#this is s3e10: the audit

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Woke up with a burning need to witness Dorothy shouting at the top of her lungs, therefore I'm going to watch That Time When Dorothy And Stan Get Audited. Stay tuned.

[helpagirlout-lander]

With a resume spanning nearly thirty years, Graham’s got a REP!! This post got long REAL fast as you factor in he’s been spotted in (by my best count) 137 television episodes! He’s no stranger to film either and now a fan fave in more than one fandom. He’s the only actor to have worked with Sylvester Stallone in films as both Rocky AND Rambo. Take a peek!!

Return to Treasure Island (TV Mini Series, 1986): Ned: S1E2 - Mutiny

Highlander (TV Series, 1996): Charlie Tarvise: S4E21 - Judgement Day

Casualty (TV, 1998): Gerry Talbot, 5eps: S13E10 Clip (Graham @ 7:01), Two / S13E18  Clip (Graham @ 8:34), Two (Graham scenes @ 5:01 & 6:12), Three (Graham AND Tobias Menzies @ 7:43), Four (Graham & Tobias @ 4:56, again @ 7:28), Five (Graham @ 8:14) / S14E1: Clip (Graham @ 7:44 & 8:23), Two (graham @ 4:35 & 5:57) / S14E3: Clip (Graham @ 7:42), Two (Graham @ 9:00), Three  / S14E6 : Clip (Graham @ 1:28 & 4:47, 5:43, 7:10), Two (Graham @ 2:54, 4:51, 7:19), Three (Graham @ 3:48, 6:15, 7:23, 8:16), Four (Graham @ Beginning, 0:36, 1:09, 1:48, 2:40 )

Red Dwarf (TV Series, 1999): Ackerman, 5eps: S8E3 - Back in the Red Pt3 / S8E5 - Krytie TV, Making of (Graham @ 7:46) / 30th Anniversary

Heartbeat (TV Series, 1999): Derek Flowers: S9E2 - Tricks of the Trade

Dinotopia (TV Series, 2002): Ajax: S1E3 - Handful of Dust

Rosemary & Thyme (TV Series, 2003): DI Taylor: S1E3 - Language of Flowers

Murder City (TV Series, 2004): Noel Fredericks, S1E4: Clip

Empire (TV Mini Series, 2005): General Rapax, 5eps: Episodes 1-3: Clip (Graham @ 1:58), Two (Graham @ 0:48), Three (Graham @ 3:19 & 4:28), Four (Graham @ 5:09), Five (Graham @ 2:38) // Episodes 5-6: One (Graham @ 4:39), Two (Graham @ 7:47), Three (Graham @ Beginning), Four, Death (Graham @ 3:27) // Watch Entire Series

Rome (TV Series, 2005): Urbo, 2 eps: S1E9 Clip 

The Bill (TV Series, 2005-6): Pete Larson, 6eps: S21E68 - The Boys Are Back in Town / S21E72 - The Scapegoat / S21E85 -  A Mean Game Pt1 / S21E86  - A Mean Game Pt2 / S22E8 - Spirits / S22E20 Connections Pt2

Jekyll (TV Mini Series, 2007): Gavin Hardcastle, S1E6:  FanVid

NCIS (TV Series, 2007): Aleksei, S5E6: Fanvid (Graham @ 2:05)

Lost (TV Series, 2008): Sergeant, S4E5: Clip (Graham @ 0:38), Two (First 20 Seconds)

CSI Miami (TV Series, 2008): Mitch Davis, S6E16: Clip (Graham @ 0:21)

Pushing Daisies (TV Series, 2008): Hansel Von Getz, S2E3: Clip

24 (TV Series, 2010) Mikhail Novakovich, 7eps: S8E16: Promo, Full Ep (ReDubbed in French) / S8E17: Promo, Full Ep in French / S8E18: Promo, Full Ep / S8E19: Promo, Full Ep / S8E20: Promo, Full Ep (In French) / S8E21: Promo, Full Ep (In French) / S8E22: Promo, Full Ep (in French)

The Good Guys (TV Series, 2010): Dolph: S1E7 - Hunches & Heists

Outlander (TV Series, 2014-2020): Dougal MacKenzie / Buck MacKenzie, 19eps: See Master Post

Colony (TV Series, 2018): Andrew MacGregor, 3 eps: S3E3: Clip (Graham @ 0:57), Two (Graham @ 0:15), Three / S3E4: Clip, Two (Graham @ 0:19) / S3E5: Clip, Two (Graham @ 0:31), Three (Graham @ 0:29)

Lucifer (TV Series, 2019): Father Kinley, 6eps: S4E1 - Everything’s Okay / S4E2: Clip / S4E3: Clip, Two, Three / S4E7: Clip, Two / S4E9: Clip / S4E10: Clip // Jibland2019, Two, Three

Preacher (TV Series, 2016-9): The Saint of Killers / The Cowboy, 42 eps: TVGuide / KTLA5 // S2 Saint Promo, Two, Three // Premiere: AP //  S1 Trailer / S3 Intro / S4 Teaser, S4 Featurette // SDCC 2016: IGN, MTV, IMDb Q&A, Panel Part One & Two, AMC, TVLine, Vulture // SDCC 2017: EW, MTV, Panel - Saint Clip, Full Panel,  IMDb, TVLine // Clips: Saint Shoots Thru Planet / Jesse & Saint in Australia // S1E9 Finish the Song - Clip // S2E1 On the Road - BTS, Clip  / S2E2 Mumbai Sky Tower - BTS, Two - Clip / S2E4 Viktor - Deals w/ Satan / S2E5 Dallas - Viktor / S2E6 Sokosha - BTS, Jesse & Saint, “Get On Your Knees” / S2E12 On Your Knees - Returns / S2E13 The End of the Road - BTS // S3E7 Hitler - Trailer, Visits Hitler (Graham @ 2:11) / S3E10 The Light Above - Saint vs Satan, Meets w/ Satan, Sydney // S4E3 Deviant - Turtle Pie / S4E6 The Lost Apostle - Preview / S4E7 Messiahs / S4E8 Fear of the Lord / S4E9 Overture - Trailer, Saint vs God / S4E10 End of the World - Jesse vs Saint, Saint vs God

Men In Kilts (TV Series, 2019-): See Master Post

For Queen & Country (Film, 1988): Lieutenant: Full Movie (w/ a young Denzel Washington!)

Freedom Fighter (TV Movie, 1988): Guard: Full Movie

Erik the Viking (Film, 1989): Thangbrand, Etc: Full Movie (Starring: Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt, John Cleese, and fellow S1 Outlander Alum Tim McInnerny (Father Bain))

Macbeth (Film 1997): Banquo: Full Movie

Dot the I (Film, 2003): Detective #1: Trailer (No Graham) / BTS with Tom Hardy & Charlie Cox, JUST BECAUSE (No Graham)

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (Film 2003): Submarine Captain: Deleted Scene

Good Girl, Bad Girl (Film, 2006): Gromek: Trailer (Graham @ 0:35)

Rambo (Film, 2008): Lewis: Mercenaries Clip / Die for Something Clip / Collider Interview / Wellington Con Interview

Sisterhood (Film 2008): Martin: Trailer (Graham @ 1:29)

Secretariat (Film, 2010): Earl Jansen: Trailer (No Graham)

The Wicker Tree (Film, 2011): Sir Lachlan Morrison: Trailer / Full Movie / BTS / Clip

The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey (Film, 2012): Dwalin: Announcement Trailer, Trailer #1, Trailer #2, Trailer #3 / Full Movie // BTS, Two, Three, Four, Dwalin’s Chair, Mr Baggins, Graham Does Metalica, “Middle Earth” (Graham @ 0:56), “Windybeard” (Graham @ 0:10), Archery Training, Beard Envy / Dwarf Bootcamp // Clip, Two, Three, Four, The Fish, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven // Premiere

Note: I tried my best to get the numbered clips in the right movie’s category. I haven’t seen the films, so I may have misattributed some...

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Film, 2013): Dwalin: Sneak Peek, Teaser, Trailer #1, Trailer #2, Trailer #3 / Full Movie / Berlin Premiere /  Clip, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six / Costumes

Plastic (Film, 2014): Steve Dawson: Trailer (Back of Graham’s head @ 1:03) / Premiere (Graham @ 4:42) / Full Movie

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (Film 2014): Dwalin: Teaser, Trailer #1, Trailer #2 // Full Film // Premiere, Two, Anglophile / Clip, Two, Three,  Four, Five, Six, /  Deleted Scene / SDCC 2014 Full Panel

Creed (Film 2015): Tommy Holiday: Interview / Trailer (No Graham) / Clip (Graham @ 1:36), Two (Graham @ 1:08), Three (Graham @ beginning & 1:15, 2:25)

The Finest Hours (Film, 2016): Frank Fauteaux: Trailer (Graham briefly in background @ 1:53), Trailer #2 (Graham @ 1:07), TV Spot (Graham @ 0:40) / Clip, Two / BTS (Graham @ 5:09 and on) / Full Movie

The Stolen (Film, 2017): Bully: Trailer (Graham @ 0:42)

Aquaman (Film 2018): King Atlan: Extended Trailer (Graham @ 2:09) / Clip, Two (Graham @ 0:39)

Stakeout (Film 2019): Ibrahim Kozlov: Trailer (Graham @ 1:20) / Full Film

Actors Talk About Themselves / TheCouchCast

iFit: New Zealand / Scotland

ComicCons:

2013: HobbitCon, Two, Singing, Closing Ceremony (Bonn, Germany) / DragonCon: “Dwalin”, Panel #1 Full, Panel #2 Full / SupernovaCon, Two, SeaFM Interview @ 2:39, Q&A // 2014: FantasyCon: Who’s Line Is It Anyway, Dwalin, Kickoff Panel, Dwarven BootCamp / Wales ComicCon // 2015: Cincinnati ComicExpo, Two / MTL ComicCon / LIGeek / RingCon (Outlander) One, Two // 2016: RingCon: “Dwalin, Gloin and Bombur - At Your Service”/ MegaCon Tampa Bay: Hobbit Panel / “Finding Your Inner Dwarf” / Welligeddon: “Dwarves Believe They’re Giants”, “That’s Not Creepy At All”, “Fish Scene”, “Dwalin”, “HobbitCon” / MotorCity ComicCon // 2017: SupernovaCon: Lightsaber Presentation / CollectiveCon // 2018: SideshowLIVE! / TheOneRing Interview  // 2019: GalaxyCon

Charities:

Breakfast for SickKids - FanExpo Canada 

Commercial

Ford Focus (2005): One & Two

Jaguar (2017)

Upcoming Projects:

This Guest of Summer (2021): Mallory: Welcome / Caitriona Balfe “Auditions” / Sideshow Live! / Twitter w/ Stephen Walters

[chrliekclly]

What would u say r the best charmac episodes? I'm rewatching some and need good ol recs other than Mac's Big Break or the White Trash one

[vibrates] ok sry i went a lil ovrboard here, so i tried to  bold th ones tht r like, prime, cuz some i put on th list jus hav rly gud moments. th like, ‘this whole ep is for u’ ones r bolded bt also im sur i frgot some nd bolded sm wrong ones cz wow thats a lot of bold i did LOL eithr way here sry i jus lov wen they team up so mch yikes:

den nd dee go on welfare (s2e3)

den nd dee get a new dad (s2e10)

frank sets sweet dee on fire (s3e8)

mac is a serial killr (s3e10)

den luks like a registrd sex offendr (s3e11)

macs banging the waitress (s4e4)

mac nd charlie die pt 1&2 (s4e5/6)

sweet dee has a heart attack (s4e10)

mac nd charlie write a movie (s5e11)

th gang reignites th rivalry (s5e12)

macs mom burns her house down (s6e6)

dee gives birth (s6e12)

a v sunny christmas (s6e13)

sweet dee gets audited (s7e4)

chardee macdennis: th game of games (s7e7)

th gang gets trappd (s7e9)

th high school reunion pt 1&2 (s7e12/13)

pop-pop: th final solution (s8e1)

the gang dines out (s8e9)

gun fever too: still hot (s9e2)

th gang gets quarantined (s9e7)

th gang beats boggs (s10e1)

th gang group dates (s10e2)

psycho pete returns (s10e3)

mac kills his dad (s10e7)

ass kickers united: mac nd charlie join a cult (s10e10)

charlie catches a leprechaun (s11e8)

wolf cola: a public relations nightmare (s12e4)

hav fun w yr rewatch hope this helps lmao

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

I always think about how in multiple episodes it's basically canon that Blanche is bi but considers dating women to be more hassle (which is a whole rabbit hole to go down - does she struggle with societal homophobia when she's with women? Has she only been with fellow high maintenance femmes when shes really after a Dorothy type? Has she internalized the idea that her attraction to women isn't 'real'? Her reaction to Clayton adds to these questions). Not to mention how this goes together with her relationships with the girls; making to kiss Rose that one time (and Rose multiple times seeming very aware of Blanche's proclivities), begging Dorothy for 'relief' and being convinced she's attracted to women too.

Yes, anon! It’s really interesting to delve into Blanche’s psyche about all this stuff!

I started writing down my thoughts and ended up with a long ramble -- allow me to place it all under a cut, so I don't clog up anyone's dash, haha.

Personally, I think she has some strong mental blocks when it comes to her sexuality because of the way she was brought up. I mean, she grew up in Atlanta approx in the 1930s/1940s — I’m sure I don’t have to detail the kind of casual bigotry she must have seen around her during her formative years! Just look at the story she recounts in S1E13 A Little Romance:

“Now, you have to understand that in those days in the South a lot of things were still taboo. Certain people were not to mix. So Benjamin and I had to meet in secret. Oh, we knew if any of the bigots in town found out about us, there’d be a terrible scandal.”

And all of this because Benjamin was a yankee… can you imagine what ‘the bigots in town’ thought about homosexuality? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Blanche learned to suppress that part of herself very early on. We know she turns to denial when she’s faced with uncomfortable truths and emotions she can’t deal with, so I think she likely just refuses to acknowledge that part of herself most of the time, and it only comes out (pun intended!) when she’s not paying much attention to things, or when there’s something more important going on. See the two examples you point out: when she tries to kiss Rose she’s concerned with not being kissed at midnight, and when she propositions Dorothy she’s, well… she’s desperate to get some, if we can be frank.

When she’s in a more rational state, her reactions tend to be more measured… but not by much. She does advise Rose not to date women (S3E10 The Audit):

“Oh, no, honey, don’t do that! No job is worth having to date women!”

But she’s also really flattered at receiving lots and lots of phone calls from women, after her appearance as a ‘lesbian’ on TV (S7E15 Goodbye, Mr Gordon):

“By the way, Dorothy, if I were a lesbian, I sure would be a popular one. Look at this, 20 calls.”

And of course we can’t forget her reaction to finding out that Jean has a crush on Rose in S2E5 Isn’t It Romantic?:

“Jean has the hots for Rose? I don’t believe it, I do not believe it! […] To think Jean would prefer Rose over me? That’s ridiculous! […] Now you tell me the truth: if you had to pick between Rose and me, who would you pick? Who?”

All of these are (likely) intended to be jokes about her vanity and her libertine nature (in the same way as Rose’s observations are), but considering a lot of the writers of this show were queer themselves, it wouldn’t seem strange to me if they were intentionally peppered in to suggest that Blanche might be a bisexual in denial. It certainly fits her character!

I haven’t spoken about her reaction to Clayton’s coming out yet, but that’s immensely interesting too, of course. I think Blanche has the same attitude towards homosexuality that I see in a lot of (mostly older) people in my Country nowadays: it’s fine as a general concept, but when it comes to her family (or, God forbid, herself) then the problems come out. See for example what she says about Jean:

“Well, I’ll never understand what Jean doesn’t see in the opposite sex, but if that makes her happy, that’s fine by me!”

Which isn’t a homophobic attitude at all! If anything, if you take her upbringing into account, it’s pretty accepting. But then, when Clayton comes out to her (S4E9 Scared Straight) and tells her he wants to get married (S6E14 Sister Of The Bride), this is what she says:

“Oh, Clayton, please be serious. You're just saying that so I won't set you up with any more women. […] Well, then you're saying it 'cause you're trying to get back at me for something. Clay, I know you too well for this. After all, I know it can't be true. You're my brother. […] Clayton Hollingsworth. You look me in the face and tell me you really are… what you just said you are.”

“I'm having a little trouble putting this all together. Clayton, I just feel like I don't know you anymore.”

“[…] Dorothy, that's different. We're talking about going out in public. Oh, what are people gonna say?”

“Will you tell me why you want to put yourself and Doug through this? You know how people can be.”

“Oh, look, I can accept the fact that he's gay, but why does he have to slip a ring on this guy's finger so the whole world will know?”

Quite the difference from her attitude towards Jean, wouldn’t you say? I think there’s three elements at play here.

1) When Clayton comes out to Blanche, she feels disoriented because this is life-changing information Clayton has never shared with her before. While her reaction as a whole isn’t ideal, personally I think it’s understandable. Clayton is her baby brother; she’s known him as straight all his life, he’s been married to a woman for years before his divorce, and she recounts an episode from their adolescence when he was on a date with a woman and very clearly implicated having a physical encounter with her. He's done everything in his power to pass as straight until this point in time -- I don't find it strange that Blanche would be shocked at his coming out, especially given her upbringing (and the fact that this is set in the 80s! We can't expect modern sensibilities from the characters!). Once again, her reaction isn't the best (she can't even bring herself to say the word 'gay' at first...), but the shock per se isn't that surprising, imho.

2) Blanche is scared because of societal implications above all. She doesn't necessarily see being queer as something wrong, but she's been taught it's not socially acceptable and acts accordingly. Notice how she's worried about what people are going to say, and she struggles to accept that Clayton wants the whole world to know about his relationship with Doug.

Societal expectations in general are a big theme for Blanche's character, and often drive her development; another big example of this is her attitude towards Rebecca's decision to get artificially inseminated, but it's a bit of a baseline issue for her, I feel. She has this whole thing about her beauty and her (supposed) youth and her attractiveness that has some inherent elements, but it's mostly an issue of how other people perceive her, I think, and her response to her brother's coming out is easy to relate to this theme. I mean, she even says it to Rose in S7E15:

"Well, I don't mind being labeled a lesbian, honey, but since I'm not, you just ruined my social life."

So yeah. I think it's safe to say her main concern is societal disapproval of queerness: she wants to be accepted and celebrated by the people around her, and she thinks that being openly queer will destroy her place in her social circle (and she's worried about the same happening to Clayton too, of course).

3) This is sort of related to point 2, but it felt distinct enough to treat it separately. I think she might have reacted so badly to Clayton's coming out (and especially to his showing up with a partner) because he's open about his sexuality, and she's not ready to face what that means for her. My lovely mutual @\hecatesbroom recently published her latest amazing work the odd one(s) out, on the relationship between Dorothy and her brother Phil and how Phil's open queerness might have impacted Dorothy; I think a similar situation might have occurred between Blanche and Clayton after his coming out.

Blanche has a sort of advantage on Dorothy because of her bisexuality, in the sense that she has 'passing privilege' (I really dislike this concept, but allow me to use it to make a point): it's painfully clear that she loved her late husband with all her heart, and she's obviously attracted to men as well, so she can pretend not to like women without too much of a hassle (whereas, if you believe Dorothy to be a repressed lesbian, her situation is much more complicated).

The issue with this is that this 'advantage' is a double-edged sword: she might have the comfort of being socially acceptable, but she's had to suffocate a big part of herself to obtain that comfort. And so, what happens when Clayton -- her baby brother Clayton, the one who's always been just like her, who's grown up with her same environment and influences -- begins openly living as a gay man? I'm sure the situation must have had a strong impact on her, even if just on a subconscious level; I've always found it curious that she seems to have a harder time accepting Clayton in S6E14 than she does in S4E9 (she even calls his sexuality a phase), and while a part of it may be attributed to the higher social exposure Clayton's commitment to Doug brings, I think this may be a result of her inner conflict, provoked by watching her brother live openly while she's been suppressing a part of herself all her life.

Here I'm assuming she's never acted upon her attraction to women before, but there's some space to believe she has done so and has decided it's too much of a hassle, as you say -- likely because she'd for sure do it in secret, given her fear of societal condemnation. If she has been with women before, and decided to give up on it, I still think she'd be greatly impacted by Clayton's coming out: it means her baby brother is a) braver than she is, and b) going to openly face (and likely suffer because of) the same social issues she's run away from. In this lens, I find it interesting that she cautions him about how people can be, almost as if they've both experienced it.

Whew. Wow, this was a lot more than I'd originally meant to write, haha! Seems you sparked a big train of thought, anon! I think all of the Girls (with the possible exception of Sophia) are really fascinating to analyze with a queer lens, and Blanche is always interesting to me, of course. As a final note, I'd like to point out that she does come around to Clayton's sexuality and his relationship, in the end: as often happens, she just needs the Girls' help to put things back in perspective, understand she's hurting someone she loves, and correct her actions. I'd like to think living with the Girls might lead to her becoming more accepting of herself, too.