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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years ago

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Most Marvel post-credit scenes hint at the future. Loki opted for a blunter approach: the God of Mischief would return in season 2.

Based on the final turn of events, there was really no other choice: Loki (Tom Hiddleston), having journeyed to the furthest point in spacetime with his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) to meet the founder of the TVA, a scientist-turned-survivor-of-multiversal-war known as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), finds himself zapped into a new reality when his lady self slays the omnipresent being. The mind reels!

Creator Michael Waldron takes delight in the endless possibilities of Loki’s core premise. And as a veteran of Rick and Morty, he knows what anchors a mind-bending show, and what will keep Hiddleston’s character hurtling through his chaotic, rewritten future. Below, Polygon talks to Waldron about landing on the key choices of Loki season 1, what to expect from season 2, and a bit on his next project, the wrestling drama Heels, which is set to premiere on Aug. 15.

Did you know there’d be a second season of Loki from the beginning or was that choice made later in the process?

Michael Waldron: We always knew that it was a possibility. We always knew that we wanted to propel Loki and these characters out into the MCU after this, into further stories. But that didn’t really crystallize as a sure thing until we were in production and everything. And as we were really figuring out the finale.

So you were still cracking the ending as you shot the show?

There was a hiatus due to the pandemic. So things were constantly being retooled because of that. I think, by and large, everything with He Who Remains and the Sylvie-Loki conflict was always there. But that cliffhanger was the sort of thing that suddenly became a really appealing opportunity, a chance for that to lead into a second season.

What element of the series helped you crack the macro story of Loki, and made all the other pieces fall into place? Each episode almost feels like a standalone adventure, similar to Rick and Morty, but what helped it all click?

The first couple of weeks in the writers room was just laying out the individual episodes. It was very important to me that each episode stood on its own, and you could say “This is the Lamentis episode,” “This is the apocalypse moon episode,” “This is the Void episode.” I didn’t want it to just be cut up chapters and have one long continuous story. Obviously, we had to figure out the time travel for things to slot into place. I think a big idea for us was the way you get around the TVA by hiding in apocalypses. That felt like such a big, cool, exciting idea that it drove the action of episode 2, episode 3, and in a way it’s like Alioth is the ultimate apocalypse that He Who Remains is hiding behind. That sci-fi idea cracked a lot open for us. I know that after we had that I went home and I slept a little sounder.

Did adding the multiverse to the Marvel Cinematic Universe feel like blowing something up or expanding it, in terms of narrative possibilities?

In the same way that after the first couple Iron Man movies, and with the first Avengers, suddenly these movies were kind of going to space. Then we had Guardians. I think of the multiverse as another version of that. It’s new ground to cover, and particularly interesting because characters meeting other versions of themselves and other versions of people they know is... cool. That’s just a cool sci-fi concept! But I think with anything, as you expand outward, it only works if the humanity remains. It’s exciting to watch characters dealing with big crazy multiversal conflicts because we can see ourselves in them. I think you just have to hold on to the humanity that makes these stories work in the first place.

Did you go back to the Thor movies for Loki? Was there anything to find in the past of Marvel as you were paving the future?

Absolutely. I mean I watched them many times, contrary to what Twitter might think because I did some bits on there saying that I’ve never seen Avengers and I upset some people [laughs]. I have seen it many times. “Confirmed: Loki writer has seen Avengers and saw it before writing Loki show.”

In fact, I was watching all these movies on a loop in the writers’ room. I gleaned so much because you watch the evolution of the character. Avengers was particularly informative because our story picks up Loki right after that, but I also I found a lot of inspiration in Thor: The Dark World, a maybe sometimes maligned movie that I actually really enjoy. I just think there’s great stuff with Loki being tangentially responsible for the death of his mother, how he reacts to that. That is the start of his journey of that version of Loki’s redemption, so I was inspired by that.

What’s propelling the characters into season 2? Where are you headed in basic terms?

In season 1, you saw a lot of characters reckoning with and questioning their own glorious purpose, and that glorious purpose changing, [characters] realizing that that can change. Everybody except for Sylvie. I think she holds onto hers, which is vengeance, and to the detriment of us all, perhaps. And we’ve got a Loki who, at the top of our show, assessed himself as a villain and, I would argue, at the end of our show, has become a little bit of a hero. There’s nothing more heroic to me than fighting for the right thing and losing. You see that washing over him as he’s there back at the TVA, after Sylvie has knocked back there. And then he gets up because that is what heroes do — they keep going. So I think that you’re gonna see a Loki that looks at himself in a different way certainly that at the top of this.

Do you hope to explore more of Sylvie’s backstory in season 2?

I guess we’ll see. We certainly have our own rich backstory for her, stuff that didn’t get to make it into the show. Elissa Karasik, our episode 2 writer, wrote a lot of amazing backstory for Sylvia and everything. So those ideas exist out there.

And her version of Thor?

Tune in.

How did He Who Remains come about? Did you bring the character to Marvel or was that a character Marvel hoped to introduce?

I was pushing and our team was pushing early on in the writers’ room that it should be a version of Kang up in that Citadel, sort of fusing the mythology of He Who Remains with a little bit of the Immortus mythology. And that was a thing we were excited to do. And it became clear that it actually made sense for our story. The only way we were going to do it was if it made sense, but it was like, who had a better argument for creating the TVA to prevent other versions of themselves from existing then a guy as evil as Kang the Conqueror?

You wrote the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — did Marvel hire you for that after Loki? Does the movie feel like a continuation of the show?

Yeah, that opportunity came as we were getting ready to start production on Loki. It was a pleasure. I got to work with Sam Raimi, a hero of mine. I was in London for five months making that movie at the top of this year. We had a blast. I think that it’s a continuation in as much as ever every Marvel movie is to some extent a chapter in an ongoing story, but these things are meant to stand alone and the most important thing about Doctor Strange too is making the most kick ass Doctor Strange movie we could.

Is Loki a two-part show now or are you invested in telling a longer story with future seasons beyond season 2?

Time will tell, but I do my hope is that season 1 stands on its own. We always wanted to tell a complete story there. And in whatever the next chapter may be will stand on its own as well.

Your next show, Heels, is already on the way. We got a big preview out of Comic-Con this year, but I’m curious about the scope of this story. You’re starting with two brothers running an independent wrestling franchise, but you’ve dropped the name “Vince McMahon” a few times — is this about the building of an empire? Would you liken it to The Godfather or Breaking Bad?

I always thought about it a little bit of a Scorsese-sort-of rise, and we’ll see if there’s a fall. Starting from humble beginnings and trying to build some crazy. Wrestling was certainly not always the empire that it is and that’s what’s interesting, to watch the evolution of a family-run wrestling business from something you do in your small towns and perhaps a national, even global empire. That would be a really compelling arc for a show over the course of several seasons. I’d be excited to explore that.

What’s the most dramatically fulfilling wrestling moment you’ve witnessed? What’s the bar for the wrestling drama of Heels?

It’s gotta be Hulk Hogan turning heel in the WCW. There was an invasion storyline, these guys from WWF, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, came over and they were the bad guys. It was at a Pay-per-view and and they were beating up on the good guys that you love, and here comes Hulk Hogan in the yellow and red and he’s the hero. “The Hulk’s gonna get ‘em! The good guy’s here!” And then the Hulk just leg drops Randy Savage. That was the original Red Wedding. I just think about the boldness of turning him heel. To a little kid... I wasn’t even like a massive Hulk fan, but he was just such a mythological figure. What a chance that Hulk Hogan took as a performer, as a bankable kind of movie star at that point. That was bold, risky storytelling and it set off two years of amazing storytelling with Hogan just playing a craven, cowardly heel and just being so evil. I really respect the hell out of them for doing that. That was a great storyline.

#michael waldron #interview #loki #s1 #s2

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slytherinbarnes · 4 years ago

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Sub Rosa [46]

i. echoes

Pairing: Bellamy Blake x reader

Word Count: 7.5k

Warnings: mentions of blood, wounds, dead bodies, stitches, fighting, violence.

Summary: picking up immediately where the season 3 finale left off, you, Bellamy, and the rest of your people find yourselves stuck in Polis following the aftermath of Alie’s destruction.

a/n: HAPPY SEASON 4 PREMIERE!!!! lots of good things coming your way this season, (in my opinion), and i’m so excited to share this with you guys! the taglist for this series is open! I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think!!!

previous chapter // season masterlist // series masterlist

February 24th, 2150; Polis

Clarke tries to distract Bellamy from Octavia’s killing of Pike by telling you both about Alie’s purpose in creating the City of Light: to save humanity from a wave of nuclear radiation, heading your way in six months. You quickly process her news before turning to Bellamy, more worried about him. You're not even sure he heard her, his expression still shocked, but as soon as he recovers, he starts to head from the room, practically dragging you behind him. “We have to find her.”

You allow him to lead you towards the Commander’s chambers, and Clarke follows the two of you, determined to stay close. You see her hesitate when she reaches the door of the bedroom, her eyes falling towards the bed, and you pull yourself free from Bellamy’s grip so you can turn to face her. “What’s wrong?”

“This is where…” She trails off, eyes still locked on the bed. Her voice is practically a whisper when she adds, “I saw her in the City of Light.”

You reach out and pull her into a hug just as her tears start to fall, and you feel your heart break for your twin. “There’s nothing I can say to fix this for you, but I wish there was.”

You pull away, and push her hair from her face, before giving her a small smile. “I just know she’d be so proud of you, Clarke, and I wish she could be here to see you now.”

Bellamy, who appeared at your side while you and Clarke were hugging, puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. “She’ll always be with you.”

Clarke nods, and wipes away her tears, giving you both a watery smile. She composes herself, putting her emotions away for later, before nodding towards the window, “Let’s go find Octavia.”

Bellamy leads the way to the window, and you all look out, watching as Octavia makes the drop at the bottom and runs into the crowd. You’re all hesitant to take this path to the bottom, but with the elevator sabotaged and the ladder blown up, you know this is the only way. Bellamy steps up to the window, taking the lead. “I’ll go first, just follow my path.”

He steps through the window and shimmies his way down to the siding on the building that provides a patchwork of ladders you can use to get down. You and Clarke watch him go down a few feet before you mutter, “Guess I’ll go next.”

You carefully go through the window and follow Bellamy’s path, using the same places to put your hands and feet. You see Clarke come though the window a minute later and follow you down, and slowly, but surely, all three of you make your way to the ground. When you reach the last 6 feet, the siding stops and opens up to a ledge. Bellamy reaches it first, and then steadies you and Clarke as you step onto it, before he turns and jumps the last few feet to the ground. He looks up at you, waving for you to follow, and you take a breath before jumping down after him. You land on your feet, but the force of your landing sends a shock through you and you almost fall over. Luckily, Bellamy is there, keeping you upright, before turning to help Clarke stick her landing. Once all three of you are at the bottom, you look up at the tower, to the top floor that you just came from, and you feel nothing but shock.

You were so focused on following Bellamy's path down, that you never once spared a look to the ground below you. Only now do you realize that if you had fallen, you’d be dead as soon as you hit the ground. But you don't have enough time to contemplate that, because Bellamy steps away and looks out into the crowd, searching for his sister. His face is set with worry, and you reach out to put a comforting hand on his arm. “She'll be okay, she can take care of herself.”

“That's not what I'm worried about.”

Clarke catches his meaning first, and shakes her head. “She won't be charged. Everyone will say that Pike had it coming.”

“Maybe we all do.” Bellamy pauses and looks out into the crowd, and you follow his line of sight. For the first time, you get a good look at the chaos around you. Dead bodies litter the street, some people bloodied and killed, while some bodies are in pristine condition, yet still comatose. The sound of crying and wailing comes from every corner of the street, while other people are groaning in pain, trying to tend to their injuries.

Clarke, who is also surveying the scene, mutters, “How do we tell these people that the world is ending, after everything they've been through?”

You think of the chaos that kind of announcement would cause, and you give her a serious look. “We can't.”

Bellamy nods, backing you up. “We keep it to ourselves until we know what we're dealing with, and how to stop it.

She looks at both of you in surprise. “You're both afraid of how people will react.”

“Yes.”

You glance over at the woman holding a small child, sobbing over his lifeless body, before looking back to her, your voice soft, “We gave them back their pain. Let's not add to that by telling them they're gonna die in six months.”

She nods, indicating that she understands, and once you're all on the same page, Bellamy says, “Good. Once everyone's down, we go home and we get to work. We didn't survive this long just to let a little radiation take us out.”

You hear a loud scream nearby, and Clarke immediately runs in the direction of it, stopping in front of a woman who is kneeling beside a man. He’s slumped over, unresponsive, and there are no signs of blood on him. Bellamy looks down at him in confusion, “He didn't fall.”

Clarke looks back at the two of you with a look of horror. “He chased me in the City of Light, Lexa killed him.”

And suddenly, the comatose bodies make sense. Your mother told Clarke before she took the chip that dying in the City of Light killed you out here too, just not in the way you’d expect. The woman freezes, and it’s obvious she heard Clarke’s revelation because she stands and spits, “Wanheda.”

You, Clarke, and Bellamy move closer together, growing tense as she yells, “Yu dula dison daun!”

You turn to Bellamy and mutter, “She’s saying that we did this.”

All around you, those that were in mourning or nursing their wounds start to stand and close in around you, looking incredibly pissed off. As they grow closer and closer, they start to chant, “Wanheda! Wanheda! Wanheda!”

Clarke grabs your hand and starts to pull you away, through an opening in the crowd, and you reach out and grab Bellamy, pulling him along with you. Once you’re free of the larger group, Clarke hastily makes her way through the crowd, trying to get away from the Grounders, as all around you, they mutter her nickname. As you break into a larger clearing in the city, your mother and Kane approach you, looking worried. Clarke stops in front of them both, and you and Bellamy stop beside her. “Good, you're down. We have to go, the rover's in the north woods.”

Your mom looks at her in shock, “What about the wounded?”

Bellamy answers for her, “The Grounders don't want our help. Our people we treat at Arkadia.”

Before anyone can argue further, the radio at Bellamy’s side comes to life with the sound of Raven’s voice, “Hello? Bellamy, please. Come in.”

You reach for it first, beating him to it, your mind drifting to Jasper being chipped as you ask, “Raven, are you okay?”

You, Clarke, and Bellamy step away from the adults slightly, giving you some privacy to talk. “Yeah, yeah. We're all in one piece.”

You sigh in relief, and hand the radio to Bellamy, who looks like he has something to say. “That’s good, there's something we need you to look into.”

Raven shuts him down quickly, “First, tell me how my friends are. Did everyone make it? Clarke?”

Clarke takes the radio from Bellamy, and reassures her, “I'm here, thanks to you. Raven, did Alie ever tell you why she created the City of Light?

“No. Why?”

As Clarke lifts the radio to answer, someone nearby yells, “Haihefa, en's kiken! Osir gaf fisa in!”

The king, he’s alive! We need a healer! You and Clarke translate it at the same time, but Bellamy just looks between you in confusion. Clarke nods her head in the king’s direction, “Go, take mom, I’ll meet you there!”

You turn and yell to your mother and Kane, “They need a doctor!”

They immediately start moving towards you as you run in the direction of the man’s voice, leading you to a pair of Grounders that are laying Roan onto the ground, face down. You reach him first, and gently roll him over as your mother kneels beside you, and you whisper “Roan?”

You glance at your mother, and mutter, “He got shot trying to help Clarke.”

She checks his pulse, and turns to look at you in alarm, “He’s not dead, but he’s close.”

She searches his body for the bullet wound, finding it on his chest. She shifts him slightly to check his back, which is free of any blood. “No exit wound. We need to get the bullet out quickly.”

You nod, ready to assist her until Clarke shows up, but you freeze in place when a sword is placed against your throat. “Get away from our King.”

You put your hands up in surrender as your mom protests, “Wait, no, please.”

You glance over and see Echo glaring at you, and she grabs your arm to pull you to your feet, her sword still at your neck. You mutter, “I saved your life in Mount Weather, and then you left me to die at the hands of an Azgeda assassin in the very same mountain. Now this?”

She presses the sword into your neck, and you feel it bite into your skin. You wince and watch as Skaikru guards start to run towards you, guns drawn and pointed at Echo. Kane holds your mother back as he says, “You're making a mistake, we're part of the Coalition.”

“I can save him, but you have to let me.”

Echo looks at your mother. “We have our own healer.”

She turns to the men at Roan’s side and snaps, “Lid haihefa-de gon bangeda seintaim kom ostof kom oso stedaun. Dula'm op nau!”

You hear Kane translating for your mother, “Take the king to the embassy with the rest of our dead. Do it now.”

You all watch as Roan is taken away, and in the distance, you can hear Bellamy yell, “Echo!”

You glance at your approaching boyfriend and twin, both of them pissed and stalking this way, and you mutter, “Here we go.”

When Echo sees them, she presses closer to you, the sword nicking your skin again, and you lock eyes with Bellamy and warn, “Bellamy, don't.”

Kane grabs him as he tries to get to you, and your mom grabs Clarke, holding them back as they both yell, “Let her go, Echo! Let her go!”

Echo puts her head beside yours, pressing you both close together, and she snaps, “Back off, Bellamy.”

Clarke is the first to stop fighting, and you watch her take a breath to calm herself before reasoning with Echo, “Your King is my friend. Let us help him, and let her go.”

“I saw you in the City of Light, I know you destroyed it. Thank you for that.”

She abruptly lowers her sword and pushes you hard, sending you stumbling towards Bellamy, who catches you easily. Once you're in his arms, he tips your head back so he can get a good look at the two small cuts on your neck, and his face sets into a glare. You reach out for his hand and whisper, “I’m fine.”

But no further conversation is had because Echo starts to yell, “Look around you. Skaikru did this to us. Because of them, Ontari, your rightful Commander, is dead! This imposter stole her Flame.”

Kane steps forward, yelling back, “No! Wanheda saved us, all of us. Grounder and Skaikru.”

“There would've been nothing to save us from if not for you.”

You marvel at the pure anger radiating off of Kane, his protective side coming out as he levels a glare at Echo. “Azgeda has no authority here.”

“We do now.” She starts to yell again, so those around you can hear her. “In the name of King Roan, as rightful caretakers of the throne of the Commanders, Polis is now under Azgeda rule!”

Immediately, two Grounders walk up, a man and a woman, and you recognize them as the man and woman you fought in the throne room while you were trying to protect Clarke. The woman immediately challenges Echo. “Like hell it is. Where's your war chief, girl?”

“Our war chief is dead, Ambassador. As a member of the Queen's guard, command of the army has fallen to me until the king awakens.”

“If he awakens.” You watch as she turns to yell at those gathered around. “Until a new Commander can ascend, Polis is to be ruled by ambassadors of the Coalition. If Azgeda wants it, they must take it by force.”

Echo’s response is immediate. She steps forward, swinging her sword out, cutting the Ambassador’s neck with a single sword stroke. You all watch in shock as blood rapidly pours from the wound, and the woman falls to the ground, dead in seconds.

Echo quips, “Consider it taken.” Then she commands, “No Skaikru leaves this city. Gon Azgeda!”

For Ice Nation! And with one last glare directed at your group, she turns and walks away, following the path they took Roan in. You and Bellamy exchange a look of shock, and when you turn to look at the rest of the group, you see that they all feel the same. Bellamy whispers in your ear, “Looks like saving the world will have to wait.”

Kane turns to the guards that gathered around when Echo threatened you, and he quietly orders, “Gather every one of our people that you can find and bring them to the temple. We’ll be waiting for you there.”

“Yes, sir.”

They turn and immediately run off, and as Kane turns back to the rest of you, he accidentally hits Bellamy in the side. Bellamy lets out a sharp gasp of pain, and you turn to look at him in shock. “What?”

He unzips his jacket and pulls it to the side, revealing his shirt, stained with blood. You look up at him in alarm before looking back down at his side, watching as he pulls his shirt up to reveal a cut in his side. The sight of it makes Bellamy unsteady on his feet, and he sways, the pain coming back to him now that he’s aware of its presence, easily forgotten in the aftermath of the City of Light. You reach out for him, steadying him, and Kane does the same, looking over just in time to catch sight of the wound. You see his face fall, and it takes a second for you to remember why. Kane above you, choking you, plunging a knife into Bellamy’s side to stop him from saving you.

Kane pulls Bellamy’s arm around him and says, “Let’s get you to the temple and get you stitched up.”

“I’m fine. I need to find Octavia.”

You glare at him. “You're not. We’ll find Octavia after.”

He opens his mouth to say something, and you cut him off, “Don't argue.”

Surprisingly, he snaps his mouth shut again, allowing himself to be led to the temple and set onto a chair. There are people already collected inside, some of them injured, and when you turn to your mother to ask her to stitch up Bellamy, her eyes are locked on a woman in the corner, bleeding heavily from her head. She turns to glance at you, looking torn, and you grimace, “Stitches aren't my forte.”

“As long as you get the wound closed, the look of it doesn't matter.”

You sigh, then nod. “Go, I’ll take care of Bellamy.”

She smiles and hands you a medkit. “You’ll be fine.”

As she walks away, you turn to look for Clarke, ready to make a last ditch plea to her, but she’s already kneeled beside a child, cleaning their wounds. You turn and go back to Bellamy, kit in hand, and his brows lift as you approach. “I saw those stitches you did on Myles after Grounders shot him with an arrow. I’m not sure I want stitches from you.”

You glare at him and he looks serious for a long minute before he smiles, and motions for you to come closer. “I’m kidding. Crooked stitches are better than bleeding out.”

You roll your eyes and drop down beside him, and he lifts his shirt to reveal the wound. You look it over carefully, checking for infection, and when you find none, you quickly clean around the wound so you can get a better idea of the size of it. Fortunately, after further inspection, it’s only an inch or so long, and won’t require much stitching. “Lucky for you, my knife is much smaller than the arrowheads that hit Myles, so your crooked scar will be much smaller than his were.”

He pretends to look disappointed, “Aw, bummer.”

You ignore him as you get started on the stitches, putting him back together again, and Bellamy distracts himself from the pain by asking, “Remember when fighting Grounders was the only thing to worry about?”

You snort, still stitching and add, “Yeah, and now we have had to deal with Grounders, facist leaders, an AI hellbent on wiping us out, and now,” You finish the last stitch, looking at it in satisfaction before meeting his eyes, “Nuclear radiation.”

You quickly bandage his wound before giving him the all clear. “We can go find Octavia now.”

Bellamy stands and you follow suit, putting the medkit down and following him as he heads towards the door, but just as you reach it, your mom calls out to you. You turn and see her and Clarke bent over one person, working together to doctor them, and your mom motions over at the group to her left that are still awaiting medical attention. Faced with the same dilemma your mom just faced, you turn to look at Bellamy, feeling conflicted. He smiles at you, presses a kiss into your hair and whispers, “Go, give the people the crooked stitches they deserve.”

You laugh and lightly punch his arm. “Shut up.”

He starts to turn away, but you grab his arm and spin him back towards you, tugging him down for a kiss. It’s quick, but it conveys all the things you want to tell him every time you're forced to separate. When you pull back, you whisper, “Be safe.”

“I will.”

And then he turns and walks out the door.

You spend the next hour or so providing medical attention to those that come to the temple. As soon as they’re cleared to go, they are led to the secret entrance of the tunnel system that is hidden within the temple. Everyone travels in small groups, keeping each other safe, but as time passes, fewer and fewer people come to the temple. Eventually your mother and Kane stay by the tunnel entrance, leaving you to gain some first aid practice. You and Clarke alternate first aid duties as people come in, until the last injured person comes through some time later. As you’re finishing bandaging the cut on their leg, Major Costa comes in and heads straight for Kane. “Sir, that's everyone we could find. I've stationed ten guards at the temple door. Are you sure you don't want me to stay?”

“You lead them home, Major.”

They shake hands, and Major Costa helps your injured patient out the door as they disappear into the tunnels. You glance over at Kane, watching as your mother inspects his wounds and they talk quietly. He lifts a hand to her cheek, caressing it, and you smile. Someone comes to a stop beside you, and you look over and see Clarke, who is also watching your mother. She smiles and asks, “How long has this been going on?”

“I only noticed after Pike took power, but I think it’s recent.”

She hums, but says nothing else, as Indra, Octavia, and Bellamy run into the temple. You smile when you see him, and he comes to a stop beside you as the rest of you gather around. Indra hugs Kane quickly before she looks between all of you, “When you destroyed the City of Light, there were a thousand Azgeda warriors inside the City of Polis.”

Octavia mutters, “Good timing.”

“The only way to remove them is by force.”

Octavia muses, “Then let's remove them.”

Your mom turns to look at her in shock. “Slow down. You're talking about a war.”

“Yes, Rockline, Floukru, and Broadleaf will join Trikru without question. We'll still be short.”

Your mom turns to Kane, seeking his support. “This is madness. We should be leaving with the others, while we still have time.”

“They know where we live. If we run, they'll follow.” Kane turns to look at Indra. “There are eight other clans, how do we get them to join us?”

“I can do it, but I'll need the Flame.”

Clarke’s response is immediate. “No.”

Bellamy shifts beside you, turning to look at her. “Clarke, the clans will follow whoever has the Flame.”

“Azgeda won't.”

Octavia shrugs, “Then we fight. That's the point.”

You think of war, six months before the end of the world, and your stomach drops. You can tell that Clarke is on your mother’s side, against the war, and you find yourself agreeing with the stupidity of it. “No, it's not. The point is, there's no time for a fight.”

Clarke agrees and adds, “We have to save Roan.”

“Save him? They won't let us near him.”

Your mother is the first one to read between the lines of yours and Clarke’s disagreement with the others, because if there's anything she knows, it’s her twins. “Wait a second. What don't we know?”

You, Clarke, and Bellamy exchange a look. And though you don't think the masses should know about the end of the world, this group should. You nod, letting Clarke know you agree with telling them, and Bellamy nods too. Clarke turns back to the others. “The reason Alie created the City of Light.”

“Why?”

“Nuclear reactors inside power planets that survived the bombs are melting down. Radiation levels are already rising. If we can't figure out a way to fix it, all of us will be dead in six months.”

Indra processes the news, but quickly moves on. “Even if that’s true, that's six months away. There are a thousand Ice Nation warriors on the street who want to kill us today.”

Clarke shakes her head. “They won't kill us.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

She turns to Octavia and answers, “Because we're gonna surrender.”

As Clarke unveils her plan to the rest of you, Jaha ends up coming to the temple, asking what’s going on. Clarke seizes the opportunity and incorporates him into the plan, which will put all of you in separate locations. Your mom, Octavia, and Clarke will sneak into the embassy so they can try to save Roan. Jaha will be delivering Ontari’s body, which is actually Octavia in disguise, to the Ice Nation, while Kane and Indra watch on. You and Bellamy agree to take up a position in a watchtower nearby, with guns, so you can keep an eye on everything from above and take out anyone who tries to make a move against your people.

That’s where you find yourself now, gun propped out of a window, watching the scene down below. Bellamy is at the window beside you, quietly watching as Jaha walks across the courtyard, carrying Octavia’s body, wrapped in a cloth. He disappears into the room where they’re keeping Roan, and you only have to wait a few minutes before Indra and Kane step into the courtyard with the 10 Skaikru guards, offering up your surrender.

A messenger runs into the embassy, following Jaha’s path, and moments later Echo comes out of the building, into your line of sight, with Jaha and a handful of Ice Nation guards. Jaha is bloodier than before, and limping, which Bellamy remarks on. “Looks like Jaha took a beating.”

You hum, “Considering he brought Alie into all of our lives, can't say I blame them.”

Echo grabs Jaha and mutters something to him, before shoving him away, towards Kane and the others. He limps his way over there, passing along the message, and Kane surprises you by glancing up at the window, towards you and Bellamy. He looks away just as quickly, before retreating back into the corridor. You and Bellamy exchange a look, and a second later Kane's voice comes through the radio at Bellamy’s side. You both move closer together to listen. “Echo says she’ll only talk to the two of you. We have to buy time for Abby and Clarke to save Roan, so we’re going to make Echo wait as long as we can before calling you down.”

“Copy that.”

Bellamy clips his radio back to his side, before pulling a crate over to the window so he can sit and watch at the same time. You do the same as he muses, “Nothing to do now except wait.”

You plop down onto the crate, and turn to look his way. “And practice Trigedasleng.”

“What?”

“I know a little Trig and you know none. It’s a tactical advantage to understand the language of your enemies and allies. You should learn.”

He turns towards you a little, his face serious for a long minute before he breaks into a grin. “Ridiyo. O yu na tel ai hashta skaifaya steda.”

True. Or you can tell me about me about the stars instead. You look at him in total shock, not expecting to hear an entire Trigedasleng sentence come out of his mouth and he laughs at your expression. “What?”

“Why have I been translating for you if you know Trig?”

“Because I don’t know Trig. Lincoln only taught me a few sentences. That was one of them.” You cut your eyes at him, suspicious, and he raises his hands in surrender. “I swear. That’s about all I know.”

“Then let’s change that.”

You and Bellamy pass the time practicing Trigedasleng, and he picks it up quickly as you watch the afternoon turn to evening and then night. Long after the sun has set and the moon has risen, you finally get a second radio call from Kane. “She’s getting antsy now. We need you two down here.”

“Copy that, we’ll be there in five.”

You and Bellamy sneak from the room, down the stairs and across the courtyard until you appear at the corridor, approaching the group from the back. Bellamy lets out a low whistle as you approach, signaling to everyone that no one should turn around and attack, and Kane turns when he hears it. As soon as the two of you arrive, Indra turns and shakes her head, hating this plan. “She's Ice Nation, she can't be trusted.”

Before you can agree with her point, someone mutters from behind you, “Never a dull moment, huh?”

You, Kane, and Bellamy turn and see Murphy approaching, and he comes to a stop right behind you. Indra mutters, “Pay attention.”

You turn your attention back to her, as she briefs you and the guards in your small group. “She's part of the royal guard, spies. That's why she's not marked. Very dangerous, very loyal.”

Bellamy shakes his head, and glances over at you. “Not to the people who saved her life.”

Kane steps closer, his voice dropping low, warning him. “Bellamy, I know how you feel about her, but you can't lose control. You offer them technology, guns, whatever it takes to keep her talking. Is that clear?”

Bellamy nods, but Indra objects. “I didn't agree to give them guns.”

Murphy lets out a snort and offers, “Well, that's probably because you're not an idiot.”

“It won't get that far. Our objective is to buy time for Abby to save the King.” Kane turns, and says the next part to Murphy. “And if you wanna help, grab a weapon, stand a post.”

Bellamy unshoulders his rifle, and holds it out to him. “Take mine.”

Murphy takes it with a nod of thanks, and you hand your rifle off to Kane, knowing it’ll look better if you’re unarmed. You remember the knife strapped to your thigh and you quickly take the strap off and adjust it, making it long enough to strap around your waist and hide under your clothes. When you finish, you look up and see Bellamy watching you, and you shrug. “Just in case.”

He nods, supporting the decision, before leading you out of the corridor and into the middle of the courtyard to meet Echo. She walks to meet you halfway as she sees you approaching, and you all stop six feet apart from each other, keeping your space. Echo looks you both over, appraising you, before her eyes land on Bellamy. “Before you say anything, remember, I saved your life by taking you out of Mount Weather.”

She pauses, glancing at you before looking back to Bellamy. “I'm sorry I couldn't tell you to bring her. But I was following orders, Bellamy.”

“I wish it was that easy.”

“We do what we do for our people. You slaughter us, we slaughter you. That all went away in the City of Light, but it's back now, so here we are. What are the terms of your surrender?”

Bellamy sets his jaw, and grinds out, “We recognize Ice Nation rule, and you honor Lexa's Coalition, including the 13th clan.”

“No.”

You and Bellamy share a look, and he shakes his head slightly before offering, “We'll give you guns and show you how to use them.”

Echo glances behind you, to where Indra stands with Kane. “Trikru accepts this?”

“They're not happy about it.”

“Not much they can do now, though, without an army.”

Bellamy’s reaction, though subtle, is immediate. You watch as his jaw clenches and he looks away from Echo, working hard to keep his composure. But Echo, smart as she is, notices immediately. “You were there. Then you know why everyone hates Skaikru, and why we can never accept your terms.”

You snap, “The alternative is war. Is that what you want?”

“No one wants war. Lay down your guns, and we'll let your children live. I'll give you time to decide.”

She starts to turn away, but Bellamy, knowing your mission to keep her talking, reaches out and grabs her arm to stop her. “We weren't done talking.”

She turns and hits him away, faster than your brain can process. Then she knocks him to the ground, and pulls the knife from his holster, pressing it to his throat. You start to launch yourself towards her, but Echo snaps her head up towards you, and presses the knife into Bellamy’s skin, cutting him slightly. “Move any closer, and I’ll kill him.”

You freeze in place, lifting your hands in surrender, and one of the Azgeda guards comes up behind you and turns you around to face your people, before hitting the back of your legs and knocking you to your knees. Bellamy opens his mouth to protest, but it dies in his throat when the guard lifts his sword to your neck. Once Echo has you both restrained, she yells to Kane, “Guns on the ground, or they die.”

Kane and Indra are frozen in place, quietly having a conversation, and you know Indra is protesting the order. But Kane's eyes find yours, and you see the fear in them, the weight of yours and Bellamy’s fate on his shoulders, and he turns to the Skaikru guards and yells, “Guns on the ground, now.”

Echo smiles down at Bellamy, expression smug, and you have to fight the urge to lash out. As all of you are restrained and led towards the embassy, you hope and pray that your mother was successful and that they got out of there before being spotted. Instead, your hope is squashed as soon as you come around the corner and are pushed inside the room behind Echo, because your mom, Clarke, and Octavia are all kneeling on the ground, surrounded by men.

Echo turns and puts her sword to your throat, and you roll your eyes, annoyed to find yourself in this position again. She misses your reaction though, because her eyes are trained to the table at the back of the room, Roan's body laid across it. “Emo don’s trana slip Haihefa daun! Chek em au!”

You’re still translating the words in your head, not quite fluent in Trigedasleng, when Clarke protests, “No, we weren’t trying to kill him, we were trying to save him!”

Echo steps away from you and stalks over to your twin, staring down at her in anger. You watch her lift her sword, and you immediately start to fight the men holding you back, as you yell, “Echo! Leave her alone!”

You watch as her sword starts to come down, straight towards your twin, and you scream and fight harder. Through your yelling, you hear someone mutter, “Wait.”

The authority that one word has stills the room, and everyone turns and watches as Roan sits up from the bed with a cough. He looks over at Clarke, who immediately begs, “Roan, help us. Tell them we're friends.”

He stands and coughs again, ignoring Clarke to ask, “Where is Ontari?”

Echo, ever obedient, answers, “Dead, sire, killed by them.”

“We couldn't save her, but we did what we came here to do.” He looks at Clarke, who is insistent. “Now I need you to honor your promise to protect my people.”

Roan quips, “Yeah, that was before your people shot me and killed my Commander.”

The words are enough to piss Octavia off, and despite the sword at her back, she snaps, “We just saved your damn life.”

Behind you, Bellamy shifts, anxious, wanting to protect her, but the words go unpunished as Echo pushes past everyone to get to Roan, and when she stops at his side, her voice drops to a whisper, quiet, but still loud enough to be heard. “Roan, your people are hungry for you to lead them. Do so now, as your mother would have. Kill Wanheda. Take her power, and rule over everything.”

You look at Clarke, worried these are the last moments you’ll get to see her. Instead, Roan yells to the guards, “Teik emo we.”

Take them away. The guards comply and drag you all down to the prison, and they search each of you for weapons quickly, before chaining you up around the room. In their search, they miss your knife, and you have to work to keep the smile from your face. Instead, you give the guards a blank look as they chain you up, in between Bellamy and Kane. Octavia and Indra are chained across from you, and your mom and Clarke are at the far end of the room, chained to the floor. The rest of the guards are placed in the remaining empty spaces.

The mood of the room is silent, everyone feeling dejected and angry, but you spend your time trying to quietly concoct a plan to get yourself out of the mess you’re all in. You don't know how long they leave you down there, but the windows on the wall gradually start to lighten as the sun starts to rise, indicating that at least a few hours have passed. As you’re thinking and planning, you hear Grounders coming down the hall, towards you again. They step into the cell, yelling, “Wanheda, on your feet!”

You look over at your twin in alarm as she scrambles to her feet and the Grounder guards descend on her. Her voice shakes when she asks, “Where's the king?”

Echo is the last to step in the room, watching as they remove Clarke’s chain, only to restrain her again. You watch in horror as they pull a bag over Clarke’s head and start to lead her away, and you turn to Echo, full of rage. “Echo, bring her back here! If anything happens to her, I’ll kill you myself! Do you hear me, Echo?”

You can hear your mom and Bellamy also yelling at the Ice Nation spy, but she ignores all of you, turning away and following Clarke out of the cell and away from your group. The mood turns tense after watching Clarke get dragged away, and your planning shifts into overdrive as you try to recall how many guards you’ve seen, the path they took in and out of the cell and the room, the exits you saw on the way, how quickly you can take them all out with only a knife.

Your plan, however, never sees the light of day, because Clarke returns sometime later, unguarded, unrestrained, and holding a set of keys. “Clarke! What happened?”

She walks over to you, answering your question as she frees you from your chains. “I told Roan about Praimfaya, and promised I’d find a plan to save all of our people.”

The chains drop from your hands, your wrists now free, and as she passes you a key, she mutters, “I also had to give him the Flame.”

You reach out to her, sympathetic, knowing how hard that was on her. “Clarke-”

But she waves you off, smiling to hide the tears that have started to glitter in her eyes. “It was the only way to save us. It’s what Lexa would have wanted.”

She turns and walks over to your mom, unlocking her chains, and you can hear your mom quietly comforting your crying twin. You turn to Bellamy and free him first, before you and Clarke go around the room and release everyone. As soon as you’re done, she takes the key back from you and leads you all from the room, passing the keys to an Ice Nation guard along the way. She leads you right from the embassy and into the sunshine, to a large crowd of Grounders gathered in the center of Polis.

They’re all facing a stage, which is surrounded by Ice Nation guards, and Roan and Echo stand on the stage, preparing to address the crowd. Despite the bullet wound now hidden beneath his clothes, Roan looks strong, powerful. A crown made of bones encircles his head, and his hand rests lightly on his sword as he speaks loud enough for the gathered crowd to hear him. “I know you've all come here for an execution, but no one else will die here today. The City of Light has fallen, and there is no Commander left to rule us. Until another Nightblood ascends, I - King Roan of Azgeda, eldest son of Nia, Grandson of Theo- am Caretaker of the throne and keeper of the Flame.”

He holds the Flame up so the crowd can see it, and murmurs instantly erupt through the crowd. Near the back, behind you, someone yells, “Kaina bandragen dison bilaik?”

Unable to translate the whole sentence, you turn to Kane, who stands beside you, and ask, “Bandragen?”

“Blasphemy.”

You nod, finally understanding. What blasphemy is this? Roan yells back to the dissenter, “Nou bandragen. Reinseden!”

Not recognizing the second word, you again turn to Kane, who immediately understands why. “Order.”

Roan finishes the rest of his speech in English. “Until another ascends, Azgeda honors and will defend the Coalition of the last true Commander, Lexa Kom Trikru, including the 13th clan. Let it be known that an attack against Skaikru is an attack against us all.”

Again, the crowd murmurs, displeased with the news, but now unable to do anything about it. Roan disappears from the stage soon after that, and the crowd disperses, before Clarke gathers your small group and nods towards the front gates. “Roan is going to send us off with something to protect us from those who aren't in Polis and haven't heard the news. He said to wait by the gates.”

You all nod and follow her there, where someone from Ice Nation meets you and returns your weapons to you. A few minutes later, you see Echo walking towards you, and you and Bellamy walk towards her to meet her. She holds out a leather parcel and says, “From your king.”

She flips the leather back, revealing an amulet imprinted with the Azgeda seal and a second seal that you don't recognize. “With this, you'll be safe in any of our lands.”

She folds the leather back up and hands it to Bellamy, as you watch her in annoyance. She glances at you before her eyes land on Bellamy, lingering on him a little too long for your liking. “You think we'll ever be able to trust each other again?”

“Doubt it,” you answer for him, a sarcastic smile on your face. Her face falls, but you think about the scars on your body from the Azgeda assassin, and any empathy you would normally feel is forgotten.

She steps away from you and Bellamy, looking back at the rest of your group. “Welcome back to the Coalition.”

She steps away, leaving your group alone, and you and Bellamy turn and walk back to the others. “Time to go.”

There's an awkward silence as everyone watches each other, wondering who is going where, and Kane smiles and motions to himself and your mom. “We'll do our best to keep the king on his throne.”

And with the decision made for them to stay behind in Polis, you, Bellamy, and Clarke share a look, knowing that you're going together. She speaks for the three of you, “We'll find a way to beat the radiation.”

Bellamy glances at Octavia, who makes no move to leave her spot, cementing the fact that she’s staying in Polis with Indra. Bellamy nods, accepting that, and Clarke looks up at the darkening sky. “It's getting dark, let's do this.”

Your mom reaches forward and pulls Clarke into a hug, and you step over to Octavia to hug her. As you do, you whisper in her ear, “I didn't get the chance to say it before, but Pike got what he deserved. Thank you for giving us justice.”

She nods once, and pulls away, before her and Bellamy exchange a look. You step away, towards your mom, giving them space. Your mom hugs you tight, and tells you, “Keep Clarke safe.”

“I will. May we meet again.”

“May we meet again.”

As you step away from her, you catch the tail end of what Kane is telling Bellamy. “You do better today than you did yesterday. Before you know it, you'll deserve to survive.”

“I hope so.”

They move away from each other, and he turns to look at you, his eyes falling to your neck. Finger shaped bruises wrap their way around your neck, indicating Alie made him do, and you see a flash of guilt pass over his face. You reach out for him, pulling him into a hug, and he hesitates at first before hugging you back. You look at him when you pull away, and smile. “The advice you just gave Bellamy? It applies to you too. Forgive yourself, Kane, because I already have.”

He nods, squeezing your arm, before allowing you to turn and join Bellamy and Clarke. With one last look back at your group, you all turn and head towards the exit, following Jaha and the six guards that are accompanying you on your journey home. The other four stay behind to protect your mom, Kane, and Octavia.

As they lead you through the streets of Polis, towards the front gate, Bellamy looks over at you and Clarke. “Okay princesses, what now?”

You think of the first time he referred to you and Clarke as princesses, right after the dropship landed and he dragged Wells out into the woods to take his wristband. You smile as you remember the nickname came on the heels of a threat, one you didn't take seriously, not even when he flashed his gun. It's hard to believe how far the two of you have come just in the last few months, and though the journey has been hard at some points, you’re thankful for it. When you look at Bellamy, you can tell he’s remembering the same memory, marveling at the evolution of your relationship. You reach out for his hand, intertwining your fingers, and give him a resolute nod. “Now, we survive.”

next chapter

#the 100 #the 100 rewrite #bellamy blake #bellamy blake x reader #the 100 4x01 #echoes #4x01

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letterboxd · 4 years ago

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Heart Beat.

Minari’s film composer Emile Mosseri (also responsible for the Kajillionaire and The Last Black Man in San Francisco scores) tells Ella Kemp about his A24 favorites, Nicholas Britell’s friendship and the boldest Paul McCartney needle drop in movie history.

What do you think a broken heart sounds like? How about a warm, beating one? It’s something that Emile Mosseri has been thinking about for a while now. The past two years have seen him complete a hat-trick of beguiling, transporting scores for Plan B movies: Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails’ The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire and now, the film voted the best of 2020 by our community, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari.

What binds these scores together is a delicacy that knows when to break free and turn into something altogether spectacular. But on Minari in particular, Mosseri is in full bloom, working for the first time in a way he’d always dreamed about. While The Last Black Man in San Francisco saw him compose to a loose edit, and on Kajillionaire he worked to a locked cut, Chung gave him the freedom to write music directly to Minari’s script. “It was a dream to work this way on Minari,” Mosseri says. “It was so beautifully written and so visceral.”

‘Minari’ composer Emile Mosseri.

Minari is an intimate portrait of a Korean family making their way in rural America, and the composer was interested in “trying to figure out musically how you can feel connected to your deepest childhood memories”. These memories belong, in the film, to David—a tiny king played by eight-year-old Alan Kim—as he comes to terms with his new life on a small farm in Arkansas, as his family strives for their own version of the American Dream.

The Yi family is made up of David and his sister Anne (Noel Kate Cho), their parents Monica (Han Ye-ri) and Jacob (Steven Yeun) and their grandmother, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung). It’s a personal story for Chung, one that Mosseri felt honored to be a part of. “It’s a very intimate story with these five characters, which takes place mostly in this small mobile home—but emotionally, it’s very epic.”

There was something about Chung that had caught Mosseri’s attention early on. “I had met him at the LA premiere of Last Black Man,” Mosseri says, “and I sent him the Kajillionaire score.” Mosseri was already familiar with the filmmaker’s work: “His first film, Munyurangabo, is incredible.” He calls Chung “very open, but also sly” in terms of hitting the right notes and “gently steering the ship”. The partnership between composer and director was about working on “a more emotional level,” Mosseri says. “There was never any talk about what we wanted stylistically.”

The ‘Minari’ ensemble cast.

The result is a film graced with music at once lush and raw, grandiose and vulnerable. Mosseri is keenly aware of these nuances, and always made sure to walk the tonal tightrope in the writing process. “There aren’t sad cues and hopeful cues,” he explains. “Every cue has both feelings. Each musical moment dips in and out of the hopefulness and joy of a family, and then the pain and frustration and dissonance that they hold.”

The way Mosseri’s music swells and flows often feels intangible, magical, even—which comes more from knowing what to avoid, rather than acting with too much forced intention. On his first film, Mosseri brought brass and strings to the streets of San Francisco, and with Miranda July, he worked old Hollywood glamor into the concrete blocks of Los Angeles. Here, we twirl through the tall grass as gentle acoustic guitars and elegant string sections sigh and sway, while the Yi family work through their growing pains.

“We didn’t want to hear Korean music when you see Korean characters, and we didn’t want twangy music when you see an American farm,” Mosseri explains. “We wanted to come at it from the side somehow, in some way that’s unexpected.” ‘Rain’, his collaboration with Minari star Han Ye-ri, which features on the official soundtrack, encapsulates this juxtaposition. It’s an epic lullaby of sorts; Han sings in Korean to a gentle guitar; a pleasing swell of synths climbs alongside her voice. The effect on the listener is as if liquid love is trickling from every vein. “I wanted this score to feel like it had a warm, beating heart.”

youtube

Two of your three feature films to date have been released by A24, and so we must ask: what are your favorite A24 film scores? Emile Mosseri: Three come to mind. First of all, Anna Meredith’s score for Eighth Grade. It’s so adventurous and unexpected and fresh and just brilliant. It’s so pure and out-there. It also does this impossible thing of being hip and exciting and deep, but also hilarious. The pool-party scene fucking kills me.

Then there’s Under the Skin by Mica Levi. I remember seeing that at the Nighthawk theater in Brooklyn and feeling like it was the best score I’d heard in as long as I could remember.

And then of course, Moonlight. That film got under my skin in a way I didn’t see coming. I saw it by myself in a theater, after hearing all the hype for months and months. When a movie has that much hype you can get a bit cynical and it can distract you, so I went in a bit guarded, but I left the film destroyed. For weeks and weeks it resonated with me in a way that was so profound, and a large part of that is due to Nick [Britell]’s music. And the film is just perfection.

Scarlett Johansson in ‘Under the Skin’ (2013), scored by Mica Levi.

You’ve been described as Nicholas Britell’s protégé more than once… It’s funny, I think that came from me being a fan of his and saying nice things about his music. I met him at Sundance two years ago when Last Black Man was premiering. I went with my wife and my brother and I was so excited, I’d been waiting for this moment for so long. We walked in and Nick and Barry [Jenkins] were walking in behind [us]. And there was also Boots Riley, Kamasi Washington… all these people I looked up to. I hadn’t considered that I would see this film in the room with them, and it was the first time I was hearing the final mix and just agonizing.

Nick was incredibly generous and said great things about the score and was super encouraging, and he became a friend and mentor. But I’ve never studied with him or worked with him. Although, if you’re a fan of somebody’s work, you’re a student of any of these composers that you admire. Anything you watch and listen to, you absorb.

What was the first film that made you want to be a composer? It was Edward Scissorhands. Danny Elfman’s score was the first one that made me realize that this was a job. I’m always attracted to big, romantic melodies, and over-the-top sweeping stuff—but done tastefully. In that score, he sets the high-water mark for me. It’s so unapologetically romantic.

And then there are other obvious ones like The Godfather. It’s maybe a dorky choice because it’s the most famous movie ever, but it really is the best. And that got me into Nino Rota, and from there I found [Federico] Fellini and all these movies through Nino, the composer. And then I got really into the score for La Dolce Vita and more movies that he’d written for, which are so beautiful.

The ‘Edward Scissorhands’ (1990) score was an early inspiration for Mosseri.

Which films, new to you, blew you away in 2020? Take Shelter by Jeff Nichols blew me away. It unfolded in a way that was intoxicating and really exciting, and it just really stuck with me.

What’s been your favorite needle drop on screen this year? Aside from Devonté Hynes’ score being stunning, there’s an amazing piece of music placed in an episode of Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are. They use a Paul McCartney song called ‘Let Em In’, and they dropped it in this incredibly tasteful but unexpected way, in a really dark, emotionally loaded scene. It worked in such a beautiful and graceful way. It’s because it’s the most cheery McCartney, it’s full-blown upbeat and poppy McCartney. And this is the darkest-of-the-dark human pain, and it lands in this way that is such a bold choice, such a powerful move.

What should people listen to after watching Minari? One record I’ve been listening to a lot recently is Jeff Tweedy’s Love is the King. It could be a good companion to Minari. I’m a huge fan of his and it’s a gorgeous record. It’s very stripped-down and emotionally raw, and it’s both hopeful and heartbreaking.

Which filmmakers would you love to work with next? I’m always afraid to answer this question because there are so many filmmakers I admire. There are filmmakers I grew up with loving their films—working with Miranda was that for me. Spike Jonze or Yorgos Lanthimos are directors in her world that I also love and would love to work with. But there’s so many others. Derek Cianfrance is amazing and he works with different composers. I love his choice of collaborators musically. I love that he used the late great Harold Budd to do his shows [including I Know This Much is True], and then Mike Patton, and Grizzly Bear… the music is always incredible in his projects, but he doesn’t have a go-to person. His films are so heartbreaking and powerful and really, really raw. He’s fearless.

I feel very lucky that I’ve worked on these three films which are all very much like somebody’s ripping their heart out and putting it on the screen. I feel like Derek Cianfrance does that in his films too, in this unapologetic, super-vulnerable way of just ripping his soul out and putting it out for everyone to see. It’s incredibly appealing to find those projects, because they’re really rare.

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‘Minari’ is available everywhere in the US that movies can be rented, and screening in select theaters in the US and other regions. Listen to the official soundtrack and more of Mosseri’s film compositions in the official Spotify playlist via Milan Records. ‘Kajillionaire’ is available on VOD now.

#minari #letterboxd year in review #kajillionaire #the last black man in san francisco #emile mosseri #miranda july #lee isaac chung #a24 #a25 films #film composer #film soundtrack #film score #derek cianfrance #nicholas britell #nino rota #letterboxd

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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years ago

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LIZ HAS THE FLIMJABS

December 30, 1950

“Liz Has the Flimjabs” (aka “A Severe Case of Flimjabs”) is episode #112 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on December 30, 1950.

This was the 14th episode of the third season of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND. There were 31 new episodes, with the season ending on March 31, 1951.

Synopsis ~ Liz wants a mink coat from George, so she pretends to be sick in order to get his sympathy - and the coat! George is on to her tactics, and decides to give her the scare of her life - literally!

Note: This program served as the basis for the “I Love Lucy” episode “Lucy Fakes Illness” (ILL S1;E16) filmed on December 18, 1951 and first aired on January 28, 1952. The role of the Doctor was taken by Hal March, who was actually playing an actor friend of Ricky’s named Hal March pretending to be a doctor. On television, Lucy also adopts a psychological illness in addition to her physical ailments. There was no mention of Christmas or New Years on the television show.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benaderet was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

MAIN CAST

Lucille Ball (Liz Cooper) was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon.

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) was considered the front-runner to be cast as Ethel Mertz but when “I Love Lucy” was ready to start production she was already playing a similar role on TV’s “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show” so Vivian Vance was cast instead. On “I Love Lucy” she was cast as Lucy Ricardo’s spinster neighbor, Miss Lewis, in “Lucy Plays Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in early 1952. Later, she was a success in her own show, “Petticoat Junction” as Shady Rest Hotel proprietress Kate Bradley. She starred in the series until her death in 1968.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz, a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Bob LeMond (Announcer) also served as the announcer for the pilot episode of “I Love Lucy”. When the long-lost pilot was finally discovered in 1990, a few moments of the opening narration were damaged and lost, so LeMond – fifty years later – recreated the narration for the CBS special and subsequent DVD release.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) does not appear in this episode.

GUEST CAST

Frank Nelson (Dr. Stevenson) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs. His trademark was playing clerks and other working stiffs, suddenly turning to Benny with a drawn out “Yeeeeeeeeees?” Nelson appeared in 11 episodes of “I Love Lucy”, including three as quiz master Freddy Fillmore, and two as Ralph Ramsey, plus appearance on “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” - making him the only actor to play two different recurring roles on “I Love Lucy.” Nelson returned to the role of the frazzled Train Conductor for an episode of “The Lucy Show” in 1963. This marks his final appearance on a Lucille Ball sitcom.

The doctor’s surname may be a reference to noted costume designer Edward Stevenson, who designed gowns for Lucille Ball in more than a dozen RKO films and would eventually become costume designer of “I Love Lucy” after the departure of Elois Jenssen in 1955.

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “And now, let’s look in on the Coopers. It’s evening, and Liz and George are sitting in the living room admiring their Christmas tree."

George wonders if it is time to take the Christmas tree down but Liz doesn’t want to. They agree to put away their presents instead and start to talk about the gifts they didn’t give or get.

Liz nearly bought George a set of matching golf clubs. George says he nearly bought her a mink jacket. He says he saw it in the window at Millers, but realized he couldn’t afford it. Liz sadly reminds him that she has never had a fur coat and wonders if they could afford it if they all their Christmas gifts to the store. George says it still wouldn’t be enough, but Liz wants to wear something special to the Atterbury’s New Year’s Eve party.

Next morning, in the kitchen, Katie the Maid asks Liz why she is so sad. Liz tells her about her mink jacket dreams. Liz solicits Katie’s opinion on how she can’t best get George to get her a mink jacket in time for the party. Liz decides to play sick since George always gets her what she wants when she’s ill.

After dinner, Liz and George contemplate what to do. Liz suggests going to the movies to see Harvey starring Jimmy Stewart, which is playing at the Strand.

Harvey is a comedy about a man whose best friend is a six-foot tall imaginary rabbit. It premiered just ten days earlier before this broadcast and starred James Stewart. The film won an Oscar for Josephine Hull. The screenplay was based on the 1944 Broadway play of the same name by Mary Chase which won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Before Liz can tell George the second feature, she starts to writhe in pain! Amid moans and groans, Liz details the pain for George. She says she used to have these attacks as a child. When she says the only thing that sometimes helps is little gifts to make her happy, George gets suspicious. He quickly leaves the room to make a phone call, which Liz thinks is to buy her a mink jacket, but he has actually called the doctor!

End of Part One

Bob LeMond presents a live Jell-O commercial, giving a basic recipe for preparation of all delicious six flavors!

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers once again, Liz is pretending to be sick and George, who is worried about her, has called the doctor.”

The doorbell rings and George admits Dr. Stevenson (Frank Nelson). Before seeing Liz, George tips him off that Liz may have a rare disease and that the only cure is a mink coat! George asks him to give her a good scare and the Doctor agrees to play along.

Entering the bedroom, Liz immediately tells the Doctor she feels much better. But after a quick exam, the Doctor diagnoses Liz with a rare tropical disease from the West Indies called the ‘Flimjabs’. The only cure is to operate and remove her ‘torkle’ but warns her that she will never be able to ‘yammle’ again. The Doctor explains that ‘yammling’ is an involuntary peristalsis of the transverse clavis.

GEORGE: “Doctor, do you have to remove the whole torkle?” DOCTOR: “Maybe we’ll be lucky and can save half of it. After all, half a torkle is better than none.” LIZ: “Well, I should say so! I’d hate to think of never yammeling again!”

The Doctor says that they must now wait 24 hours and see if she turns green.

DOCTOR: “If you turn green, three hours later (snaps his fingers) gone.” LIZ: (snaps) “Gone?” DOCTOR: (snaps) “Gone.”

For the television script, the ‘Flimjabs’ was renamed the 'Gobloots’ - a rare tropical disease that carried into America on the hind legs of the 'boo-shoo bird.’ It can necessitate a person having to undergo a 'zorchectomy’ – total or partial removal of the 'zorch’. Even if doctors are able to save half a person’s 'zorch,’ the patient will never be able to 'trummle’ again. 'Trummling’ is a mysterious involuntary internal process. Finally, if you turn green while suffering from the 'gobloots’ you will be dead in 30 minutes!

Iris Atterbury drops by to see Liz on her way to the Bridge Club meeting. Liz tells her that she has been diagnosed with the Flimjabs.

IRIS: “Oh, how exciting! This will make Betty Ricky’s gallstones look sick! She’ll be absolutely green.” LIZ: “She's not the only one. That’s one of the danger signs. I may turn green.” IRIS: “With a green face and red hair, you’ll be out of this world.” LIZ: “Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

Iris is overcome with emotion at the thought of losing Liz. She doesn’t want to leave, but the ice cream for the Bridge Club meeting is in the car and it’s melting!

That night, Doctor Stevenson returns to check on Liz. Answering the door, George confesses that he’s put a green light bulb in Liz’s bedroom light. As soon as George turns on the lights, Liz shrieks seeing her green hands! Her face and hair have turned green, too! Liz thinks the men have Flimjabs too, because they are also green, but then the truth sets in.

LIZ: “Oh, no! This is the end! I’m looking at the world through green colored eyeballs!”

Liz dramatically declares that she’s dying. George accuses her of being over-dramatic.

LIZ: “I’m sorry, George. But I don’t die every day and it’s new to me.”

Before her imminent demise, Liz confesses to all the car accidents she’s had and hidden by having the car fixed without telling him.

LIZ: “In fact, the only thing left of the original car you bought is the ashtray in the back seat!”

Then Liz bravely confesses to pretending to be sick to get him to buy her a mink coat. George also needs to make a confession: it was all a trick. There is no such thing as ‘Flimjabs’ and the light is from a green light bulb!

The phone rings and it is Iris, tearfully calling from the Bridge Club meeting. The girls have just had a memorial ceremony for Liz by turning her chair to the wall and smashing her teacup in the fireplace. Before Liz can tell Iris that it was a joke, she learns that they all chipped in and bought her a goodbye present: a mink coat! Liz hangs up in tears. George is confused.

GEORGE: “Isn’t that what you wanted?” LIZ: “Yeah, but I have to die to get it!”

END OF EPISODE

In the live Jell-O commercial, Lucille Ball and Bob LeMond play a couple of nomads lost in the desert. Lucy uses her ‘Isabella Clump’ voice as ‘Smith’. Bob is looking for his camp, near a big dune.

LUCY / ‘SMITH’: “A dune? What’s a dune?” BOB: “What’s a dune????” LUCY / ‘SMITH’: “I dunno. What’s a-dune with you?”

Smith sees a mirage - a big bowl of Jell-O! After describing the six delicious flavors, Bob suggests they go home.

BOB: “Go home? We’re lost in the desert!” LUCY / ‘SMITH’: “Why don’t we each take one of those cars.” BOB: “What cars?” LUCY / ‘SMITH’: “The ones over there. That’s a two-car mirage!”

The same date this episode was broadcast, columnist Sid Shalit in the New York Daily News reported that a television situation comedy was being prepared starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in the mold of “My Favorite Husband”. Clearly, the radio series was winding down. This was the final episode of 1950 with only 16 episodes left.

Meanwhile, in addition to radio and television, Ball was on the nation’s movie screens in two 1950 films: The Fuller Brush Girl and Fancy Pants.

#My Favorite Husband #Liz has the Flimjabs #I Love Lucy #Lucy Fakes Illness #Lucille Ball #Richard Denning #Bea Benadaret #Ruth Perrott #Bob Lemond #Radio #CBS #Jello #1950 #Harvey #Jimmy Stewart #Frank Nelson #Fuller Brush Girl #Fancy Pants

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 4 years ago

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June Picks!

And just like that we’re at the end of yet another month. I seriously do not know where these months are going. I think they’re going by faster now since we’ve been socially distant. I hope everyone is staying safe out there and can enjoy the start of summer while also being smart. It’s good to know we can always escape into TV and movies at home. Without further ado, here’s my monthly wrap up.

You know spoilers are coming....

DC’s STARGIRL

I gave some quick thoughts a few weeks back when the first episode of the latest DC TV show premiered on the CW. I really liked this episode and it got me pumped for the series, but since then I feel most of the episodes have dragged for me. Because this show has the DC streaming service feel, it makes you want to binge all the episodes, which is something you can’t do when CW airs it on a weekly basis. Most of the action occurs at the beginning or end of the episode, which serves as a great cliffhanger, which works well in this streaming format. Due to this format, the middle can drag...a lot. Going in I didn’t know much about Stargirl or the JSA. (My main knowledge comes from that special the Justice Society had in that one Smallville special all those years ago. There it was a bit of an overload of heroes, unlike here.) I love Pat and Courtney’s relationship. Every episode they bond more and I especially liked when she was complaining to him about how the other teammates don’t listen to her. He understood that really well. I am also just loving Luke Wilson as Pat. I think he works well for the role. Feels believable. I’m ALWAYS a fan of a new generation of heroes. While it was slower getting the team together, now that we have the core group I am especially excited. The latest episode (6) was one of the strongest for me and I am very excited to see this up and coming team train and get stronger. I’m also interested in learning more about the villains. I think it’s interesting how we are also meeting a lot of the villain’s kids who seem to not know their parents’ true identities. I wonder if we’ll be able to turn any of them. (Feeling it for Icicle Jr.) For our team, I’m really loving how it’s three girls and one boy. I think that’s a dynamic we don’t often see, especially in a group of superheroes. I’m still working out who to ship, but I’m really loving Rick. Can’t wait to continue watching. I hope we get more of these epic stance moments.

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

Let’s continue on this superhero thread with another one of my favorites, which wrapped up its 5th season (crazy it’s already the 5th!) at the start of the month. I’ve said this before and I will continue to do so, Legends is THE BEST SHOW IN THE ARROWVERSE. It has been the most consistent and that’s not only because of a strong cast, the freedom to do basically anything they want with the plot and also being a mid-season show. I think where the Flash and Arrow often get tripped up is having too many episodes to fill, which forces story lines to be dragged out and filler episodes. With a 13 episode season you don’t get that. WARNING I’m going to jump into season 5 spoilers now!!

So, some of my overall thoughts for this season:

The Wave-rider has always been a revolving door for characters. This show probably has the most turn-over than any other show I watch. And it works, but for this season especially it felt like a lot of coming and going as I look back.

It was sad to see Ray leave. Not only is he one of my favorites, but he was one of the core crew that was left. He brought great humor and heart to the show. I loved his bromance with Nate over the seasons. I wish he could have come back for the finale. While I like that he left with Nora (because they are adorable) it just felt too fast (and that was with me knowing how many episodes he had left).

Charlie’s exit. I know she had a large part of the plot with her sisters, especially in the second half of the season, which means she’ll be missed even more next season. When she said she was staying in the finale I was like WHAT! It just felt so sudden and I didn’t see it coming.

The lack of Sara on the ship this season made me feel like she had other projects in the works. When she became blind I was like op this is it for her character. Now of course, I see how that worked into the overall story line, but with her abduction at the end of the season (meaning another absence) I’m curious if she is working on other things. I do love seeing Ava at the helm though. She makes a great captain. I just wish the two could be co-captains on the screen more often in future seasons to come. It hurt me too much to see Ava’s reaction to when she knew she was going to lose Sara.

At first I REALLY missed the original Zari. She’s the one we knew for a few seasons and now she was gone. That’s the main reason why I had difficulty liking Behrad right away. I do appreciate that they didn’t drag out the plot of discovering something in the timeline had changed. I liked how Nate had some memory and got that message from Zari. When Zari 2.0 showed up I missed our original Zari even more, but the more episodes she was a part of, she grew on me and I suddenly was worried to lose her. I was completely fine with having both Zaris on the Waverider (ha, ha, ha, but seriously). I think Tala did a great job of bringing two different incarnations to the character and seeing how Zari would have grown up if she didn’t have such a tragic backstory.

I can seriously go on and on about this season, but I think it’s best to leave for another post.

THE 100

If you follow me or have read other posts on my page you know I’m a 100 fan. If I’ve had strong feelings about an episode (positive or negative) you will probably see a reaction post. I haven’t watched this past week’s episode yet, so this will mainly relate to the first five episodes of season 7. I’m having a love/hate relationship so far, which honestly I’m not shocked about. The first few seasons of this show were definitely the strongest, but I’ve remained a loyal fan and supported it throughout. When the first episode of season 7 aired a few weeks ago, I instantly felt it wasn’t going to be a strong ending. I kept saying that the true ending happened when our characters went on the ship to look for a new planet and “ended book 1.” Since then the feel of the show has shifted and that’s especially true with this final season. It’s always been a sci-fi show, but now with the anomaly and this jumping multiple portals and planets it feels VERY SCI-FI. Like at times I don’t 100% understand how what they’re doing is possible. But I’m okay with that. I’ve watched Doctor Who and felt the same way and still had a good time. Going into this season, I thought the anomaly plot was going to be the one I disliked the most. But for me now it’s what’s saving this season. I am loving that story line over the one we’re having at Sanctum (where they are FAR too many new characters that I don’t care about). I absolutely LOVED the Octavia/Dioyza/Hope backstory episode. There were so many great parallels to Octavia’s own childhood and I was able to appreciate how much her character has developed. After seeing this episode, I instantly grew to really like ‘adult’ Hope as well as her dynamic with Gabriel and Hope. (It hurt me so much when Echo killed the man who was helping them get back.) I can’t wait for Hope to find her mom. (I saw pictures of the three of them together again, so I know it’s going to happen.) Speaking of not liking new characters, I DO like Levitt so far. That could be mainly for the fact that he’s also a fan of watching the 100. I was NOT expecting to see Bellamy at the end of episode 5. It brought me so much joy. I hope we don’t have to wait so long for the next time. (Because, come on-we know he’s not really dead.) I am upset that Bob is barely in this season. It’s not fair to him or the character. Even thought the Sanctum plot is bothering me I am loving the scenes Murphy is in. Talk about character development. He better make it out of all this at the end. I also enjoyed Raven’s story line with the radiation. I agree with a few people’s posts I saw about her not having a large plot last season and not being the Raven we know. I’m happy to see her being one of the main characters again. We might not get the ending we deserve, but I hope it’s one that isn’t horrible.

MARVEL RE-WATCH

What’s one way to spend your quarantine/social distancing? Why ranking all 22 movies in the MCU and then re-watching all of them (one a day) and re-ranking them with your new thoughts. With seasons ending early and less being on TV now was a fantastic time to do this. (Plus, I knew a few other people doing it so I felt inspired.) For some of these films, I think I had only seen them a few times and it was hard to remember what happened in certain ones over others. (I kept thinking stuff that happened in Captain America Civil War was actually in Captain America Winter Soldier.) I really enjoyed the experience and highly recommend it, whether you’ve watched these movies a countless amount of times or only once. Watching them in order of their release really made me appreciate all the Easter Eggs and planning that went into it. I longed for some movies and was not excited for others (I’m looking at you Guardians Vol. 2). It also made me feel a deeper connection to Iron Man (which made the ending even tougher-and I knew what was coming). The nostalgia was strong and I’m so happy to be a part of this fandom.

Sneak peak at my re-ranking that is still in the process:

Top 3)

Avengers Infinity Wars

Avengers Endgame

Spiderman Far From Home

Bottom)

Guardians Vol. 2

Thor the Dark World

Iron Man 2

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER

Avatar was released on Netflix this month and something in me said now was the time to watch it. (That’s right, I haven’t watched it before). The hype for this series is crazy! I remember it being on Nickelodeon as a kid, but I had never watched it. I didn’t know much about it other than the main character had an arrow on his head and was the last airbender. (Yep, so not a lot.) Currently, I’m still very early in-I think about episode 9-but I already feel very invested. I like that the episodes are only about 25 minutes long. They’re quick watches, which allows me to watch a bunch without feeling guilty. After watching the first two I already felt like I wanted to learn more about this world and its characters. I think it’s really interesting how the elemental bending is used and how some characters can do it while others can’t. I also like how the avatar gets rotated within each bender and how the one before Aang was a fire bender seeing as how that is our main opponent in this first season. Coming into the show I was told by a friend that this is some of the strongest character development he has seen. That was such high praise and I cannot wait to witness it for myself. One of the reasons I love watching TV/movies and reading is because of the characters. I love bonding with them and feeling like I know them. I can already hypothesize who will change the most (my mind automatically goes to Prince Zuko), but I’ve been really good about spoilers, so that way I can witness it myself. Because I’m still so early on I can’t say much, expect that I’m enjoying it and will keep you posted on how my journey with Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko go.

VIOLETTA SEASON 2

I was ECSTATIC when I found out that season 2 of Violetta had FINALLY come to Disney Plus. It had felt like FOREVER since I had finished the first season (of 80 episodes. You know a show is good if after 80 episodes you’re like where is the next season of 80 more episodes!), but it was really only a few months. It feels great to be back at the Studio with Violetta and the crew. There’s a few new faces this season both with the students and the faculty. It always takes adjusting with new seasons/characters, but some of these characters I really don’t like. I know that’s good because you’re not necessarily supposed to like them, but I really want some of them gone. (I’m looking at you Jackie.) But with a show that has so many episodes, a lot of the story lines often get dragged out, so I don’t know when that will be. Again, Violetta has found herself in a love triangle (just like every other teenage girl, lol). This time Diego opposes Leon and is much different than Tomas in season 1. Where Tomas was passive and always wore a face of uncertainty/confusion, Diego is bold and won’t take no for an answer. At times I feel he borders stalker territory.

So far, I’m up to episode 20 and am getting more into it. I was missing out on the performances/ songs and now there’s starting to be more, which has me excited. I’m hoping not to watch this one as fast because I know most people say it is the best one, plus who knows when season 3 would appear on Disney Plus. For anyone unfamiliar with my first post about Violetta earlier in the year should check it out if they’re looking for a telenovela full of drama, misunderstandings love triangles, angst and music that will get stuck in your head. Definitely worth the watch!

WORLD OF DANCE

My favorite dance competition TV show is back and I could not be more excited!! There’s just something about World of Dance that puts me in such a good mood and I can’t wait for Tuesday nights. I’m just upset at myself that I watch the latest episode too soon and then have to wait another week. This season the judges switched it up by coming to the contestants last audition with the producers...or so they thought. I loved seeing their reactions when they walked into the room and Ne-Yo, Jennifer Lopez and Derek Hough were there. It was priceless. While I don’t have a dancing bone in my body, I still am able to appreciate this talent and love watching the contestants perform. What I really like about this show is the range of ages and types of dancers from soloists, duos, trios and groups. I like how each competes within their group until the final episode when they have won their category. The talent is already so strong as they finished the call backs (which was a new feature this season too). Some of my favorites are below. I can’t wait to see what happens for the rest of the season. I just hope the pandemic didn’t interrupt the filming. You can catch up on all episodes by watching NBC on demand!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST....

BEECHAM HOUSE

Ending strong with yet another Masterpiece Classic, Beecham House. This series, which aired earlier in the UK, premiered about two weeks ago here in the states on PBS. While I’ve heard that there will not be a second season and the outrage of that makes me worried for how this season will end. (After watching Sanditon earlier this year you really don’t know what to expect.) Despite knowing this already, I will continue to watch the show and enjoy what we have. Which I am so far. While only the first two episodes have aired, I already feel very invested. The first episode, specifically, leaves a lot of questions unanswered, which is understandable because they want to draw you in to watch the show. I was making a lot of speculations, but refrained from going into too much spoiler territory. (Surprisingly, I’ve been good! That’s impressive for me!) Some of my questions have already been answered in the second episode (but of course, there are more to go) and I was happy how I guessed. There’s so many characters and it feels like we’re gaining more with each episode. Despite, there being so many, I am able to keep up and like seeing new characters interact with one another. I also enjoy seeing a lot of familiar faces from Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) in a very different kind of role compared to Downton and Leo Suter who has been in a lot of my recent Masterpiece watches (Victoria, Sanditon). I love how he plays such a different character in each project he’s in. Really shows his range. With four more episodes to go I can’t wait to continue learning more about what’s going on in Beecham House and what their futures will be. I don’t know if the US numbers will help a chance for a second season, but I hope so!

Speaking of my previous Masterpiece watches: I really enjoyed World on Fire overall. It ended with some big cliffhangers and I am very excited it got a second season!!

What are you watching? Any requests of what I should tune into next?

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cookiedoughmeagain · 4 years ago

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Haven DVD commentaries; 5.13 - Chosen

Commentary with Gabrielle Stanton and Matt McGuiness (and another brief appearance by Assistant Josh) [Josh’s surname isn’t mentioned in any of these but from a brief googling I assume this is Josh Brandon]

MMG: Welcome to the commentary for the final episode of season five, the name of which escapes me right now GS: It’s called Chosen. It’s been, how many months since we shot this? MMG: Oh, seven or eight months maybe. GS: Yeah so we might just fall silent, like; Wow I forgot about this! MMG: I’m already mesmerised by how good our show looks. I really think it looks so good. We’re picking up here directly after the last episode, and this is a real jaw dropping moment [Charlotte revealing that she’s Mara’s mother] GS: We’re kind of hoping that no one saw this coming. If all went well no one did. I know Adam certainly didn’t see it coming. MMG: This was fun for us with Adam Copeland because, fans will know that Adam was a wrestler, and we’ve sort of watching him matriculate as an actor on Haven. And now, I remember saying to him that he was going to get to do all sorts of new and interesting things. I never said to him that he was going to get to find out that the woman you’re sleeping with comes from another dimension. GS: No. We said ‘love interest’ but then I think we kept it a little vague after that. MMG: And we didn’t tell him what was going to happen with his love interest. And he played it great.

[On screen Charlotte is talking about microscopes as a metaphor for this world and hers being different and separate] MMG: There’s one of the two microscopes. I was not thrilled with those microscope choices. Put them a little closer together, perhaps. We were not there for this episode. A lot of times we go up to Canada when we shoot these, which is super fun. It’s like going to camp, seeing everybody and running around, but for this episode we were furiously writing. GS: I think we were already writing the premiere of the next season. MMG: Yeah, so we couldn’t go up. GS: I thought Laura [as Charlotte] played this whole thing very well. MMG: She was great.

[As we see Duke deep in thought outside the Gull] GS: Oh this was kind of cool. Obviously finales often set up a whole bunch of stuff for the up coming season, but this finale in particular set up a lot of stuff to come back to in the next season. MMG: I really like this scene. This is one of those scenes that I like because it manages to be horrific and kind of gory in a way, but if you are twisted like I am, it sort of makes me giggle a little bit too. My buddy Chris makes his own Kaluha. GS: I didn’t even know you could. MMG: It’s very easy to make GS: What’s in it? MMG: I don’t know. But he makes Kaluha and I drink it. Happily. [As stuff starts exploding] GS: I thought the effects were really good here. MMG: Yeah this scene came out great. [As the guy explodes] MMG: That effect was a little odd, but it still worked out great. GS: A little over the top but still kind of awesome. [As Duke’s line about needing to see a doctor ] MMG: And Eric delivered this line well.

MMG: And here’s our lovely theme music, I love it. My kids sing it. Well, hum along to it

[Credits on screen: Editor - Thorben Bieger] MMG: This was edited by Thorben. His name is Thorben and I wrote an episode of Haven back in season three and there was a guy in it named Thor [pronounced Tor], which was a shortened version of Thorben. And I remember people saying that wasn’t a real name, no one’s named Thorben, that’s ridiculous. And I thought, well our editor is named Thorben.

[Gloria making a scene in the hospital to cover for Duke] GS: I love Gloria. Let’s do the Gloria spin off. MMG: Jayne Eastwood loves this kind of stuff. She was great here.

[As Duke arrives to talk to Charlotte] MMG: This is another cool moment, this episode was full of cool moments. GS: Well it’s cool because everyone knows something that the other person doesn’t know, in every scene MMG: Right. There’s a lot of secrets. And look how great Laura looks with her hair down. GS: I know, I was so happy when we brought it down. The second we were going to change her from a doctor to Audrey’s mother, we were like; bring the hair down! [Charlotte to Duke; Remove your shirt please.] GS: And the fans go wild. [As we see the handprints on Duke] GS: And even wilder. Can I say, that little handprint right on his butt, we were told that was very important that that was there.

GS: Oh this is a cool scene coming up [Audrey and Mara talking in the bronco]. How did they shoot it, was there special effects, or? MMG: This was a cool scene. But no, I think they just shot over … well let’s see but I’m pretty sure they used Lydia our stunt double. GS: So they didn’t do any split screen MMG: I don’t think so. This kind of stuff is so fun for Emily, and this was a really good Mara performance. And the dialogue in this scene is fantastic, really it’s clever. GS: Wait, didn’t you write this episode? MMG: Yes I did. GS: Ah ha, that explains it.

MMG: Can you turn it up Josh, I can barely hear … Oh, I had the wrong - OK that’s better. Don’t laugh like I did something wrong. GS: No, no! The technology is all new to us. We have new exciting technology for this year’s commentary.

[Mara talking to Audrey] MMG: There is an homage in this scene, a line of dialogue from a very famous science fiction show; “make the Troubles look like a square dance.” GS: Oh I remember you telling me what it was at the time …

MMG: Oh this scene [with the kids on the boat] was great as well. The name John-John [the school kid] came from a top ranked ASP surfer named John-John Florence, who is nothing like that kid but I just liked the name John-John. Am I going to get sued for that? GS: I don’t think so. Because you said they’re not alike. MMG: Yeah I just like the name. GS: This turned out really well too [the kids trapped in the boat as it starts to fill with water]. We were kind of nervous trying to picture how it was going to turn out. You know, when you write on the page ‘and suddenly the boat is being crushed by ropes’ you’re kind of wondering exactly how it’s going to work. [The teacher on screen; I am so fired] MMG: That was an ad lib right there.

[Dave justifying his daytime drinking; The sun’s past the yardarm] MMG: That is lifted from my friend Danna. She’s from Maine and she always says that; the sun’s past the yardarm. Which means the sun’s past the little thing that sticks out on the mast, so it’s five o’clock. GS: It’s five o’clock somewhere. And if I had visions like that, I’d be drinking too.

[Nathan and Audrey talking outside the bronco as she nurses her head where Mara hit her] GS: Where did they shoot this? This is right near Nicky’s, in Chester I think. MMG: Sure looks like it. But I think we’re trying to hide where … Oh yeah! We are trying to hide where it is because, I remember this was a production nightmare, it was supposed to be right outside of the lab because Audrey goes in talk to Charlotte at the end of this scene. This was a very tricky piece of production right here.p

[Audrey talking to Mara in the lab] MMG: This was an interesting scene because we really wanted Audrey, someone who’s been looking for her mother for her entire life, to connect with this woman somehow. But it was hard. GS: But it’s a nice setup, for everything that happens in our next season.

*gap in the commentary as they are both silent for a while* GS: Josh is like, please say something guys. Alright, you would think after doing four years of these we would be in some way better at them. MMG: You know what? You can hate yourself, but I refuse to live my life that way. I think we’ve been doing great at this. GS: I don’t think there are supposed to be these big stretches of dead air. My problem is I don’t watch the commentaries on other DVDs, even shows I love, just because doing that makes me feel like I’m being pulled out of it like the universe doesn’t really exist. But I should because then maybe I’d be better at these. MMG: Sometimes I just get sucked into the scene and I just start watching the show.

MMG: It is interesting to contemplate Charlotte as Audrey’s mother, and you start thinking; there is a vague, sort of passing resemblance there in an odd kind of way. GS: There is. The nose, and the eyes are similar.

MMG: I like the giant card catalogue in the back of this office [the Herald]. I always expect them to open it up and pull out a dewey decimal system card or something. GS: This was always one of my favourite sets. It seems the most Haven. And also the Gull but that was always such a nightmare to shoot in. [Duke, to Vince: If you know where an open thinny is, then you are going to tell me right now. Or I am going to beat you to death. With him.] GS: I really like that line. MMG: I got grief for that line. People felt Duke was being a bully or something. GS: Ah, they could take Duke down if they wanted to. They put up with him.

[The location with the boat full of school kids] MMG: That’s North West Cove, is it not? GS: I think it is. Up by the Grey Gull where all the lobster traps are. That had to be a terrible job [for the actors playing the school kids in the water-filled boat]. I’m sure that water was not super MMG: Oh yeah there were some tough local kids who just got drenched all day, I suspect.

[Charlotte explaining the merge-Audrey-with-Mara plan to Nathan] MMG: I like this scene. GS: Nathan’s like; WHAT? MMG: Look how great our show looks. No it really does. Maybe it’s this computer? I just think it looks great. GS: No, it does. It’s that grey rainy weather that’s so difficult to shoot in but looks great on screen. MMG: This is bad news for Nathan. GS: And I think what’s so surprising to him is that Audrey’s going along with it.

MMG: What’s with Audrey’s jacket with the American flag on the arm? Has she borrowed that? GS: Is that her cop jacket? No, I think that’s just a random jacket. MMG: This was very emotionally tricky bit [Audrey convincing Nathan to let Charlotte do the merge thing]. I’m now having total ‘PTSD’ on writing this episode becuase it was very, very challenging. Actually, Josh just looked at me, we could tell a funny story about Josh right now. My recollection is, I was struggling with the idea that Nathan’s motivation in an earlier draft was basically to let Audrey go. And that made it very hard to sort of keep him driving, and have these moments. But it was Josh’s suggestion, and it plays out in this scene, where he basically gives the ‘stay alive and I will find you and I will bring you back’ speech. Do I have that right Josh? Josh: Yep. GS: Nathan is nothing if not determined. MMG: And diligent. It’s called love, don’t hate it. GS: I could never hate love. If these two weren’t made for each other, who are.

MMG: Ah, the Cape Rouge. Which isn’t at the bottom of the ocean any more I don’t think. They floated it. GS: The actual boat, that we used for the exterior shots, sank. The hull finally rusted out and it hit the bottom. Fortunately where it was, the water wasn’t too deep so I don’t think the entire thing ever went entirely under.

MMG: That was a slightly confusing cut. We went from Duke in his boat, to the kids in the sinking boat - like woah Duke, there’s kids drowning in the bottom of your boat.

[Mara coming to talk to a chained up Duke in the hold of the Rouge] MMG: This was one of those scenes that comes out in a way that’s not exactly how you’d imagined. But I like it. GS: These two actually could have lived happily ever after too, in a different universe. MMG: For sure. We miss Mara. GS: She was a great character. You loved to hate her. MMG: I liked to write her. She was fun. GS: Yes, super fun to write. Characters who are a little darker or have more of an edge are always (for me at least) more fun to write. A little more complicated. That’s why Duke was always really fun to write. MMG: Yep

[Charlotte and Dwight’s conversation] GS: I thought Adam did a great job in this scene. MMG: Yeah. His last line’s good, because he’s very vulnerable.

GS: This was such a tricky episode, because we had to have our Trouble of the week, but I always felt that no one was caring about anything except what was going on with Charlotte and Mara and Audrey. MMG: This was a very difficult episode, and I’m now remembering. It was terrible. I remember we all squeezed into Adam Higg’s, what was that room in his apartment building. GS: Oh the conference room in his building. Why were we in there? Josh: The plumbing went out. GS: Oh that’s right. The plumbing went out here and one of our writer’s lived just up the block so we all went and took over his apartment building. MMG: Which had a giant fish tank. GS: And a really nice pool. Really nice apartment building.

[Nathan finding Gloria emptying the Gull of its alcohol] MMG: This was another scene that didn’t come out exactly as I had imagined it. But Jayne Eastwood is just a delight. I slow danced with Jayne at the wrap party. It was very, very fun, but I’m going to stop that story right there.

MMG: This was hard for Emily. God, there were so many vectors in this. Because she also had to be getting sick in this sequence too. That was tricky, she had a lot going on.

[As the Troubled guy is talking to his daughter trapped in the boat and telling her how much he loves her] MMG: I have three daughters, so I always like to write this kind of stuff. By that I don’t mean drowning them. But you get to use someone else as a mouthpiece to write little speeches to your kids.

MMG: Ah, the seaplane. This was going to be a boat, and then we changed it to a seaplane.

[As Charlotte is confirming to Audrey that merging with Mara will effectively mean she dies] MMG: Oh my god, there were so many tricky scenes in this episode. Explaining so much stuff. GS: I think Emily loved playing Mara. MMG: She did. She’s having a great time. And this is our goodbye to Mara, sadly. And these were Charlotte’s first little hints about “Dad” in this scene I think. Both actresses do a great job here. It’s tricky stuff here.

[As Duke and Nathan meet at the seaplane place] MMG: There’s a LOT going on between these two here GS: In one draft didn’t they take swings at each other here? MMG: I don’t know. That should have been stung with music right there, that Duke’s plan was to kill Mara. And there’s Duke once again being slightly noble; doesn’t want to explode in Haven, wants to go and explode in the void.

[As the wind starts blowing stuff over by Duke and Nathan] GS: I remember we had so many discussions about what this was going to look like. MMG: This didn’t come out exactly as we’d imagined either. We’d imagined that everything was going towards them, sort of like a singularity. But the wind seemed to be blowing in a variety of directions there. This is a great shot [looking down on Duke and Nathan] and this one [as we see Charlotte and Audrey kneeling, before the reveal that it is Audrey and not Mara]. That pile of clothing looks like it should be smoking, like Terminator.

[As Audrey and Nathan hug] GS: Aw, yey! Duke’s like; how come I’m not getting a hug? [As Charlotte tells Duke Mara turned the Trouble bomb off] GS: It’s a happy ending! But wait … can it really be a happy ending on Haven? [As we see Duke’s black eyes] GS: His eyes look good. MMG: Yep.

[As Vince and Dave find CROATOAN carved in the rock] GS: That is very neat handwriting, wow. MMG: I was just thinking that. So perfectly spaced. Ah that’s OK. [As they see the fog wall going up through the trees] GS: That’s a cool shot. MMG: Yep, I agree.

#haven syfy #haven dvd commentaries #haven 5 #5.13 - chosen #long post

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calzona-ga · 5 years ago

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When Grey's Anatomy kicks off its 16th season next month, the first episode will hearken back to the good ol' days.

"It is quintessential Grey's with a lot of answers, a lot of questions, a lot of humor, some tears and it's just the beginning," series star Kim Raver told ET of the Sept. 26 premiere episode at Disney/ABC's All-Star party at the Television Critics Association summer press tour earlier this month. "Imagine you're in the seat of the roller-coaster ride and you've just gone down the first dip."

"That's the genius of [showrunner] Krista Vernoff, that she's going to put all those pieces together, because that's the fun of it too," she praised, referring to the slew of cliffhangers at the end of last season. "You have to explode the greatness to find the jewels." (OG Grey's cast member James Pickens Jr.warned the first episode back "tests everybody.")

In May's season 15 finale, Teddy (Raver) and Owen (Kevin McKidd) declared their love for each other while Teddy gave birth to their daughter, Allison. With the reunited couple starting a new chapter together and raising a newborn, could Owen be ready to put a ring on Teddy's finger?

"I don't know what they are!" Raver exclaimed. "I mean, literally, as she was giving birth, he's professing his love and she's trying to digest that. But it's like, what's with the timing?! As a viewer, I'm watching it, like, there's Koracick (Greg Germann) in the baby room, eating his sandwich! I was like, 'Oh my god, poor Koracick.'"

"I love that, and I hope the audience loves that too because that's the sort of thing where you're like, 'What is happening?' So I think that is a great springboard for what we're entering into," she continued. "Look, part of me feels like Teddy and Owen have worked on themselves for so many years and have been headed towards this, and I want such incredible things for them because I'm a hopeless romantic."

But we certainly can't forget about the Koracick of it all. The neurosurgeon was seen happily putting together the nursery for Teddy's baby, while Teddy and Owen were reuniting in the delivery room. "The other part of me loves the whole Koracick thing, because he's funny and he takes such good care of her and there's such an odd way about him," Raver said with a laugh. "But, she loves him."

A mother of two in real life, Raver expressed excitement over exploring what new motherhood looks like and means for Teddy, who is successful and capable when she puts on the doctor's coat but less so when she's off the clock.

"Me as a mother, I understand how it is the most rewarding thing, but it's also incredibly confusing and challenging and you're trying to figure out how to nurse," she said. "I love that you have a badass cardiothoracic surgeon who is so good at what she does, and then she's in a world where she has no idea [what she's doing]."

Asked what she's most looking forward to exploring in Teddy's new beginning, Raver revealed she's "excited to play the comedy" of motherhood -- "the s**tstorm that has entered into her life."

"[She's gotten] everything that she's wanted and then what do you do with that? I told Krista, 'We always see everything so perfect in Hollywood. Everything is so good. Wouldn't it be so great to see the underbelly of Teddy literally in the deep end?'" she said, confirming that viewers will see "totally" see her have breakdowns as a new mom. "And over the smallest things. We're not just seeing Teddy arrive at the hospital and dropping the baby off because everyone does it so easily [on TV]. It's so much harder than that. We're definitely going to see that."

Raver, who's entering her sixth season on Grey's, has high hopes for the upcoming season, promising fans that the start of the season imbues "all of the things we love about Grey's Anatomy, all in that first episode of the season." "This season is going to be filled with so many things we love about Grey's, where you're laughing and crying at the same time," she elaborated. "It's the feels."

"There were moments where all of us at cast members -- I love when we read it together because we're all experiencing it together -- there's the moments of like, 'Oh my gosh! That's really happening!' and laughing out loud where literally tears are pouring down our faces to, 'Wait, what?!' So I think that, from the first table read, you can tell it's going to be a really amazing season," the actress said with a chuckle.

With Grey's reaching yet another milestone with its landmark 350th episode, slated to air in November, Raver spoke about the significance of primetime's longest-running medical drama reaching rarefied air.

"I remember on 24 when we hit the 100 mark, that was, at the time, such an incredible accomplishment and it still is. But to hit 350 is really like a Babe Ruth lightning-in-a-bottle moment. I feel so grateful, because it's not only the gratitude of being at 350, but to also really love your job, that's incredible," Raver marveled. "Not to sound corny, but I really love the group of actors and writers that I'm working with, so I'm happy to go to work everyday. The combination of that and 350 episodes... maybe one informs the other."

#grey's anatomy #season 16 #Teddy altman #Owen Hunt #tom koracick #ETonline #kim raver #16x01

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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

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The 100 rewatch: 3x01/3x02 – Wanheda Part One and Two

My rewatch will have to be sped up so I could finish it before the season 6 premiere. I’ve seen up to 3x08, but from now on I have to watch more than one episode a day. I hope to be able to finish season 3 by the end of this week. Which means I’ll have to try to make my next posts shorter than this one, which I’m pretty sure is my longest rewatch review so far. Maybe I could try covering several episodes in one post to try not to repeat myself in the following reviews?

Season 3 is definitely my least favorite season of The 100, and so far, having rewatched half a season, I haven’t changed my mind on its quality. But, except for one instance of really lazy writing (which will, sadly, turn out to be something the writers like to do, since they did the same but in an even worse way in season 5), this two-parter was a solid opening to the season, which, unfortunately, started going downhill right after it.

Also, I only realized this on rewatch…. Clarke is Rapunzel?! Or anti-Rapunzel.

*These rewatch posts have spoilers for everything up to the end of season 5, and I may also mention stuff from the season 6 trailer. No spoilers for 6x01, and please don’t mention any if you reply or reblog with comments, I’m trying to avoid them (good luck to me on that).

3x01 Wanheda, Part One

Timeline: This is one of few episode reviews where it makes sense to start with this, because it’s the show’s first time-jump – it starts almost 3 months after the season 2 finale, or specifically 86 days,. In most other shows, this wouldn’t be considered a time jump, but most of The 100 episodes take place just a day or a few hours later (which was the case with the time that passed between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere), sometimes just a few minutes later (season 3 finale/season 4 premiere). It’s even notable and relatively rare when there is a week, or just two days between episodes. Although this is obviously nothing compared to the time jump in the season 4 finale (and, to an extent, season 5 finale – which was technically much bigger,, but only really counted for three characters), this time jump is still twice as long as the entirety of seasons 1 and 2, which lasted less than a month and a half.

The starting sequence is great, with Murphy with long shaggy hair and a beard, in a state of desperation after being locked up in the bunker for 86 days, to the point that he almost decides to shoot himself in the head. Similar to how Clarke almost shot herself in the head in the flashbacks in 5x01. Even the greatest of survivors come to the point when it’s just too much for a human being to bear. Clarke reached that point after a month of being not just all alone on a desert, radiation soaked planet, but likely to be all alone for at least 5 years, and even more likely to die of hunger, thirst or exposure. Murphy took 3 months, but was in situation where he didn’t lack food or drink or comfort – but isolation, without any human contact or entertainment, other than videos of a guy committing suicide because he felt responsible of the end of the world, has to be unbearable.

Introduction of Becca In one of the videos is good as we get more crucial info practically at the beginning of the season (and at the same time, not so good, because I can’t stand Becca and I’m really not fond of the entire storyline about the chip/Flame/Commanders).

Scenes in the mansion with Jaha and ALIE are really creepy, as we see just how much Jaha has become removed from reality and immersed in the City of Light. When Jaha explains the concept of COL, the prospect of getting rid of pain, hate and envy, Murphy has maybe his best ever line, and pretty much his defining quote: “Pain, hate, envy… those are the ABCs of me. Take that and there’s nothing left.”

Getting thrown right into Camp Jaha, now called Arkadia, after 3 months, to see how much everyone’s lives have changed, works well for the most part (with one exception – see below). Jasper’s new look and attitude are shocking, but make sense. I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion, but I think Jasper’s storyline was one of the best things in season 3 and even season 4, and I think it’s great that the show, for once, didn’t shy away from showing the consequences of emotional trauma (these people are teenagers who have been through terrible things in an extremely short time, it’s hard to believe everyone would soldier on and no one would break), and that they didn’t try to make a depressed person be more “likable” by being nice, even if it resulted in so many fans calling Jasper “annoying” and now showing any understanding for his mental health issues just because he wasn’t depressed in a nicer, more palatable way.

Raven’s story in seasons 3-4, which is also pretty good, also gets set up with a conversation with Abby about her pain, where Raven refuses an operation and they end up saying bad things to each other, as those two sometimes do. Raven calls out Abby on trying to hide from her own pain, too (over losing Clarke), which is a major theme this season. She also tells her she’s bad as both doctor and Chancellor, and much as I used to love Abby in S1 (and still like her) I’m afraid that this is least half-true since she’s sucked at politics most of season 2and 3. As a doctor, she’s good at healing people, but her bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.

The show gets rid of the Raven/Wick romance plot (which had to be jettisoned due to Steve Talley being a terrible person IRL and tweeting racist “jokes”) in the best way it could, by referring to it in one line (according to Abby, Raven pushed Wick away) and never having him appear again.

They used “Add It Up” by Violent Femmes! And even Shawn Mendes’ cover worked well – his was a sad and plaintive ballad, as a contrast to the original, which is an energetic rock song. (I had no idea who Mendes was when I first watched this, but his cameo didn’t feel weird or out of place).

A huge plus because Emori makes a return. Also, Otan is introduced, who actually is her brother (it’s not just a classic thief/swindler thing where partners in crime are like “I’m an innocent damsel in distress and this dude is totally my brother…” thing).

There are several character introductions of characters that are varying degrees of interesting or not so interesting. Roan’s is especially intriguing right from the start, and there’s also Niylah, Becca and Gideon, and Gina. Speaking of…

My biggest problem with this episode is how weird and jarring it always felt that we just get introduced to Bellamy’s new girlfriend, a random character we’ve never met before and who doesn’t get developed at all. We know she’s nice and really into him, and he likes her fine enough, but there’s very little about their relationship that goes beyond very basic relationship-establishing stuff. This was all the more jarring because Bellamy had never previously been shown to have an actual girlfriend (rather than friends with benefits/fu*k buddies, which he had quite a few in season 1), and by what we know of his backstory and what we was like in season 1, I had always assumed he had never had a serious relationship or even a serious friendship, because he could never allow himself to trust people on the Ark, and he was too focused on protecting Octavia and keeping that huge secret. So for him to be a real relationship was a new development that I would have loved to actually see. And in general, how weird is it that the show seems to treat the love life of a major character – second protagonist as an afterthought, to the point that his relationships get developed completely off-screen and just get a few perfunctory scenes to establish “there was a time jump, it happened, this is a thing now, that’s all you need to know” (which was all the more jarring when Gina then got fridged just 3 episodes into the season). Hey, and just how weird would it be if the show did this TWICE? I have an idea why this happens – because neither of his relationships with Gina nor with Echo was ever treated by the show, as genuinely important or something we need to be invested in, but If I ever believed that Clarke and Bellamy were really totally platonic BFFs (because one major platonic relationship is not enough for Bellamy, who is one of the very few characters on the show who actually has a sibling, and his relationship with Octavia is also a major one the show focuses a lot..) and that the show wasn’t doing something else, I’d be really puzzled by such weird narrative choices.

·Raven teases Bellamy that Gina is “too good” for him. That may be because she is aware that he was “never as devoted to Gina” (compared to Clarke), as she taunts him as ALIE!Raven in 3x11.

Gina gives Bellamy Iliad as a gift, because his mother used to read it to him… an epic whose main theme is a warrior hero’s rage and all the mess it causes?

The Ice Nation aka Azgeda, after being referenced before, finally gets introduced (though Echo will get retconed revealed to be one of them), and I have very mixed feelings about this, because the oversimplified way the show tried to suddenly establish “Trikru=good Grounders, Azgeda=bad Grounders” in season 3 was kind of grating.

·Everyone is still bad at dealing with people with PTSD and mental health issues in general – as seen in the fact that they made the mistake to bring Jasper with them on a mission. This time, Bellamy had an inkling it was not a good idea, but Monty thought it would do Jasper good… and again, it didn’t end well.

Indra has changed her views a lot and is now the liaison between Trikru and the Arkers and o very friendly terms with Kane.

The relationship between Trikru and Arkadia is at this point kind of a mixed bag – they have a truce and cooperate, but there’s a problem of limited trade routes and ability for Arkers to get food, the Grounders are not happy with the prospect of them using Mount Weather, and Lexa has issued a kill order on Lincoln (which is why he has had to stay in Arkadia even if he didn’t want to – though it seems he does want to) just because he went back to help Arkers against Mount Weather (any disobedience of Commander’s orders, no matter how justified, is apparently punishable by death).

Something that’s annoying, but expected and in character: Octavia complaining about Lincoln wearing an Arkadia uniform and trying to integrate into the Arkadia society. It’s like she was so happy to be rebellious and have a cool Grouder boyfriend, and now she’s disappointed. She tells him he will never be one of them (oh, the irony of this coming from Octavia, who says “I’m a Grounder” every second episode – which I don’t get, does she think being a Grounder is a lifestyle you can choose?) and even lectures him about the culture he grew up in: “At least you still speak our language” (meaning Grounder speech). LMAO

Octavia suggests they go off on their own and find Luna and her people – one of the many, many references to Luna going all the way back to season 1. No character has been set up so much long before they appeared.

It takes quite a long time for Clarke to actually appear in the episode, right after the revelation that she’s the titular Wanheda everyone is looking for.

About the nickname itself: Clarke herself hates it, of course (though she will kind of ‘reclaim’ it in 5x12) – because she feels deeply guilty and hates herself, but I’m sure that, for Grounders, “Commander of Death” an expression of awe and fear, not any kind of judgment, which wouldn’t make sense – we’ve seen multiple times that Grounders take the “kill them all If we can’t kill their leader” approach to their enemies, so I can’t see them being bothered by her killing all the Mountain Men. It’s the fact that she was able to destroy their old, powerful enemy that gives her a mythical aura. If you can kill the Mountain Men, you must be able to command death itself. They would also assign it all to Clarke, because, for starters, they weren’t there to know about Bellamy’s or Monty’s role, and secondly, Grounders tend to give all credit or blame to the leader, and they perceived Clarke as the sole leader of Skaikru during season 2.

This mythical status, however, merely makes Clarke a symbol and prize, due to the belief that killing someone means taking their power. (Which should also mean that she took the enormous power of Mount Weather in the eyes of the Grounders?) Does Queen Nia actually believe that she would literally take Clarke’s power if she killed her? I don’t know, but she probably just knows that people would perceive her as more powerful if she managed to do it.

Indra also explains that another reason the Ice Nation feels bold enough to make another move against Lexa/Trikru is that Clarke made Lexa look weak – which makes perfect sense, of course that’s what people would think after Lexa walked away from the battle and Clarke went in and killed the Mountain Men.

Seeing Clarke’s new look and persona was weird as hell the first time, but I don’t know how to feel about it as a plot point. I like it when characters’ traumas are not ignored, and it makes sense that, in her state, she wants to be anonymous and leave all she was behind. But Clarke as a great hunter after 3 months, making a living out of killing large animals? That’s a bit hard to believe. It’s not the first time the show is giving her unrealistic or, rapidly learned skills (overpowering an experienced warrior like Anya in a fight, apparently learning to ride a horse off-screen in a day, being such a good shooter to kill the MW sniper through Lincoln’s shoulder – after the short training she got from Bellamy in S1..) I complain about that with Octavia, so I should about Clarke, too (though it bothers me a lot more with Octavia since her being a great warrior – with her few months of training - is such a big part of her arc, while these skills are never supposed to be Clarke’s main strengths and don’t get much focus. But I like that she tells the panther “Your fight is over” while killing it.

Niylah, looking at Clarke’s back: “No kill marks”. Clarke: “My back is not big enough.”

Clarke sees Niylah has a wristband from one of the Delinquents, which is going to be a plot point in 3x11.

It’s nice to see someone expressing gratitude to Clarke for defeating the Mountain Men – Niylah says she appreciates it because her mother was a victim taken by Mount Weather. It would make sense if many more Grounders actually felt like that, but we don’t ever see many ordinary Grounders say anything about it. Usually it’s just Grounder leaders trying to make Clarke feel guilty over Mount Weather to manipulate her or excuse their own actions.

Clarke’s one night stand with Niylah is the first f/f sex scene in the show. It’s also, as far as we know, only the second time Clarke has had sex with anyone (the first one was way back in 1x04). At this point, Clarke can only bear to have physical intimacy, or any kind of human contact, if it’s not with anyone she has any stronger feelings for (and asks Niylah to stop talking before initiating sex, because she doesn’t want to risk any real intimacy). But at least Niylah is really nice and helpful, doesn’t cause drama and treats her better than any of her romantic partners have.

The first time I watched this, I found it funny that Clarke’s f*ck buddy got more screentime and development than Bellamy’s supposedly serious girlfriend. But I didn’t know that the latter would die in two episodes, while the former will remain on the show into season 6 and get to have a role beyond that of Clarke’s occasional friend with benefit.

This turned out to be much longer than I wanted it to, but that’s because this episode juggles so many storylines and characters (and a bit of nice blatant fanservice, too – like the scene of Bellamy and Lincoln sparring shirtless, or a celebrity cameo).

But how about the one plot point that was completely ignored in this episode and the rest of season 3 (and 4, and 5, and we can assume will be ignored forever)? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE REAPERS?? Did they get cured, as the plan was originally? Abby was supposed to cure them when the alliance was still on. Did they get killed – and how, and by whom? Were they still roaming around in season 3 and 4? Why is there not a single word about any of that after season 2? Indra even recognized one of the Reapers in 2x15, it was obviously someone close to her, maybe a family member, maybe her husband/Gaia’s father? The show dropped that plot like a hot potato as soon as season 2 finished.

Body count:

3 Ice Nation scouts killed during the confrontation (2 shot by Raven and Miller, one shot by Bellamy in the arm and then killed by Octavia)

Rating: 7/10

3x02 Wanheda, Part Two

This episode benefits from focusing on just a few storylines and characters and not featuring any of the poorer storylines.

Most of it is an exciting and intense action-adventure episode that revolves around Roan kidnapping Clarke ad trying to bring her to Lexa, as it turns out in the twist ending (after both Clarke and first time audience thought he was taking her to the Ice Nation Queen Nia), while a group from Arkadia including Bellamy, Kane and Monty are trying to rescue her.

More new characters are introduced, including one with a huge role this season: our group (including Bellamy, Monty, Kane and Indra) has a surprise encounter with a group of survivors from the Farm Station, including Charles Pike and Monty’s mother Hannah. It was a weird meeting as it started as an ambush, before they recognized each other. Who did Pike’s group think they were ambushing and capturing? Some Grounders who stole clothes and weapons from dead Arkers? It doesn’t seem they were aware that there were any other survivors from the Ark, or else, they’d have tried to reunite with them. But it also can be seen as a sign that their terrible experiences on the ground and almost 4 months spent in the woods as guerrilla fighters have made them inclined to see enemies everywhere and mistake friends or allies for enemies.

We get the immediate “trouble ahead” warning moments when Pike calls his people “Grounder killers, all!” and they cheer, and our group looks uncomfortable because Indra is there, and then when Pike looks at Indra with animosity as soon as he hears she’s a Grounder and expresses distrust when hearing that they’re allies. But really, there’s nothing surprising about his attitude, at all, and I’ll never understand fans who are like “but why is Pike such a dick”? The show told you why, right from the start. Most of our protagonists had a similar attitude to Grounders in season 1 and early season 2, when their experiences with people on the ground consisted mostly of those people attacking them and trying to kill them. And Indra (just like many other Grounders) had the exact same attitude towards Sky people in early-to-mid season 2, as Pike has to Grounders now – when we first met her, she was constantly asking for all Sky people to be killed and trying to dissuade Lexa from an alliance, especially after Finn killed 18 unarmed people, mostly civilians, in a Grounder village. But these characters all got to have different kinds of interactions with each other and have character development since. Well, Pike and the rest of the Farm Station people have had only terrible experiences – being attacked by the people on the ground right after they landed, seeing over a hundred of their people killed in front of them, including 15 children, and they’ve spent all the time since fighting in the woods, with zero positive interactions with any Grounders. It’s really not surprising that they’re the ones with most extreme views.

Kane, however, tries to convince them that it’s all Ice Nation, they’re the bad ones, Trikru are their allies. When Pike asks for details about how that alliance happened, Bellamy gave him the shortest and nicest-sounding possible version: “We had a common enemy” – “What happened?” “We won”. Bellamy obviously doesn’t want to talk about any of it, since he’s tormented over Mount Weather even though he may not be showing it the way Clarke does. But we see that Monty later told Pike about everything that has happened, though we only see the end of that story, how they got out of Mount Weather. We can assume, however, that he did tell him all including Lexa’s betrayal, because Pike later references both that and Finn’s death in 3x08. Somehow I don’t think that hearing “well, Trikru tried to kill the kids in our camp, so we burned 300 of their warriors, then we made an alliance with them to fight the people from Mount Weather who were trying to kill us all, but they betrayed us and left us to die and we had to save ourselves on our own” helped change Pike’s opinion on the Grounders in general.

Having Zach McGowan on the show is always a good thing, and his screen presence helps make Roan an intriguing character. At this point he’s a mysterious kidnapper with a backstory about his banishment from Ice Nation which I really wanted to learn BUT THAT WE NEVER LEARNED (what the hell was up with that?) and (twist!) we learn in the last scene that he’s the Prince of Azgeda. Clarke and Roan had quite an interesting dynamic throughout the show – thank god for once that the show didn’t try to do an “Enemies to lovers” storyline (though I bet that’s just because the show already had two popular Clarke ships to juggle) but rather “Enemies to allies who are not exactly friends, definitely not romantic at all, who kind of bond and respect each other but are constantly trying to politically manipulate each other”.

Bellamy wanting to immediately run to save Clarke, the moment he saw that she had been kidnapped, and then dressing himself as an Azgeda warrior and going into enemy territory to rescue her, is a far cry from his behavior in 1x12 when he was able to be calm and rational about Clarke (and Finn and Monty) being kidnapped and presumed dead. It shows how much his feelings for her had become stronger since. In season 1, only the concern for his sister’s safety could make him have such a reaction. But he typically doesn’t make his best decision when he lets his emotions completely rule him and acts that impulsively, and in this case, his unsuccessful rescue attempt only made things worse, as it alerted Roan he was being followed, and made Clarke stop fighting and let Roan take her to his destination.

But it’s not just Bellamy who would “do anything for her, to protect her”, Clarke is equally determined to protect him at any cost, and we’ve seen evidence of that many times, including this time – when she begs Roan to spare Bellamy’s life and promises to do anything and stop fighting if he does. At the time, she believed Roan was taking her to Queen Nia to be executed, so she was basically ready to offer her life for his.

When I first saw that scene, I thought “Oh wow, show, you are really doing this? This must be the most romantically-coded scene in anything ever.” Before even starting to binge the show, I was always spoiled on the fact that Clarke and Bellamy are not a romantic couple to date and that people debate whether they’re just friends or not, and I always knew people shipped them, but that didn’t mean much since fans will ship anything (Broadchurch fans even ship the leads from that show, and they are genuinely nothing but platonic partners). So one of the bigger surprises of my initial binge was that the show is so blatant about this romantic subtext (which is more like text, a lot of the time), and has been since season 1, but they were relatively subtle with it at first and then more and more obvious as seasons went by. Maybe it jumps at you more when you’re binging it. In any case, this scene – the soft music, Bellamy touching Clarke’s hair, the way they look at each other after meeting for the first time after 3 months, Clarke begging for his life – it all looked like it was straight from some epic medieval-themed romance. I later heard people compare it to Tangled, but I’ve never seen that movie (it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen any Disney cartoons). But I’ve recently happened upon gifsets that compare that scene to a scene from Tangled:

` Woah, they really did this. They modelled that scene after the scene where Rapunzel’s love interest tries to rescue her. And it’s not the last time they keep doing that and have used every goddamn romantic trope for the Bellamy/Clarke relationship. Is Jason Rothenberg for real? How do you do stuff like this, over and over, and then go in interviews: “Weeell, it’s Rorschah test, you can see this or you can see that, I mean maybe, but maybe they are just best buddies, ya know?” LMAO

Knowing about the Tangled reference suddenly makes me realize, they’re kind of doing this whole story as Rapunzel in reverse. We have our golden haired heroine who’s a target for her supposed special powers, and. Clarke finds herself as a literal Princess in the Tower at the end of this episode, and remains that for half of season 3. But while Rapunzel was trapped in the tower to begin with and wanted to escape and be free to see the world, Clarke was running away from the world, then got kidnapped and brought to the tower, and then decided to stay there.

And what a freaking huge tower it is – I didn’t know the full significance of it (that it’s the former Polaris space station) when that reveal was the last moment of the episode. This thing must have been a great strategic asset, you’d have seen any army approaching from miles away.

I love the last scene, which is the first meeting Clarke and Lexa after season 2, because Clarke’s rage – spitting into Lexa’s face and yelling that she’s going to kill her, while she’s dragged away – is such a fitting and relatable reaction to the betrayal at Mount Weather, and, maybe even more, to the way Lexa starts talking to her without apologizing or even mentioning their history, being all business instead and talking about the current political situation and how Clarke can help her in that department. I didn’t even notice this before, but while Clarke just glares at Lexa at first and stays silent, it was when Lexa said “I need you” that Clarke spat in her face and went ballistic. It’s interesting to compare that to 3x05, when Bellamy had a bad reaction to Clarke telling him “I need you” in a similar context. It’s not the same thing, of course, because Clarke had not betrayed Bellamy (even if he may have kind of felt otherwise), but it’s a similar “I’ll just ignore our history – there’s nothing personal and painful to talk about here, la la la – let’s instead just talk about how you can help me stop the war” approach.

I now love that scene even more because it’s the last time Clarke shows anger for the next two seasons. Or rather, she shows the same anger early on in the next episode in her conversation with Lexa and then when she was planning to kill her before changing her mind, but from that point on, there’s a shift in Clarke’s characterization that I’ve never liked. She was always smart, pragmatic, caring, vulnerable and good at using her words to convince people, but she also used to be vibrant, edgy, held grudges before finding a way to forgive people, and could be very impulsive. But in season 3, after the first couple of episodes, she kind of became a lot mellower and blander, and remained that way throughout season 3 and in season 4 (even though there’s otherwise a lot I like about her arc in season 4), where she would do ruthless things and feel sad about it and say “Sorry” a lot while other people told her she sucks, she would cry and look sad, but never ever show any anger herself. I really found myself wishing for her to finally show some anger at some point, at anyone, for any reasons, or go off and stop repressing her feelings and scream about her pain, break things, do something. I finally did get some of that – in 5x01 when she screamed at fate for taking everything away from her, and then, boy, did I get what I was wishing for in 5x09 – her slapping Bellamy and her silent but deadly rage/heartbreak at what she perceived as his betrayal, was the first time she had that kind of reaction to a person since her rage at Lexa in 3x02/3x03. (Unpopular opinion: I prefer season 5 Clarke to season 3 Clarke. Sure, season 5 Clarke was a total mess and reached rock bottom in many ways, but she was a more interesting and edgier mess. )

The B storylines were good, too. This is the first time we actually get to see what “the City of Light” looks like and learn about how it works. After Gideon, the big dude with a facial disfigurement, is killed by Emori in self-defense, we see him again in the “City of Light”, where he’s removed his disfigurement and can be a “normal” person rather than a “freak”. In later episodes, we see that Otan has done the same, but only Emori will not change herself physically, because she doesn’t have a problem with her body, just with the way others react to it, making her an outcast over it.

Nice to see Nyko again, one of my favorite minor characters. Unlike so many other people in this show, he’s always both nice and rational. When Abby, Jackson, Lincoln and Octavia took him to Mount Weather to find resources to cure him, and Lincoln was concerned because Grounders could have a problem with Arkers moving into Mount Weather because of their history with the place, Nyko pointed out “Places are not evil, people are.” The whole idea of the Arkers not being allowed to move into Mount Weather is stupid, knowing that the place had all those resources.

The show tried to give us bad vibes about Arkers moving into Mount Weather (which they absolutely had right to – they conquered it, so by the very rules of a warrior culture like the Grounder one, they could lay claim to it) with the talk from Octavia and Lincoln about how Grounders would have a problem with it because of bad memories. But that was just a red herring. Moving into Mount Weather turned out to be bad for a very different reason. We now know that at least the leaders of Ice Nation didn’t give a damn about their bad history with the Mountain Men, since they were working with Emerson.

What the heck was Abby thinking when she took Jasper to Mount Weather? She’s not a psychiatrist (did they even have psychiatrists on the Ark?) but I don’t think taking him back to the place of his greatest trauma is a good way to help his mental health. At least we get a nice scene for the Octavia/Jasper friendship, where she is comforting him while he remembers Maya, looking at her favorite painting, Second Circle of Hell by Dante. (The second circle of hell is for those guilty of lust... Is that why Jasper said it was ironic? Because he and Maya just kissed once and never got the chance to have sex?

Timeline: It seems that Parts One and Two lasted a little less than two days – Part One started during the day, Clarke spent a night with Niylah and immediately left in the morning, and Part Two took place during the following day.

Body count:

Three Ice Nation warriors killed by Roan

A bounty hunter killed by Bellamy to save Niylah

Gideon, killed by Emori– but still “alive” in the City of Light

I don’t know if this counts for this episode, since it actually happened after the Farm Station landed on the ground, so somewhere around the season 1 finale and early season 2, but we only learn it now: about 120-130 people from the Farm station were killed since they landed (there are 63 Farm Station survivors, but Kane said the station initially had three times that number). A lot of them, including 15 children, were killed by the Ice Nation right after they landed, and Monty’s father, who saved four children, was killed when trying to save another one. I assume that some of the Farm Station people died fighting the Ice Nation in the woods, and that they also killed an unknown number of Azgeda people during that time. (Technically, this all happened during the timeline of season 2 and between the seasons.)

Rating: 8.5/10

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sextonsharpwinhalstead · 6 years ago

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Chicago Med Review 4x1 “Be My Better Half”

We have waited for this day for three months. I can admit that I was not nearly as excited for the beginning of this season because frankly the finale was lackluster, but there was intrigue drummed up over the last few weeks as the apparent lack of Rachel Dipillo on the show’s cover art had fans confused and worried. A worry that was quickly accelerated by the absence of Dipillo at the One Chicago Day press junket. No questions were asked about her absence and it was as if we were living in a twilight zone where she had never existed. Then came the interviews given by Frolov stating that Sarah chooses to leave Chicago after the collapse of her father and the jarring news of what he may have done and who he really was.

Desperate fans like myself were in denial. Never had we seen an actor on Med exit be handled this way. Could she be leaving just to come back and rejoin the ED staff we all thought she should’ve been apart of to begin with? Alas no, the episode segues right after Sarah watches a hesitant Daniel Charles leering over her father as he screams for a crash cart, however the damage is done. Daniel finally admits he has been holding back information from Sarah and the next scene is she and Dr. Charles leading investigators to Bob’s storage unit. Then we finally see Sarah’s feelings toward Daniel and it’s expected but it calls into so many ethical questions on Daniel’s part that Sarah cannot get past. She transfers the rest of her residency to Baylor and has Noah retrieve her belongings, so she doesn’t have to face anyone else.

Because of this exit there are no big heartfelt goodbyes, hugs, or reminiscent moments between Sarah and any of the other characters who cared about her. This is a slap in the face to the first season of bonding we saw with Sarah and well…everyone. But maybe that’s the point. To have all that weight and emotional labor left on Daniel’s shoulders. He will now have to be the sole person to tell everyone why she left, and she made sure at least one person knew so he can’t even really be too vague on the reason. He must be honest which means bringing up the ethical dubiousness of his actions and calling into question his character. Is he the patient, gentle, caring, Head of Psychiatry or a controlling megalomaniac who was always teetering on the edge of full-on villainy? I don’t know and neither does Daniel, he goes back and forth between drinking, crying privately, and lashing out the staff, then shamefully apologizing. One thing is for certain is that the show hasn’t decided a hundred percent either, as he looks like a deer caught in the headlights at the very mention of his actions and of course that incredibly explosive exchange between him and an infirmed and incarcerated Bob Haywood. Only time will tell but this is not the last we’ve heard of this issue.

The second meatiest story was a surprise. In Colin Donnell’s words; Connor leaving was Med’s “worst kept secret” this season and it took the wind out of the sails of the reveal. I do find it extremely odd that he brought up a hybrid operating room when Ethan was the first person to understand and remedy the solution of patient death in ED in the mass shooting episode This Is Now. The idea should’ve been thrown around then, but they needed an excuse for him to stay. An excuse that was nearly undermined by the new COO. Heather Headley plays Gwen Garrett who is shaping up to be a clear adversary for Sharon and anyone who comes between her and the bottom line: first on the chopping block; Dr. Stohl. Maybe his termination will also cause the conversation to pivot to Sarah’s absence. However, Ava, who has been poorly burying her feelings for Connor, set to rectify the financial quandary by going to daddy war bucks himself. Listen, I did NOT see this coming. But she pulled it off after telling him she would have dinner with him; an invitation she’d declined last season. I wonder if dinner is the only exchange that was made. Knowing Med, it was, and the “betrayal” will come from Connor realizing that Ava masterminded his stay. But that would just show she cared. I hope for the drama, “I screwed your father for money, so you’d stay…because I love you?” Lawd this mess is my favorite kind, but knowing Med it’ll be the former. Regardless, the move will have consequences as we see Gwen and Sharon going head to head as the season progresses. Ava’s consquences I’m not sure.

Now the rest.

The Manstead engagement. Talk about anti-climactic. The actors showed behind the scenes clips of themselves and a shiny bauble could be seen on Torrey Devitto’s finger. She did make Will wait a week, a good reason considering how hasty the proposal came. But they can’t be too happy. Will wants a big wedding to honor his love, Catholic roots, and share it with everyone. Natalie has already been there done that and she understands that in the end the marriage truly is the part that matters. I know everyone has heard that, but I have to side with Natalie. You’ll have pictures and think about it here and there but as your memory of the day fades the challenges marriage throws your way will dwarf that one event. Instead you’ll reminisce on the feelings you had before you said I do and the jubilation of the coming years after the wedding before life and indifference changes the marriage. Will doesn’t know it because he hasn’t been married. In the end she met him halfway showing that she’s had some growth but the whole story was kind of lame, but I know it’s setting up to some drama between them in the coming episodes, so I’ll be patient.

Chexton, Sextoi, whatever your fancy has been driving me up the wall since last season. I honestly cannot tell if Ethan and April are truly broken up. Can you? Emily has been on the mend for at least 3 months and now she wants to make amends. I’m okay with that but I’m confused that April isn’t. She could’ve opted for Ethan to leave her out of the situation and still carry on with their relationship, but she drew a hard line in the sand…which is weird considering how much family and closeness and forgiveness means to her. In the end she agreed to meet with Emily at Connor’s party and she seemed receptive. I like that the writers acknowledged that it was April who was Emily’s biggest cheerleader and she indeed did let her down. Then came the bombshell. Emily is pregnant. If she had been a man I feel like Ethan would’ve physically attacked her. Since when is that the appropriate response? Also, addiction is equally if not more so challenging than parenthood. There is no upside to being addicted to drugs and alcohol and gambling. It’s just weird that he was quick to dismiss her and even think about suggesting abortion when he was even quicker to try and help her through her battles with addiction. On one hand I can understand the disappointment but she’s pregnant not using drugs. However, this revelation pulled April back in. Her catholic beliefs shut down that conversation fast. This is the same conversation that spawned the Chexton ship. The two of them arguing over pro-life/pro-choice points of view. We are full circle but depending on how this situation plays out it could get incredibly messy. What if Bernie isn’t happy and the stress pushes Emily to start using again. If the fetus is compromised do you keep going? April had that dilemma and it nearly broke her. I can see a very rich milieu for ethical conversations if they don’t Med it up and get lazy.

Last but not least our new characters.

James “Jimmy” Lanik had one line this episode and that was to introduce Daniel to the new medical students. There’s some irony and poetry there but I digress. There’s been some leaks that he will be the eyes and ears for Gwen as he was brought on by her and allegiance lies there. Gwen, who we met already is shrewd and calculating and doesn’t bat in eye at frying any fish she deems worthy of dinner.

Finally, the two new medical students Terry McNeal and Elsa Curry. Although it has yet to be revealed Terry is an ex-football player who decided to walk away from lucrative professional contract to become a doctor. He’s stumbling and has his proverbial ass handed to him by Dr. Charles, he cannot identify nor shoot off solutions in rapid succession like his classmate Elsa. However, Elsa is not interested in treating patients she has the knowledge but lacks the bedside manner. I enjoyed her character as it’s not one we’ve seen before. Sure, Sarah Reese wasn’t confident that she wanted to be in the ED, but Elsa KNOWS she does not want to work with people. Not to mention the actress did a spot-on job with the character. She feels real. Although I am curious to find out the reasoning behind Terry’s career change his bumbling is not unlike Noah or Sarah in their third years as students. In other words, been there done that.

In summation this was a strong premiere I know better than to continue to expect consistency from Med but at least this episode the writers showed the better half of their abilities.

#chicago med #chicago med review #be my better half #4x01

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seenashwrite · 6 years ago

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Changes for Nash

I'm going to be pulling back the time I spend on here in various ways, and if you'd like to know in what ways you can find the basic scoop below the cut.

To new followers - I hate that you've arrived just in time to see this, but I must hit “pause” and look after myself. Story-wise (and otherwise!) there's quite a bit of original content to peruse, so I hope this will satisfy you for the time being.

To all of the Nashooligans - please understand this does not mean I won't still post things and queue things. I've got a ton of stuff in drafts (thank you notes, replies, feedback, etc.) that will get posted in due time. I'm not disappearing. I'm not dropping the friendships I've made and the chats we have/the things we share/etc., nor a couple of challenges I agreed to and the side-blog projects I’ve committed to work on with others.

For those of you who don't read further, I'll close for you with a heartfelt...

Much lurve - Nash.

What’s changing / stopping:

I've been doing some purging offline, and now have starting doing some purging online. As there are many of you I consider friends and as I have a good chunk of devoted readers/participants in my shenanigans around here, I feel I owed you the scoop on what's changing (at least for now).

The TL;DR is that “major” original content (things that require great time investment) are not going to be making an appearance for the near future.

So, here are the things related to how I am choosing to spend my time in the context of my activity in the world of fanfic/SPN for the future/near future:

* Some projects are indefinitely on hold and some projects are cancelled altogether (see freshly updated Works In Progress post); I will fulfill my remaining challenge commitments as promised, and while perhaps it will be more abbreviated than normal, I will do my best not to kick out anything less than what y’all expect from me creativity-wise

* I've pulled everything from FF.net - the user end is too cumbersome, I'm tired of wasting time on it. I've left everything up on AO3, no plans to take it down from there. I've actually been going through the works there and editing formatting that slipped through the cracks. One thing I am doing is ceasing with adding cute images to stuff, simply not willing to spend the time on it; I may or may not remove the things for which images are necessary to understanding references in a story; we'll see

* Speaking of images - and videos and gifs and whatnots - no more any time soon; I promised one to someone and that’s already done, it’ll be stuck in the Q

* The Nail is on indefinite hold, very possibly will no longer happen; I may whip up an abbreviated version with the fics I had prepped for the next edition, or I'll individually reblog them - priority going to those with less than 100 notes - with brief versions of my usual in depth commentary as time permits; we'll see

* CASPN has been a commitment of mine each week > 1 year, minus the 3 weeks or so absence in the fall due to an injury that resulted in an unexpected hospital stay; I know this is a favorite weekly "break" for a good handful of you; I think I just need my own break. I know for sure I'm no longer able/willing to work on the decks, it is likely more of a time-suck than people realize to comb scripts, get the format for workable Qs and As right, maintain the whole shebang, etc.; bottom line: I just don't know. Like I say, I think I need a hiatus. Maybe until the season premiere. I'll keep thinking about it, let you know on Thursday where I'm at.

* The couple of side blog endeavors I’m pleased to be part of will still keep happening, I committed to it and I’m not gonna leave y’all in a lurch. Plus, that stuff’s fun, and not being in charge of ‘em means less stress and less time consumption

* Having said that, I won't be finishing up the substantial behind-the-scenes work I’ve already done on the SPN Theft Watch blog that is still in construction mode; I'm not deleting it, I'm just not willing to invest time in it right now. I still have several outstanding issues to deal with regarding the personal theft that came over to Tumblr and the reblogs that still have not been deleted. There are a few I still need to give a second notice to; the ones who have now ignored me after 2x, I'm reporting

* I won't be taking on "Dear Nash" things that ask for writing advice, offering up the "Dear Nash: Script Doctor Edition" option, re-blogging any of my writing tips; to the Nonners who asked for a complete master post of such, and the Nonners who asked for a post on how to give and accept critique, I'm putting those on the back burner as well; I also won't be passing along writing tips from professionals; basically nothing under the umbrella of “advice” [ETA: I have done this once since this post (months later) and it went okay. Will consider doing again]

ETA - Neglected to mention that I’ve had an idea for a gift for y’all when/if I hit 1K followers - the “materials” have been accumulating in a bookmark folder - and it’s unlike anything/any concept I’ve seen during my tenure in the fandom. It may take awhile, but I do still plan on doing it.

And if you care to know more scoop about the why... well, the “why” of the tipping point(s) that made me seriously ponder on what I’ve been feeling for awhile now... that’s on a page I made here.

(Spoiler alert: I’m not angry, there’s no hurt fee-fees, it’s just realization about what I choose to spend my time on and what I get out of those things, how much joy it would bring me and how that’s shifted.)

#Nash Alerts The Populous #The Nashooligans #Nash Ponders #Nash Makes Changes #time management #life balance #perspective #priorities #Queueby Dooby Doo #Dad's on a blog post and #he hasn't been queued in a few days

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 6 years ago

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Hypothetical Agents of SHIELD Season 6 premiere

* To start off, Clark Gregg’s status is reduced from main cast to recurring, unfortunately. In his place, Enoch, Agent Davis, and Agent Piper are all upgraded to main cast.

SPACE SUBPLOT A (TEAM SHIELD)

We pick up months after the end of season 5. Daisy, Simmons, Yo-Yo, Mack, Davis, and Piper are still wandering the galaxy, searching for Enoch’s pod. Everyone is anxious to find Fitz but are unsure on what they’ll find. Secretly, Daisy is reluctant to find Fitz due to his actions as the Doctor but keeps this to herself.

The team eventually finds Enoch’s pod but when they go to investigate, they discover it’s EMPTY. There are signs of a struggle everywhere but no blood. Mack theorizes that Enoch was attacked by pirates.

With no other clues to go on, the team calls it quits on the search since they’ll have to scour the entire galaxy at this point. Simmons angrily tells them that they’re giving up on family but the team votes against her. Just as they’re about to head back to Earth, they pick up on a distress signal. The team investigates and finds an abandoned cruiser just floating aimlessly.

When the team boards, they come across a little girl (let’s say, around 11-14 years old) with platinum blond hair. The team takes her onboard the ship. The girl reveals her name is “Kobik” and that she has no memory of what happened on the ship and how she even got there. Cautious, Daisy suggests putting Kobik in the brig. Mack and Elena, however, immediately get attached to Kobik and volunteer to watch over her.

As the team heads back to Earth, they are attacked by a group of Ravager pirates. The ship is boarded and the team is ordered to surrender all their prized possessions. We get a kickass fight scene where Daisy and Yo-Yo go through the Ravagers but the fight ends with Kobik killing every single Ravager. Turns out, she has some sort of reality-bending ability and is so powerful that she wipes the entire Ravager crew out with a flick of her wrist.

Kobik puts herself back in the brig as the SHIELD team watches her, horrified.

SPACE SUBPLOT B (FITZ)

Fitz wakes up onboard a Ravager ship. Enoch is next to him. Fitz asks if they’re in the far future and Enoch says, “It’s only been a little over a year.” Enoch then tells him they’ve been captured by Ravagers and they’re on their way to Knowhere to be sold to slavery.

Fitz demands to see the crew. The crew is revealed to be a three-person team (who will all be recurring this season). The team consists of;

1) Captain Jacqueline “Jack Knife” Nife. Jack is the head of the ship and is supposed to be an anti-Jemma Simmons. By anti-Jemma Simmons, I mean that she has similar features, is also British, and has a knack for biochemistry BUT is a completely immoral thief.

2) Tre Owens, Jack’s lead navigator and second-in-command. He’s a former Nova Corps officer who was dishonorably discharged for police brutality.

3) Att-Lass aka Captain Atlas, Jack’s pilot. He is a former Kree captain who is on the run for deserting during the Kree-Nova War.

Jack tells Fitz that it’s nothing personal and that he should be thankful that they didn’t just kill him. As Fitz and Enoch resign themselves to their fate, the engine on the ship blows up. Jack, Tre, and Att-Lass try their best to repair it but find that the damage is beyond their expertise.

Enoch immediately speaks up and says that Fitz is a world-class engineer. Jack takes a chance and lets Fitz out, leading to a tense sequence where Fitz, Enoch, and the Ravagers repair the engine. As the team stops by a supply station to replace the engine, Jack has a change of heart. She says that her last engineer died during a fight with the Nova Corps and that the position is open.

Fitz agrees, knowing that the alternative is worse. He asks to be placed back into cryo and Jack, despite saying that it’s a weird request, accepts...on one condition. Fitz must help her with her biggest job yet before she’ll place him back in a cryo chamber.

Fitz asks what the job is and Jack says her employer lost one of his most prized possessions. An object of cosmic energy known as the COSMIC CUBE. When Fitz asks how they’ll find it, Jack replies, “Just follow the trail of death and destruction”.

EARTH SUBPLOT (MAY)

This one is pretty short. It’s been a few weeks since Coulson passed away. Alone again, May returns to the US...only to encounter Coulson. She’s completely baffled but when she goes to talk to him, “Coulson” has no memory of anything that happened beyond his death in the Avengers. May worries that this is a rogue LMD but is shocked when Coulson passes the human test.

May concludes that she’s going crazy. But then we get the end-tag (post-credit?) of the episode. We cut to an Advanced Idea Mechanics lab, where a scientist is keeping an eye on May. He says to bring her in and then we get a shot of his lab. The lab is filled with Coulson clones, all dormant in their pods.

PLOT POINTS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON

* Our main villains of the season is Advanced Idea Mechanics. It’s revealed that they were contacted by Nick Fury as a backup plan to TAHITI. If they couldn’t bring an Avenger back to life, they could always clone them. Even Coulson didn’t known about this.

* Specifically, our Big Bad will be Lola, Coulson’s former lover who inherited A.I.M. after Aldrich Killian’s death. She’s angry at SHIELD for letting Coulson die. When she learns about Kobik, she kidnaps her (let’s say around episode 9 or 10) and forces her to bend reality in order to bring him back and to create a world in her image.

* Kobik IS the Cosmic Cube, but in human form

* Mack and Elena’s arc is that they adopt Kobik. Elena wants to settle down with Mack while Mack still has grim flashbacks about his daughter Hope. Through Kobik, they hope to prove that they could be good parents. By the end of the season, Kobik is formally adopted by them and she takes on the name “Skye Mackenzie-Rodriguez”. Kobik says that Daisy wasn’t using the Skye name, thus she took it.

* Jack and Enoch become SHIELD agents (or at least, a member of the SHIELD family) at the end of the season.

* Coulson clone is the big death of the season. He destroys the remaining Coulsons before dying himself. Before he does, he tells May that he was never the real Coulson and that she needs to move on with her life.

* Jack’s employer is revealed to be the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire at the end of the season.

* Fitz and Simmons get married again, this time officiated by the Ravagers.

* The finale features Mack and Elena getting hurt by A.I.M., leading to a Carrie-esque rampage sequence where Kobik takes her anger out on A.I.M.

#Agents of shield #Daisy Johnson #leo Fitz #Jemma Simmons #Phil Coulson #Melinda May #Alphonso Mackenzie #Elena Rodriguez #AOS #Fitzsimmons #maos #quake #aos season 6 #kobik #kree #aos speculation #enoch

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jazy3 · 7 years ago

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Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy Episode: 14X24 Season Finale

Here we go! Wow this episode was big and a lot of fun. As a finale I really liked it. We haven’t had, or maybe we've never had, a happy finale episode. I loved how cheerful this episode! I forgave Grey’s for a lot in this episode. Particularly in the Zola and Sofia department. Fashion Report! Everyone looked gorgeous! I loved Maggie’s orange dress! All the flower prints on Arizona and April were stunning. Meredith looked fierce as always in that sky blue colour that she always rocks! I loved Jo’s glitter heels!

I was glad to see April doing better. When Zola appeared on screen I was SO SO happy! I was thinking Yes we’re going to FINALLY get a Zola and Sofia scene!!! And then it was revealed that Zola was going to be a flower girl at Uncle Alex and Aunt Jo’s Wedding! Awwwwww! I loved Zola and Meredith’s conversation and Zola’s speech about how love is not like candy. Especially since Zola is the only one of their kids who truly remembers him. I love how much Mer’s kids care about her and how much she cares about them. Zola misses Derek, but she wants her Mommy to be happy like Alex and Jo. I love how they’re continuing the Meredith opening herself up to life after Derek storyline. Now all we need is for Nick to come back!!!

When Mer and Alex arrived at the wedding and we FINALLY got a Zola and Sofia scene I cried! YEAH ZOLA AND SOFIA!!! They are still best friends! The way Sofia runs up and grabs her hand and they run off together to cause trouble and have fun! My heart! The way Sofia screams Hi! And Zola screams it back! They’re wearing matching outfits! They’re joint flower girls! Awww! I loved how Meredith let Zola run off without a second thought or glance. They’ve known each other so long she knows she doesn’t have to worry about her. I also loved that Zola and Sofia found another play date! I loved that Zola wound up being Alex and Jo’s flower girl and Sofia would up being April and Matthew’s.

I loved how Mommy Chief Dr. Arizona Robbins is all over Alex like glue to make his day perfect. Alex is sad she’s leaving of course. Aw Alex trying to say thank you. My heart! Jo got into Mass Gen! I’m super happy for her, but super sad for Mer. What is it with Meredith’s luck and Boston? Back to Owen, Amelia, Leo, and Betty and the super unrealistic storyline. Betty’s 30 days clean! Good for her! I really like the actor who plays her. Owen is such a Dad with that fist bump! DAMN!!! Bailey’s got MONEY!!!! Get it gurrrrl! YAAAAAS QUEEN!!! Bailey make that green! Make that greeeeen! You deserve it Queen! YES!

Haha April’s got jokes! Sofia looked so beautiful! My first thought was, “So that’s what the church was for!” But then I thought wait Jo said she didn’t want a church wedding? What is going on? And then a thought this place seems a bit religious for Alex and Jo. A cross? And then I went um who the heck are these people? And then I realized at the same time as the characters ohhhhhh! They’re at the wrong wedding! LOL!!! Haha I couldn’t stop laughing. Laughter really is the best medicine! And Of Course there’s a medical emergency at the church wedding! They’re lucky the Grey Sloan team was there.

And we find out that April quit to more fully do God’s work after her near death experience and Jackson is struggling with his promise to a God he doesn’t believe in. This episode seems to take place about a month after the previous one. I liked that they wrapped up April’s storyline by having her work to give free medical care to Seattle’s homeless. A very worthy cause. It fits her well. I liked Matthew proposing and them getting married. I was hoping/thinking she ended up with Koracick, but this is nice too. I like that she ends up with someone who shares her faith who she’s not fighting with all the time.

I’m still confused as to how Qadri got an invite to the wedding. She isn’t particularly close to any of the attendings or residents. Same with Parker. I HATED the wedding coordinator. She was awful and stupid. They explained why Glasses was there as Helm’s plus one in the previous episode which I understood. Helm being there made sense. Although Glasses was straight up annoying this whole episode. Also why were DeLuca and Carina invited? DeLuca even mentions this when he gets there. He isn’t their friend, he’s an ass. In real life you would NOT invite this jerk to your wedding. And he was a complete ass as usual. Also Carina and Arizona broke up. I get her being invited while they were together, but April knew they broke up so why was she kept on the guest list? And why did she go?

One of my favourite lines of the episode was, “She’s pretty sunny never mind.” Another favourite, “Why did we have to hire the hardest working musicians in the planet?” Also, “I think that shop has sailed.” I was disappointed that Jenny wasn’t there and that Stephanie wasn’t mentioned. Cristina and Callie were mentioned, but not Amber which disappointed me as well. I hated Arizona for most of this episode. After admitting that she’s been lying to everyone about, including herself, about the way in which her and Callie’s marriage broke down and Callie’s move to New York, she goes right back to lying again while drinking and no one calls her on it. This I will not miss.

I hate that Arizona keeps forgetting that SHE started the custody battle. Callie wanted to work it out she didn’t. She wouldn’t even talk to her about it. Same with their marriage after the plane crash and the cheating. That was ALL Arizona. Callie fought to make things work and she didn’t. Callie deserves better than this nonsense. I loved the scene with Jo and Alex! I like Alex reminding her that he’s not Paul. That she doesn’t have to live that way anymore. That’s not what their marriage is going to be about. And then Alex hotly kicking down that door! The two of them going to an abandoned shed to have sex and then getting locked in and finding a dead guy was both hilarious and heartwarming. When the wedding party turned into a search party! Haha. I love how Jo sees the silver lining in everything after all she’s been through.

And then Meredith came to the rescue as always. If they put her and DeLuca together next season I’m done. Can they write him out as well? I thought the medical emergency with the wedding coordinator was interesting, but unrealistic. She helped coordinate an entire wedding with somehow not knowing that they were all doctors. Also why didn’t she have an epi pen on her? Seems dangerous in her line of work. Also how do you accidently eat shrimp? Usually it is made obvious for that very reason. I loved that Bokhe was there with a straw! For April’s last episode this is epic! A finish in style!

Oh! And then there was the latter half of Teddy’s multi-episode arc! With a surprise twist! I didn’t see it coming. Teddy being pregnant with her and Owen’s baby and her moving back to Seattle to reconnect and let him know. I also really hated Owen in this episode. When questioned by Betty he called Amelia’s near fatal brain tumour a health scare. It wasn’t a health scare Owen. Her brain had a giant tumour that had been hanging out impairing her thinking for over 10 years. That’s not a scare that’s a reality. God he is such an ass. Can they write him off the show please?

I’d like to see some follow up with the dead guy in the shed next season. There are a lot of unanswered questions there. What if he’s related to the church family? I loved Bailey’s, “I want to take a sabbatical from stress!” speech. Bailey! Sing it! This speech from Bailey is everything. I loved the Ferry Boat Wedding for Alex and Jo! I’ve really liked the progression of Meredith and Jo’s friendship this season. I loved the boat scene with Alex and Meredith. Here’s to healthy relationships! I love Meredith’s speech about ferry boats and Derek and love and letting go. “I Super Do!” Awwwwwww. I love how Meredith has been Best Woman at both Alex’s weddings and his Officiant! Best Friends and Persons! The church couple got to be married and the bride’s mom got to see it through tablet! Love all around!

At the end of the episode my immediate thought was I want Season 15 to magically appear immediately! Or at the very least the Season 15 Premiere Promo! Ahhhhh!

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tkmedia · 3 years ago

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Premier League talking points: A tactical masterclass from Pep, more records for Mo and questions about Nuno

A thrilling weekend in the Premier League as more records tumble, frustrations rise and new heroes are created. Let’s get stuck into this week’s talking points. We might be only six rounds into the new season, but the Premier League has a number of exciting stories unfolding. The top four is looking like it could go all the way down to the wire, newcomers are fighting hard to avoid a relegation battle and old rivals like Arsenal and Tottenham are battling for bragging rights. It was another great weekend of action with lots to talk about. Pep reminds us Man City are more than just a big bank balance There was plenty of talk ahead of the Chelsea vs Man City game about how Thomas Tuchel had mastered beating Pep Guardiola’s side, given Chelsea had beaten Man City three times in 2021 – including the Champions League final. Tuchel has also helped Chelsea become an almost unbreakable wall in defence, with his side registering 15 clean sheets and conceding only 14 goals in the Premier League since January. But this weekend, Guardiola reminded the league he is much more than a good handler of super stars – he’s a genuine tactical genius. He set his side up perfectly to take on the Blues at home, with Rodri playing a great game in midfield where he was able to knit the whole team together seamlessly. Advertisement The way Man City pressured Chelsea, especially as the the home side tried to play their way out of defence, showed how carefully Guardiola had prepared his team – and Chelsea couldn’t cope. It was somewhat alarming that a team as good as Chelsea couldn’t adjust and the fact they weren’t able to fire a single shot on target in the 90 minutes will give Tuchel something to think about. Having earned a crucial three points, Man City continue a crucial week as they travel to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League before heading to Anfield to go up against Liverpool in the Premier League at the weekend. A win in Paris isn’t essential, but it would be useful. A win over Liverpool would really help their Premier League aspirations and six points from away games against their title rivals in the space of seven days would put them in a great position. "???????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????????????????. ???????? ???????????????????????????? ????????. They've got Lukaku and Werner yet they persisted with this!" ????️ This is how Pep Guardiola finally got one over Thomas Tuchel.#PL #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/R2SxPkWE1x — Optus Sport (@OptusSport) September 26, 2021 Could Nuno Espírito Santo be the first managerial casualty of the season? The season is only six games old, but already there is talk about a change in management at Spurs after Nuno Espírito Santo took responsibility for his side’s dire performance against their North London rivals, Arsenal. “The performance was not good. The game plan was not good. The decisions were not good. So it was not a good day for us. Definitely not a good day,” Nuno said after the match in an interview with Sky Sports. Advertisement The Gunners had won the game before half time with three goals that would have delighted their fans. The passing and build up play sliced the Tottenham defence to pieces and Spurs had absolutely nothing to offer in return. Harry Kane is having a poor start to the season – he’s goalless after six rounds and has only managed four shots on target and zero assists. While the England striker has attracted plenty of criticism for his blunt attacking form, it’s important to note he’s not being provided with any high quality service at the moment. Time and again, the Spurs approach was to play long balls from defence and hope Kane could somehow create a chance. The midfield was missing in action and, as Tim Sherwood explained for Optus Sport, “they’re not brave enough to play through the midfield areas. The biggest damning stat I saw today is that Tottenham side have run less than any team in the Premier League. They haven’t got any energy.” Former Liverpool legend Graeme Souness didn’t hold back when asked about Tottenham’s performance. “Spurs in that first half were shocking, Arsenal were fabulous. But Spurs? Shocking. I was surprised how bad they were.” With Tottenham having lost their past three games by an overall score of 9-1, Santo is coming under pressure. Steve Sidwell, former Premier League midfielder for Chelsea, Aston Villa and Brighton feels coach Nuno is struggling to connect with his team. “When I look at Spurs, I just don’t see a chemistry between the squad and manager,” he said. Vintage Arsenal football. Champagne Arsenal football. Unforgettable Arsenal football ???? From Aaron Ramsdale to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the back of Tottenham's net in 15 seconds. LIVE | https://t.co/prbi84K2ht #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/zuhJKXwSCw — Optus Sport (@OptusSport) September 26, 2021 Advertisement Brentford spoil Liverpool’s day as Mo gets another record Jurgen Klopp will have some thinking to do as he plans his team to play Man City next weekend after Brentford made his usually solid back four look like a nervous bunch of kids. Brentford – newly promoted this year – showed their fans won’t need to worry about a relegation battle and are becoming an away trip that even the top teams will be nervous about. Liverpool took the lead twice, but Brentford never stopped their direct style of attack and kept up their pressure game on the Reds defence. The approach kept working and twice the home side came from behind and richly deserved their point from the 3-3 draw. Mo Salah picked up another record in his long list of achievements as he became the fastest player to reach 100 top flight goals for Liverpool. But it was Brentford’s players who were celebrating after the game as they kept finding ways to trouble the Liverpool defence. Former Liverpool winger Steve McManaman gave credit to the performance from Brentford saying, “Liverpool, for the first time in a long time, looked really vulnerable at the back today. Every time the ball went forward, the Brentford players caused all kinds of panic in the Liverpool defence and they totally deserved a result.” It’s worth noting Brentford only had 32 per cent of the possession and, when they did have it, they didn’t sit back and try to cling onto their early goal lead. They kept pressing forward and finding ways to cause problems for one of the best defences in Europe. As mentioned, Liverpool will welcome Man City to Anfield in the next round and Klopp will be wondering if he needs to make some changes at the back. If the likes of Brentford can cause such chaos among his back four, what can a side like Man City do? Advertisement HISTORY for Mo Salah and Liverpool ???????????? The Egyptian King becomes the fastest player in Liverpool’s entire history to reach 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ English top-flight goals! ⚡ Stream LIVE or on demand ???? https://t.co/0MQuzHdRrY#OptusSport #PL #BRELIV pic.twitter.com/Nfha23fFYQ — Optus Sport (@OptusSport) September 25, 2021 Solskjaer’s complaints can’t distract from worrying week at home Aston Villa piled the pressure onto Manchester United as they managed to sneak a 0-1 win over the Red Devils just days after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by West Ham. Despite having had over 60 per cent of the ball and 28 shots on goal, United could only create four genuine shots on target and paid the price for their lack of accuracy as Villa scored a goal with just two minutes to go. Solskjaer would complain that the goal was offside, but the reality is that his side were wasteful with the opportunities they created. The lack of goals for the first 88 minutes was suddenly replaced by incredible tension as first Villa went ahead, before the home were given a penalty in the 93rd minute for a handball. Bruno Fernandes, however, sent the ball into orbit and as it flew over the crossbar. Fans and pundits alike could be heard asking why Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t take it. For all the attacking talent in the Man United stable, the focus should really be on their defence – which has struggled at home. They’ve conceded in every one of their last eight Premier League games – their worst record since 1972! Advertisement Former United midfielder, Owen Hargreaves, feels Solskjaer has to use his attacking flair with more confidence next time. “Play more attackers. Control the ball. Get closer to the opposition’s goal. Kill teams off,” was his recommendation. From brain surgery to celebration – Raul Jimenez is back! In November 2020, Raul Jimenez suffered a skull fracture and was told by doctors it was a miracle he had survived the injury. Ten months later, Jimenez scored his first Premier League goal since the injury and secured a crucial three points for Wolves that raised them out of the relegation zone. Opponents Southampton will be disappointed with the result – with 60 per cent of the possession and six shots on target they really shouldn’t have lost this one. But as happens so often, the game finds a way to delight us with a magical moment that defies the statistics. The Saints still haven’t won a game this season and have only managed four goals from the opening six rounds. This is cause for some serious concern. The way Jimenez scored the winner in the 61st minute was quite beautiful – he stepped and swerved his way through the Southampton defence before finishing perfectly to send the away fans wild. Raul Jimenez has his first Premier League goal in 336 days, and it means everything ???? The cut inside. The feint. The finish. The emotion. Glorious. LIVE | https://t.co/EOU6fPPgZP #OptusSport pic.twitter.com/Qq0stEQzhC — Optus Sport (@OptusSport) September 26, 2021 The Premier League and European competition qualification aren’t secured in the opening six rounds and there is a long way to go in the season. But we’re starting to get a feel for some of the themes that we’ll keep seeing week in week out. Do we really have a top four competing for the title or will one or two of the pretenders drift away? Can teams like Brighton and Everton hold on to their top ten spots or will they stumble? Do we already know the teams who will be scrapping it out in the relegation zone all season or can one of them put together some results to climb their way to safety? With another round of European club competition this week and some more interesting Premier League fixtures lined up for next week – including Man City at Liverpool – there will be plenty to talk about in seven days time. Read the full article

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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years ago

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SPEECH FOR CIVIC ORGANIZATION

February 4, 1949

��Speech for Civic Organization” (aka “Liz Debates Alaska in Town Forum”) is episode #29 of the radio series MY FAVORITE HUSBAND broadcast on February 4, 1949 on the CBS radio network.

Synopsis ~ Liz, anxious to win the approval of an important dinner guest, simply agrees with everything he says. The guest is so impressed with her intelligence that he invites her to be a speaker at his next civic forum.

“My Favorite Husband” was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942). “My Favorite Husband” was first broadcast as a one-time special on July 5, 1948. Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman played the characters of Liz and George Cugat, and a positive response to this broadcast convinced CBS to launch “My Favorite Husband” as a series. Bowman was not available Richard Denning was cast as George. On January 7, 1949, confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change to Cooper. On this same episode Jell-O became its sponsor. A total of 124 episodes of the program aired from July 23, 1948 through March 31, 1951. After about ten episodes had been written, writers Fox and Davenport departed and three new writers took over – Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh, and head writer/producer Jess Oppenheimer. In March 1949 Gale Gordon took over the existing role of George’s boss, Rudolph Atterbury, and Bea Benadaret was added as his wife, Iris. CBS brought “My Favorite Husband” to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from September 1953 through December 1955, running concurrently with “I Love Lucy.” It was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season filmed (ironically) at Desilu and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.

REGULAR CAST

Richard Denning (George Cooper) was born as Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr., in Poughkeepsie, New York. When he was 18 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles. Plans called for him to take over his father’s garment manufacturing business, but he developed an interest in acting. Denning enlisted in the US Navy during World War II. He is best known for his roles in various science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. Although he teamed with Lucille Ball on radio in “My Favorite Husband,” the two never acted together on screen. While “I Love Lucy” was on the air, he was seen on another CBS TV series, “Mr. & Mrs. North.” From 1968 to 1980 he played the Governor on “Hawaii 5-0″, his final role. He died in 1998 at age 84.

Ruth Perrott (Katie, the Maid) was also later seen on “I Love Lucy.” She first played Mrs. Pomerantz (above right), a member of the surprise investigating committee for the Society Matrons League in “Pioneer Women” (ILL S1;E25), as one of the member of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “Lucy and Ethel Buy the Same Dress” (ILL S3;E3), and also played a nurse when “Lucy Goes to the Hospital” (ILL S2;E16). She died in 1996 at the age of 96.

Gale Gordon (Rudolph Atterbury) and Bea Benadaret (Iris Atterbury) had not yet joined the cast as regular characters.

GUEST CAST

Frank Nelson (Mr. Barton) was born on May 6, 1911 (three months before Lucille Ball) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started working as a radio announcer at the age of 15. He later appeared on such popular radio shows as “The Great Gildersleeve,” “Burns and Allen,” and “Fibber McGee & Molly”. This is one of his 11 performances on “My Favorite Husband.” On “I Love Lucy” he holds the distinction of being the only actor to play two recurring roles: Freddie Fillmore and Ralph Ramsey, as well as six one-off characters, including the frazzled train conductor in “The Great Train Robbery” (ILL S5;E5), a character he repeated on “The Lucy Show.” Aside from Lucille Ball, Nelson is perhaps most associated with Jack Benny and was a fifteen-year regular on his radio and television programs.

Steve Allen (Scott Campbell, Expert on Alaska) was a talk show and variety host as well as a published composer. Although he was seen with Lucille Ball on awards and quiz shows, their first time acting together on screen didn’t come until 1978′s “Lucy Calls The President”. In 1980, Ball appeared on the premiere of “The Steve Allen Comedy Hour”. He died in 2000 at age 78.

TRIVIA: Madelyn Pugh and Bob Carroll Jr. were writers for the Steve Allen radio show and left that job to write for “My Favorite Husband.” They paid Allen to write his own show one week so they could focus on creating a script submission for “My Favorite Husband.”

EPISODE

ANNOUNCER: “As we look in on the Coopers tonight, they’ve settled down for a quiet evening at home. Liz has discovered an intelligence quiz in a magazine, but she’s having George’s attention, because he is lost in a gripping, blood-curdling murder mystery.”

George is reading “The Mummy’s Tummy” but Liz spoils the ending to get his attention. George can’t seem to answer any of the IQ questions correctly.

Q: “What is the name for the chemical formula H2S04?”

A: Sulfuric Acid

Q: “What does it say on the lid of a United States mailbox?”

A: Pull Down

Q: “For what was Ma Ferguson noted?”

A: The first woman Governor of Texas

George decides to quiz Liz, asking her a few questions.

Q: “What is the poop deck of the ship?”

Liz’s Answer: “The deck where the sailor’s rest when they’re pooped.”

Real Answer: “A raised portion of the rear deck.”

Q: “Does sound travel faster or slower in water than it does in air?”

Liz’s Answer: “Next question.”

Q: “Chicle is the main ingredient in chewing gum. Where is the largest deposit found?”

Liz’s Answer: “Under theatre seats.”

Liz realizes that they aren’t very smart and should probably do something about it. Dr. Guilfoyle, author of the quiz, suggests that a score under 50 needs to be addressed.

Liz is going to send for his book “How To Improve Yourself.”

LIZ: “Look at the people who recommend this book: Truman and Goldwyn.” GEORGE: “Harry Truman and Sam Goldwyn?” LIZ: “No, Sam Truman and Harry Goldwyn!”

Harry Truman (1884-1972) was the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt after his death. He implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established the Truman Doctrine and NATO. Sam Goldwyn (1879 -1974) was a film producer best known as the founder of several motion picture studios in Hollywood.

A few days later, the book has arrived and Katie the Maid notices Liz is engrossed in it. Liz states that the Doctor has three rules to impress people:

Learn Ten New Words a Day

Be a Good Listener

Have One Subject Down Cold So You Can Steer The Conversation Around To It

Liz’s has already got her ten new words and has put them in a sentence.

LIZ: “By assiduous application, I have promulgated a plethora of altruistic ubiquity and lugubrious perspicacity.”

The telephone rings, it is George telling Liz he is bringing home an important person named Mr. Barton, to dinner.

LIZ: “How important is he, George? Sirloin, T-bone, meatloaf, or hash?” GEORGE: “Strictly sirloin.”

George explains that Mr. Barton is the one who picks the speakers for the open forums in town. George wants to get picked to be one of the first speakers so he can impress his boss, Mr. Atterbury, and possibly land a raise. George warns Liz to be herself and not try to impress him.

Liz decides to enact rule #3 and cracks open an encyclopedia to pick the subject. Much to her surprise, the subject she randomly picks is bees! Walking up to the house that evening, Mr. Barton (Frank Nelson) confides in George that he is looking forward to meeting a simple housewife, since in his line of work the women are always trying too hard to impress him with their intellect. George introduces Liz to Mr. Barton, who immediately notices that her vocabulary is amped up. Unfortunately, Liz is using the wrong words most of the time, saying ‘plethora’ for ‘pleasure’ and ‘diversify yourself’ for ‘divert yourself.’

George assures a nervous Mr. Barton that Liz is ‘just an old fashioned girl’.

MR. BARTON: “Sounds like she’s had too many Old- Fashioneds!”

An Old Fashioned is a cocktail made by mixing sugar with bitters and water, adding whiskey or brandy, and garnishing with orange zest and a cocktail cherry. It is traditionally served in a special glass called an Old Fashioned glass. A variation on this wordplay was used on “I Love Lucy” in “Million Dollar Idea” (ILL S3;E13) in 1954 when Lucy (disguised as an average housewife selected at random) describes the taste of Aunt Martha’s Old Fashioned Salad Dressing to deliberately encourage buyers to cancel.

LUCY: “Looks like Aunt Martha had too many Old-Fashioneds!”

In the kitchen, George tells Liz to stop using fancy words, so Liz moves on to rule #3 - her special subject: bees! She no sooner starts buzzing about bees when she is chided by George.

GEORGE (sternly aside): “Liz! Haven’t you forgotten? Mr. Barton’s forum!” LIZ: “Well, I’m for ‘em, too!”

Coincidentally, Lucille Ball was one of several actors known as ‘Queen of the ‘B’s’ - which referred to ‘B’ pictures - films that were done quickly, on a budget, with lesser-known actors. In 1963′s “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (TLS S1;E19) Lucy suggests they sing about bees!

Mr. Barton tells George he is going to sponsor a Shakespearean Company, if they can convince the City Council to fund them.

LIZ: “To bee or not to bee!”

"To be, or not to be" is the opening of a soliloquy by Prince Hamlet in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. In the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide. It is one of the most quoted phrases in all of literature. To Be or Not to Be is a also the title of a 1942 film starring Lucille Ball’s good friend Carole Lombard and Jack Benny, who later became her next door neighbor. The plot concerns a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Poland. The film was released one month after Lombard was killed in an airplane crash.

George drags Liz into the hall again, warning her to stop talking about bees! After telling him to “mind his own beeswax”, Liz reluctantly agrees just to listen attentively and agree with everything Mr. Barton says. This works so well, that Mr. Barton barely acknowledges George, but only talks to Liz! He is so impressed by Liz, he offers to have her on the panel of their very first forum on Saturday night! She instantly agrees!

Two days later she learns that the forum’s topic is “the effect of jet propulsion and supersonic flight on the future of aviation.” But Liz is un-phased. She has been preparing by buying a new dress, which she tells George has ‘a dive bomb neckline.’

George and Liz role play to prepare for the forum. Against George’s advice, Liz intends to talk about the Wright Brothers!

Orville and Wilbur Wright were inventors and pioneers of aviation. In 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight; they surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical airplane.

At the meeting that night, Mr. Barton announces to the assembled crowd that their aviation expert, Colonel Davis, could not make it.

MR. BARTON: “He started her from Los Angeles, but he got slightly mixed up in a snowstorm and has just cabled us from Bombay, India.”

Bombay, India is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formerly renamed Mumbai in 1995 to better reflect the city’s roots and cut ties with its British origins. Coincidentally, a few months after this broadcast, the 1942 film Bombay Clipper was re-released. Although the Lucy gang never traveled to Bombay, it was mentioned in 1955′s “The Hedda Hopper Story” (ILL S4;E21) when everyone was looking for Mrs. McGillicuddy.

RICKY (Into phone): “Do you have any flights numbered 930? You do? Where's it coming in from? Bombay?” LUCY: “Bombay?” RICKY: “Well knowing your mother... No, even she wouldn't fly from New York to Los Angeles by way of India.”

Instead, Mr. Barton announces that the guest speaker is a famous authority on Alaska, Mr. Scott Campbell (Steve Allen). Unfortunately, Liz knows nothing about Alaska - so she starts to talk about the Wright Brothers instead!

In 1949 Alaska was not yet one of the United States, but was a US territory. The statehood movement gained its first real momentum in 1946 and Alaska was officially proclaimed a state on January 3, 1959. To mark this event, Desilu created a special episode of “The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” in which the Ricardos and Mertzes travel to Nome to cash in on a land deal, although no actual filming was done in the 49th state.

In 1952’s “Lucy Gets Ricky on the Radio” (ILL S1;E32) Lucy presciently (but incorrectly) answers the question “What was the last state to be admitted to the union?” by saying Alaska. At the time, the correct answer to the question was Arizona, admitted on Valentine’s Day 1912.

MR. BARTON: “No! When are you going to get to Alaska?” LIZ: “Let me get the plane invented and I’ll fly up there!”

With nothing else to talk about, Liz starts to talk about bees, but Mr. Barton quickly cuts her off and turns the podium over to Mr. Campbell, who launches into a serious speech about the welfare of the children of Alaska. He suddenly turns to Liz and asks “Who is responsible for these children, Mrs. Cooper?”

LIZ: “You really want me to answer that? Wilbur and Orville Wright!”

In the bedtime tag, it is 4 o’clock in the morning and Liz is eating crackers in bed. Wrestling them away from her, George gets cracker crumbs all over the bed. A few seconds later, Liz is eating an apple! George takes it from her. He hears her eating a third time and goes to grab whatever it is away from her.

GEORGE: “Whoah! What was that!” LIZ: “A glass of cold milk. Goodnight, George.”

End of Episode

Bob LeMond reminds listeners that Lucille Ball will soon be seen in the Paramount Picture Sorrowful Jones.

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