#please let skam girls be gay

[quantifiableconnections]

I just finished watching Skam (Norway) today and let’s just say I’m not kidding when I say this is one of the BEST shows I’ve ever watched. I did take a lot of time to watch all the seasons (spanning over one year) but I enjoyed each and every moment of it. Well, some a little less than others. Hence, I have some thoughts and please forgive my yapping.

Okay so Season 1. I actually liked it quite a lot. The acting was good, and it gave a nice start to the whole story.

The getting together of the girls was the highlight obviously, but I really liked the portrayal of Eva in this, as a kind of lost teenager who doesn’t have a lot of direction in her life and is mostly dependent on her boyfriend.

I did think the Isak plot line in this was a little badly done, but I guess it was necessary for the big reveal in the end.

I think the fact that Eva was able to resolve things with Ingrid was very unrealistic, considering they had literally been besties and she basically stole her man. But really idk.

Talking about Jonas, he was majorly gaslighting Eva during the season so I think their relationship was a little immature. Classic right person wrong time.

Penetrator Chris is SO HOT. Especially in that mf smoky eye makeup istg. But he’s a giant asshole and we do not support him.

Season 2. Okay. First let’s start with the showstealer. Eskild my man. I don’t think Eskild is appreciated enough in the whole series but I absolutely love him!! He is so mature, and is such a good friend. I love the dynamic between him and Noora and even him and Linn.

Now let’s address the elephant in the room because why not? I did not like Noorhelm all that much. William never had much of a character development and we never get to see him expressing a lot of emotions. I forever stand by the opinion that Noora was too good for him. Many people talk about William’s support of Noora’s decision to not have sex, but really, that’s like settling for the bare minimum that can be expected from a decent person.

I think the dickhead of a brother had more personality than William. So in conclusion, season 2 did not really impress me but I’d watch it again for Eskild.

Eva hooking up with Chris?? The guy she cheated on her ex with? Can’t say I like this.

Season 3 is SO well done. There’s no question about it. I love Isak’s slow acceptance of his sexuality. From being a closeted gay guy who made homophobic comments to fit in, to a happy and out gay guy in a relationship.

Absolutely adore the boys. Jonas, Mahdi, Magnus. I especially loved Magnus and his take on the whole situation.

Eskild coming in and stealing the show yet again?!!

Emma and Sonja are VICTIMS. As much as I love Evak, they fucked their girlfriends over pretty bad and I hate them for it. Also, Emma is soooooooooo pretty.

The story of Even. His whole character portrayal. The picturisation of his mental issues. Chef’s kiss.

Minute by minute??? Are you trying to kill me here??? It is SO wholesome and they both have matured so much, especially Isak, dealing with his sexuality plus his boyfriend’s mental issues so delicately.

Their chemistry. Their chemistry. Their chemistry.

Sonja should NOT have apologised.

Overall, this season is tied with the fourth as my favourite.

Season 4. Sana is my favourite character hands down. She is portrayed so well, we see all her insecurities, beliefs so beautifully.

Yousana is my favourite couple. Evak is a close second.

The understanding between them, the intellectual conversations, the level of maturity. Just wondrous.

I did think the whole situation with the russ bus was overdone. I never really understood why Sana was so involved with it in the first place. This could easily have been summed up in one episode leaving time for more Yousana development.

Yousef is such a green flag omg. He’s literally the cutest out of all skam boys( my opinion). I just wish he had more screen time.

Elias and Sana??? Whatever bits and pieces we got to see of their relationship were GOLD.

I. Love. My. Girls. So. Much. I just wish Sana was shown interacting more with all of them, not just Noora. Also Yousef and Noora working together to thaw Sana??

I canNOT stress this enough. Yousef and Sana are the best couple ( besides Evak obviously). The chemistry, the flirting, everything was done so right that it got me blushing furiously through the screen. And they managed to do all this without showing any kind of physical contact. Just lovely. The way they counter each other’s opinions with such delicacy and respect makes me believe that they are definitely going to last.

The situation with Even and Mikael and all the balloon squad boys should have been given more screen time.

The way Sana’s faith and her relationship with her family were handled are commendable. We see the dilemma, the cogs of her brain working, and how she accepts her fate and doesn’t sway from her beliefs. I strongly believe that her and Yousef will handle their differences maturely and still come out to be a strong couple.

I SWEAR SHE AND I ARE SOULMATES?????? Cutest shit I’ve ever seen.

Sana and Isak’s friendship means so much to me. In Season 3, we see her rising above her opinions and respecting homosexuality. Here we see Isak figuring Sana out and helping her see beyond her strong opinions. And wdym Sana??? You are best buds.

Okay. The last episode. I absolutely loved it. It’s one of the best season finales I’ve ever watched. We go into the lives of all the girls and some of the guys too. I literally teared up at the Eskild and Linn part!!( idk why they still address Chris as penetrator Chris when his face is literally on the screen like people we know it’s not our girl?? Idk I find it extremely funny). I wish they had shown more of Vilde and Chris’ friendship in the past and not just the final episode. The Even part was absolutely incredible. His insecurities, his fears, and we see him pacifying Isak and not the other way around. Yousef texting Sana from Turkey?? And saying he’ll take her there?? My heart melted.

I literally don’t think Noorhelm is going to last long even though they have reconciled. Something just seems off. Joneva is back??? Didn’t really like the buildup but I guess they could be a good couple as they are more mature than the last time.

Okay. So that sums it up more or less. My favourite was season 4, closely followed by season 3. My favourite characters were Sana and Eskild, they were just so amazing. I related to Sana fiercely all through the show.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk. Feel free to give your own opinions please!!!!

[miafi]

Lovely @caromitpunkt tagged me to list 9 of my favourite shows in no particular order.

Now, I haven't watched a show in a loooong time, so let's see if I can think of nine shows in general 😅

1. The Simpsons: ultimate comfort show. I watch reruns in TV when I'm at my parents. I think I've seen every episode (till season 20) about ten times each.

2. IT Crowd: another comfort show. It makes me laugh every. Single. Time.

FIRE, exclamation mark, FIRE, exclamation mark, HELP ME, exclamation mark. 123 Carrendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you. All the best, Maurice Moss.

ICONIC.

3. Black Books: look, I have a lot of comfort shows that I keep watching over and over, don't judge me. And Bernard doing his tax returns lives in my head rent free.

4. Monty Python's Flying Circus: this show has shaped my sense of humour. Either you find Monty Python's humour funny or you can't be helped. I'm happy I'm in the first groups. I remember way too many quotes from the show instead of important things. But I don't care.

The. Larch.

5. Derry Girls: one of newer shows that have the comfort show potential. I haven't watched the last season yet. But hey, as a fan of Take That, I LOVED the episode when they went to the show.

6. Skam: I think this is the only show that I binge watched. I don't do binge watching because of my attention span and there's always something that has to be done and you can't spend the whole evening, night and morning watching a TV show, but Skam (and Druck) did it.

7. Gilmore Girls: the older I get, the more annoying I find both Lorelei and Rory and I wish I could forget the clusterfuck that was Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. But this show was a too big part of my life to not mention it. (And Rory jumping with Logan from that scaffolding with umbrellas? Poetic cinema.)

8. Doctor Who: I haven't watched all episodes, it is a show I keep telling myself "when you have the time, you'll catch up with the rest of the episodes" but it's hard to find the time with a full time job, a life AND multiple hours of cycling to watch every day 😅 I find some of the companions annoying (cough Amy cough), but the comedic genius duo that was David Tennant and Catherine Tate is iconic.

Don't blink.

9. Mistresses: (the UK version PLEASE) look, I'm gay. And there's Sarah Parish and Orla Brady in this show. There are few moments that make me want to climb the walls (in a good way). Too many 'we shouldn't be doing this' that I enjoy way too much. Another sort of comfort show. Did I mention Sarah Parish is in this? 😍

Now, my least favourite part, tagging 🫣 @1337wtfomgbbq @snark--maiden @catsanyesz @mwrites666 @missanathea @paris-roubaix @sunflowersofme @stylesbandshirts @emsails and anyone who wants to chime in and share their fave shows. No pressure, of course!

[dear-indies]

hi, i love the blog! I was wondering if you could help me with my fc research? i'm mostly looking for fcs with brightly colored hair - pink, green, blue, orange, white, it doesn't matter as long as it is clearly artificial. thank u in advance ♥

White/Platinum:

Riz Ahmed (1982) Pakistani - in Sound of Metal.

Ritu Arya (1988) Indian - The Umbrella Academy.

Lee Hong Ki (1990) Korean - in A Korean Odyssey.

Lali Espósito (1991) Argentinian - Sky Rojo.

Jade Cargill (1992) African-American.

Jacob Artist (1992) African-American / Polish - in New Apocalypse.

Tati Gabrielle (1996) African-American / Korean - in Uncharted and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Aquinas / Kang Min-soo (2000) Korean - is bisexual.

Pink:

Michaela Coel (1987) Ghanaian - is aromantic - in I May Destroy You.

Jacob Tobia (1991) Syrian - is non-binary and uses they/them.

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (1991) African-American / African-American, Puerto Rican - in Tick Tick... Boom.

Megan Jayne Crabbe (1994) Afro-Jamaican and White - is queer.

Florence Rose (1997)

Anna Diop (1988) Senegalese - in Titans.

Sonia Ben Ammar (1999) Amazigh, Corsican / Polish - in Scream.

Gemma Chua-Tran (?) Unspecified Asian - in Heartbreak High - uses they/she.

Green:

Ashton Sanders (1995) African-American - in Native Son.

Red:

Aslıhan Güner (1987) Turkish.

Beanie Feldstein (1993) Ashkenazi Jewish - in Build a Girl - is openly dating a woman but doesn't want to label her sexuality.

Jung Da Eun (1994) Korean - in L.U.C.A.: The Beginning.

Monique Kim (?) Korean - is queer.

Blue:

Julio Torres (1987) Salvadoran - Los Espookys - is gay.

Jade Hassouné (1991) Lebanese - is queer.

Jessica Henwick (1992) Chinese Singaporean / English - in The Matrix: Resurrections.

Ilona Verley (1995) Nlaka’pamux - two-spirit and genderfluid and uses they/she.

Rish Shah (1995) Indian - in Do Revenge.

Ian Alexander (2001) Vietnamese / White - in Star Trek: Discovery.

Multicoloured:

Naomi Watanabe (1987) Japanese / Taiwanese.

Thanaerng Kanyawee Songmuang (1996) Thai-Chinese - in My Ambulance.

Kaiit (1997) Papuan / Gunditjmara, Torres Strait Islander - non-binary (she/he/they).

Ayumi Roux (2001) Japanese / French - in Skam France.

Anna Lambe (2000) Inuit - in Trickster.

Please let me know if you want more specific suggestions!

[minakoaiinos]

Okay let me tell you guys the gay shit happening in Sailor Moon world bc genuinely have not encountered such a gay girl friend group since Skam. We had some run of the mill Rei and Usagi Facts of Life banter where they bullied each other not having boyfriends in a distinctly haha please like me instead kind of way and Usagi almost got murdered the first of like twelve times in these episodes bc it got. Dire. But. While she was actively dying she was just thinking about how mean Rei is to her and Rei couldn't stand her screaming worse than any of the other girls and got up and ended it all. And we repeated this but more intense in the next couple of episodes bc the whole friend group got killed off one by one by these sexy moon ladies (named. The DD girls.) Who frankly should have been used before all of the Zoisite and Co. Bc instead of making fake pet shops and cruise ships and shit they were introduced and almost instantly killed all of the sailor scouts. But anyway Rei held out the longest just so she could give Usagi this gay ass speech about how much she loves to fight with her and then she almost died once but held out even longer specifically to save Usagi and did the scene in my icon where she held Usagi's hand and acted like she was going to kiss her for real and then she had some kind of dumb ass throwaway line about how she should have dated the stupid random guy that works for her grandpa and none of the comment section could recognize how things like this are sometimes just saying shit to say shit and are not really what anything is about like this guy is irrelevant but every time there is a man everyone is like. This is the default pairing no matter how much the emphasis in this scene is really about Usagi and Rei but that's a post for another time. Oh also a few episodes before everyone started dying Minako had a batshit episode where she revealed she was in love with a British guy but then she revealed that she had a girlbestfriend back then too and all three of them were a unit before the best friend fell in love with the random British guy too and the two girls fought and cried and made up the entire episode and we never saw the guy once god bless. Anyway now everyone's memories are wiped and Usagi has to meet the whole friend group again and I just know they're holding out Rei for last so we can have some kind of dramatic freak reunion.

[superbisexualandcool]

Vilde Lien moodboard 👄

[illgiveyouahint]

@nonoggh Yes I can but be aware it is a very rough draft at the moment made for a very specific person. Also, it might not be exactly what you'd want from me since I assume that you know most of these films already.

 If you're looking for more of a recommendation of hidden gems etc then I will redirect you to this post I've been updating every pride month for a few years now (which reminds me I totally forgot to do it this year!!!).

Anyway if you're still interested in my list for my friend and my thought process for each choice of film I'm putting it under read more

I'm making this for a friend who is a cis white gay man  from Czechia who doesn't really speak english and if anything mostly watched old czech films and shows so I have to start him up slowly. He told me he doesn't want something unrealistic or sad. Also because he doesn't speak english I'm limited to what actually has czech subtitles so I can't play lesser known films.

1. Pride

so I'm starting him with Pride. I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like the film. It's so lovely that everyone is charmed by it. However it's also a film that educates you on community, introduces you to solidarity and activism and building of communities and it has a bit of self development storyline in Bromley's story. I thought it to be a safe good story to start on.

1.1 Heartstopper

my friend also wanted some tv shows so I'm gonna also start him on Heartstopper. It's once again a very lovely story, with a really well made bisexual coming out storyline, a cast of diverse characters and hints at future ED problems. It's about friendship and love and I think it's a safe place to start.

2. God's Own Country

the next one I'm probably gonna go with is God's Own Country. My friend has a feel for sort of more working class people so I think he might like this one. It has this sad tint to it but ends happy, so this is sort of testing waters as to whether or not my friend can handle something that's a bit sadder. It also has few naked scenes and i'll see if my friend is okay/into that being portrayed more so i'll know if i can show him some saucier films or if he prefers something milder. It has some great themes of loneliness and intimacy and immigration etc. It's a bit heavier.

2.1 Skam

the next show I'm gonna maybe introduce him to is Skam (season 3). Once again story that has sadder elements but ends up happy. It deals with internalised homophobia, but it also introduces mental illness, has a great support character in Sana, a muslim girl. I can once again get a bit of feel for how well my friend is responding to these types of topics. It's also a first non-british thing I'm gonna show him.

3. Imagine Me & You

Now that I've sort of established some basic gay themes i'm gonna start to push it to the rest of the community. Imagine me & You is still a safe romcom with a happy ending but I can introduce my friend to how we girls don't really have a lot of romcom films

Now I'm gonna take a bit of break with tv shows before introducing him to Sense8, Looking or Pose. I might start slowly showing him Please Like Me to lighten the mood.

4.Brokeback Mountain

Now it's gonna be the first test if my friend is now receptive to something great but sad. I'll try to tell him how sort of groundbreaking was the film at the time and how it is important in queer cinema.

4.1 In a Heartbeat

Played  immediately after Brokeback to fix our mood and so that we would stop crying.

5.San Junipero

It's time for something happy again while also a bit unrealistic by having a  scifi element.

6. A Fantastic Woman

let's introduce a trans theme. It's a bit more artistic and independent cinema-like so we will see how well my friend will respond. I assume my friend will be curious after this (we do have common trans friends but I think my friend will be interested in the trans people in film element or I will get him interested in it through conversation) so the next film will be

7.Disclosure

First documentary. Let's map out all the trans stereotypes because I have no desire to show my friend these harmful stories.

7.1. Sense8

If my friend is interested, I could at this point introduce him to Sense8.

8.The Way He Looks

Let's get back to something simple and cute with a disability twist.

9. 120BPM

I think at this point we could try it though I think I'd like to get some film that will introduce HIV before this just don't know yet what. While it is technically sad film I found it to be a transcending experience rather than sad experience.

10. Cloudburst

After such a film we need something light and what's lighter than Cloudburst - the film that almost made me pee myself from laughter.

11. Priscilla

once again introducing why this film was so important and impactful. Also it's introducing more of a campy feel which I think my friend will not really like but I need to know how he will respond to it if I want to introduce him some other films.

12. Hannah Gadsby - Nanette

let's talk about trauma.

13. But I'm a cheerleader

if my friend will respond well to priscilla I think I can then introduce him to But I'm a cheerleader.

14. The Miseducation of Cameron Post

to contrast cheerleader. Conversion therapy is a real bitch. I prefer this to the other films about conversion therapy which I feel are leaning so much into the misery porn and often time are not even directed by queer people.

15. Boys

Again going for something lighter and with a happy ending to make this still fun.

16. Carol

talking about the novel and sort of why the vibe of the film is that way and the oppresiveness of the 50s.

17. And then We danced

And how some societies are oppressive to this day. talking about the events surrounding the shooting of this film and it's premiere.

18. Love Simon

in the meantime in America we've reached the time, where a major studio can make a “teen romcom”.

That's about all I've got in terms of timeline. Of course, I'd like to also show Moonlight, Disobedience, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (I'd love to show that with Black Sails but idk if my friend would be into that), Lilting, The Half of It, Lola and the sea, Happy Together, Saving Face, Tomboy, Rafiki, His, How to Survive a Plague, Little Girl, Musí to být bolestivý, Les Invisibles, Zákon Lásky, I carry you with me and many more but it really depends on how my friend will respond to any and all of these and how much I will change this based on what he will like.

[maybeacrowdedmind]

My Headcanoned Autistic Characters Part 2:

Let Part 2 of characters I've headcanoned as autistic commence!

Starfire - Teen Titans:

I recently started watching Teen Titans because I'm a big fan of DC Comics. As soon as she came onscreen and began speaking and interacting with the other members of the team, I was convinced. Starfire is autistic to me. Her inability to immediately understand what people mean is one of the biggest factors, and the fact that the way she shows comfort and kindness are through doing things that provide her comfort is another. Finally, for me, the way Starfire speaks is incredibly similar to mine. Starfire speaks formally, which is something I do all the time. In fact, when I first got diagnosed as autistic (I was nine, which is super young for a girl), I was speaking to the psychiatrist in such a formal and proper manner that he was initially under the assumption that I was either born/lived in England, or that I had an English nanny. My way of speaking and the formal vocabulary I have are a lot less noticeable now that I'm older, but hearing a nine year old speak like a professor was a huge tipoff to the doctor who gave me my diagnosis. So, to see Starfire have a speech pattern nearly identical to mine was big. That, coupled with her lack of understanding social cues, lead me to see her as autistic. A bonus to this headcanon is the fact that like Parker, Starfire has people she is close with who don't shame her for being different than they are, and do their best to communicate with her in a way that fits her needs.

Malia Tate/Hale* - Teen Wolf:

*Quick disclaimer: I am only on the second season of Teen Wolf, so technically I haven't seen Malia's character onscreen yet. However, I have seen a lot of spoilers for the show since I knew about it long before I actually ad a way to watch it, and I have seen a ton of scenes featuring Malia in screencaps of the show, and totally see her as autistic. With that in mind, read on.

Malia is shown to be an extremely honest and blunt person; she has no filter when it comes to speaking the truth, and doesn't understand why things are the way they are, especially if they don't make sense to her. I am not wholly convinced that she and I are not the same person in terms of those traits. I, like Malia, speak bluntly; I constantly have to be reminded that some things are meant to be handled delicately, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a black and white thinker in terms of what is logical and what makes sense to me. Malia is also shown to be very absolute and loyal, and cannot stand it when people bend the truth or lie to her in order to keep her safe. I am one of those people who would rather hear something hard and truthful than something that is easier but not completely honest. Malia doesn't see the point in sugarcoating, and to me, these facets of her personality are very alike to mine as an autistic person.

Vilde - Skam:

Let me first say that I love Skam with my whole heart. I'm on season four (I love Sana's character) and the show has not once let me down. Every character is vastly different from one another, which keeps it from becoming boring, so if you haven't seen it, I recommend watching it. Vilde is a character I have adored from the beginning as she is incredibly fun to watch onscreen, and is not without deeper layers than a fun party girl. To me, she is also autistic, and my basis for this is largely founded on her fixation with russ time, her moments of slight insensitivity, her questions that are not ones people are "supposed to ask", and her interactions with the people around her. Her goal in regards to russ is a single-minded one, and her hyper-fixation and focus on achieving this goal have a lot in common with me when I'm focusing on a task that has great importance to me. Vilde also has a tendency to get a little too focused on her goals, occasionally forgetting that the people around her have their own things as well. She also asks questions that are usually not asked by people out of social decorum, and has brought the conversation to a standstill after doing so (if I had a dollar for every time I've done that...), such as asking Sana about her hijab and whether or not she (Sana) is allowed to be part of a russ bus due to her religion in a manner that is awkward and slightly off-putting (even though it wasn't her intention), or asking if Noora is a lesbian because if she doesn't want to hook up with one of the boys, she must be. In regards to her interactions with others, people often label Vilde as being too innocent to understand or know things about people and the world (like Eskild being gay or William not having interest in her, but in Noora), despite the fact that she is aware of both. Vilde is smarter than people give her credit for, which Sana makes note of when telling Noora that Vilde is who she would take with her to battle. As an autistic person, I have often been treated as though I am incapable of understanding deep topics and am underestimated in my ability to be aware of what others are talking about or mean. Vilde is not naïve like people assume she is, which is something I find I have in common with her.

That's part two, and I hope you have enjoyed this post as well as part one! If you have any characters you’ve headcanoned as autistic, let me know in the replies. I’d love to see other characters people relate to. Also, if you could please check out the post I made in regards to my sister and the fundraising she’s doing for a service dog and reblog it, that would be greatly appreciated.

[droppingpetals]

will i ever stop reposting this ad bc i want more plots and ships ? the answer is no .

i’m looking for more plots, ships and rp partners bc i’d die for some new ships to obsess over !!  SO here’s my rp information :  

i only really write on discord now bc tumblr is a lot of work

i play both males and females and i’d appreciate it if you did too !

i do all pairings ( m/f, m/m and f/f )  with a slight preference for gay thangs !

i love playing characters of all ages — everything from 18 all the way up to even 50 is good to me, and i will give you my love if you do older muses with me ??

i absolutely LOVE pinterest boards n making playlists and edits and whatnot for ships

i have a bunch of character ideas i’d love to do and fcs i’d love to use and some of them will be listed underneath the read more, along with a few base plots to give an idea of what kind of plots i generally like to do ! but pls remember, the things i do are not limited to things that i’ve listed below !

if you’d be interested in writing with me, please go ahead & like this post and i shall come to you via tumblr ims <3

fcs i want to play but are not limited to :

kaya scodelario  /  keira knightley  /  ana de armas  /  axel auriant  /  cillian murphy  /  josh stewart  /  sebastian stan  /  andrew lincoln  /  elle fanning  /  katie mcgrath  /  amanda seyfried  /  lily collins  /  kristine froseth  /  lucy boynton  /  jaime lorente  /  arón piper  /  samara weaving  /  henrik holm  /  margaret qualley  /  rocco fasano  /  victoria pedretti  /  haley bennett  /  rachael taylor  /  álvaro rico  /  oliver jackson-cohen /  rosamund pike  /  rob james-collier  /  federico cesari  /  emily blunt  /  richard armitage   /  willa fitzgerald  /  michiel huisman  /  robert pattinson  /  emily vancamp  /  dan stevens  /  chase stokes  /  yvonne strahovski  /  matthew mcconaughey  /  james denton   /  !! björn mosten !!  /  all skam fcs  / adam demos  / bridgerton cast!!!

fcs i’d love to play against but are not limited to :

henry cavill  /  james mcavoy  /  john krasinski  /  mike vogel  /  hugh dancy  /  richard madden  /  chris evans  /  gwilym lee  /  armie hammer  /  max irons  /  rocco fasano  /  oliver jackson-cohen  /  maxence danet-fauvel  /  jai courtney  /  evan roderick  /  chase stokes  /  literally any girl ever ok  /  jessica chastain  / all skam fcs  /  the entire elite cast  /  bridgerton cast!!!!

this list is much shorter bc i couldn’t come up with any more and these are just the ones that Really came to me off the top of my head

some plot ideas :

period plots!!! historical plots!! anything based on period dramas!!!

mumus!!! give me plots with multiple muses!!

something kinda like outer banks ??

anything to do with the worlds of got / lotr / potc and such

domestic plots!!!! give me hs sweethearts who made it!!!! (but especially if it gay??) also divorced couple still having to be around each other bc kids and cue pining?? or any kind of other domestic plots!!! with fluff and angst!!!

college plots!!!! frat plots?? no homo plots??

fantasy plots?? i wanna dive into those, think got and lotr etc

crime plots!!! especially if you let me play a mob boss matthew mcconaughey!!!

apocalyptic plots!!!! zombies!!! zombie apocalypse plots!!!

this vibe?? “unlovable” characters experiencing love for the first time??

lowkey also toxic relationships .... give me a pair that doesnt work together but they’re so in love that they cant stay away :/

this plot!!! please!!! high school sweethearts!!!

sports plots?? ice hockey, football / soccer, cheerleading, figure skating??? boxing???

some ships i’ve also been dying to do :

brandon flynn x richard madden

timothée chalamet x armie hammer

andrew lincoln x hugh dancy

federico cesari x rocco fasano

axel auriant x maxence danet-fauvel

ana de armas x jai courtney / edgar ramirez

yvonne strahovski x jai courtney / henry cavill

emily blunt x john krasinski

lucy boynton x gwilym lee

rachael taylor x krysten ritter

regé-jean page x phoebe dynevor

[evakuality]

Hanna, episode six

1.  This ramp thing.  It’s the MVP of this whole entire school/setting.  I mean I can see why they use it - it allows for some really cool shots and set ups and it genuinely works in so many ways to show so many nuances of the situations it’s in.  But basically I just love the continuity.  There’s something so comforting about this returning over and over and over again.  The sheer joy of ‘the ramp! It’s here again!’ 

2.  Matteo’s little ‘why are you dating Jonas?’ is so interesting too.  This speech carries a different tone, and I can’t tell if that’s because of the way it’s said.  He genuinely seems to be like ‘Hanna, think this through - do you really want this?’ and the answer should actually be ‘no I don’t’ even if his motives aren’t great, and maybe it’s because she’s different to Eva.  Or maybe this is because as always while it leans heavily on the original, the lines aren’t exactly the same and that lends some differences to it.  I don’t know.  Plus her question ‘there’s only 2 options: trust or break up?’ and his reaction ‘or maybe talk to Leonie’ - like yes.  Please.  Do that.  Communicate with people.  But I guess he knows it won’t go well because he likely knows exactly what Jonas is doing, and so he has very little to lose.  He’s not overtly being a dick here, and he looks supportive.  So if it goes well for her, hey he looks like the supportive good friend and if it doesn’t.  Well... that’s not his fault.  He was just trying to help.  At this point, from his PoV, not much can go wrong.

3.  The little scene at school with Jonas telling Hanna she’s annoying (by text! so distant and cold. Ugh, talk to each other properly please), and then Sam making her feel good and sexy and wanted.  You can see why she’d be taken by him.  We can see he’s a bit of a player, far too smooth and good at this, but of course she can’t.  With Matteo’s ‘break up with Jonas if you don’t trust him’ ringing in her ears, you can see why she feels the way she does.  Again, so much of this is modeled on the original, but the way it’s shot works so well here in terms of specifically showing us Hanna’s state of mind.  With Hanna literally feeling like she’s got this barrier between her and Jonas after he sends his last text, shown literally in the way the moment is shot.  Plus, Kiki’s little thing with Alex as a mirror/reflection of what’s happening with Hanna (they literally fistbump over it - Alex over having got his conquest and Sam over pursuing his).  She has all the warning she needs and yet she falls into it anyway.  This whole part of this season is so heartbreaking, and knowing where it’s leading is tough.  This week is a hard one for our little bean.

4.  I know everyone and their dog has talked about this cold war scene but that’s because it’s so damn good.  The imagery and the whole way this scene works is so powerful.  Plus, we’re veering even more into the darker shades for Hanna.  This thing with Jonas is weighing on her and literally sucking out her brightness.  She’d been so washed out at the start, and when she’s with her girls it’s all still brightness etc, but with Jonas this darkness is seeping in more and more and more.  I mean he is lying to her and that’s where almost all of this ‘cold war’ conflict is coming from, but her relentless pushing of the topic is a lot.  AND she never does it when they’re in a place where they can just talk about it, the two of them.  They’re around the boys or in class and by text.  She’s scared of knowing for sure and so she puts these barriers up to avoid having to do it properly.  But this is the entire problem.  I know we say communication is an issue across the board with these couples, but I’d argue (and have at length) that it’s not always true.  For some it’s different.  But here.  Here, this avoiding of doing it properly is the biggest issue.

5.  Okay, so Amira suddenly reappears here.  But???? Where has she been???? I missed her so much!!!  I love Sana, I really really do.  She’s a fabulous character and I adore the way she operates in Skam.  But I do love that Amira is her own character and so, while delivering a very similar message, is much warmer about it.  She tells Kiki she’s stupid for sending nudes, and that Alex really isn’t into her, but her tone isn’t as harsh or ‘straight to the point’ somehow.  But of course Amira is still tone policed by her friends, and told to say things more carefully.  And then she leaves, delivering another blow to Hanna’s confidence in Jonas.  ‘Boys lie’ - thus confirming everything she already thinks.

6.  I’ll hand it to Druck - I always love their party scenes; they feel real, like people genuinely having fun dancing and stuff (though in the most recent seasons that seems to have dropped off, probably because of restrictions having an effect on how they can film).  Leonie looks damn good in a suit too; this is a great look on her.  But wow her attitude to Hanna is so nasty.  It’s fascinating to me to see that Sara acts just as jealous and can’t let it go after Matteo breaks up with her.  They clearly have a model for how they deal with break ups and it’s not a good one.  Obviously Leonie is hurt, obviously it super sucks that it’s her best friend.  But this whole bit is so unnecessarily mean.  She wants Hanna to be hurt the way she was and she’s taking such a vicious pleasure in the way that it works.  Like, yes Hanna is to blame, but man some of this ire should be directed at the Jonas in the situation.

7.  I can see why she falls for Sam’s wiles here, and there’s been so much stuff in the last few episodes leading up to it but gosh it sucks that she falls for it.  He knows she has a boyfriend, he can clearly see she’s vulnerable and he takes advantage of that.  He is very cute, I can see why she likes him, but I don’t like this type of guy and he and Alex really annoy me (though somehow Alex doesn’t feel as slimy with it as William - at least so far).  And then Hanna watching as the scene of another cheating episode plays out in front of her.  No wonder she thinks the way she does: all she has are examples of guys being assholes.  But it does need to be mentioned that she stops this kiss almost as soon as it started.  I’m not sure this exactly counts as cheating.  But I guess what’s important is that Hanna feels like she’s in the same place she already was.  Plus now she knows how it feels from the other side.  This evening is such a stress for her.  The little story that Jule tells her about how Sam ‘would never do that’ is just the icing on the cake.  This is a moment where I always feel so awful for Eva/Hanna/all of them.  

8.  Jonas’s sad little confession comes just that little bit too late, and you can see the regret hanging over Hanna.  Like, she already felt it and now she can see through everything and it all sucks.  And of course the darkness has totally closed in rn.  But I do have to say I love Jonas’s ‘not that I know anyway’ about whether he’s gay.  The characters in this show are far less worried about sexuality and ‘being straight’ and it’s a nice thing.  Matteo was all ‘yeah I like gay songs, so what?’ and Jonas here.  I like it.  But ouch, how ‘you can trust me’ must hurt when they haven’t been trusting each other and it’s become so fraught.  Notice also that they don’t fall back on their kissing this time.  The one thing that’s been going well for them isn’t working anymore either.  At the point where things are ‘darkest’ for them in the cinematography etc, we also get the moment when they can’t connect in any of the ways they used to.  Jonas is talking and being open finally, but Hanna is now hiding things and nothing here is going well for her.

Anyway, this is a really difficult episode and yet it’s one of my favourites.  Like episode 2 I’m just a real sucker for the way it’s filmed.  Again, everything is lifted almost entirely from the original and yet again Druck puts its own little spin on it.  There’s a reason why the original and this one are the ones I like.  Both take a lot of care with how colour and symbols etc work and play out and while this is a straight copy in so many ways, I still love how they chose to interpret it.  Their characters are subtly their own, the filming has its own life and that makes it work for me.

[nolabballgirl]

Skam: Ranking the Sana Seasons

So in light of Skam España’s upcoming Amira season, I thought I would watch all of the existing Sana seasons (Skam OG, Druck, Skam Italia, and Skam France) and give my rankings, coming from the perspective of a cis Muslim woman of color from the US. 

Overall, none of the seasons lived up to their potential, and none really explored Islamophobia or racism is any meaningful way. They definitely could have benefitted from more Muslims (if any at all) in the writer’s room. For example, most of the remakes (Druck did the best here) miss the mark on approaching the main conflict between Sana and her non-Muslim love interest. They even have most Sanas asking a parent or Googling why a Muslim man can marry whoever he wants but a Muslim woman can’t, so I’m not sure if they are trying for some backdoor feminist angle. First, that’s not accurate. Scripturally, a Muslim man cannot marry an atheist or an agnostic either, which is how the Sanas’ love interests are generally coded. Second, for me, the actual question is more of interpretation of faith. Seeing a five-times per day praying, hijabi Muslim woman grappling with following the scripture and then *wanting* to be with a non-muslim knowing that not only does it go against her faith, but that he wouldn’t participate in a huge part of her life (e.g. imagine the loneliness of fasting all of Ramadan by yourself year after year) is the drama and love and heartbreak I want to see examined.  

Tbh, I thought Amira N.’s guest appearance on Lucas Rubio’s YouTube channel gave us a more in depth dive than pretty much all these other seasons combined, but anyway, here we go:

1. Druck S4 (Amira M.) - I really love Amira M. (her spunk, attitude, and incorporation of faith into her life). But, they completely shortchanged Amira by giving her fewer episodes and essentially turning it into the Mia and Hanna show by the end. However, across the remakes, I thought Amira’s story arc and confidence in her Islam was the best depicted so far. 

Amira M. and Mohammed have the best Yousana chemistry. The romantic tension is so palpable. Plus, Mohammed standing guard and not having her Maghrib prayer interrupted was such a thoughtful touch! (in the other remakes, there are always people making out or barging in when Sana is trying to pray). 

All the remakes have shown the Sanas praying, but here we have scenes with Amira reciting her prayers out loud for the audience to hear (not the usual mumble-core), and Tua has such a nice reciting voice (qira’at) :)

Druck didn’t ruin the Girl Squad for me (even though they pretty much gave Kiki a personality transplant to get there!)

But, Druck played this season super safe and did not engage in any *real* conversations with the GS surrounding racism and Islamophobia, so major missed opportunity there! We only had snapshots of Amira dealing with racist third parties here and there, but no cohesive resolution.

Omar and Essam’s storylines really went nowhere. They could have done so much more with these characters and their struggles fitting in to German society. Although I do think the “house party/left behind bottle of alcohol” scene fit better with Essam and his friends vs. having it be Amira trying to fit in with another group of girls.

Like with Skam Italia, it feels like something is missing when one of the Girl Squad members is MIA (here, Mia/Noora), but Druck overcompensated and not in a good way.

2. Skam OG (Sana B.) - Sana is the OG bada$$. I’ll admit it took me a little while to get warmed up to her, but I love how this season showed her vulnerability. I also thought she and Yousef had great chemistry. Plus, Sana and Even friendships are pure gold :)

However, I didn’t like:

the characterization of the Girl Squad and how Sana was essentially pushed out in favor of the Pepsi Max girls (come on Girl Squad - do better!)

the Noora/Yousef flirtation/make out - unnecessary other than to give Noora more screen time. And not a fan of wrapping up storylines with text message exposition...

the Sana/Isak bench scene. Yes, there were some good moments but I didn’t like putting the onus back on Sana to be the one doing all the work and answering all the dumb questions. It’s so exhausting.

the cyberbullying story, followed by Sana messaging William behind Noora’s back - left a sour taste in my mouth RE: Sana’s motives without any great or meaningful resolution (sidenote: props to Skam España for moving this to Eva’s season - makes a lot more sense!) 

3. Skam Italia (Sana A.) - So despite my misgivings with SkamIt due to its casting issues, I was excited coming into this season because I saw a lot of hype on social media. But, it turned out to basically be a carbon copy of the Skam OG season, so it left me disappointed overall. 

Sana and Malik are cute, but...

I really didn't care for the Girl Squad this season, and the treatment felt even worse than the GS of Skam OG’s season 4. The dynamic was really all over the place - they pushed Sana out in favor of the BCU girls and essentially let them badmouth her and accuse her of sabotaging their vacation house. But as soon as Silvia is the one who gets insulted, then all of a sudden we’re a Girl Squad again? Where’s the kindness and understanding? Where are my Sisters Forever?! 

It’s always weird to me when one of the Girl Squad members is MIA (here, Eleonora/Noora was gone for most of the season), so it just feels like something is missing.

Gay conversion therapy storyline - yes, this is an important topic that affects religious households, but there was no in depth treatment to it, like at all. And do I hate that they gave the intolerance storyline to a Muslim family and imam when there’s already rampant Islamophobia in Italy? Yes! But, more so it takes away from Sana’s story. It was more of an excuse to incorporate Martino/Niccolo into S4 instead of developing Sana as a character and having Skam Italia deal with racism and Islamophobia head on. Also, it was a case of another character (Sana) speaking for Luai instead of having Luai speak for himself about his experience and trauma. 

Sana taking off her hijab in Filippo/Martino’s apt - lol...it’s just not realistic.

4. Skam France (Imane) - The worst. Do I need to say more? Okay, I will. 

The casual, unchecked racism jumps out. 

The casual, unchecked Islamophobia jumps out.

Um, Girl Squad - look at what you’re doing, look at your choices. Seriously, talk about ruining characters and ruining a Girl Squad.

Dragging out Sofiane and Manon’s relationship. Totally undercuts the Imane and Sofiane chemistry compared to the other remakes. Yousef/Mohammed would never.

Followed by the Manon and Charles show. *roll eyes*

Someone please rescue Imane. Girl, go hang with Jamila and Lamia. You’ll be so much happier. 

Someone give the Bakhellals their own show far away from here. 

[ayellowcurtain]

Would you mind giving a description of the type of character sander is pls? I can't get a handle on him. At times he was inconsistent in s3(this is partially bc of the writing and partially) bc he was trying to conceal parts of himself from Robbe and exaggerating his personality to impress Robbe. The source material was a huge crutch in parts of this storytelling, then sobbe lost some spark in parts of wtfockdown, fanon help fill the empty spaces and now the transmedia is evolving him too. Help?

I’m gonna try to help you, anon but I guess what I’m gonna say is basically my opinion and so it might differ from what’s canon or what other people think of him and also gonna link you to some prior posts I already made talking a little bit of him: 

- Sander’s similarities with Eliott about how sometimes they struggle to deal with emotions 

- Sander and his parents, his home life and his relationship with them 

- Why was Sander going back and forth with Britt 

Now onto your real answer: 

I think Sander, as a character, is a solid one. He as a human being in some universe is imperfect, has his flaws and maybe his bad judgment at times, of situations and of people. 

Is not because he’s a fictional character that he needs to be perfect, to always say and do the right thing. 

If WTFock did him (and Robbe) dirty was mainly because of their complete lack of understanding of what pacing is. I don’t think season 3 was that badly written. It does has some horrible pacing at times, yes (OHN being on a Monday can only be a joke!!!!). 

I don’t think he was purposefully exaggerating his personality. I’m sure the Sander we now know isn’t exactly as loud and out there as we saw during the supermarket clip, for example. But he was freaking out, and being obnoxious without meaning to.

To me, it felt like was mostly freaking out, not sure what to do with himself because the boy he saw once during a random night was there, all alone with him, accepting to go out to go grocery shopping. 

That’s just an example but it’s the same behavior I see when he says they won after he shot Britt during the paintball scene, when he sings Bowie to Robbe while they see the girls walking away after the Noor x Robbe fight, or when he goes to Robbe’s place the next day and tries to kiss him. All this moments, to me, feel like a boy that doesn’t know what to do with himself, how to behave when he’s around someone he’s falling so deeply and hard for. 

We often see the Evens as these cool creatures, confident, sweet, chill. But we have to remember that’s just the first impression (and from their Isaks’ POV), and after they get to know each other, the Evens are often shy, insecure, kind of lone wolves to some degree. 

So what I thought could be seen as “inconsistent” of Sander was just him probably freaking out he was spending time with Robbe, the boy that the moon was shining on him and that Sander knew was the one. 

That’s why I assume putting “original” characters after two seasons feels a little bit like crutches (with their background stories) because if you think about it, we always know most of the characters in Skam since season 1, so even when they’re not main characters, we got to know them in the background at least, to get some information throughout the other seasons. 

We feel more connected to Robbe (and every Isak), and his background story because we’ve been hearing about it for two seasons. 

We know he has a messy house situation, we know his relationship with Jens is kinda platonic but also very brother like (with slaps, saying rude things to each other, etc), we know some people think he’s gay, we know he’s a caring friend because of the way he was with Jana during her season. All this information we got before his season. So when he was main, there was no need to build background around him because we already had most of these informations before. 

Sander is a complete stranger to us. And WTFock even gave us two episodes of just Robbe, to get to know him even more but also leaving less time for us to connect with Sander. So what we got of him was mostly WITH Robbe and ABOUT his feelings for Robbe. We know where he studies because Noor told this in ONE line.

The fandom often falls deeply in love with Even because of what we see through their lovers eyes and for how soft, caring, and representative he is (with being bipolar and pan) but I feel like we get more of who he is and his background in Sana’s season. We learn more about his past, his friends, his MI, his beliefs or curiosity about faith, etc. 

Even if we barely see him with the balloon squad, watching them we see the type of people Even (or Sander) would like to be surrounded with. 

I know people are not the biggest fans of Sobbe during WTFockdown, but I said this before, and I’ll say it again: I think I love them even more after. Even the cybersex part because I thought it was cute, the way Sander was saying he shouldn’t have pushed Robbe into doing it the past week, or how they look at each other and the things they say and how clearly they’re still trying to find the middle ground both of them are willing to experiment with. 

Anyway, I thought it was cute, and I thought it was necessary, with the conversations about the attack (WTFock made a horrible writing decision not letting this happen during the season, but at least they gave us something), about Robbe’s traumas that are still very much alive, about his mom and how well she’s doing most of the time, how Robbe is still trying to help her in any way he can. And also about boundaries, about Robbe, that same boy that was calling Sander the F word is now so out and proud, asking Milan about cybersex, talking to his friends about it (because he did tell the boys what they did or Aaron wouldn’t be trying to have cybersex with Amber and the boys wouldn’t be taking their clothes off for Sander’s bday). 

I think WTFock would use Sobbe for as much content as they can because they know that’s their golden couple. The Willems have a unique chemistry that’s out of this world, they’re both amazing actors and WTFock knows they’re solid, that the fandom will watch, engage in whatever these characters are involved in and that they boys will deliver every time, no matter how odd the circumstances are. The WTFock team knows they can give these boys a few lines and let they create a scene out of it and it’ll still be good content.  

After this long ass post I’ll have to tell you that Sander is:

Mostly private, reserved, some would say shy but I think he just saves himself the energy and the trouble so he only really engages with who he really wants. In this case, Robbe, and the people that are important to Robbe because, again, Robbe is the most important person. I really think (and hope) that when Sander keeps saying “it’s you and me, always”, he really means it. Like they’re one, a solid team that works so well together to tackle any and everything. 

A natural flirt. I mean, look at him, you know? And he doesn’t even have to try. And when he tries, it’s over for anyone else because he’ll be eating a marshmallow in that way he did with Britt, he’ll be kissing his girl like he wishes he could be kissing Robbe, he’ll be licking your ear, and dragging you out of a bar, purring please say at yours like no fucking other. 

He’s a full on artist. He loves any type of art, he loves talking about art, he loves doing art, painting, drawing, taking pictures, listening to music, thinking about all the intense colors. I’m sure he’s a very visual person in his brain too. If you ask him about how he’s feeling, it’ll be probably easier to draw what he fells than write. 

Again, nobody likes talking about this but Sander is a horny one. And he knows how to tease with the stepping back before Robbe can kiss him, he knows what to say, how to look at you with those shiny lips, wetting his lips with his tongue all the time, asking to have cybersex. And I’m also sure he’s really good at sex and enjoys it so very much. 

When you’re not Robbe, and when you’re not involved with Robbe, when Robbe doesn’t care about you, Sander can be hard like a brick. He’ll scream at you with no shame if you get under his skin because he really doesn’t care. He’s finally fully happy, with the guy he thinks is the one and he doesn’t want to spend a second of his energy with you so he won’t even try. 

I think he has a really small filter from what he thinks and what he says. Like when he says Robbe can bribe the teacher, or when firts with Robbe while Britt is taking a shower, or when he says they need to put some better music instead of making out with his boyfriend during the last episode. 

His “all the way or no way” line is basically words he lives by and he’s also a taurus, like myself, so he really means those words with any aspect of his life. 

He forgave Robbe so easily after the F word scene because 1) he’s a teenagers, he won’t be thinking as hard as the fandom did about it 2) again, it’s Robbe and he can get away with anything because Sander is completely gone for this boy that he won’t be able to stay mad even when he knows he should because he wants to be with Robbe, that’s it.

He and Robbe are very close, not only as boyfriends, I feel like right now, after everything that happened between Robbe and the boys and Sander with Britt (and probably the ballon squad) they’re very picky with trying to start new relationships, and they know they’re solid with each other, they have similar taste and opinions. Robbe softens Sander’s edges a little bit and Sander makes Robbe a little more confident in being himself, picking himself first. 

I hope this very long, ridiculous answer helps you a little bit, anon, don’t mind me getting carried away talking about characters I love :’D

[alexiaugustin]

The way some of y'all think that just because the Magnus character is supposed to be the uneducated and confused character it's okay that skam and other remakes made him and his remakes say stuff that invalidated pansexuality whereas when it happened in skam españa it's less okay because a female character who's a feminist said it.... it's not okay for any show to include such quotes and it doesn't matter who says it if they present it as facts none of the other characters corrects. So if you call one of the shows out (which I support don't get me wrong) please call the rest out too and maybe don't hold them to different standards.

And I'm not saying that anyone has to like/support or watch skam españa. If you feel offended by that show and it made you feel bad then you have every right to just turn your back on it and never watch it again/ never begin to watch it and of course you can and should even call them out for that scene and hold them accountable. But the way everyone is just jumping on the skam españa hate train and calls everyone who watches that show panphobic is just honestly stupid. There's more to a show than one scene that was wrong and fucked up. There's not a single remake that never fucked up at least once and yet y'all watch and let others watch them without constantly judging except for when it comes to skam españa.

People are fighting for a Moyo season even though he was saying homophobic bullshit and called bisexuals gross in s3 because there's more to a character than that. People were fighting for skam france to get renewed even after s4 which was an absolute disaster and more racist than anything else. Does anyone ever say that every single person who fought for this rm to get renewed back then was racist?? No because people believed that there was more to skam france then that. In fact to every single skam remake seems to be more than the problematic aspects of the show, except for the show without a m|m and noorhelm couple-🙃🙃

And again, I am in no way excusing what skam españa did with that scene but just like the other remakes this one scene is not what the entire show is. Skam españa is also about girls truly supporting eachother, it's about friendship and warmth and a 17 y/o girl getting out of a toxic relationship with the help and support of her female friends instead of romanticizing a toxic and unhealthy relationship, it's about a w|w couple that isn't sexualized for views, it's about people getting to speak for themselves instead of being outed (lucas telling eva that he's gay because he wants to, cris telling her friends that she's dating joana when she felt ready to tell them, joana telling cris about her mental illness herself instead of having her ex yell at her)

People can like the show for all of these things and still acknowledge that this show's writing was fucked up at one point and they are not panphobic for that. And people can decide to not watch it because they felt offended by it without telling everyone else that it's a crime to watch this show. Life isn't as black and white as y'all apparently want it to be

[usertoxicyaoi]

ik i'm gonna get flack for this but skam esp season 4 is about muslims. that includes amira, amira's parents, dounia, kasim, their mum and las labass. so idk maybe can we not trivialise and say all these muslim characters aren't important or aren't needed or are taking up too much of the screentime/plot - particularly kasim, who i've been seeing people say, "yeah can we not see him anymore i'm sick of him," bc of how he has been villainised (yes, he has. there is no way you can say now at this point that he hasn't been) when he is a whole muslim, and, disproportionately, the only young muslim gay boy of colour on the show amongst so many muslim girls, at that. (the muslim lgbt+ rep on this show is for a whole other conversation, but he's meant to be there as a form of rep for a lot of muslim lgbt+ people of colour, so like, let's not reduce or trivialise that by saying he doesn't deserve the screentime he's getting - which is barely any in the first instance when you compare him to the other non-muslim white people on the show, such as lucas. and in all honesty, kasim should be getting that screentime, not lucas, and maybe if that was the case and we got to see more of kasim, we'd understand him more, and his nuances and fears of coming out to dounia and their mum and being a young muslim gay boy of colour).

can we please remember this season is about muslims, and all types of them - hijaabi, non hijaabi, lgbt+, het, old, young, practising and non-practising.

[lightsandlostbells]

wtFOCK season 3, episode 1 reaction

So! It’s a million years too late, but I decided to talk about wtFOCK season 3. 

I had fairly positive feelings about S1 of wtFOCK. It was the scrappy underdog of the Skam remakes, in a way, and what it lacked in polish, it made up for authenticity. I was very willing to overlook its flaws because of what I perceived as genuine attempts to connect with teenagers. I was really, really holding out hope that future seasons would improve on its flaws. And ... well. (Disclaimer: I still haven’t seen S2. Sorry! I just failed to keep up with all the remakes and S2 is my least fave so I didn’t feel that motivated to make it a priority, even though I did like Zoë a lot in S1.)

Heads up - I didn’t care for this season. A lot of people did, and I would never, ever want to ruin someone’s enjoyment of something, even if I personally didn’t like it. So please take this as a warning that I have a lot of negative things to say, and don’t read if it’s going to harsh your buzz for a pairing or a story that you deeply love. However, I didn’t want to just be grumpy and angry the whole time, so I tried to think of constructive ways to fix certain problems I had with this season. No guarantees that they’re satisfying solutions, but it was an interesting exercise.

Also, I didn’t watch this in real time, and I paid barely any attention to fandom reactions and/or drama, so it’s very possible that I am missing context, or that pacing issues didn’t register with me quite as strongly, etc. If one of the actors ate a live dolphin on Instagram, and then got into a fight with fans on Twitter about their right to eat live dolphins, and now fandom has canceled the problematic dolphin-eating actor, I legit do not know, do not come at me if I’m like “This actor is doing a good job” with “Wow, didn’t know you stanned dolphin-eaters??? YIKES.” Honestly, for the purposes of just grading this season on a storytelling level, I would prefer not to know anything about the cast or crew unless it directly has an impact on the show itself.

Clip 1 - House party

OK, I did like this flashy intro shot, immersing us in the Wild ‘n’ Crazy Teen Party of Wild ‘n’ Crazy Youths.

Amber rejecting every dude in site … When Will Gay Vilde Rise. (I know there have been some f/f storylines in the remakes, but if there’s one involving an actual Vilde, please let me know.)

Luca saying “We’re not walking around in a high school drama” - you can hear the rimshot.

I do like the transition from the party up to the bathroom, that’s a cool shot. wtFOCK’s directing so far is more ambitious than it was in S1.

Robbe is clearly a mess and they acknowledge his problems at home right off the bat.

We go back downstairs. wtFOCK’s version of Magnus knocks his drink on Amber and she gets pissed. She gives him the finger and he falls in love. Still a better love story than S3 Daphne/Basile.

It’s a small point, but I don’t get why we didn’t get this moment before jumping up to the bathroom with Robbe and the others? It would be a far smoother transition, just on a practical level and also in the sense of fully immersing us in Robbe’s POV after a quick update with the other characters.

Belgian Magnus joins the guys in the bathtub and announces he’s in love. They roast him when they find out it’s Amber and start talking about hot chicks. Moyo starts grilling Robbe about his type of girl, in a crass, sexual way.

This is honestly not a bad start to Robbe’s story at all. Robbe is clearly more reluctant to get into his interest in girls than Isak was - Isak was more fuckboyish from the start, Robbe seems like he’s about to start squirming and doesn’t really give an answer to Moyo’s questioning. Which is fine! I think it’s fine to start off the POV character at different stages of performing heterosexuality, as long as it’s taken into account in the writing of the character’s whole arc. The fact that the boy talk is so crude and sexual just ramps up Robbe’s alienation.

I swear, I will never understand how the girls in this scene just go into the bathroom and pee in front of strange boys … like maybe I am just a ~prude but that seems like a recipe for disaster and I would not trust those little fuckers to not be secretly recording me on the toilet.

Her peeing is kind of a power move, like marking her territory.

Also L M A O at Robbe starting to flirt with the girl while she is pissing … like now this comes off as a kink thing. OK, Robbe. Jokes aside, this gets across the same meaning as the scene with Isak: he starts to flirt with her because he was encouraged by the other guys.

Uh, flush the toilet, lady. And use some TP.

Now this version of Emma seriously radiates some Natalie Portman in The Professional vibes.

She orders him to stand up and then starts kissing him. I get way less of a vibe of Robbe’s mad game with women (like how Isak negged Emma into kissing him) and more like this girl is the love interest out of an indie romcom, all mysterious and spunky. She kisses him like once after taking his jay and then leaves. The boys all crack up. Moyo tells Robbe it’s his responsibility to get the weed back which lmao, no it’s not, all you assholes were there and could have intervened.

This scene is perfectly fine and even effective! Not entirely the same vibes as OG, but it still has a purpose and some obvious cause-and-effect, and there are some nice stylistic choices.

Clip 2 - Party pt. 2

Robbe is now making out with mystery girl. We already have a divergence in characterization from OG. Isak was being performative about making out with Emma and shut it down once the guys left. Robbe is making out with this girl because he wants to be straight, I guess? If it’s not to appeal to his friends, it’s likely that this is for himself. Again, I have no real problem with this change if it’s incorporated into Robbe’s overall arc and characterization. My thing is, if you’re writing this scene, do you realize the differences in characterization? Or do you think this is interchangeable from what happened with Isak? The latter is where you run into problems, because then the writing shows lack of nuance. I bring this up here because, well, you can guess how I feel about later events. 

Luca seems rather aggro about the mystery woman, which I assume is because she still has the hots for Robbe?

It makes me laugh that we got this first-person POV as Robbe leaves through the garage, because of the “Smack My Bitch Up” song being played in the last clip (the song had an infamous music video, banned from MTV in the ‘90s, that was from a first-person POV). But again, WTFock is trying harder with the cinematography and direction, good for them.

Robbe ditches the cops by jumping on the bike with Belgian Emma. OK, I get it, Belgian Emma is too cool for school. 

I have kinda mixed feelings on that, actually. I mean, I’ll be honest - I don’t see why any Emma has to be made into someone more palatable. Definitely don’t demonize her or present her in a misogynistic way! She deserves sympathy and dignity as much as any character on a Skam. But … it’s fine if she and the Isak aren’t like, amazingly compatible except for his sexuality. The Even character is supposed to be the one who really shakes up the Isak’s world! The Isak is supposed to be lost and confused and drifting and then Even comes in and is someone he can really open up to. Not just because he’s another guy who’s into guys, but because Even’s personality meshes with Isak’s so easily while still challenging him and introducing him to new things. In a way, it does kinda diminish the effect of the Even if the Isak meets ANOTHER mysterious stranger who’s an awesome person. Or at the very least, it lessens the feeling of the Isak’s detachment from everything.

And again, this could work if the writing realizes it. You can totally craft a subtly different arc from the pieces of Isak’s season. It’s just that (speaking from the future) I do not feel this is what happened.

Clip 3 - Tagging time

I don’t think it’s necessary to break up all the parts of a longer scene/set piece into a bunch of different clips. If you start a scene at 16:00, it’s OK to have the clip take place over several hours. You don’t need to chop it up unless there’s a reason why this pacing might benefit the story. Honestly, if you’re watching in real time, I think this method is often less effective at building tension/emotion/etc. But wtFOCK is not the first remake to try this tactic.

... this part where Robbe and Noor put on masks sure hits differently in 2020.

Belgian Emma’s name is Noor and she takes him to a warehouse, or something? It’s very secret and Cool Kid. And IDK, it’s fun, but again… I think making the Emma that much of a fun mysterious cool exciting person is very much diminishing the effect of Robbe’s isolation. We had a good start with establishing that alienation while he was in the tub, but now his reactions to her rad hipness feel way too sincere and act against the major character conflict of his season. He seems nervous to go with her, but not because he’s with a girl, just because it’s a risky scenario.

Noor hands Robbe a spray paint can and leads him to tag a wall. There’s  a guy taking pictures. So I’m assuming one of the guys in masks is the Even? The POV seems to shift to the photo guy briefly, like we’re seeing Robbe through his eyes. And even though I’m not a fan of POV breakage, I do think this is a cool way to introduce the Even without really introducing him, you know? If that’s him. (EDIT from the future: Ummm, so that wasn’t Sander, right? I’m rewatching and it doesn’t look like him. Soooo that part has even less relevance than I originally thought. Got it.) (EDIT from the future beyond the future: @hellswolfie tells me that this actually was Sander, so I am just bad at recognizing people, lol.)

Robbe and Noor take off their masks briefly to kiss. Uhhhh, did the scene really just … cut off there? Because L M A O what a weird choice. We don’t get to see what Robbe creates on the wall, which could be a great way to establish his character, AND we end with him on a smiley, contented note which does not boost his POV at all. It legit just makes him seem like a guy who’s into this girl, and sorry, even if that’s his public persona at this point in time … that’s not what we, the audience should be getting at all. 

Clip 4 - Boy squad morning after

Robbe skateboards to meet up with the guy squad. Again, the directing is far better IMO than in S1.

Robbe got the weed back so that conflict is over, I guess.

He gets a call from his mom and stops laughing with the guys and gets serious. He walks away to take the call. Then he starts to open up to Jens about his mom freaking out, and then Moyo spots some girls so they all ditch Robbe to go chase girls, and WOW, Jens, please turn in your Jonas card. 

Don’t love that we didn’t hear his mom on the phone. There’s no reason not to let us hear what she’s saying since it would be in Robbe’s POV AND as it turns out, they just tell us about the situation with his mom right off the bat, anyway, so it’s not like there’s much point in hiding it. 

This was effective in a sense to establish how girl-crazy his friends are, as well as setting up Robbe’s isolation, which I was worried wouldn’t come across as strongly after meeting Noor. But I think they could have NOT mingled in his mom issues to make this part more effective. Like if the goal was to show more of Robbe being alienated because he’s gay, then that’s not entirely successful, because there are non-gay reasons why Robbe wouldn’t join his pals on the girl chase. I mean, even a horny hetero Robbe might not want to chase girls with his bros because talking to his mom is a downer, so it’s not necessarily because of his sexuality. Plus he just found a girl he liked in Noor, so apparently, he’s not on the prowl. What this part IS communicating that the Belgian guy squad doesn’t have much interest in their friend’s family struggles, which ... ehhhh, maybe not great in the grand scheme of the storyline? These guys can be flawed, for sure, but we do need them to care about Robbe’s well-being. And Robbe tried to open up here, so the flaw is not in him, it’s in his friends. I’m going to let it slide because Jens was offering to help Robbe in the first clip, so it’s not like he’s been a totally insensitive friend this whole time. 

Clip 5 - Phone call from Robbe’s dad

Noor jumps on Robbe and they make out. She shows him the garage and they talk about the tagging world or w/e. Again, not sure why they are portraying Noor as like … a legit love interest. I don’t get much of a sense of discomfort from Robbe. Isak was just not into Emma and was uncomfortable when his bathroom flirting came back to haunt him. And I don’t think it’s TERRIBLE not to follow that route, but you can’t just make this huge change if you don’t account for it in future episodes and Robbe’s overall arc. (EDIT from the future: Which I don’t think they do, otherwise I wouldn’t care.) Every scene should count in furthering Robbe’s character, especially this early in the season where we’re just getting to know his particular struggles. If Robbe is trying to convince himself to like girls, then I want to see definite vulnerability in how that’s portrayed.

I blame the directing/writing more than the acting for the lack of discomfort, since I sensed Robbe’s lack of comfort just fine in the bathtub scene.

Makeouts get interrupted when Robbe’s dad calls. Again, not sure why we aren’t hearing both sides of the conversation? Because we’re in Robbe’s POV. Why wouldn’t we hear them? This seems like they just want to create some suspense or mystery over the situation with his parents. But it’s perfectly possible to do so while still letting us in on the phone calls. In fact, it’s arguably more intriguing to let us listen to some phone calls where we get some vague details but nowhere close to the whole story. It’s not like Robbe’s dad is going to explain the whole situation to his son in an exposition dump. We can get some crumbs to tease us, while still keeping us in Robbe’s POV and not feeling like the show is cutting corners.

Robbe gets mad at his dad and tells Noor he needs to be alone. Closeup on Noor as Robbe walks away. OK … why? Why on her and not Robbe when it’s his POV? Why the focus on Noor’s feelings when we really need to be establishing our protagonist’s mindset in the beginning of this season? I’m not saying her feelings don’t matter, I’m saying that well, this isn’t her story. It would be better to see Robbe’s pained reaction as he leaves.

Clip 6 - Robbe’s dad drama

Jens comes running up while Robbe is being sad. Robbe says that it may be necessary for him to stay with Jens because Robbe’s mom has been committed to a mental health institution and Robbe doesn’t want to stay with his dad. Ah, so I guess we’re hearing that right away. Which honestly makes not hearing his phone calls to his parents even funnier - like you lock us out of his POV arguably for the suspense, but then you end the suspense anyway by just telling us what happened a scene or two later? All right. I guess there’s suspense in that we don’t know exactly what’s up with the mom, mental health-wise, or the root of Robbe’s problems with his dad.

It occurs to me that maybe they just didn’t want to hire people to voice Robbe’s parents? Or put in the time to film both sides of the conversation? I have a hard time believing either of those because it’s so lazy, but. 

I mean, just turn the phone conversations into text conversations if you’re not going to let us listen to Robbe’s parents on the other end.

They go and play football without really resolving the situation. Sad music plays while Robbe joins in. Also, someone was calling Robbe, and I assume it was his dad, but it’s not shown.

These clips are VERY short and choppy so far. You could easily combine the last two, so Robbe is with Jens instead of Noor when he gets the other phone call from his dad, leading into this conversation.

We know immediately about Robbe’s mom’s situation instead of it being a mystery, like with Isak. Which, again, isn’t inherently wrong, but then I want them to DO SOMETHING with it. 

Clip 7 - Jens and Jana

Oh hey, Jana got her braces off! IDK if that happened last season or this one, but it was something I liked, seeing a teenage girl with braces on a teen drama. That rarely happens unless it’s a joke or a plot point.

OK, they really need to film Robbe’s phone so I can actually see who’s calling…

Jens tells Jana about Robbe’s parental situation. I’ll note that first she asks if something’s up with Noor, so news of the Robbe/Noor relationship must have traveled really fast since they’ve only just gotten together. Like Robbe and Noor are clearly dating, going off Jana’s comment, and not just hooking up. Then Belgian Magnus wants to know about hooking up with Amber. Meanwhile Robbe is having a conversation off screen with his dad? Guess it wasn’t important!

And that’s the problem, obviously. It’s his POV season, anything you decide to show SHOULD be important to his storyline. 

Also … it’s fine that we’re focusing on Robbe’s shit home life since that’s relevant to his story, but almost nothing in these clips has set up Robbe’s attraction to men, and only slightly his lack of interest in girls, which was negated by him seeming very interested in a girl afterwards. And knowing how long this season takes to get going with the Even character, it’s a pretty glaring omission.

So we don’t see Robbe’s phone call with his dad, but he gets snappy about it when Jens asks. One of the boys (I can’t tell who) says that Robbe’s on his period.  Gonna be real, I don’t care for this squad so far. 

What was the point of this clip? We already know Robbe is having problems with his dad, which is the most relevant part to the plot here. We shouldn’t be wandering from Robbe’s POV so much, but even taking that into account … we already know Belgian Magnus likes Amber, so that’s not necessary to establish. And we didn’t need to see Jens tell Jana something we already know. I assume he tells her so Zoë can find out and offer a room, but there’s no reason to see Jens tell Jana this, so. Filler clip. 

Clip 8 - Zoë and Robbe at the lockers

Yeah, Zoë offers Robbe a place to stay here, but again, we didn’t need to see the news travel down the Jens-Jana pipeline. It could have been condensed more efficiently.

Robbe doesn’t want to because he says his dad wouldn’t approve. Zoë says she hopes things get better with his mom and Robbe at first snaps and tells her to leave it, then says thanks. This is an actual good interaction, writing-wise, kudos.

I liked Zoë a lot in S1 and I like her here again. I really should watch her season despite my Noorhelm allergy. The scene of them kinda smiling at each other across the hallways reminds me that this is probably the strongest relationship in the whole season, tbh.

Why was this clip so short? So many of these clips could have been combined into one. I mean, Zoë could have said, “I heard from Jana who heard from Jens...” without us needing the previous clip. Although, did Robbe really want anyone else to know about his home life? Lol @ Jens just blabbing Robbe’s private business.

So I guess they didn’t set up the Eskild situation in S2 that would lead to Eskild offering Robbe a place to stay? 

Clip 9 - Robbe gets roommates

Robbe is in Zoë’s room. He sees her “everyone you know is fighting a battle” quote next to the mirror, which is a detail I actually quite like in context with the rest of this storyline and Even’s condition. It’s a good Skam thesis overall.

I guess Zoë met with Robbe’s dad. Zoë calls him a tough cookie. Robbe doesn’t want to speak to him. They bond a little over their parental problems. Again, a nice detail.

Belgian Eskild appears and teases Robbe a little before announcing that Robbe’s dad has agreed to let him stay in the flat. Yay!

Oh, so Senne is staying there, too? At least they didn’t do a pointless Noorhelm breakup in this version.

Milan (the Eskild) tries to go in for a hug and Robbe isn’t cool with it, so at least that’s something with Robbe’s issues with men. (I think? The thing is, Robbe also does not really know Milan, so it’s not as weird that he’s not ready to be affectionate with a near-stranger.)  (EDIT from the future: Keeping the S2 almost-kiss that’s referenced in the next clip in mind, I can rationalize this moment as a continuation of that awkwardness from Robbe’s POV.) 

They chat with Lisa (Linn) who wants to direct Robbe on what he is and isn’t allowed to touch in her room, heh.  Milan and Zoë have cute interaction, and Robbe looks happy. I do like the flatmate vibe so far, they seem fun.

Clip 10 - Robbe and Milan

Senne and Zoë get cute. I haven’t seen S2 so I can’t give my opinion on their version of Noorhelm, but I did think a few things about them were less creepy in wtFOCK’s S1 than in OG. Milan talks about how they’re a Disneylike couple and Robbe laughs.

Then Robbe apologizes for something that evidently happened in S2, where Milan tried to kiss Robbe at a party? Again, I didn’t see the scene. Milan says he’d never try to do that. He offers Robbe a hug, which he accepts - tbh I don’t know if Robbe SHOULD accept based on where he is in his character arc, maybe he should have more skittishness? But it’s a nice character moment, at least. They really have to make up for lost time with the Robbe-Milan relationship, so I can get that they need to establish some closeness fast.

Not being in the wtFOCK fandom, I kinda wonder if there was backlash to that scene from before and this is damage control, LMAO.

I feel like you could’ve tweaked this to be more representative of Robbe’s issues, like have him stress here that he’s not gay, because it’s a sweet scene but again, I don’t feel like this episode built up Robbe’s internal dilemma very well. You could make this not just about smoothing over whatever bump there was in this relationship, but also about setting up some internal tension with Robbe’s sexuality issues. Multi-tasking - it’s great!

EDIT from the future: OK, I tracked down the S2 scene, and yeah, while it illustrates some of Robbe’s internalized homophobia, I really think you needed to carry this through to this clip. Because that was a very public situation, and they made a point of emphasizing onlookers’ reactions. I feel like you need to show that Robbe’s internalized homophobia isn’t just about external reactions, but internal struggles, because ... so far, that’s what it is? Like what is he doing with Noor otherwise? 

Clip 11 - Housewarming party

Party is underway. Yasmina is there and is friendly with Robbe. It sounds like they’re working on a school project together. Aaron (Magnus) and Moyo are talking about hot chicks again.

Noor arrives and the boys tease Robbe about how far he’s gone, Robbe looks pretty chill and happy until Moyo says Robbe’s getting laid tonight and you can see the nerves and reluctance take over. Okay! A character detail that actually works for his arc! Yes!

Partying, makeouts with Noor … sorry but they are wasting a lot of time with this relationship. ROBBE ISN’T INTO HER. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to demonize any of Evak’s female “love interests,” right? It’s pointless anyway because Evak is the endgame pairing, Sonja and Emma aren’t “threats” in the end, but also because they’re not bad people just for wanting to date these two guys who happens to want each other instead. And I think you can do interesting things with Sonja and Emma as characters. I’ve read Sonja fanfic that’s really good!

But when it comes down to it … this is not the story of Robbe/Noor, and there’s a point where it feels like there’s too much development for something that is really intended to be a speed bump in Robbe’s journey. 

I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine when gay stories devote a ton of time to het relationships, to the point where it begins to overshadow the main gay relationship. Love, Victor did this to an absolutely ridiculous degree. (I actually made notes for Love, Victor reactions, but hesitated to post them because 60% consisted of me typing I DON’T CARE ABOUT THESE STRAIGHT ROMANCES.) And I GET it, this is an experience many gay kids go through in their coming out journey, but also, less charitably… you don’t need het romance to dominate everything. You don’t need to make this about how a gay person being gay hurts a straight person. I genuinely appreciate that once Isak kisses Even, it’s fucking over with him and Emma, that plot thread is done. 

Anyway, Noor tells Robbe he’s so fucking hot and Robbe looks more uncomfortable, moreso when she wants to see his room and he goes off like he’s headed to Mordor.

Aaron checking out Amber … okay, again with all the het. I don’t care!!! This is not important right now!! 

Noor pushes Robbe onto the bed, ugh please don’t have them Go There.

She takes off her top and Robbe touches her boob like he’s sticking his hand into a porta-potty. We see his discomfort so at least this part is effective and relevant to Robbe’s arc. Noor is taking off her bra when the boys come into the room, wanting the weed. Okay, you dumb fucks, you’re teasing your bro about getting laid and yet you think it’s cool to enter his room when he’s with a girl? I mean, that’s a lucky break for Robbe, but his friends are extra stupid.

The mood is killed, Robbe goes hunting for weed. Episode ends.

HOW I WOULD REWRITE THIS EPISODE:

Lmao, some of my changes sounded a lot like “be like OG Skam S3.” Because Skam S3 was well-written and made sense. But I tried to think of edits that worked with what wtFOCK was presenting, not just repeating OG.

(I’m also repeating a few things in this section that I said above, btw)

While this episode doesn’t make me angry or anything, it’s got a serious problem with dithering. The first clip is a solid start to the season, but afterwards, so many of these clips feel like filler. There’s a lack of substance to them. It was hard to write about them because they ended up feeling like two minutes of nothing. 

Did we need to see repetitive mentions of Robbe’s troubled relationship with his dad? No, it’s an important plot detail but we could have established that more concisely in fewer clips. Did we need to see the process of how Robbe comes to stay with Zoë, Senne, and Milan? No, not really. Or at least not dragged out over at least three clips. 

I don’t feel like I’m in Robbe’s head to the extent that I should be  so far. Some of this is because the show just flat-out locks us out of his POV, like not showing the phone call in the Jens-Jana clip. But a lot of it is also because of the narrative dawdling. There’s just not as much to analyze unless I bring in Skam season 3 and project what we know about Isak onto Robbe. And that’s not a good way to adapt a story.

The framing of Robbe/Noor needs to change. Combine the bathroom intro with the aborted sex scene - the boys are sitting in the tub, teasing Robbe about getting laid, so he makes out with Noor and they go into a bedroom where he’s clearly not into this, and then Moyo and Aaron come in asking for weed because Robbe still actually has the weed from the bathtub at this point. Or do what Skam France did (can’t believe I’m referring to Skam France) and have the arrival of the cops interrupt the makeout/sex session and Robbe takes his cue to exit.

But frankly, it’s not great to have Robbe acting or looking too cozy with Noor, like this is a legitimate romantic arc except when it gets to the sex. The point is that this isn’t a romance. Even if you want to show some cuddly, non-sexual scenes with Noor, you have to show more of Robbe’s reluctance and fear throughout. 

Show Robbe’s fucking phone conversations with his parents!!!! Good Lord. He’s not ordering a pizza. These are important aspects of his story. Capitalize on that family tension, show us what a bad place Robbe is in at the start of this season. 

Now, about the lack of Even in this episode. Not introducing Even is a bold move, but not necessarily a smart one. Even’s introduction in Skam is not just the intro of “the love interest” - he’s the catalyst for almost everything in Isak’s story. Consider that in episode 1, Isak is seen mostly unhappy and bored - he’s distraught after kissing Emma, he’s checked out of his friends’ lunchtime girl talk, he zones out staring at his teacher’s boobs, he doesn’t want to be at kosegruppa. Isak is actually very passive and just going through the motions, doing what people tell him to do. But once Isak meets Even at kosegruppa - well, that’s when Isak wakes up. In the next few clips, we see Isak taking action. And sure, they’re small actions, searching for Even online, watching the Even video over and over, asking Vilde if there will be more kosegruppa meetings. But we can see that Isak now cares about something, he’s paying attention. Of course, Robbe’s story doesn’t have to follow the same arc. However, it does the season a huge benefit to get him intrigued by something at this point, so we the audience are not just sleepwalking along with him for a few episodes.

There’s also just the simple fact that we have only 10 episodes to establish a love story and make us care about the Even character, and it’s a very risky move to waste too much time. If you are really killing it with the rest of Robbe’s arc, this could still work, but ... well, that’s not what’s happening here.

If they didn’t want to full on introduce the Even directly, one thing they could do is subtly and indirectly find ways to include him in the narrative and create some mystery. Let’s say Robbe sees the Even’s artwork somewhere and is like whoa, that’s cool, and we can tell that it resonates with him. Or he admires Even’s graffiti, or it makes him laugh, whatever. Basically Robbe has some kind of emotional reaction to a thing the Even has created or done, which helps to set up that relationship even before we officially meet the Even.

If we want to add a little more, perhaps Robbe sees a mysterious dude in a mask tagging a wall, but they get interrupted by the cops or something and have some kind of brief but intriguing interaction with each other, and Robbe’s like, who was that guy in the mask? Or Noor takes Robbe to the tagging place, the police/security bust them, Robbe and Noor get separated, and Robbe gets helped out by the Even so he can escape. So it’s an important moment, lots of adrenaline, we can frame it like there’s a sudden ~charge~ between them (ooOOOooo the Even helped Robbe stand up and their hands touched like this was a fanfic, etc.), but he doesn’t learn Even’s name, maybe he doesn’t even see his face because Even has a mask on, so Robbe spends part of the next few episodes trying to figure out who that guy is, casually asking Noor if she knows a guy like that, keeping his eyes open. Maybe we have some fakeouts where Robbe thinks he sees the Even again but it’s just a false alarm. He’s on edge, eager to know more about that mystery guy, and so are we. Bam, we have “awakened” Robbe from his deep sleep. 

If you’ve seen Netflix’s The Get Down, there’s even a scene like this where Jaden Smith’s character gets caught tagging by the cops, he runs and flees with another young dude, and they have a moment where they recognize each other as graffiti artists they admire. While watching that scene for the first time, without any context or spoilers, without even knowing if there would be LGBT content in that show, I immediately thought, “This guy is his love interest.” Not even because it was overtly romantic. Because the way it was written and shot told us that this meeting was important. Because they had an instant connection. Something similar could have worked for Robbe and his Even. But in any case: it would have been best to establish something between those characters, even if it wasn’t an “official” introduction.

Stop focusing on Aaron/Amber when it’s not in Robbe’s POV. Reverse the scene at the beginning with Aaron videotaping and Amber getting spilled on. She gets pissed, he falls in love, and then we follow him upstairs and we meet the boy squad. That is a very obvious, very clean transition that doesn’t interrupt Robbe’s POV as it technically hasn’t started yet. So IDK why they didn’t do that, lmao.

Some changes with the Milan relationship:

Tweak the apology scene to be more representative of Robbe’s issues. Have Robbe apologize while still stressing that he’s not gay. Have Milan be chill and not question that statement, but maybe Robbe is so defensive that it comes across as unconvincing. 

Then have Milan be the one instead of the boys to interrupt the Noor almost-sex scene. Milan wanders in acting drunk, haha Milan, he’s wacky. Robbe doesn’t realize it (though the viewers do if they’re paying attention) but Milan is only pretending and is “subtly” rescuing Robbe because he realizes, based on the earlier scene, that Robbe might be struggling with his sexuality and he wants to give him an escape option. (Although I still think it’s best to combine the not-sex scene into the opening clip, but this could work, too.)

Basic questions we need to be asking, clip to clip: what is the conflict? Where is Robbe’s head right now? Why is this scene necessary? How did this scene come to be - what’s the cause and effect here? How does it advance Robbe’s story? Is it redundant? How do we tell this story in a narratively economical manner? 

[superbisexualandcool]

Eva Mohn, Vilde Lien and Noora Saetre lockscreens ✨

[butimacommander]

THINGS I’D LIKE TO POINT OUT ABOUT THIS CLIP

s3e2c1

(the only good thing about short clips is that i actually have time to go through them properly)

Well it looks like Joana’s hair/style is the new hot thing at school. Lets be honest though, Joana might have been the new girl before, but there’s now a whole grade at school of actual new kids who probably don’t know anything else about Joana than that she has her own style, is tall and beautiful, “mysterious” and has a hot girlfriend. No wonder people want to look like her.

Honestly seeing Nora being all giggly about Miquel hurts me to my core as we all have a pretty clear idea of what’s ahead... 

“My sister is more of a free spirit”. So we can all agree that Emma is queer right? Riiiighttt?

Nora darling you say you don’t want to be wrapped up in thinking about someone else, but wouldn’t you rather be thinking nice soft loving things about alejandro than sad and resentful stuff? It’s going to be either or anyways. Just saying.

I really like how skam españa pays atenttion to the individual dynamics and friendships within the girl gang. You can have four best friends but still have that one bff that you tell absolutely everything to. 

And so the crisana troubles start again. It’s so important to show that tough times don’t just end, but it’s also so painful because i just want to see my girls happy.

Eva in this is the perfect description of me trying to enjoy all this skam content but simultaneously being scared about what’s to come.

I actually really liked to see Cris complaining about Joana, and i know this sounds weird, but hear me out: thing might suck atm because of Joana’s bpd, but that doesn’t change the fact that things suck. And if things suck you need someone to talk about it and i’m so glad that Cris has that.

Thanks queen Amira for reminding Cris of Joana’s MI though. 

Queen Nora is also right though: you shouldn’t forgive everything just because you love someone. Since when have kids been this smart? They are arguing both sides of an issue but they all make sense? Revolutionary.

Who is rolling their eyes more at Cris kissing Nora’s cheek - Eva or Alejandro?

LOOK HOW HAPPY THIS BEAN LOOKS!! Maybe just ditch both of the guys and start dating girls? A wild thought? (i swear i’ll stop pushing my gay agenda at some point)

Cris looks full on disgusted when Eva asks whether her and Joana are going to break up.

And both Nora and the shippers say a silent thank you prayer when the answer is a very strong “no way”.

Not gonna lie, even my gay heart hurt a little when Nora ignored Alejandro when she walked by him... Alejandro looked so happy to see her. Can these two just figure their things out and we could forget about Miquel? Please?