#terapsina's nancy drew rambles

[terapsina]

Reasons to watch Nancy Drew (The CW series)

Okay, so. There’s not that much talk about this show. But honestly? its kinda great actually.

Things you should know going in. It’s based on the Nancy Drew mystery novels BUT with a lot of creative liberties being taken. Largest of which is that this is a show that focuses HEAVILY on the supernatural.

But for those of us who LIKE those kinda shows it’s actually, really a fun watch. Be advised, this show LOVES its jump-scares (if there is a creepy corpse on whose eyes the camera focuses on? it will blink; if there is a wide pan shot of the characters from behind some trees? a malevolent spirit is staring at them; a character is in a dark room? there will probably be hands reaching out of walls trying to touch them), and honestly? it delivers on those scares quite effectively.

It’s a bit like... if you crossed Buffy with Veronica Mars, with just a TOUCH of Scooby-Doo.

The show takes place in the small town of Horseshoe Bay. It’s a town full of such charming traditions as knocking buckets of water over the porch at midnight and if it’s filled with blood, you’ll die within the year. And a town legend of infamous Lucy Sable who vanished under mysterious circumstances the night she was named Sea Queen. And the spirit of Aglaeca, who will grant you your wish if you pay her toll.

The main character is Nancy Drew.

And I really do love her. Like, she is a MESS. She’s a prime example of a fixing a mess by making a bigger mess and fixing the bigger mess by going nuclear and fixing the consequences of going nuclear by grasping at straws until it almost works, and then when a thing that she can’t live with happens going nuclear ALL OVER AGAIN.

And she’s got a very powerful puppy dog ‘help me’ face that gets people around her in trouble. Like, I wouldn’t be able to say no to that face either probably.

But she loves her friends so much. Well, as soon as they actually become friends (they start out as a rag-tag group of people thrown into fire together when they all become the prime suspects for murder... as one does). But by the end of the first season? She would, quite literally, bleed for them (plus deal with the world’s MOST UNCOMFORTABLE situation to save their lives).

And speaking of said friends. Lets start with my personal favorite character. George Fan.

She’s got sarcasm and aggravation seeping out of her from her every pore. But she’s also a very complex character who has a lot of underlying motivations for her defense mechanisms. George has three sisters, all younger than her, who she’s basically raised herself and supports financially through her diner, The Claw.

Also I’m absolutely pulled in by the potential for how her character gets developed in the future because there’s a LOT of juicy stuff for the writers to work with.

Also the romance story she’s given in the second half of the first season is really sweet and lets us take a glimpse at her softer side, because she’s actually very vulnerable (which is WHY she needs her defenses).

Then there’s Bess Marvin.

Bess is a member of the Marvin family (a very rich, kinda shady ‘maybe not as much so as the Hudsons (the OTHER super shady rich people) but only maybe’ town family). 

A lot of what her character is about is a bit spoilery. But basically she’s the very gay, very sweet, a bit out of touch character who’s a bit of a kleptomaniac. And makes everything sound more dramatic than it is (except when it’s supernatural drama in which case I think she adds just the right touch of drama).

Next up. Ned Nickerson but everyone calls him Nick.

He’s just... a very nice dude. He’s the one who really quickly goes ride-or-die for people. 

And if I gave characters points for soulful stares I’d DEFINITELY give Nick a solid: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

He’s introduced as the guy Nancy is hooking up with. But he also has a very tragic background story that also includes some spoilers but in the vaguest way possible, lets just say that he’s recently out of jail for something he shouldn’t have been convicted for and coming to Horseshoe Bay for a new start.

The ghosts weren’t exactly part of the plan, but eh, what are you gonna do?

(edit: he's also a case of 'only sane man' between a group of friends who would totally do a home autopsy on a haunted corpse that followed Nancy home from the town morgue)

And finally. Ace.

Bess’s platanchor.

Totally dependable. Down to go along with the most crazy stuff with barely an eyeblink. Basically he’s what you’d get if you crossed Oz with (a less irritating version of) Xander.

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In essence, I’d recommend Nancy Drew for those who enjoy a quite decent who-done-it mystery but don’t mind it crashing headfirst into a very FUN oh-noes-ghosts-and-monsters-are-real-and-trying-to-kill-us series.

Also, a bit of advice for anyone whose stomach for scary stuff is as weak as mine? Don’t watch it after dark while you’re alone at home. You WILL sleep with your night-light on.

[terapsina]

Some thoughts on George and her current uninvited passenger Odette.

I think this is a storyline that can be really easily messed up. But at least SO FAR they haven't crossed any lines that would make me lose faith in the story.

And I do think it's an interesting storyline for as long as they continue respecting George's bodily autonomy. Most of all for Leah Lewis. Because I bet that playing two very different characters is really fun for an actor and I certainly enjoy watching how very differently she presents George and Odette.

Now obviously Odette herself doesn't really seem willing to play by George's rules. Which is messed up but not a problem as long as the other characters and George herself continues to condemn that behavior and the story doesn't try to make us side with Odette.

Which, I don't think it has so far.

I think they made it most clear in George being angry at Odette for getting her drunk and arrested and how it made her feel to wake up and getting looked at by the people at the police precinct like she was just like her mother. And then in Bess' conversation with Ace.

Which leads me to the storyline that moves closer to the line, the hints of Odette developing a crush on Bess and Bess getting charmed by her. That can go really icky and so I hope the writers continued to be really careful about how that plays out.

Because, no, George would definitely not be okay with anything happening there. So Ace was absolutely correct in verbally knocking some sense back into Bess.

Like, I do see how it's potentially kind of a dramatic storyline and I think it even works because it gives Bess something interesting to deal with. And I'm excited to see how this will add weirdness in George and Bess' friendship.

But I'm not in ANY WAY okay with anything physically happening between Bess and Odette while Odette is inside George's body. Especially if George has not given consent to it (which to be clear I don't think she will, or should, though I guess I can see her consent to Bess and Odette sharing a kiss in goodbye once they've found a solution to freeing Odette's spirit from George's body, but that's literally the only way I could be okay with it and even that is right on the edge).

Also I know that currently George is trying to be okay with the fact that Odette is here to stay and I like how it shows how George will just take a bad situation, look at what she's got to work with and then just do the best she can with it (which is a fascinating contrast to Nancy who always wants to fix it instead of dealing with it). But honestly, I don't think this will be a permanent thing at all, I do think they'll find a solution and George will not be forced to continue sharing her body with Odette permanently.

So yeah, I'm cautious but optimistic about the writers not letting me down.

[terapsina]

Kudos to the writers of Nancy Drew for how when they introduced Ryan Hudson I wanted to punch him in the throat and how by the end of the season I feel like the guy deserves a bit of a break.

Now, don’t get me wrong, he still totally deserves to get punched in the throat for all the reasons I wanted to punch him in the throat, because ew - but... like, AFTER he gets punched in throat I’d be cool with the dude being given the opportunity to become a semi-decent person with whom certain people might be ready to get coffee with at some point in the future.

But only for like after he dials down his douchey rich boy immorality switch from 59% to at least 35%. He does still need to work some stuff off before I think I'll actually like him (yeah I feel bad for the dude but not sorry for him? IDK if that makes sense).