was the only show that was an easy choice. like we SHOULD dig into the fact that essentially his greatest wish is to sacrifice himself and he won't be happy until he dies on the job. klingon behavior but not at all for the fun and glory of it just because he kind of just doesn't enjoy being alive???? archer is terrible in so many ways but he's also much more enjoyable to watch being terrible.

disco: this is actually a very weird show to even know who to choose from. the cast changes every year! we barely even know the bridge crew! who is interesting enough to count as a main character?? of the main title cast i'm kind of hot and cold with adira. i like them but the sheer amount of anxiety radiating off them at all times makes me tense up whenever they come on screen. (i just realized it's kind of ironic to say adira because they're basically a mix of wesley and ezri, who would probably make this list for most other trekkies but are two of my absolute faves.) (i will think long and hard about this)

snw: i don't know that i have enough of a read on any of them? i still haven't finished it. chapel (again?? oh no) is the one i had the hardest time warming up to early on because she seemed the most wink-y and out of place in a franchise that usually takes silly things very seriously, but i did warm up to her!

lower decks: if we can go with guest characters i hate badgey (only one on here that gathers the "hate" rating!!). i don't find him (it??) funny and i know i SHOULD find it funny which means whenever it shows up i am both not having a good time and feel bad about not having a good time. the main characters are all brilliant. gun to my head it's boims but it's a close one i love them all.

i don't even know what other shows we have i've run out of steam???

oh right picard. captain shaw??? why is such a large subset of fandom so horny for him??? and shipping him with seven of nine of all things???? is it just White Guy With Trauma because there are like. a lot of other white guys with trauma in this franchise to choose from.

[miasiegert]

How Cats Casting Often Works (Summer Stock)

So due to request, explaining how casting works for many regional productions of CATS. NOTE: I am not discussing ANYONE I work with, anyone I've worked with past-tense, any production I've done. This is a general explanation of how summer stock works and how incredibly difficult it is for the director/choreographer to make decisions. Because, surprisingly, the director doesn't get auditions for each character! They have to choose from already cast actors! WHAT? Yup, that's Summer stock!

The actors are contracted to do about four shows for a theatre to last for their summer season. This is subject to change, sometimes actors have to leave (injury, illness, Broadway offers (yes, that happens!)), but for those shows the bulk of the actors are already cast! So someone can't hold auditions for Mistoffelees or Victoria. They need to go with who's already there (very talented! But they might have different skillsets!)

The director needs to assess the actors, some of whom they know, many of whom they don't and see reels but a lot of instagram, and they must compare them to the entire summer stock cast to decide what's best.

For example, if someone is not a singer but a great dancer, they might be someone like Mistoffelees, Victoria, Pouncival. If someone's got an incredible belt, they might be Bombalurina. Usually Bombalurina and Cassandra are coin tosses and REALLY hard decisions (you really need a good actor for Cass to be so aloof and hold the poses). If there's a soprano, usually the more classically trained one who is not a dancer will be Jellylorum. If someone's an incredible tapper, they'll be Jenny!

You get the double threats for the ones who dance and sing (Munkustrap, Skimble) and those might be some that'd be considered for different roles--Mungo and Rumple are always double-threats but often triple threat because of acting. If someone's a rock singer, they'd be Tugger because it's HARD to do that. If someone can turn and has a strong ballet/jazz background, they're Mistoffelees (which is how one can end up with a 6'2" Mistoffelees and very panicked costume designers who have 3 weeks to create TWO full new costumes from scratch to fit their height! What, no, I'm not talking about us, what gave you that impression?).

Then there are triple threats, ones who can dance, sing, AND act, like Demeter and Munkustrap. Those are HARD roles. It doesn't always end up like that because of who's available, which is NOT shade towards any actor--when contracted for a season, they are given the best possible role to highlight their ability.

For Macavity, it's usually one of the largest dancers because of the Munk and Alonzo lift and someone who is a very lyrical mover.

This does not mean that Plato will do the lift with Victoria in the Ball. The lift goes to the person who is the best at doing lifts in the cast. US Tour V had Eddie (who was Alonzo) doing the lift because he was the best. One of the Australian tours had (surprisingly) Tumblebrutus do the lift! Yes, really!

In the US, Mungo and Rumple are usually the same size for the double cartwheels and we are very confused as to major height differences in the UK. I mean clearly it works but it's significantly harder when one's not as balanced so that's taken into consideration (Mungo NEEDS to do some tumbling).

Ensemble is where it's REALLY tough. A lot of times people assume the ensemble members are the ones who are hidden/not as good. That's absolutely false. The ensemble members ALWAYS are swings and understudy multiple roles. They need to be prepared to jump in on the spot in case of illness or injury, such as an onstage injury (there was a horrific one on the US Tour once where Pouncival had to take over during Mistoffelees as the actor broke his foot during the turns). A lot of the BEST dancers are put in the back and random spots because in order to make a good show that's cohesive, you need to have what looks like a fully in sync production. The ensemble holds everyone together and are critical for the show to be a success.

Cats is one of the rare shows where, with the fandom, since they're all their own characters, they are recognized for each thing but often not the why!

Also some characters might randomly be seen because some of the wonderful donors might have walk ons! Without donors, many regional productions would not exist! So if you see a cat that's maybe sitting around in the background, catting around, not dancing/not singing, you should 10000% appreciate them because without them, there'd be no show! Patrons are super important and it's an honor to give them some GREAT costumes to wear (and super fun for them to be cats!)

I hope that helps explain how casting works in many productions of summer stock and how difficult it is! Also did you know most productions only have one week to rehearse??? Wichita had three weeks, I believe, but most are only one, it's true!!!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Also I saw the comment asking about how we make warmers; I don't know how to reply to a reblog (sorry I am not smart at social media). Some day, we can go through a basic tutorial. But learn how to cast on/cast off, knit, purl, and stretchy decrease (tutorials online). It's SUPER easy, just time consuming... oh so time consuming. As for fluffy warmers, we use a LOT of different yarns, always at least double-strand, sometimes quadruple, lots of eyelash yarn, and while David does NOT do this, for my warmers, I will always use scraps if I'm doing the strays. Cats are mottled IRL. They won't be consistent. David likes having three colors per costume. I... am a bit more wild... yet strangely it's my muted costumes that people seem to be talking about here (buttercup Jellylorum for example!). Oh. And always Magical Misto will have black leg warmers with purple sparkles hidden in them. That's my thing. I give characters certain colors. Misto is purple, Tumble is blue.

BACK TO WRITING! I made today's deadline but PUSHING ON so I have less tomorrow!

[jgroffdaily]

Your intrepid team of JGD-ers are currently in the Big Apple, the home of Broadway, New York City! And, as if that wasn’t exciting enough, tonight we got to watch our very own reason for (online) existence, Mr Jonathan Drew Groff, strutting his (*frank*ly awesome) stuff in Merrily We Roll Along, at the Hudson Theatre on 44th Street, NYC!

For those who are unaware, Jonathan Groff Daily is made up of a team of two who live on literally opposite sides of the world - one in Australia and one in the UK. And while that allows for excellent coverage of breaking news (there is always at least one of us awake!), it has somewhat hindered our attempts to meet in real life - not helped by the pandemic that was raging at the time that we first “met”, three years ago.

Until now! In fact, until Wednesday of this week, when we both checked into the same hotel (all meticulously planned; not serendipity), into rooms directly above/below one another (that bit was serendipity), and began our NYC adventure together!

After a great deal of chatting, and far too much walking (and one inadvertent trip to Long Island City - nobody should ever leave me in charge of navigation!), tonight was the night for us to see the show together (in fact, my partner in crime had already seen it, last week, but this was our first time as a team).

First I should mention the theatre (this particular one is spelt that way, despite being in America - I’m not 100% sure why). It is so beautiful and elegant, and provides a wonderful setting in which the show can unfold.

And oh my goodness, what a show it is! As you will have all seen from the various glowing reviews online (with more surely to come next week, once the press embargo is lifted) this is an absolute tour de force and it was a such a privilege and a pleasure to watch this fabulous cast being utterly and completely fabulous.

First, of course, our boy. Well, we knew he could act. We knew he could sing. We knew he was prone to spit a little while doing both of those things. And all of that was also 100% true tonight!

I won’t include any spoilers in this review/ramble, as I hope that many of you will also get the chance to see it in person.

As you may have noticed, we try to keep this account relatively sober and professional (well, as sober and professional as a fan account on Tumblr can truly be, I guess!). However, as the more emotional one in our pairing, and in deference to this very special occasion, I don’t mind admitting that when Jonathan first came on stage I was all a-flutter. I haven’t seen him live and in person before, and I think I spent the first 8-10 minutes with the knuckles of my left hand in my mouth.

As you will all have seen in the press photos, etc, he spends almost the entire show wearing black trousers and a white button down shirt, and it’s a great look on him (but then, what isn’t?!). Without getting too excited here in “public”, on this jointly-run account, I will just say that his legs go on for miles and miles, and his giant hands stand out beautifully against the monochrome outfit.

And, again without spoilers, as he walked down to the very front of the stage and stared out, unseeing, over the heads of the audience, the drama behind him crescendoed and tears glittered in his eyes. At less than ten minutes in, I knew then that we were in the safest of safe (giant) hands, and yet, at the same time, our emotions were going to be played like fiddles.

(Speaking of which, the orchestra, tucked away in an “upstairs room”on the set, were absolutely sublime.)

The show rocks along really well, with honestly no weak performances at all. The ensemble are incredible and one thing that we really admired about this version was the way in which they all seemed to have been given permission to allow elements of their personalities to shine through. Although most of the supporting actors play multiple characters, and those are by no means interchangeable, I still felt that, to a good extent, I was also watching individuals who I knew and cared about from the start.

I must confess that I found that I couldn’t take my eyes off Lindsay whenever she was on stage (which did feel a little like a betrayal, when I was literally wearing a “Jgroffdaily” pin badge 🙄!) - she is just mesmerising: funny, sad, expressive, sympathetic and just a tiny bit broken by life and love. For those who have seen the full London version of the show on YouTube, I felt that this Mary was far less brittle, even from the first scenes, when she could otherwise come across as hard to love. The warmth, humour and humanity of the character came out in spades in Lindsay’s performance, and I was truly floored by her - to the extent that, during the whole of the one song that she sings with Jonathan and Katie Rose, I got to the end and realised that I had been watching solely her throughout, despite the fact that my reason for leaving my family behind (for five days, not forever!) and flying 3,000 miles to NYC, was 12 feet to the right of her on stage. (We are going again on Saturday - I need to make sure that I keep my eyes on Jonathan next time!).

Daniel is also just so good. His American accent is (to my British ears) impeccable, and he has great comic timing and physical comedy. His voice is fantastic, too, and he does an outstanding job with Franklin Shepherd Inc. All in all, I was incredibly impressed by Dan and thought that he more than held his own in the show.

My only slight criticism of the show (which is no reflection whatsoever on the actors) is that I would have liked a little longer to sit with one particularly tragic moment in Act One. Despite being a person who is shaky, giggly and butterflies-in-the-stomach-y at the simple sight of her hero stepping onto a stage, it takes me a few minutes to build up to proper crying, and I felt that I was jolted out of that feeling a little too quickly by the friends’ singing in an attempt to cheer up their heartbroken friend.

Katie Rose and Krystal Joy both had really difficult jobs to do, particularly Katie who is dropped into the show immediately before having to act in a very challenging, emotional scene. Both were stunning and their voices just soared, although Katie’s also cracked with emotion when it needed to, which was incredibly effective and moving.

The little boy who played Frank Junior at tonight’s performance was excellent, and got a lot of love from the audience. As the parent of a seven year old myself, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for him and his family to be juggling these late nights and, to be honest, quite a bit of sitting around during the show itself - and all at the age of only just five. They are all doing a great job.

And now for Jonathan. My (our) lovely Jonathan. Well, he absolutely smashed this whole performance right out of the park and over the East River. His voice was impeccable. His acting, as always, was moving, deft and brilliant - and that in a show where, although he is undoubtedly the “lead” character (whatever the order of the names above the title may suggest…), he spends a lot of time staring off stage or standing, stunned, as various other characters shout at him / flirt with him / cry hysterically over him. He does that so well (and if that doesn’t sound like damning with faint praise, I don’t know what does - in my defence it is now past 1am and my body clock thinks it is 6am!).

Potentially controversial point here: I felt that, during a-song-that-will-remain-nameless-for-spoiler-related-reasons (in Act One), Jonathan was not playing the piano himself (ie it was being played by the orchestra, and other instruments then come in behind it), but during Good Thing Going and Who Wants to Live in New York in Act Two, it *was* him playing. It is, however, incredibly hard to tell due to the placement of the piano on the stage, and I would be very interested to hear what others think on this topic.

Overall the show was just stunning. The audience seemed very engaged throughout, and it seems that they were also paying attention, judging by the gasps and laughs at later call-backs to earlier scenes. As he was signing autographs after the show, Dan said that it had been a great audience tonight (he might say that every night, of course!).

I am so glad that I will get to see it again at Saturday’s matinee, as I am sure that there were so many details and nuances (and entire performances of beautiful songs - sorry, Jonathan!) that I missed this time around.

Just a note on the stage door situation. It was all very organised and calm; much more so than I had expected. Dan came along the line to his waiting car, autographing playbills and taking selfies with people as he went, and he seemed just adorable and so pleasant and friendly with everyone. From what I could see, everyone was very respectful and polite, and everyone who wanted something signed seemed to get it. At one point someone shouted out that Merrily is their favourite ever show, and Daniel took time to pick her out of the crowd and thank her personally, saying that they all find it a privilege to be in the show.

Jonathan and Lindsay did not stage door tonight, but apparently “sneaked out the front” (as, of course, they are fully entitled to do). As I don’t think he is likely to come to see the fans at the stage door following a matinee performance, I suspect that I won’t now get a chance to show Jonathan my “jgroffdaily” pin badge - which he may think is for the best!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Steven Sater was in the audience tonight, sitting behind and to the right of us. I’m sure that he was bursting with pride, to see Jonathan shine as bright as he does.

[fandomanimatic-tournament]

Fandom song animatic tournament: Side A Round 1

Your Stupid Face - Kaden MacKay

"I just really like your face You don't have to look so happy I'm not really into love that you flaunt In some glittery font But if that's what you want Make it snappy"

Ready as I'll ever be - Tangled the series

"So gather around now (ooh) It's time to sing It's bittersweet (ooh) but it's a hell of a silver lining I tell the same old stories As y'all get your wings And I get better every time I kiss a weathered cheek And watching doves fly Sooner than me I guess I'm ready, ready as I'll never be"

Remember that we're voting on how Iconic they are for ANIMATICS, not for the song itself. In order to make things fair, the tone and mood of the song should not affect how iconic it is (for example, a serious song should not be considered more iconic than a joke song just because it's serious)

Propaganda and animatic links of the songs under the cut:

Your Stupid Face - Kaden MacKay

Propaganda:

Ultimate enemies to lovers potential as it starts with tge singer hating the other party and slowly growing to love them. Also has an excellent tma animatic (haven't watched any other animatics for it but a quick search shows there's a lot)

Animatics with the song:

Helluva Boss Stolas x Blitz

Don't Starve Together Wxwood

The Magnus Archives

DSMP TNTduo

Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Mitsuba Animatic

HFJONE Sodapack

Ready as I'll ever be - Tangled the series

Propaganda:

I can list at least three full animatics for this song for every major fandom I have ever been a part of, and still it's so hard to find them because there are so goddamn many

It's an absolute banger from the absolute King Alan Menken, originally from the pretty underrated Tangled the Series. I've seen animatics for this for like every fandom I can think of, and it deserves it because it slaps and has great vocal performances from Jeremy Jordan and Eden Espinosa.

i'm pretty sure this song is more well known than the show it came from is lol. i looked up "ready as i'll ever be animatic" on youtube just to confirm and counted 20+ of them, and i didn't even finish scrolling. it is a genuinely really good song from a /surprisingly/ good show that imo is super underrated. i definitely would recommend checking it out if you get the opportunity!

it's a fandom song that transcended its fandom and became a hit for twist villains.

The song really fosters creativity with how many animatics can create a darker AU where the usual protagonist (or a close associate) is made to be the antagonist because of injustice suffered and the other characters have to fight against them

I've seen *at least* one animatic of this song in almost every fandom I've looked into

It has a lot of Animaniacs because it is sung by an ensemble cast It is good for demonstrating a lot of different conflicting perspectives of characters for your big dramatic fight and its catchy and I love it

I mean everyone loves a scenario where one of the main cast becomes a villain for tragic reasons and the rest of the characters have to fight them while dealing with the betrayal and attempting to make them see reason

How in the actual hell does a song from a Tangled spinoff series go this spectacularly hard? More to the point, how does it have an animatic/AMV for practically EVERY FANDOM IN EXISTENCE?! Yeah, most people know it from that one Warrior Cats MAP, but there is SO much more. Not to mention the bucketloads of people who used this song for their own OCs, which is always a bonus.

Animatics with the song:

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil

Miraculous Ladybug

Sander Sides

Danganronpa V3 fantasy AU

BNHA Villain Deku Animatic

DSMP

Please keep in mind that I don't know all the media and fandoms of the animatics provided as examples and I don't have the time (nor the will) to research them all. Don't come into my notes or my ask box complaining about them being included, I will simply block you. HOWEVER, if a ship animatic includes a minor and an adult, do tell me, I'll remove it.

[canonicallyobserving911]

9-1-1 Season 6 - Constructive Criticisms #12

Madney: Maddie & Chimney

Madney is the “ship” name for Maddie Buckley’s and Chimney Han’s relationship.  It’s a portmanteau or a combination of their first names as it combines the first three letters from Maddie of ‘Mad’ with the last three letters of ‘ney’ from Chimney or Mad + ney = Madney.  They’re both main characters while their daughter Jee-Yun is a recurring character.  Maddie and Chimney were friends first before they entered their romantic relationship towards the end of season 2 and they’ve been together for almost four years.  They broke up after Chimney found Maddie in Boston during season 5 and they remained separated until the beginning of season 6.

Madney met in 2x6 when Chimney installed Maddie’s security system in her new apartment.  They began as friends who spent a lot of time together on “Buff-Fridays” but they didn’t officially start dating until months later.  They experienced several traumas as a couple over the years and the first one involved Maddie’s estranged husband Doug stabbing Chimney in 2x12 and capturing her.  It was the first of many but they stayed together and overcame a lot of other traumas both individually and jointly including Maddie being accused of stalking a 9-1-1 caller, the arrival of Chimney’s half-brother Albert, Chimney’s fear of going home after the lockdown ended in 2020, Maddie’s worry regarding whether she would be a good mother to their daughter, Maddie’s PPD, Chimney leaving to find her and their breakup.

Chimney told Hen that he and Maddie had forgiven each other for all the things they endured which is great but the issue is they still haven’t talked about all the invisible elephants that are standing inside of the rooms in their house.  Issues with money, marriage, their future and most importantly them being afraid the other one is going to leave are still festering and have been for a while.  All of these are red flags that happen in the majority of marriages but they don’t just work themselves out unless the two people involved in a relationship take time to discuss them.

In previous seasons, their storylines had depth and meaning but in season 6, they didn’t and it was very noticeable.  Them deciding to buy a house came out of nowhere when there was an easier solution and the marriage proposal dragged on for way too long.  As individuals, other than Maddie’s encounters with Noah, the foreshadowing of Chimney becoming a captain and the storylines that included their toxic parents, neither one of them had a significant storyline that stood out from the rest of the ensemble cast.  They’re both main cast members which means the opposite should have been true.

The Madney ship and the characters of Maddie and Chimney weren’t given the attention they deserve the same way Bathena and Henren weren’t and it’s ridiculous because Madney’s relationship has always been one of the highlights of the show.  In the past, their relationship was showcased as two people who were good friends who enjoyed spending time together but it eventually grew into something romantic that was filled with undying love.  In season 6, their relationship was overshadowed by distractions, houses, money and toxic parents.

Full Disclosure: IMO, in 6x1, after Jee-Yun said, “Mama leave?”, it was foreshadowed that either Maddie or Chimney is going to leave the relationship and the foreshadowing continued throughout the season with both of them running away and avoiding the difficult discussions they needed to have.  I didn’t post any blogs about it then because I wanted to see if the narrative would change in 6B but it didn’t.  Also, I wanted to see how their actions would play out for the remainder of the season so that I could provide an objective analysis of their relationship.

My twelfth set of “constructive criticisms” regarding the Madney ship and the individual characters included in the Buckley-Han families in season 6 are included below the cut.  Please note criticizing a TV show is NOT a bad thing especially since TV critics have been doing it for decades.  Constructive criticisms are designed to help make something better and they are VERY different from negativity.  A person can offer criticisms about a form of entertainment they spend their time watching and not be negative about it the same way two people can agree to disagree on a topic. Just because one person liked the season, they shouldn’t expect others to feel the way they do because everyone has their own opinions.  Simply put, two people can have different opinions about 9-1-1 and those opinions can COEXIST since they are not mutually exclusive.

If reading criticisms about the TV show 9-1-1 upsets you, then don’t read below the cut.

                  Warning! ⚠️“Constructive Criticisms” Ahead!⚠️

Disclaimer:  Even though time constraints and the presence of an ensemble cast usually dictate how things are presented on-screen, it’s important to note, in the past Madney’s conversations were included in CANON so the narrative could be followed and so that it made sense.  But in season 6 there were HUGE issues with continuity for all the main characters but especially for Madney because they were GLARINGLY OBVIOUS since they weren’t allowed to have important conversations on-screen.

Madney’s Relationship

As mentioned above, Maddie and Chimney have been in a romantic relationship for more than four years, it could have been five but they were friends first and they broke up for a few months after they returned from Boston in 5B.  They began dating in season 2 but when Chimney was on his way to take Maddie out on their first date, her estranged husband Doug stabbed Chimney and abducted her but they stayed together and continued to build a solid foundation for their relationship.

Maddie took a pregnancy test in 3x18, it was positive and their daughter Jee-Yun Buckley-Han was born in 4x9.  They had been living in Chimney’s apartment until Maddie got her own place after they returned from Boston in 5x13 but she moved back into his apartment in 6x1 and they bought a house together at the end of 6x9.

Prior to season 6, Maddie and Chimney had a lot of conversations some of which were difficult including Maddie being accused of stalking a 9-1-1 caller, Chimney telling her he was in love with her, Maddie’s fear of whether she would be a good mother along with the conversation they had while they were in Boston.  But the issue in season 6 was they weren’t allowed to talk to each other on-screen.  They haven’t had an open and honest TWO-WAY conversation about their relationship since 5x12.  She proposed to him in 6x17 but they still didn’t talk about their issues and she did all the talking during the proposal.  When he tried to explain that he was in a different place, she told him to “Stop” and they didn’t discuss either of their fears about getting married.

Instead of talking to each other, they spent the entire season talking to everyone else about their issues and other people talked about them too.

Chimney had a conversation with Eddie and Bobby in 6x1 when he ran away the morning after their one-night stand.

Maddie talked to Josh in 6x1 before she promised Chimney she wasn’t going to leave.

Maddie talked with Josh in 6x15 the morning after the accountant told her and Chimney, they should get married to save money on their income taxes.

Chimney and Hen had several conversations in 6x16 about Chimney proposing which is not unusual since they’re best friends but he didn’t even know if Maddie wanted to get married.

Buck and Hen argued about it in 6x16 because Buck felt like they should have pushed Chimney to propose while Hen suggested they let him figure it out on his own. (This conversation shouldn’t have happened because the proposal wasn’t about either of them.  Possible reasons for their conversation were included in “Constructive Criticisms #11”).

Maddie talked with Buck, who is her brother about the engagement ring in 6x17 and he said something about his conversation with Hen from 6x16 that prompted her to go talk to Hen.

Chimney asked Gina, the insurance representative if he should propose in 6x17 while he was filing the insurance claim.

Maddie went to Hen’s house in 6x17 and invited herself in without a greeting followed by them discussing the proposal among other things.

Money & Marriage

Money and marriage were two huge themes within their relationship throughout season 6.

Maddie mentioned how combining their incomes helped them to be able to afford a nanny in 6x5.

Every house Maddie said they viewed in 6x8 was either not right or out of their price range.

In 6x10, Maddie asked Chimney if he was still bothered about having to borrow the downpayment for their house from her parents.

In 6x15, Maddie insinuated Chimney wasted money on ice cream, she told him in front of the IRS representative that she pays more than 50% of their household expenses and the accountant suggested they get married to save 14K in income taxes.

They couldn’t afford the downpayment on their house BUT CHIMNEY SPENT thousands of dollars on her engagement ring in 6x16.  The prices of the engagement rings he looked at on his phone ranged from $7,000 to $15,000 USD but they had to borrow money from the Buckley parents to purchase their home.  None of this made any narrative sense at all.

In 6B, it was consistently implied that Chimney is frivolous with money when he was never shown to be like that in previous seasons. Chimney’s fictitious salary is more than 100K annually while Maddie’s is closer to 60K, therefore the implications of him mismanaging money didn’t make sense especially since she earns WAY LESS than he does.  Also, the more than 400K she received from Doug’s estate is gone because she said she spent it when she went to Boston in season 5.  So, WTF was the goal here?

What was the show trying to insinuate?  It appears they were attempting to show Chimney doesn’t contribute his fair share to their household expenses which was absolutely ridiculous when prior to season 6, NEITHER OF THEM WERE SHOWN TO BE BAD WITH MONEY AND THEY DIDN'T MISMANAGE THEIR FINANCES. Chimney had his own apartment that he paid for all on his own, way before Maddie moved in and reminder, Buck had to move in with him after he left Abby’s apartment in 2x8.  In season 5, he spent all of his savings chasing Maddie and she spent all of hers too, so what were they trying to accomplish with this asinine storyline/arc for Chimney because he’s not frivolous with his finances?

The proposal

Chimney’s decision to propose was dragged out for far too long and even though he didn’t propose to her because she proposed to him in 6x17 and he said yes, they still didn’t talk about any of the issues surrounding their relationship.  Chimney talked to Hen about his fears in 6x16 and he talked to the insurance representative too in 6x17 but he NEVER TALKED TO MADDIE about them (see all the people he did talk to above).  Maddie talked to Buck and Hen about her fears but she NEVER TALKED TO CHIMNEY.  Therefore, they both have fears that have yet to be addressed.

There were TOO MANY people involved in the proposal that shouldn’t have been, i.e. the entire 118, with Bobby offering to officiate when Chimney tried to explain he and Maddie probably wanted something small.  Buck saying he needed to do a grand gesture, Ravi suggesting Chimney’s idea was kind of lame while Eddie was the only one who told him it was his choice.  Everyone offered their two cents while they were in the firehouse but HEN WAS THE ONLY ONE who kept it real with Chimney when they were in private, even though he didn’t want to hear it.  Before Maddie proposed, Chimney was still wishy washy about it because he wasn’t sure.  Did he say yes?  He did but the foreshadowing and the narrative were clearly telling a different story.

Just like in real life, almost everyone wanted Maddie and Chimney to get engaged because they like to see weddings and people get married but as mentioned earlier, they weren’t TALKING TO EACH OTHER ABOUT THE IMPORTANT THINGS that still plague their relationship. The question is, do they really want to get married or were they both being shown to be in love with “the idea of marriage”?   It’s always been clear that they are in love with each other but being in love and being ready to get married are two different things. 

One of the few things season 6 did well was illustrate how MADDIE AND CHIMNEY AREN’T READY TO GET MARRIED.  Once Maddie proposed in 6x17, it was like everything else that led up to it DIDN’T HAPPEN.  Chimney told Hen in 6x16 they forgave each other for the hurt they caused and experienced but it doesn’t erase the palpable fear they have that one of them is going to leave the relationship (see below).

If the narrative continues, it’s unlikely a wedding will happen at the beginning of season 7 for them unless it’s forced because there were still too many things left unsaid between them.  Did they get engaged, YES!  But they still haven’t had an on-screen conversation about the DIFFICULT topics they refuse to discuss and they represent the red flags that were waving inside of their relationship throughout the season.

Here’s evidence to prove a wedding might not happen between them anytime soon.  In 5x13, after they returned to L.A., Chimney told Hen, “All those other times we were apart, it always felt like it was outside forces, ex-husbands, pandemics… this time it feels like the call was coming from inside the house”.  Then he told Hen in 6x16, “The universe is trying to tell me something.  Every time me and Maddie, try to make something real and concrete… it falls away like sand.  Maybe it's time I start paying attention to that”.  He made those comments one year apart so it’s possible they won’t be getting married until they deal with their past.

Madney’s pasts

When Chimney found Maddie in 5x12, they agreed they were going to keep communicating about the difficult things but they stopped in 6A and it continued through the end of 6B.  Even though they had an off-screen conversation before 5x13, while they were driving back to L.A., they’ve rarely been shown talking about anything important.  They talked in 6x1 after Maddie’s apartment flooded, they hooked up but he ran then she talked to Josh and he told her maybe she needed to talk to Chimney instead of waiting for him to talk to her.  They talked about Magda in 6x5 but they didn’t talk about Maddie’s fear at the end of 6x4 after she helped Lourdes and Claribel.  This is important because Maddie will probably always struggle with the fact that she was in a domestic abuse situation but her and Chimney haven’t discussed it on-screen which means they’re afraid to approach the subject.  Chimney told Eddie in 3x4 that he wanted to tell her that he wasn't anything like her psycho deceased husband while she was shown to still clearly be traumatized by it.

In 6x4, they didn’t talk about Chimney being trapped in the car with that drunk driver and they weren’t shown discussing Noah’s arrest in 6x5 since he was the one who stole Maddie’s password.  Also, other than the money Margaret and Phillip lent them, they haven’t been shown discussing their toxic parents even though there are CLEARLY ISSUES especially since in 6x10, Chimney told Buck that the Buckley parents were on their best behavior but he didn’t know why and it was something new for him to worry about.

Couples Therapy

While Maddie and Chimney have been to therapy individually, they’ve never gone to therapy together.  In 3x9, Chimney told the 118, he went to therapy after the stabbing and in that same episode, Maddie was in therapy again after Sue ordered her to go.  She checked herself into a clinic after she tried to commit suicide following 5x3 but Chimney hasn’t been shown going to deal with the paralyzing fear he felt after she left. 

They’ve experienced some very traumatic events that might only be resolved in therapy.  The synopsis for 6x1 stated they were going to couples therapy but it NEVER happened.  Maddie made a promise to Chimney that she was there for their family but that’s not the same thing as talking through their issues and facing their shared traumas. They’ve forgiven each other but they still haven’t talked about Chimney’s fear associated with Maddie leaving and they haven’t talked about Maddie’s fear of leaving Jee-Yun for six months.  She talked to Buck about it in 5x15 but she hasn’t been shown talking to Chimney.  He talked with Bobby and Hen in 5x13 about his fear of leaving Jee-Yun with Maddie and he was scared to death when he got home and saw the light in the bathroom on but they haven’t discussed it. 

Red Flags

Their relationship was plagued with red flags throughout season 6 including the house they purchased combined with the crippling fear they both have that involves the other one leaving.

The house

There was an abundance of red flags associated with their new home.  First, Josh said it was a “murder house” in 6x9 but after Chimney did some research, he learned the owner ABANDONED it after her husband and three daughters died in a car accident.  They didn’t have the money for a down payment and based on their actions in 6x8, they only bought it so Jee-Yun would have her own bedroom.  They could have moved into a two-bedroom apartment and it would have solved all their problems but for whatever reason, they chose the more difficult option.

They couldn’t afford any of the homes they looked at and they couldn’t afford the down payment on the house they ended up buying so they had to borrow the money from Maddie’s parents.  Maddie told Josh the house wasn’t finished which means even though everyone wanted to see it, no one could stay with them.  The renovations were timely and costly but Chimney was trying to make it work.  Before and after the Buckleys arrived, Chimney planned to give the seat at the head of the dining room table to Phillip. Seriously, WTF was that even supposed to be? (See Chimney’s section for more info on this topic.)

Then Albert showed up in 6x10 with not one but TWO UNANNOUNCED guests, Sang and Albert’s mother without even talking to Chimney before they arrived.  In 6x11, Margaret wanted to buy some plants to decorate the place the same way she bought Buck a couch which wasn’t necessary.  The illusion Buck and Albert had of them being the perfect family during the dry lightning storm in 6x10 was another issue.  In 6x13 Rhonda Fitzsimmons, the coupon forger, barged her way in without being invited and Jee-Yun hid Maddie’s engagement ring in her plastic doll house in 6x16 which is where Maddie found it in 6x17 and then Maddie proposed to Chimney with a big and flashy fake ring.

Reminder, 9-1-1 doesn’t do coincidences and everything that HAPPENS IN CANON, HAPPENS FOR A REASON.  Therefore, the issues associated with their storylines of ABANDONMENT, UNNANOUCNED AND UNIVITIED GUESTS, THE PLASTIC DOLL HOUSE, THE FAKE RING, HOME OWNERSHIP, HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY were all highlighted for a reason.  The reason wasn’t revealed, so hopefully it will be in season 7.

Being afraid the other one will leave

It’s clear Chimney is still afraid that Maddie’s going to leave and it’s been foreshadowed several times.  In 4x1, after Eddie and Hen moved out of Buck’s loft, Chimney was too scared to go back home even though the lockdown had been lifted.  In 5x3 after Maddie left, he was terrified something happened to her or someone forced her to leave even though Buck told him sometimes she just leaves.  Then he told Buck he didn’t want to think badly of her.  In 5x18, he thought she wanted to start seeing someone else and in 6x1 he left after they hooked up because he was afraid that she was going to leave him again.  Also, his face wasn’t shown when Jee-Yun said, “Mama leave”, which could mean he’s still afraid of it.

He was the one who suggested they buy the “murder house” in 6x9 even though Maddie was clearly not too excited about it.  He admitted in 6x10 that the renovation was taking its toll on them and that it was mainly spearheaded by him and in 6x16 he told Hen marrying Maddie was what he wanted but he hadn’t talked to her to see how she felt about it.

The conversations he had with Hen in 6x16 were very telling and illustrated how he’s not ready.  He said, “This is not about the money Hen.  It’s a sign!” but she responded, “It’s a ring, an object. You can get another one.”  He shook his head no and replied, “The universe is trying to tell me something.  Every time me and Maddie, try to make something real and concrete… it falls away like sand.  Maybe it's time I start paying attention to that”.

The kicker happened in 6x17 when he asked Gina, the insurance representative if he should propose or not and he pleaded with her for her opinion.  She responded, “I think people look for signs when they’re afraid of making a choice.  Afraid to make the wrong one.”  Chimney responded, “Ouch! Brutal but probably accurate.”  When he asked her if she was married, she replied she’d been divorced twice and he asked if she regretted it, then she responded that she regretted the results not the attempts.  He was still unsure but when he finally went home and Maddie proposed, she didn’t let him finish what he was going to say.  She proposed and he said yes but they didn’t talk about either of their fears.

“Something stinks”

The theme of 6x16 was “something stinks” and every emergency the 118 was dispatched to involved something that was foul and odorous.  The first emergency was the woman with the tonsil stones and the next one was at the dump.  Chimney and Hen spent two hours searching for the engagement ring in that same dump until Athena arrived.  Therefore, could the theme of the episode be alluding to Maddie and Chimney’s relationship since they keep allowing things to pile up without discussing them?

Howard “Chimney” Han

Chimney barely had two solid storylines in season 6 and neither of them were given the attention they deserved.

He was completely under-utilized in 6A and he was treated like a recurring character until 6x9 when he and Hen went to the murder house.  Also, he really didn’t have any important conversations with anyone this season until the latter half of 6B.  He had one with Hen in 6x16 after he lost the engagement ring and he had one with Ravi in 6x14 about Ravi returning to the 118.  The flashback conversations he had with Hen and Karen in 6x6 don’t count because they happened years ago.

Some of the decisions he made were contradictory and out of character.  In 4x6 he said he believed in jinxes and in 6x7 he said the same thing about curses but in 6x9, he not only researched a “murder house”; he bought it.  Therefore it didn’t make any narrative sense for him to be the one to find the house but it was probably set up that way so they could bring in the Buckley parents.

Chimney’s interactions with Sang Han, his biological father were atrocious and were treated like an afterthought especially since Hen told him in 6x10 he needed to tell his father how much he hurt him by not being there and for abandoning him.  He didn’t have the conversation on-screen with Sang and in 6x13, he told Denny he let it go even after Albert’s mother guilt tripped him into believing he was prideful like Sang which is NOT TRUE.

Man of the house

In 6x10, Chimney was WILLINGLY going to give the seat at the head of the table in HIS OWN HOME to Phillip Buckley simply because the Buckley parents gave them the money for the downpayment.  If Phillip would have sat in that chair, it would have been a MISTAKE!  That’s his and Maddie’s home so they shouldn’t be relinquishing authority and the decision making to anyone because they’re the decision makers.  The gesture was nonsensical because Chimney wouldn’t have done that if they borrowed the money from someone else.  If they had borrowed the money from a bank, he wouldn’t have offered the chair at the head of the table to the bank’s CEO. So, WTH was that even supposed to be?

This instance relates back to the money issues that plagued their relationship all season and it’s not fair to his character.  He’s been on the show since season 1 but he’s been sidelined a lot and has been shown to play a background role to Maddie even though she didn’t arrive on the show until season 2.  Also, when she left in 5x3, he was sent off to find her even though he had a FULL SUPPORT SYSTEM IN L.A.  Buck and Albert were there and so were the Lees, therefore he could have stayed and let them help him raise Jee-Yun while Maddie could have gone to a facility in northern California (detailed posts that include this topic linked here and here).

For the entirety of season 6, Chimney was made to look like a guy who was prideful (comment made by Albert’s mother), irresponsible with money (Maddie’s comments about him buying ice cream and her paying more than 50% of their household expenses) along with the lost engagement ring and he was made to seem like a man who couldn’t adequately provide for his family (he couldn’t afford the downpayment but he could buy an engagement ring).  These were assassinations to his character and they weren’t fair, therefore, it begs the questions of why was his character handled in this manner?  Was it done on purpose?  If so, then it’s unclear since he’s a main character.

Captain

Chimney was a great captain in 2x17, 2x18 and 4x14 (he stepped up while Bobby was trapped in the warehouse with Ethan Copeland) when he wasn’t trying to emulate Bobby.  After season 2, he was never shown having any interest in being interim captain or a captain at all again and he’s mentioned he didn’t want it several times.  He said it in 6x1 and he said it again during his performance review in 6x14.

The way Bobby handled telling Chimney he’s a good leader was ridiculous.  First, they should have had the conversation they had at the end of 6x14 in 2x18 when Bobby returned after his suspension but since they didn’t, it should have happened in 6x1.  If Chimney is supposed to be the next captain of the 118, it doesn’t follow the narrative or the foreshadowing that’s been done over the last six seasons. It’s possible Chimney may become a captain at another firehouse instead of the 118. In 6B, it was hinted at when Chimney went to the academy and when he sat in Bobby’s chair in 6x16 that he "could" become the next captain of the 118 but the narrative has always shown Buck as Bobby’s mentee which means if it continues, it’s very likely Buck will be the next captain of the 118 not Chimney (more on this topic in next Monday’s post).  Ravi (mentee) is to Chimney (mentor) who Buck (former mentee) was to Bobby (former mentor) (post regarding this topic linked here).

On the job injury

Chimney being hurt was continuously foreshadowed throughout the season.  He was trapped in the car with that drunk driver in 6x4, in 6x10 he was supposed to be the one on the aerial but Buck went up instead and in 6x18 he got impaled with that piece of metal from the gurney after the bridge collapse.  These were all instances where he was either in danger or could have been seriously injured but like everything else, the finale was rushed and he was on the mend and back at work quickly.  In 6x14 he told Hen, Eddie and Buck that he would be there when they’re all gone but the question is, will he?  Who knows but if they keep foreshadowing his death or him experiencing a permanent injury, it’s possible it could be related to whether he becomes a captain someday.

Maddie Buckley

Maddie also had a limited number of storylines in season 6 and she was treated like a background character for most of the season too.  Aside from Noah trying to frame her in 6x5 when he stole her password because he thought she wouldn’t get in trouble and the coupon forger in 6x13, the rest of her on-screen time was the result of something else that happened, i.e. the proposal and Buck getting struck by lightning.  Chimney found the house and suggested they buy it in 6x9 and he was the one who was going to propose but she found the ring in 6x17.  Other than that, there weren’t too many storylines for her as a main character.  The prank her and Linda played on Josh in 6x9 was unnecessary.

Fear and uncertainty

Maddie’s still unsure of a lot of things and even though she said she was done running in 6x1, her reactions and responses to a lot of situations and emergencies were very LOUD.  In 6x9 she wasn’t comfortable with the house Chimney found but she went along with it because it’s what Chimney wanted.  In 6x10 she admitted she didn’t always have it right before her parents arrived.  She told Athena, Chimney and Bobby in 6x13 that she didn’t like feeling uncomfortable in her own home after the situation with Rhonda Fitzsimmons.  She told Hen in 6x17 that the people at the treatment center didn’t teach them how to reacclimate themselves back in with the people they know.  Furthermore, Maddie was always OUT OF THE ROOM whenever the difficult topics were being discussed.  When Chimney’s argument with his dad during dinner happened along with Buck’s sperm donation conversation took place, she went to check on Jee-Yun instead of staying for the discussion.  There aren’t any coincidences on the show which means these things were intentionally done but the reason was never provided.

Flashbacks of her life with Doug

In 6x4, the call she took from Claribel rattled her and she may have been having flashbacks to her time with Doug.  She was paralyzed with fear which is understandable so it begs the question as to why she and Chimney weren’t shown discussing it.  Also, in 6x13, Rhonda Fitzsimmons barging into their home made her feel unsafe and rightfully so but they didn’t talk about it after everything was over.  She was shown to be “going with the flow” again with regards to the house purchase.  She was unsure about it and it kind of seemed like she was doing it to make Chimney happy the same way she went along with the renovations.  Also, she told Josh at the end of 6x15 that she thought she’d never get married again but she and Chimney never discussed it since they were committed to each other and raising their daughter together.  Prior to the accountant mentioning it, had she ever thought about it?  Viewers don’t know and probably never will because she was barely on-screen in season 6 even though she returned to L.A. after 5x12.

Still absent from 118 gatherings

She wasn’t present with the 118 this season and her interactions with the three people she was allowed to talk to, i.e., Hen, Athena and Bobby all seemed contrived and weird especially since she’s interacted with all of them in the past.  Buck is her brother and Chimney’s now her fiancé but the saga of Eddie and Maddie not talking to each other in CANON continues (detailed post regarding why they haven’t or won’t until something happens linked here). She was absent from Hen’s medical school party in 6x5 but she didn’t have any problems walking into Hen’s house unannounced in 6x17 when she wanted to confront her about the things Buck said Hen mentioned regarding Chimney proposing to her.

Relationship with her parents

It’s unclear where Maddie stands with her parents because in 4x4 she told Buck she wanted her daughter to have a normal family and Buck told her she should have gotten knocked up by a guy who had one of those.  But in 5x12, she told the doctor at the hospital in Boston that she didn’t discuss her medical history with her mother.  The Buckley parents weren’t mentioned in season 4 or 5 after Jee-Yun was born and in 6x10 through 6x11 while they were there, the only real conversation she had with them was about Buck’s care.  Does she want to have a relationship with them or not?  Or maybe she wants to have one with them for Buck’s and Jee-Yun’s sakes which she said in 4x4 but that’s difficult to assess too since no one including her has said anything about it in more than two years.

Jee-Yun Buckley-Han

Jee-Yun is only two years old which means she may not get her own storylines for a while but her holding on to the engagement ring in 6x16 for safekeeping was great.  Hopefully, her character will become a main character soon since she’s the daughter of two first responders.

Madney’s Future

Based on the way season 6 ended for them, it appears a wedding is on the horizon but it’s possible it could be delayed for a while.  Even though the marriage proposal turned out great and it was awesome that Maddie was the one to do it, the season ended and THEY STILL HADN’T TALKED ABOUT THEIR ISSUES which is a problem all on its own.  There were also an abundance of unanswered questions for the Madney ship in season 6 including:

Where does Maddie stand with her parents?

Where does Chimney stand with his father?

How do they really feel about getting married?

Are they going to discuss their differences or just keep going with what everyone else expects or believes they should do?

Will they ever go to couples therapy?

Will they approach the topic of how fearful they both are of losing each other?

Season 6 didn’t do the Madney ship any justice because they deserved so much better than what they got.  A long-drawn-out marriage proposal without them talking about everything else was very LOUD.  They were shown to be two people who didn’t know each other but that’s so far from the truth because they were friends first and they clearly know each other but their relationship wasn’t handled properly for the duration of 6A and 6B.  It could have been better if the show would have allowed them to have their HAPPILY EVER AFTER instead of throwing all the foreshadowing into the mix.

Will the show address their problems in season 7?  Hopefully or otherwise they won’t be doing Madney justice because they deserve a HAPPY ENDING that’s not faked or forced.  How will things happen for them in season 7?  Will they get married early on or will it be delayed until who knows when like everything else was in season 6?  Only time will tell but hopefully, the Madney ship and Maddie, Chimney and Jee-Yun will get the attention they deserve.

These are my criticisms regarding the Madney ship and the individual characters included in the Buckley-Han family and “Constructive Criticisms” #13 will be posted on Monday, August 14, 2023.

I have a total of 15 CANON “Constructive Criticisms” (3 remaining) and my goal is to have all of them posted by Monday, August 28, 2023.  The topics are being posted in a specific order that begins with the overall issues for season 6 so they can be referenced within the posts about individual characters and ships that will follow them.

[time-is-restored]

more whinging bc i got negative hours of sleep last night and i need to stay awake somehow lol

cw: discussions of misogyny + abuse

god the more i think abt it the more exhausted i get by the gender politics of ted lasso.

like god i do genuinely think that rebecca's arc in s1 is one of the best depictions of a mean + cruel woman ive ever seen on TV specifically bc it manages to thread the needle so well? like they never tilt her balance too much and doom her to being either totally fucked up + evil OR totally soft and sweet and harmless. and ted's 'divorce makes u crazy' response to her apology STILL makes me crazy wrt the sheer. understanding and empathy there, and she's just. given so much more depth than ive come to expect, especially for an ensemble cast sitcom w a (then) p short run time.

but my fucking god. we literally don't learn a fucking thing about michelle. im pretty sure the one (1) concrete thing we know about her comes in the fucking finale, and it's that she's a teacher for... something. the two most important people in ted's life and we don't know anything abt them! they're literally just empty symbols representing the importance of Family™, and that vacancy does nothing but weigh ted's storyline down!

like, i liked michelle's episode/storyline in s1, bc the blinding novelty of a woman instigating a divorce not being the Actual Devil, as well as a just. generally very empathetic + nuanced take on how divorce shakes out between two ppl who really care for each other, was so 'WAIT TV CAN DO THIS??' that i felt satisfied with that being Her Arc™. divorce happens, life happens, people fall out of love, and it hurts but its ultimately okay. the show, at the time, was ultimately abt a football club and how caring abt that football club helped everyone around it.

but then the show sticks around, and her continued absence just... raises a lot of questions? how did the conversation abt ted going overseas happen? what conversations did they have abt henry? how long term was it intended to be? did money really not factor into it all? like it's one thing for a character's backstory to be vague when it's not really the focus of attention (s1 was ultimately rebecca's story before anyone else's), but when it's the load bearing stone of their '''''''arc''''''' in s3...????

like. god. and then it fucking infects every other woman on the show!

sassy + nora? well sure we'll give you a softball - you can have one (1) scene where a woman is able to resolutely and firmly reject a man asking her out without immediately being seen as cruel or gameplayey (not that the audience will see it that way! she's already a lecherous temptress for them!), but neither of them will ever be able to speak to rebecca onscreen again, even after the heart-wrenching scenes in s1 CLEARLY establishing them as a beating heart of rebecca's arc.

shandy? nope, don't even think abt her motivations/drives, just forget her. simi? LMAOOO imagine a black woman getting a personality beyond righteous anger. jack? three-four episodes, and we learn so little abt her that her conflict with keeley - which SHOULD'VE have been a huge emotional beat - just feels like a kick in the teeth (and while, yes, i absolutely agree that in a real world context, jack's rejection of keeley would be largely motivated by class, in Ted Lasso Land™ rebecca is just as rich - if not richer? - and we're never once encouraged to interrogate her priorities).

barbara's the one that really makes me miserable, bc i feel like on a show with less run time, she could've played REALLY well. she's a great contrast to keeley, has an amazing delivery, and the scene where keeley + her first discuss the snowglobes shows that she has the potential for some really moving vulnerability + pathos. but instead they give SO many of keeley's scenes to characters who ultimately get written out, so when barbara stays it's like... okay? sure? like, i was so stoked that barbara survived the Mass Exodus of side characters that i didn't wanna look the gift horse in the mouth but... wasn't the last thing we saw of her and keeley's relationship like. general resentment + distrust abt the shandy debacle? when did that improve? how???

i don't think i'll ever have enough mental real estate to explain how disappointed keeley + rebecca's 'arcs' in s3 made me, and at least there's the saving grace that. virtually no one other than jamie got a coherent arc this season, so at least it was on some levels an egalitarian screw up. but fuck dude. keeley was just forced to react to bad things that were happening to her, and we got to see her do her job (which, unbelievably, does actually involve things other than being an awkward manager!) precisely one (1) time.

i even like rebecca's arc on paper - i think it's really cool to see a character backslide so intensely in terms of obsessing over and struggling to come to terms w a past relationship, especially an abusive one, bc like. yeah! that shit sticks with you for longer than a season! and beyond that, seeing her regain her sense of self and what SHE actually gives a shit about was oftentimes just as sweet as s1. but her scenes were poorly connected, and she had to carry WAY too much of a burden as the Resident Speech Giver for any of her internal characterisation to make sense. like, sorry, but it's kind of hard to believe a character's Going Through It™ when they have to spent near 100% of their screen time giving Take It From Me, Kid, speeches. and then she's not even given a real opportunity TO fuck up + sabotage her relationships, even when she starts getting really weird w ted! it's all just so meaningless and like nothing that she does is ever going to matter. she never speaks to zava again, we don't get to see her interact w bex or kate, her pleas to ted get COMPLETELY shut down...

but the thing that REALLY makes me sick is this complete lack of interiority absolutely butchers the characters of jade + jane, who are otherwise RIFE with potential. like, jade is a completely unflinching, unapologetic asshole to nate + his family, and that's never interrogated. even in Sitcom Land™, it's more than reasonable to view jade's actions as racist, especially when she doesn't give the same treatment to others (at least not as i recall? honestly i usually watch the taste of athens scenes while peeking out behind my hands, so i could 100% be wrong here). and yet, suddenly, and completely inexplicably, she's charmed by nate. she wants to give him the time of day. she finds him attractive, and wants to date him, and generally take control of his life and force him into a decision that is literally the exact opposite of what he expressed wanting to do. except even that LAST thing isn't allowed to be interrogated, bc god FORBID a woman is enough of a fully realised creation to actually be culpable of the terrible shit they do!

and fucking jane??? beard's so head-over-heels for this woman that the emotional abuse + extremely controlling tendencies don't even make him bat an eye, and we don't get to know anything about her? she's literally just the suggestion of an alluring woman! good at sex! good at chess! fuck you if you wanna know more, even though the show ENDLESSLY hits you over the head with how painful their relationship is for beard - beard who is given virtually no other storyline. like, i literally can't read brendan's refusal to label jane as abusive as anything other than like. that bio-essentialism shit where ppl 'women are better than men <3' so hard that they end up genuinely and wholeheartedly arguing that someone's sex defines their morals - or worse, that their sex is a deciding factor in determining whether someone's actions are good or bad. not context, but a legitimate 'add points if woman, take away points if man' variable.

like that's so feminism 101 it's legitimately almost worse than nothing. that's like getting as far as 'hey so you know how we're all inundated with both implicit + explicit messaging abt what is Valued and Good for women vs men to-' before shoving ur earplugs in and going 'if you are oppressed by society we'll automatically stamp a 'good person' label on ur head and now we don't have to think abt any of our biases + internalised beliefs ever again <333'. the most useless and fucking pointless stand against the patriarchy ever, especially coming from the same show that ENDLESSLY slots characters into the 'loving gf/wife' archetype and then give them Literally Nothing Else. my comrades you have literally just done madonna/whore 2: oops all madonnas! this is not liberation!!!! this is a miserable cage!!!!!!!!!

im just. higgins' wife. mae. trent's daughter and anonymous 'her'. the women at the hotel and the restaurants and the firm and the fucking physios, fuck - dani's gfs! who are they? what do they want? where do they go when the camera stops rolling? can anyone hear me?? hello??? hello???? brendan hunt i am OUTSIDE YOUR HOUUUUUUSE

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I do love the book but it's harder to get through than the show if you don't care for wangxian just because the focus is that much narrower. The nature of adaptation and also CQL having objectively too many episodes(Guanyin temple did NOT need four eps lol) turns it into an ensemble show with something for everyone. Yanli takes fifty chapters to show up and Wen Qing doesn't make her entrance until chapter 60. I am one of those people who very much do enjoy wangxian both separately and together but I also consider them one of the less interesting storylines and there are relatively few scenes of theirs I reread compared to the rest of the cast.

AGREEEEEED. The show cares so much for the supporting characters and gives such life to them--as adaptations of works with such vast words SHOULD once they've been freed from the constraints of first-person or third-person-limited narration, honestly. Knowing that there's less WQ in the novel is particularly disappointing to me, bc I love her friendship with WWX, and had hoped All WWX All The Time would at least mean more mad scientist friendship time! Alas.

That said. I am going to go on a tangent because ohhhhhhhh my god, Guanyin Temple and its need for editing.

@maester-of-spreadsheets and I have compared Guanyin Temple to Act IV of a Shakespeare play. A lot of Act IVs includes a super intense scene where the characters are in a state of HIGH EMOTION as shit hits the fan and we hurtle towards the climactic action in Act V--Ophelia's mad scene, Richard II's deposition, Brutus and Cassius's breakup fight, Richard III's coercion of Elizabeth Woodville, etc. These scenes are all CERTIFIED BANGERS that hold their plays together.

However. The reason these scenes go so hard is that they're just ONE SCENE. One really long-ass scene, maybe, but "long" here is maybe 20 minutes, bc we can't chug along with the same exact level and type of intensity for much longer than and remain engaged... which is EXACTLY what happens in CQL's iteration of Guanyin Temple. Without Mingjue's corpse busting in like the Kool-Aid man to release the tension in explosive action (the blade spirit does NOT cut it unless "it" is JGY's arm) or Wangxian's confession to release tension with some levity, it's just tearful emotional reckoning after tearful emotional reckoning for THREE ENTIRE HOURS.

And like, I 100% find every plot being rehashed at Guanyin Temple more interesting than anything Wangxian have going, but it's weird to have our protagonists just sitting there spectating other people's emotional implosions for the equivalent of an entire feature-length film. Like, they tried with the curse mark thing and the Second Flautist, but all the plot permits WWX to do is scowl tearfully about these major revelations because JGY's gotta be killed by NHS via LXC.

It had me by the throat when I first watched it because all the information was BRAND NEW and I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen, but on rewatches I just get tired. Individual bits are great on their own, but as one long slog? Noooooo thank you. And the abrupt mood whiplash and confused pacing once the focus returns to Wangxian for good leaves a weird taste in my mouth.

[scattered-winter]

wait hang on who are the hot gay boys in that gif set you reblogged

HGLHSIERGLSJDGALKSHGLK i was gonna put the [do you have any idea how little that narrows it down] meme but im pretty sure u mean this one <3 and in any case i will always be down to ramble about the Sillies(tm)

ok so those guys in particular are from the fox procedural called 9-1-1 Lone Star, which is a spinoff of the original 9-1-1 (which just got moved to abc after some Drama that went down so my tag for it is 911 (not fox) lmaoo). but both shows are about first responders (firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, police) with a particular focus on firefighters. 9-1-1 (the og) is set in LA, and primarily focuses on the 118 firehouse and the firefighters/paramedics there with some other characters in the main cast who work as dispatchers/police officers (the police storylines are more often than not FULL of copaganda which sucks but the main focus is on the firefighters so i'm able to enjoy the rest of the show). 9-1-1 Lone Star is pretty much the same except it's set in austin texas, and is about the 126 firehouse. there are onscreen queer characters in both (in the og there's a married lesbian couple raising a kid, and in lone star there's the aforementioned hot gay boys [one of whom is unfortunately a cop but i swear to GOD i will get him out of there. one day.] and in lone star there's also a trans man and wlw woman in the main cast.) and my favorite thing about these shows is the found family !!! like these are the shows that have endeared firefighter aus to me because they live together and eat meals together and just. the familial/platonic love is So Powerful and it legiterally makes me cry to watch. like there's romance ofc but genuinely it's one of my favorite found family medias to ever exist. its So.

of the two the og is my favorite for a LOT of reasons, but they're both pretty enjoyable !! lone star definitely has more of a comedic tone than og (theyre BOTH funny but lone star doesn't have as many somber intense moments as og does, and they're much more spread out so there's a lot more room for goofy shenanigans. but og still definitely has plenty of those) and the team dynamics in them both are just...ughhh <3333

HOWEVER. lone star has ..... Him...(derogatory)...he's the fire captain and (despite lone star SUPPOSEDLY being an ensemble show with no Main Character) is in fact. the Main Character. and he's the blandest most obnoxious crustiest white man to ever LIVE. he gets most of the storylines and he's constantly propped up by the writing as The Coolest Guy Ever when he's just . not . i hate him so much it's unreal it's soo so unreal (<- biting the bars of my cage) BUT the rest of the team ??? absolutely love them. like i DO love lone star a lot its a great show with great characters and dynamics but it just has. the most annoying guy to ever live front and center when ITS SUPPOSED TO BE AN ENSEMBLE SHOW FEATURING EVERYONE EQUALLY. grr. anyway. og does a much better job of being an ensemble show, and i could not choose a favorite character of the main cast if you held me at gunpoint. angela bassett is there. i am gay. jennifer love hewitt is there. i am very gay. etcetera.

AND SINCE YOU ASKED SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE LONE STAR GAYS ILL TELL YOU A BIT ABOUT THEM

so one of them is tk strand (firefighter/paramedic, also the son of the Main Character (derogatory). i have many many many thoughts about that. i would probably get gunned down in this fandom if i ever said them aloud.) and the other one is carlos reyes (a private detective TO MEEEEEEEEEEEE but unfortunately fox is full of cowards who refuse to see the truth. they wanna have a gay cop in their show sooo bad </3) and they're kind of the main romance of the show (there Are others ofc but theyre like. The Focus. which is fine ig but i do wish there was more focus on other relationships because in general lone star isnt as good as the ensemble thing as og. but i already complained about that so i digress.)

now they're a fun pair because one of them has been shot, frozen almost to death, and otherwise put into a coma on MULTIPLE occasions. and it's not the guy whose entire job is to get shot at. (the whump in both of these shows.....................absolutely effervescent. im thriving here.) and they have a very fascinating relationship because their personalities fit together really well but they have different ways of coping with shit that kind of tear each other apart a little bit. which is of course terrible for them but incredible for me. and the writing is at times ridiculous. soap opera-esque, even. they're ridiculous. i adore them. they cannot catch a god damn break and i love that for them even more. <3

[sflow-er]

You give great insights into the YR fandom although I disagree about it becoming a more Wilmon only trend after S2. Been lurking in this fandom since July 2021 and it's always been a Wilmon only trend from the start. Most fan content has only been on Wilmon from day 1. S2 did try an ensemble cast but S3 backtracked on it (maybe because fan feedback wasn't favourable)

Hi anon! Thank you for your message <3

You are right, of course. I did mean to say in my initial post that the Wilmon only trend had been strong from the start, but I seem to have deleted that bit while editing and just written that it has grown stronger (believe it or not, I do try to trim these rambles down).

Yes, most posts and fanworks definitely were about Wilmon from day one. This is reflected in the number of fics for other ships that I included in my initial post, as well as this reblog where I noted that no other romantic ship has even been tagged in 2.5% of the total number of YR fics on ao3. (Yes, really. Two point five percent.)

It's more that...as one of the very first non-Wilmon authors, I also saw first hand the side of the fandom that was really excited for any fan content exploring the still largely unexplored world of the show. My magnum opus was long and niche, and I had neither the guts nor the platform to promote it, but many people still found it (and some even told me it inspired them to include Walty in their own fics). Granted, it did also feature Wilmon as prominent side characters! But even so, the curiosity it was met with could only arise in the early stages, when the fandom was hungrier for different takes.

In other words, even if we never had much non-Wilmon stuff even at the start, what we had was or at least had the potential to become more popular. And of course that's largely to do with the size of the fandom, but I think it's also to do with the makeup.

In the other reblog thread that you are referencing here, I said that I personally thought the significant influx of new fans in the run-up to and after S2 was one of the pivotal moments. Fandom is always in flux as people come in and move out, and if the early fans who leave are replaced by new fans with different expectations, the focus of the fandom inevitably changes.

The immediate aftermath of S2 was actually a very good time to be interested in non-Wilmon things. Lots of Stedrika fics popped up, and we saw the first little surge of thirty Walty fics over four months, for example! But as the first months of excitement turned to a long wait for S3 and people started to drop off...

Most of the fans who stuck around were Wilmon only, and while the majority of those Wilmon-only fans were absolutely lovely people and amazing additions to the fandom, some folks with less lovely sentiments also came in on the same trains. These weren't just people who weren't interested in the non-Wilmon aspects - they were people who regularly said that "no one" cared about anything other than Wilmon, and upheld a constant discourse against characters and ships who were primarily seen as hurting/harming Wilmon, standing in their way, or hogging screen time from them (especially Sargust on here, but also Stedrika in some spaces). All that had already started after the premiere, but it gained a lot more airspace when the initial buzz died down.

That was a really, truly exhausting time to be invested in the non-Wilmon aspects of the show. I have wondered for a while how many lurkers or newer fans were put off who could have potentially been part of our subcommunity if we'd had a safe space for one back then.

I also wonder sometimes how much of this negativity the makers of the show saw, in addition to the hate that was directly sent to Felicia for example. As you suggest, it feels pretty obvious to me that Stedrika's plot was cut from S3 due to the backlash.

I don't think YR was ever a balanced ensemble show, but all the seasons did have some ensemble vibes. In both S1 and S3, Felice had a storyline of her own, and Sara and August's arcs were there all through the show. But do I agree that the ensemble vibe was higher in S2 due to Wilmon being broken up and some screen time being devoted to Sargust, Sircus and to a lesser degree also Stedrika (oh, and Rousseau, who thankfully wasn't on social media to read all the complaints about himself haha).

Anyway, thank you again for weighing in, anon!