#sam the bright sessions

[laughable-umbrella]

sometimes a family is

-an art nerd who can read minds

-an introvert who can time travel

-a jock who can feel your emotions

-his emo boyfriend

-their collective therapist/ mom

[ominous-ellipses]

*gets therapy vicariously through fictional characters I relate to*

[xylospongium]

SAM CANONICALLY LISTENS TO ALICE ISN'T DEAD, IT FITS SO WELL WITH HER AND MARK I LITERALLY CAN'T

[castingpods]

Representation is so important bc im sitting here crying again to foolish from the bright sessions musical episode. I never DID dream I never DID hope I never did have the time!!!! I never dared I never tried to yearn for something that never could be mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[phoet]

finally started listening to the bright sessions one million years late and 1. obviously it's incredible, Lauren Shippen is a genius and can do no wrong but 2. Doctor Bright was so suspicious from the get go and to have Chloe put her so on edge (episode 9) is SO GOOD.

[luvnotpercival]

i still havent finished it - but my brain spurted this out while listening

(Repressed Trauma Boy™)

[thelaurenshippen]

So sorry if this has been asked before, but I’m curious on your reasoning for casting yourself as Sam. Do you think you’re a lot like her? Do you think that no one could portray her exactly the way you wanted to? Thanks!

thank you so much for asking! I love that the show has been around long enough and made its own way in the world enough that folks may not know the origin story!

I actually started The Bright Sessions because I wanted a role to play. I was an actress before I was a writer and really wanted to give myself an interesting and fun role to play. so, from the start, I knew that I would be playing someone major in the show - I flirted very briefly with the idea of playing Dr. Bright, but ultimately, Sam was the character that started it all and she is me. I mean, not really, there are a lot of differences between us, but she was very much inspired by my own experiences.

I was 23 when I wrote the pilot script and very, very lonely. I'd also been having regular panic attacks since I was a kid that I never really told anyone about (extremely ironically, writing TBS was what finally got me to go to therapy). Sam was the first time I tried to externalize that experience and, while there are certainly plenty of actors out there who could do better/more interesting things with Sam, she was so close to my heart and intertwined with the heart of the show that I couldn't imagine anyone inherently understanding her in the way that I did.

I hope that answers your question! if TBS ever does make its way to an onscreen adaptation, I'd be so interested to see another actor take a crack at her.

[jellywizard01]

redraw of this post

i am re obsessed with tbs and the old line up was bothering me.......

[podcast-official]

guess who finished the juno steel finale and isn't sad because he immediately started the bright sessions and is now obsessed and binged ten episodes in one sitting

[0-sunstranger-0]

Drew this a while ago for a friend and was reminded of it because I'm trying to draw them again but drawing ladies is so much easier and nicer

also I wanted to draw some of that toxic yuri I keep hearing about

[fandomscraziness22]

3X09

4X13

the bright sessions parallels and callbacks 2/?

[npdclaraoswald]

Constantly rotating this line in my head. The fact that Mark actually talked to Oliver about Damien when he couldn't do that with Sam or Joan

[thegaycousin-upgrade]

What was the point if listening to Safehouse II for the 40th time still makes me cry? WHAT WAS THE POINT?!?

Man, the voice actors really did NOT pull their punches for this episode, huh? (Pun not intended)

[ineedyoutheretokeepmegreen]

Having the Adam and Caleb playlists on my phone is the BEST (I’m an Apple Music user). Listening to them really makes you feel all of the emotions in the best way (even the sadder songs). I highly recommend checking them out!!!💚😇

I have also attached links from The Bright Sessions website that lists all of the songs from each playlist if you want to listen to them too (including all of the other characters too!)

@thelaurenshippen @thebrightsessions @briggonsnow

[thebrightsessions]

Hi !

I just finished the brights sessions and in one of the episode D. Bright said that the atypical represented 4% of the world's population, and that let me wondering, considering that almost every atypical that we encounter in the serie is queer, what percent of the queer community is atypical ?

Apart from that, i love your show and all of the amazing character! I hope you have a great day !

Oooh GREAT question! Lemme do some quick math here...

Okay, according to my universe bible (which is pretty accurate, if not fully comprehensive, I'm sure there's stuff I forgot to write down), there are 29 known and named atypicals across the 7 seasons of the podcasts, excluding the Bright Sides (Season 5, the bonus episodes) and the three books (though there is some overlap) but including Frank Sawyer and Sadie Greenwood, who are, like...atypical-adjacent.

Of those 30 atypicals (presuming I counted correctly (does this post have enough parentheticals yet?)), 14 are definitely canonically queer in one way or another. So, by that logic, nearly half of the atypical population is queer! I have a feeling that number would go up if I were to go through and pull out all the folks from the books and the bonus episodes (which perhaps I will do someday but I don't know the orientation of all the bonus ep characters (bc they were created by other people) and pulling out characters from the books is always a mess because, uh, I do not outline lol) but I also don't know that I can say our little atypical population is fully representative of the global population's queerness? Like flocks to like, so perhaps this a somewhat self-selecting bunch, or maybe there really is just a very high correlation between being atypical and being queer. Dealer's (fanfic writer and headcanon-er's) choice!

Counts under the cut:

Known Atypicals:

characters who are canonically queer are bolded - these are characters who either have queer relationships or talk specifically about their identity. some folks on this list are straight (Frank, Sadie, Marley, Jackson, Blackwell, (though tbf, Sadie is the only person in the whole series who ever says they're straight I'm pretty sure, so who knows)), but there are plenty who we never say one way or another, so anything is possible!

Sam Barnes Caleb Michaels Chloe Turner Frank Sawyer Robert "Damien" Gorham Mark Bryant Rose Atkinson Franklin "Frankie" Meeks Sadie Greenwood Ben Bernard Oliver Ritz Margaret "Mags" Densmore Jackson Crawford Jason "Marley" Beck Seamus Blackwell Michal Sharon Helen Sidney Alice Michaels Alice Rufie Jordan Tobias Sitzer Alexis Neal Cat Cam Vanessa Turner Ira Alex "Blaze" Chen Maguerite Sarai

[luvnotpercival]

I've just started the bright sessions - I've been studying so I'm already on season 2 but I am hyperfixated on it already and I honestly can't wait to see what happens next