#maybe it was including both of the best scenes with the count and mercedes

[hey-scully-itsme]

still thinking about the count of monte cristo movie. some of it felt half-baked on a technical level (score choices, some weird edits, etc) BUT also it hasn't left my head since i watched it and i WILL be seeing it again on wednesday. enraptured by the count's sad brown eyes and long eyelashes. and his dumbass leather coat.

it's a situation where i wish the movie had more of the book but i also wish the book had a little more of the movie in it.

[msbluebell]

Dramatic Opera Adaptation 

You’ve seen Disaster Wedding, now get ready for...Mittlefrank Opera Company’s production of the grand love story!

“Mittlefrank Opera Company Presents, the epic love story, Dance of The Fell Stars! An epic story of how his Highness King Dimitri Alexendre Blaiddyd fell in love with Byleth Eisner, the mysterious mercenary that would become a professor at Garreg Mach!”

Sylvain is the first to hear of this production. He doesn’t know how it happened so fast, or way, but it was enviable a play/opera would be written about the war. Still, he didn’t expect the Dimitri marrying teach to be the first rendition. He laughs all the way back home and immediately pins a letter to EVERYONE. He is GOING to see this show no matter what.

Dimitri dies a little on the inside when he sees the flyer Sylvain oh-so-helpfully included in the letter. He spends a good couple of minutes just staring at the wall, hoping this is a trick. It’s not, and Sylvain is going to see it. He’s doomed. He can already hear the mockery. Sylvain will NEVER let this go.

Dimitri is ready to throw the flyer into the fire and jump off the roof of his own castle just to avoid going to the play. It’s too late though, all the Blue Lions know. He can feel it. And something tells him this is just the beginning. 

He is absolutely right. Everyone is planning to go. Everyone. “It’ll be fun!” Annette’s letter says, “I haven’t seen you all in a bit! We should meet up!”

“I’ve always wanted to see an Opera.” Mercedes concludes, “And maybe I’ll be in it!”

Ashe thinks it’s a wonderful reason to meet up, and he loves stories, and he’s interested to see what they get right. Felix doesn’t say it, but Dimitri knows he’ll go just so he can mock him. And, suddenly, everyone is class is going because Ingrid agrees she wants to meet up and see what they do too.

Dimitri could honestly die.

Byleth, of course, is curious. They’ve never actually been to an opera, besides knowing Manuela and Dorathea, which doesn’t really count. And they’re always willing to meet up with the Blue Lions for a reunion. 

Dimitri knows he’s doomed before his beloved is even half way through the letter. Dedue, a sympathetic soul, pats him on the shoulder. Dimitri can only sigh mournfully and pin a letter to order reservations for the class.

...the turnout is worse than he feared...

The Opera Company made no secret of how excited they were that THE KING HIMSELF and his beloved were coming to see the production of their story with all their friends. Hundreds are here, maybe even thousands. And, oh no, is that the Golden Deer house? Please no. Oh Goddess, is that Claude? Dimitri thought he’d left Fodlan.

Oh Goddess, all their classmates are here and dressed in their best jewelry and clothes. Is that Ingrid wearing make-up? Is that ALOIS? Is Seteth here with Flayn? Oh no, everyone he knows is here. Why is Byleth’s Gatekeeper friend here? No, please, not you too Gustav, you and your wife are too reasonable to be here.

Alas, this isn’t a nightmare, everyone came to watch this.

The inside of the theater is packed (and oh dear goddess he killed Edelgard here), but he and Byleth are given the best seat in the house, and all his classmates/friends are given priority seats. He can see the stage perfectly. He isn’t going to miss anything. Dimitri despairs.

The show is more awful than he imagined.

It’s also terribly inaccurate while also sticking to an accurate timeline and getting some things waaaaaaay too close to home.

Manuela comes out wearing a green wig and Rhea’s old clothes and begins the thing. Dimitri lost any hope right then and there.

Somehow, Byleth is the child of both Jeralt and Rhea in a secret affair that he swears has someone weeping. There’s a tragic love song about being ripped apart by expectation, and Rhea being a mother forced to give up her lover and her child while Jeralt fakes his death and runs off. He SWEARS he hears Leonie crying.

He has to blank his mind during the evens of Duscar. But, luckily, after that things get right to him enrolling in school. But one the way he, Claude, and an obviously evil Edelgard meet Byleth. Dorathea (assuming she either defected or survived and has no bad feelings) comes out in her own costume playing Byleth, and it’s love at first sight, and somehow they’re already at their first love song? He’s so embarrassed.

Is Alois crying now? What?

Then there’s a whole plot about their tragic secret feelings because Byleth is his teacher, and he’s a student, and it’s forbidden, just like Jeralt and Rhea. By now Dimitri is starting to get a terrible feeling. Also, Jeralt and Rhea have a song about lost years gone by and not getting to see your child grow up that he swears gets a sniffle out of Seteth and Flayn. 

Everything is so dramatic. Somehow Byleth has a lot of very dramatic lines, and so does he, and the scene where she’s blessed by the goddess is somehow so over the top that he has to blink dumbly at it, and Dorathea!Byleth gives a long speech about being holy, and why is she floating? Is...is she going to be suspended in air for that whole song? Why are all the other characters just staring dumbly?

They play up the forbidden love, and add several stolen kisses that never happened, and somehow they knew a little too much about the goddess tower. Oh, and they somehow knew about Claude being Byleth’s first dance at the ball and played that up as well, romantic rival. He swears he can hear Claude and Hilda giggling. 

There’s a few conversations that seem like the actually happened, like when Byleth smiled, or...wait a moment...

He’s going to kill whatever traitor has spying on him and been feeding these people information. How do they even remember all of this? It doesn’t matter, they’re going to die. Or muck stables. Whichever he feels like by the time this show is over.

The scene where Garreg Mach is invaded gets horrifyingly accurate with his devastated reaction to Byleth’s seeming death. His character is frantically searching while fighting off soldiers, only to give a devastating cry and beat his fists into the ground when he realizes Byleth is gone. It’s...very close to what happened, and he hopes no one thinks that actually happened, but the sniffles around him say otherwise. 

His character has a song about missing Byleth and how all the stars seem to dim without them.

Luckily, they skip the five years of war.

But that just means the reunion song is here.

It’s the most awful thing he’s ever heard. It’s...also pretty close to home. There are people crying, but still awful to watch such an over the top dramatic version of their reunion. 

His character singing about feeling like a ghost unworthy of Byleth’s light, and how they haunt him, hits hard.

The rest of the play is so over the top it’s absurd, and there has to be ten more songs just between here and the epic climax with Edelgard. The whole theater must be weeping, and Dimitri wants to go home.

Unfortunately, as they’re finishing the love song, and the curtain is closing and the cast is bowing and he’s about to run away, the Opera Company spotlights him, drawing everyone’s attention. They thank him and Byleth and everyone else for coming, and hope they enjoyed it, and he’s so mortified, and people are clapping, and he’s so fucking embarrassed.

Claude and Sylvain waste NO time mocking him with over the top and sappy lines from the play. It’s totally the worst class reunion ever.

P.S. Claude and Annette were the traitors that both conspired to write the play with Manuela.

[thewaywedo33]

Wynonna Earp 2x06 Thoughts and Faves

Well, we’re officially halfway through the season, and oh what a ride it has been so far. Time to rundown my (overdue) thoughts and faves from 2X06.

Let’s start with a quick mention of the badass Wynonna door kick in scene. If I was still hesitant about this whole pregnancy storyline thing, it was blown out of here right along with that door. (Also, every other damn thing in the episode allayed my fears).

Bobo left a big coat to fill as the season baddie, and the widows are starting to fill it nicely. It turns out Dani Kind has a delicious ability to play a villain. I’m sad we didn’t get more time with actual Mercedes, and I wish Wynonna was able to keep what was shaping up to be a fun friendship, but the storyline is working for me.

Underrated moment of the episode: Faux Mercedes looking down at her ass when Wynonna asks if she has a silver spoon stuck up there again, because she doesn’t know the phrase is now used as a euphemism and takes it literally.

Wynonna and Nicole, man, I feel like I’m going to be writing about them every single week. Not only do I love their dynamic and the potential that comes with it, but I also think their relationship could be extremely important for both characters. Wynonna really does need a friend besides her sister, and things are always going to be complicated with Doc and Dolls, so they can’t really fulfill that role. With Nicole still newish in town, I think she needs a friend too, even if it is her girlfriend’s sister.  Hey, Purgatory is a small town.  

Anyway, the end of last week’s episode was a turning point for Nicole and Wynonna. It cemented for Nicole that she can count on Wynonna to protect and save Waverly in the important moments. I don’t think Nicole has ever questioned Wynonna’s love for her sister, but it seems reasonable to assume she harbored doubts about her ability to do what’s in Waverly’s best interest sometimes, due to her drinking and flippant seeming attitude. 

We know Wynonna finds Nicole bossy and somewhat overbearing, but up to this point she was willing to overlook those things because of how obvious it is that Nicole loves her sister. After this episode, Wynonna is starting to understand Nicole’s better qualities for herself.

I’m in love with the scene where Nicole walks in to discover Wynonna’s pregnancy. The first, and most important, thing for her to ask is if Waverly knows, and boy do I love that, because it’s a tiny moment to indicate just how well Nicole knows her girlfriend. It would kill Waverly to be kept in the dark about such an important thing concerning her sister. Once it’s confirmed Waverly knows, Nicole quickly moves right past the confirmation without asking further questions when it’s clear Wynonna doesn’t really want to talk about it (she is incredibly observant after all). I have such an appreciation for the way Wynonna’s eyes widen when she realizes Nicole understands she doesn’t want to talk about it, or have anyone else know yet, and that Nicole is actually going to respect her wishes. Wynonna hasn’t had that experience much in her life, so it really resonates with her. We know it does, because she THANKS Nicole, something that Wynonna doesn’t do often.

They clear another hurtle in the clock maker’s mansion when Wynonna has to ask Nicole to deal with Tucker and let her worry about keeping Waverly safe, and Nicole listens again. “Thank you for saving our girl”, that’s what Nicole said last week, and it’s exactly why Wynonna asks Nicole respectfully to trust her to save Waverly again this week. 

These two started out this season somewhat reluctantly united because of their mutual love for Waverly, but they are moving one step at a time towards a bond that is based on their respect and admiration for one other.

Now it’s time to talk about Nicole and Waverly. I’m going to try to keep this on track, because part of me wants to just smash on my keyboard in all caps and call it a day, but I won’t.

Never in my lifetime did I think I’d see a show where the female/female pairing is the ‘A couple’, but that’s exactly what we have here. Granted, I haven’t watched every single show with a f/f relationship, but I’ve watched enough of them to know we have something special going on.

Consider this: In Season 1, Wynonna and Doc have a couple sexy scenes, which are lovely, but compare that to what we’ve gotten so far with Nicole and Waverly. They get together in episode nine, and a lot of (most) shows would have then relegated them to the background ‘B couple’ role from there. Instead, we’re getting a complex, nuanced progression of their relationship, and absurdly chemistry-laden, sexy scenes. A lot of them. How is it possible that the barn scene has become distant memory? (I’m just kidding, that scene will never be a distant memory, but I think you know what I mean

Honestly, bless Dominique and Kat, because absolutely nothing about their physical scenes feel stilted or forced, and we’re getting more than a chaste pressing of closed mouths together on occasion. Normally, I wouldn’t explicitly comment on something like this, but it’s actually a big deal and pretty ground breaking on a non HBO/Showtime/Cinemax show.

I won’t pretend I don’t think Nicole and Waverly still have important things to talk about, because I do. But if Emily Andras tells me they’re in a really good place right now, I’m taking her word for it. I’m actually okay with it if they don’t address all the issues at once, because honestly, that’s how people are in real life. We don’t pull out a list and say ‘And now I will recite everything I’m feeling insecure about so we can talk about it at length’. I trust that things will play out in their own time.

They did address the most important issue at the moment though, and that’s the question of Waverly’s consent. Nicole was so worried and upset by the idea that Waverly wasn’t herself during their sexual encounters. Not only is it extremely in character for her, but it’s something that SHOULD matter, and I appreciate the show for acknowledging it.

The progression Nicole goes through in that scene is amazing to watch, by the way. She goes from so blissfully happy that Waverly tastes like ‘her’ Waverly again, to pulling back because she needs to know if it really was Waverly during their previous times together, to eagerly jumping back in when Waverly says yes the first time, to (reluctantly) pulling back again because she needs to be SURE, and it’s all so incredibly well done. The pain on her face is visible when Waverly admits she doesn’t remember things when the demon was in control, and it’s beautiful to watch  it slowly melt away as Waverly speaks softly of remembering ever kiss and touch. The way these two gravitate towards each other is something else, and I’ll never stop yelling about it.

Speaking of being something else, EARP SISTERS. Another week, another gorgeous and breathtaking Earp sister scene to end the episode. The Earp sisters are the cornerstone and heart of this show, just as Waverly is for Wynonna.

I do find it interesting that Waverly is constantly giving Wynonna exactly what she herself needs and wants, which is unconditional love and support. Sure, she’s the town sweetheart and everyone ‘loves’ her, but that’s predicated on Waverly playing the roles everyone wants her in, and suppressing anything that might not gel with people’s view of her. But that’s a whole separate post I’ll maybe write someday, which will include the way Nicole Haught was able to really ‘see’ Waverly from the start, and how important her “as long as you want me, I will be by your side” is for Waverly to hear. But now is not the time for that little detour.

Something else I’ll find interesting is when Wynonna and Waverly inevitably reach the point in their narrative arcs where they’re on opposite sides of an issue. It has to happen, because it’s pretty much a staple narrative beat of a television relationship like theirs. When it comes, I hope it doesn’t hurt too much, and that we get a satisfying rebuild between the two of them. Knowing this show, it will, and we will.

Okay, rapid fire favorite lines and random thoughts:

-“God really is dead.” – this show is just so top-shelf.

-Tucker Gardner is literally a walking MRA poster child. Why did he feel the need to put on a mask for the clock maker’s mansion when he just takes it off after a minute? Probably because he wanted to live out some black ops fantasy situation in his head. I’m glad the dude got shot.

-Speaking of Tucker getting shot, I will never stop laughing at Nicole’s reaction when he jumps out the window. Which is to say, she didn’t have one at all. Not even a glance out the window to see if he ran, or is dead of a broken neck, just a ‘well anyway’ holstering of her gun and moving right on.

-“Don’t talk about my partner’s ass.” Did anyone else love when Doc referred to Dolls as his partner? There’s going to be tension from the Wynonna pregnancy reveal, but gosh I want these two to work through their issues and continue to work together as they compete/snark at each other. It’s fun.

-"When, when you were in like, labor?" I understand Dolls' shock, and I'm sympathetic to it, but dude kept the fact that he's part dragon a secret from Wynonna, so he better get right with��her hesitation to tell him about this real quick.

-Oh Jeremy, sweet, summer child, holding the walkie talkie like a gun on the stairs at Shorty’s, wondering what The Rock would do, never change.

-Shout out to Nicole’s continued use of “the worst.” The list of things she considers the worst is now up to boy men, girlfriends fighting, and Tucker Gardner.

“I do judge you…judge you to be unexpectedly awesome.” RISE brotp.

-With the Stone Witch decapitated (screw you Tucker Gardner, you really are the WORST) does this mean we’ll get an again mortal Doc Holliday? My money says yes.

-“Tell me I’m wearing clothes this time.” – Funny Nicole Haught moments are magical.

-Doc’s ‘I’m all in’ note was a right kick to the heart, and also randomly reminded me of Juno.

-Wynonna, sweetie, darling, I understand why you initially associated the woman in black with Willa. Shoting her weighs heavy on your mind, and you thought of her first when you smelled Shalidelle. But…Willa liked the scent because your MOTHER wore it. I think Mama Earp is coming y’all, or at the very least, she’s going to wind up being at the center of a very important reveal.

-I’m ready to start the official fan campaign to get Scrofano nominted for an Emmy. Pick any individual aspect of her acting and it would make her worthy of the accolade ALONE. Now combine all of the aspects, and it’s just absurd to think about her not getting her fair due. Literally, every cast member on this show levels up when they do scenes with her; that’s a rare, special thing. Tatiana got hers in 2016, let’s get Mel one in 2018, shall we?

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got in me for this week. Not as in depth as I could have gone, but I’ll admit I kind of burnt myself out a bit writing that angst parade of a story that shall not be named.  I’ll be back after this week’s episode with more thoughts (that will probably center a lot around Nicole/Waverly, Nicole/Wynonna and the Earp sisters again, let’s be honest).

Who’s ready for drunk(?) Nicole and Wynonna at a Strip Joint, and protective, pissed off, yet still adorable, Waverly?  Everyone, right?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.