#this is very in reference to Addams Family Values

[bipanicoverthegravessiblings]

Help I thought about Family!AU Gashley with a Morticia and Gomez dynamic and now I’m feral—

[allergictocolor]

Character Profile - Morticia Addams

“The real head of the house and moving force behind it. Low-voiced, incisive, and subtle; smiles are rare. This ruined beauty has a romantic side, too, and is given to low-keyed rhapsodies about her garden of deadly nightshade, henbane and dwarf’s hair. Generally indulgent [of] the often sinister activities of the children, but feels that Uncle Fester has to be held in check. Her costume is always the same - the form-fitting black gown, tattered or cut to ribbons at the elbows and feet. Occasionally, she will wear a shawl. Her voice is never raised, but has great range. Contemptuous and original and with a fierce family loyalty. She never uses a cliché except to be funny. She is a thoughtful hostess in her way and, if a guest needs anything, he is advised to scream for it. The children are instructed to observe the amenities and always kick Daddy good night.” - Chas Addams

Charles Addams claimed to have thought up her name while leafing through the yellow pages in a phone book (they used to deliver books full of local phone numbers to our houses!) when he stumbled upon the listings for Morticians. People speculated as to whether she was based on any of his three wives, but he denied that vehemently. He just happened to love thin, pale women with dark hair, and managed to marry the woman of his dreams three times. Though he did marry his third wife in an Addams family-themed wedding in a pet cemetery, so make of that what you will.

Carolyn Jones was cast in the 1964 TV series, despite not being taller than their Gomez, John Astin. He wasn’t a tall man by any account, so I’m assuming she was the best Morticia in the auditions and had the best chemistry with their leading man. Their chemistry on screen was excellent, but also the right amount of comical. While Gomez was frequently overcome with passion whenever Morticia spoke French, or any other foreign language, Morticia often brushed him off. There were other things to do. They could get carried away later.

She called him “Querido”, “Mon Cherie”, and “Bubele”, a yiddish nickname that wasn’t continued with subsequent Morticias. The show established that Morticia held Gomez in the palm of her hand (left, below). Unfortunately, both because it was a sitcom and because it was the 1960s, there had to be hilarious misunderstandings that undercut her power over him somewhat. In more than one episode, she was given reason to doubt that Gomez really loved her, and was driven into the trope of the worried housewife, fretting over what to do. It always worked out in the end, of course. Sitcoms always do.

The TV show is where Morticia started the habit of cutting the heads off of roses, making bouquets of only the stems (right, above). She spent a lot of time tending her various plants. She had an African strangler named Cleopatra, which continued in other incarnations later on. In the show, she fed it “hamburger meat”. On camera, it looked like meatballs or very small burgers. It threatened to eat a few people, but Morticia assured them that humans gave Cleopatra heartburn.

1960s Morticia indulged in painting more than later versions of her. They didn’t always show what she was painting, but often showed her behind an easel, working on something. When they did show the painting, it was something unusual. More frequently, they simply said what she was painting.

She was also seen knitting frequently. Sometimes she would be knitting a scarf that was well over 20 feet long, looping around the living room furniture. Other times, it would be a sweater with a very long neck or extra limbs, likely a reference to the comic below, which was also referenced in the 1993 movie Addams Family Values.

While her mother, Hester Frump, was played by Margaret Hamilton (the wicked witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz), and Morticia herself was described as a witch in the series, the witchcraft was mostly implied. She was shown “smoking”, producing smoke by simply crossing her arms and concentrating, but she didn’t tell fortunes or mix potions like her mother-in-law Grandmama Addams does. Once they got to 1991, Anjelica Huston’s Morticia stated that she was a witch, and that in school she majored in “spells and hexes”.

Huston’s Morticia is level-headed and fully assured of herself. When things go badly for the family, she’s the one who holds everything together. Like her co-star Raul Julia, she is my generation’s gold standard for the character.

I think Morticia takes a little step backwards in the musical, suddenly being unsure of herself because she’s showing a few wrinkles. Bebe Neuwirth was amazing on Broadway, but Gomez would never be bothered by his wife showing her age. He loves everything, and he loves his wife even more. She should know that.

The 2019 animated version of Morticia is wickedly wonderful. Here, she does show some kind of magical powers, unless producing thousands of spiders to make a walkable bridge is just gross and not actually magical. She also talks to her deceased parents on a crystal ball, a form of communication repeated in the 2022 Netflix series.

In the Netflix series, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Morticia is a side character so far, so we only see her in a few episodes. We know she has psychic visions that are positive, the polar opposite of her pessimistic daughter, but we haven’t seen any of her visions. She’s also madly in love with Gomez and as easily carried away as he is, which is a problem for their embarrassed children. We’ve been told we’ll get a better look into Wednesday’s home life in season 2, so it’s likely there will be even more of Morticia there. Maybe we’ll even see Cleopatra!

[jazzmckay]

get to know me meme

tagged by both @broodwolf221 and @streganicha 😂💜

Last song: bartholomew - the silent comedy. listening to some southern gothic / dark country today

Favourite colour: purple always 💜

Currently reading: oops i'm still on the same book i was last time i did one of these sooo the main fic im following rn is: You're Not Alone by BowieBond which i HIGHLY recommend, it's incredibly good. toxic handers into slow burn fenders. has some very heavy moments, and deals with people being flawed and messy but still deserving of happiness, which i adore. it's all handled really well and it will break your heart then put it back together again

Currently watching: uhh still no shows lately. mostly just gameplay from my favourite streamer, insym

Last movie: its been 84 years.... uh i think it might have been addams family values? lmfao it was on tv while i was working out one day and i caught most of it

Sweet, spicy or savoury: only loser here for me is sweet. i'll go with savoury

Relationship status: aroace babeyyyy

Current obsession: loghain mac tir brainrot is real

Tea or coffee: neither :( don't like them. i'll just have water thanks

Last thing I googled: shibari. shut up im writing a fic and needed visual references. if you want to know whos getting tied up, go back two questions

i feel like most people have already been tagged, but if anyone seeing this hasnt been, do it and say i tagged you. even if we're not mutuals fr go ahead! 💜

[u-look-beautiful-today]

I'm a bit curious if ANY romantic relationships will even happen on Wednesday? The show seems to have a focus on just the murder and mystery of Nevermore. And even given Wednesday, I doubt she would even kiss anyone at the end of the season, of course I have hope for wenclair but realistically I don't think it would happen

That's a fair point!

Given what we know about Wednesday and the character description for Jenna's Wednesday, she is just not in tuned with/care for emotions. But, it stands to reason of WHY even say that about Wednesday if it isn't going to be part of her character development? Even in the first episode the script has her point out emotions:

"Emotion equals weakness" I hope that this is a line that we almost refer back to throughout the show cause it seems important. They could've just kept the "Pull it together now" and it still would've made sense or even added "stop crying" but they didn't. (Granted, who knows what they actually filmed/will be shown) This is probably my delusion talking but having a line like "emotion equals weakness" is very fanfic of them. Anytime I see something like that in fics I just KNOW that the character will go through a change and see that emotions aren't debilitating, but they are needed and that they end up caring/loving others in the end *cough*Wenclair*cough*

I think we will see more of Wednesday just letting people in, in general. It could all be purely platonic, which I'm not opposed to! (As long as I don't have to see Wednesday with a basic male love interest) I'm more inclined to believe that there won't be any heavy romantic relationships, right now. I think season 1 will just be focused on developing these characters and seeing Wednesday start to care for others outside of her family. To see that emotions aren't bad in general. Wednesday has never really been about romance so I personally don't see that being a huge point in the show. Granted, we did see her have her own type of crush during Addams Values, but even that wasn't a driving point for that movie. She was still focused on escaping the camp and causing chaos. If there is a romance on the show, I feel like it won't result in any kiss by the end of the 8 episodes. (But if one does, let's hope it's Wenclair!)

But, this is all just speculation and I could be horribly wrong as well!

(Sidenote: I can just see all the edits of "emotion equals weakness" line over Wednesday giving a shit about Enid and showing emotions around her)

[thenightling]

I see references to all the previous Addams Family in the show Wednesday. 1.  Fester is Gomez's brother.  This is an invention of the 90s movies as in the 1960s show he was Morticia's uncle. 2.   Pugsley is relatively innocent just as he was in the 1960s show. 3.  Uncle Fester's voice and way he talks is from 1960s show. 4. The indication that Uncle Fester has a habit of getting arrested comes from the 90s movies. 5.  Gomez having been previously accused of murder was from the 90s movies.  6.   Gomez's name comes from the 1960s Addams Family and has been used ever since in all depictions of The Addams Family. 7.  Uncle Fester’s electrical powers were first shown in the 1960s show, and turn up in the 90s animated series and 90s movies. 8.   The kung Fu fighting.  Morticia's sister in the 60s show liked to flip Gomez over her head and on his back for the fun of it when they first met.  And Gomez does this to his accountant in the first 90s movie. 9.   Wednesday's resentment of Pilgrims = Addams Family Values (Second 90s Addams Family movie). 10.   The Existence of supernatural beings = 60s Addams Family series. (Santa Claus is canonically real. And this has been hinted at / carried over with all other incarnations of The Addams Family.   11.   Gomez's look = Original Charles Addams comics and 2019 / 2021 CG animated Addams Family movies. 12.  Fencing = Gomez and Morticia fenced for the fun of it in the 1960s Addams Family TV series and Gomez did it in the 90s movies. As well as the 90s Addams Family animated series. 13.   Uncle Fester's motorcycle and adventures with Thing = 90s Addams family animated series. 14. Psychic visions =  Grandmama in the 60s show and Morticia, Grandmama again the 90s animated series.   15.   The Piranha = Morticia kept pet Piranha in the 1960s series. 16.   Snap twice = 1960s series theme song. 17.  Kooky, creepy = 1960s theme song. 18.  Wednesday's Dance = Inspired by little Wednesday's dance in the 1960s Addams Family series.   There's loving references to all previous versions of The Addams.

19.   Their outfits originate from the 1930s comics and have very rarely been depicted differently.  

20.  "You Rang." was Lurch's catch phrase in the 60s TV show that carried over into all future incarnations of The Addams Family and is even in the M. C. Hammer Addams Family song. 21.  Communing with deceased ancestors is from the 1960s show, the first 1990s Addams Family movie and is even a song number in The Addams Family Broadway musical.  ("When you're an Addams.")  22.  "It's an Addams Family Reunion."  Addams Family Reunion is the lesser known third Addams Family movie made in the 1990s. It was direct-to-video.  23.  Morticia ripping the heads off the roses is a reference to her cutting off the heads of roses in the 1960s show and 90s Addams Family movies. 24.   When Wednesday was a little girl in the 90s films and 60s show she would twist the head off her doll (when she wasn't cutting it off). 25.   Wednesday’s dance is at least partly based on a dance the 1960s Wednesday did in the black and white TV show.  Gomez and Morticia have dance numbers in the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family movies and dance is important in the 2019 Addams family animated movie. Also the entire family dances in an M. C. Hammer music video that tied to the 1991 Addams Family movie. There are also several dance numbers in The Addams Family Broadway musical.    

26.   Hand grenade fishing came from the original 1930s comics.

[plantfeed]

𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨…    𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐧𝐚𝐦.

welcome to marina, ALMA OLIVE PUTNAM ( cis woman, she / her ) ! they are a TWENTY-THREE  year old who has lived on the island for HER WHOLE LIFE. word on the street is they’re currently living in PROSPECT HILL and works as an ARCHIVIST AT MARINA PUBLIC LIBRARY. everyone also says they look a lot like ELLE FANNING. what do you think? ( muse tag.  also a muse tag.  pinterest.  playlist.  long ass google doc.  )

AESTHETICS.

     a red beret nestled on top of bright platinum locks, neck scarves tied around your throat the way they do it in french new wave films, stealing the covers in bed with a lover, running barefoot through the woods in feckless hedonism, eyes that see more than they tell, a silver dagger hanging from an earring, the smirk of success that widens at the sound of another compliment, walking confidently through the campus grounds forcing others to deviate from their paths, the mona lisa smile, a forged botticelli drying on your easel, ophelia floating in the middle of a lake.

CHARACTER REFERENCES.

    amy dunne (gone girl),    lady macbeth  (macbeth),   emily (the devil wears prada),   lily (thoroughbreds),    edie britt (desperate housewives),   beth harmon  (the queen’s gambit),   catherine the great  (the great),   holly mcstay (clique),   audrey horne  (twin peaks),    wednesday addams  (the addams family values).  

BULLET POINT SUMMARY OF A BITCH.

— this is the ethereal but spoiled alma olive putnam (she goes by all 3 names cos she’s pretentious as fuck). a horse girl through and through. pretty and she knows it. the meanest girl at your school that all of the teachers adored n u could never understand why. loves the smell of libraries and listening to french music from a tinny record player in knee socks n pretending she has never seen an iphone. 

— her family own a big old farmhouse with a ranch and loads of animals in propsect hill, and they've employed a lot of the island's farmhands and animal handlers over the years. her mother tends to get drunk and fire everybody when she's stressed so as a result they've gone through quite a lot of staff.

 — her parents are german-american. she was born in marina in a big old farmhouse. her great-grandfather moved to america as an immigrant and worked on a plantation, made his way up cos he could speak a lot of languages and therefore win more people over. putnams have always been good at persuasion. for the last two generations, putnam men have owned the farm rather than worked on it, handled finances, kept the books and stocks, and do very little of the dirty work. the putnam farm is a big supplier in the island's meat industry. they have a competition for “the biggest hog in prospect hill” every summer.

— both of her parents had large personalities, so alma’s never really been shy around adults, even as a kid she’d speak to them in a forthright, confident manner, and because she was always surrounded by adults, she’s always seemed a bit wise beyond her years. up until high school, she didn’t really have any friends. other kids thought of her as an oddball, a grown up in an eleven-year-old’s body, and she thought of them as immature and beneath her. rather than sleepovers, bike rides, and making mud pies, alma put her time instead into bettering herself, learning to speak several languages, learning the clarinet, practising ballet, horse-riding. she was a child who always had to have an activity or project on the go, or she would become listless and nightmarish for the carousel of au pairs and nannies hired to care for her.

— upon graduating high school, she was accepted to juliard to study ballet and contemporary dance, but an injury meant she had to turn down her place. she’s still bitter about this and takes every opportunity to bring up the fact tht she could totally have gone to julliard (but maybe she shd have jst taken the charles melton route and done riverdale instead)

— after turning down juliard bcos of said injury, alma went to columbia uni and majored in classical civilisation. she can read ancient greek and latin, but she also speaks french and beginner’s italian. she studied classics cos she thinks it makes her sound smart, but actually doesn’t really care for latin and just loves learning about feckless hedonism and the festivals of bacchus and writing about how all women in myth are literally forgotten or abused for their bodies and the greek fascination with cannibalism. anyway she spent most of her time at uni doing ballet and theatre anyway

— she’s very much a consolidation of every character in the secret history. has a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs. obsessed with w.h. auden and the beat poets. the film to watch if you want to understand alma is thoroughbreds. there are a lot of parallels between lily (anya’s character) and alma, but she also embodies amanda’s cold disposition and ability to cry on cue.

— ”aestheticism is the only thing worth pursuing and even that is pointless”

— alma’s idea of a romantic gesture: exchanging vials of blood so that each of you can carry a piece of your lover around on your neck with you always, or being gifted a ruby-hilted dagger engraved with her initials. she wants the fucked up kind of love that megan fox and machine gun kelly have. her love language is gifts (sociopath) and words of affirmation.  

— she will put everything else on hold for success. she lets things consume her with obsession. at university, her academic merit and her reputation within the theatre society was all she could focus on. she loves the smell of libraries, the ancient smoke of learning, of feeling like old wine in a new bottle reincarnated from the bones of some old, dead witchy woman who invented a cure for cowpox or somethin. as well as the practical elements of ballet, she loves the theory of it. she’ll read every book she can find, despite knowing u can’t learn a skill like that from a book. she will stop at nothing 2 get what she wants. watch ur damn backs.

— pretentious motherfucker. loves poetry, especially the romantics, loves the morbid poets even moreseo, edgar allen poe, sylvia plath, allen ginsberg, she just loves them all. can’t get enough. her favourite films are like…. wanky artfilm independent european cinema. especially french new wave. loved umbrellas of cherbourg and her clothing style is based a lot around looks in that film.  “what do you think of goddard’s work??” while snorting a line off someone’s sink at 5am on a school night, but you can bet she’ll make it to that 9am ballet class smelling of rose petals, looking pristine and like butter wouldn’t melt on her tongue.

— very intelligent and beautiful and knows both of those facts. loves to play devil’s advocate and growing up she was always an active member of her school’s debate society. humanitarian, vegan. judgemental but takes great care not to appear so. extremely petty and vindictive. must come first. obsessively devours mystery and thriller novels. she herself is a gillian flynn book waiting to happen.

— alma definitely tries to be an enigma. she wants to be mysterious and unreadable because that’s what books have taught her makes women desirable and interesting and cool. very amy dunne in the way she expertly reinvents herself to suit her audience, when she wants to impress

— act like the flower but be the serpent under it. is a user. manipulative. leads people on. will throw another student person the bus to demonstrate her own intelligence and integrity

— heavily involved in the theatre. loves attention. it’s hard to tell if she’s ever genuine. she wears emotions like they’re neck scarves, reeling people in. is she ever honest? your honour, idk

— performance-wise, one of alma’s most commendable traits is her sheer tenacity and lack of inhibition – she is willing to do whatever it takes to climb to the top, and kick as many other people down as necessary on her way there. this unhinged hunger for success was evidenced when alma played tamora in titus andronicus. feeling the presentation of one of shakespeare’s most terrifying women was ‘pussy-footed’ and dulled down for a male audience, alma took matters into her own hands, and during the famous banquet scene where tamora is fed her own sons, she ate a pig’s heart live on stage – receiving both awestruck and horrified press reviews for her performance – and getting expelled from her vermont boarding school. she was 14 at the time.

— has an addictive personality. seems unable to do anything in a small dose, she has to let it utterly consume her. with sports, she’s fiercely competitive, ice skates, played lacrosse at school, was is a hockey player. with alcohol, it’s never a shot, it’s a whole bottle – wine or whiskey – she’ll be table dancing before the night’s up and making out with someone she’ll regret in the morning but alma putnam takes no prisoners.

— her clothing style is like…. vintage thrift store but make it preppy. berets and cute hats, neck scarves, large fluffy cardigans or like those leathery jackets with big suede fringes on them, 70s mini skirts and knee-high boots. leotards worn under mom jeans, leg warmers and ballet pumps brandished like a uniform. quite often she’ll be in sports kit, maybe a cute tennis skirt. on the rare occasion when she’s feeling casual she’ll wear a nico / velvet underground t-shirt with a pair of mom jeans and converse, but otherwise, the library is her catwalk.

— relates to ophelia from hamlet and sibyl vane in dorian gray. weirdly obsessed with women who commit suicide. loves jackson pollock paintings and abstract art.

– likes old things. old books, old music, old houses, it reminds her of happier times like when she wasn’t alive. buys all her music on vinyl and has a gramophone because “the sound quality is better” kfdsjj.  has an reel projector for solitary film nights.

– had her first taste of alcohol at 15 and has stayed fond of spirits ever since. likes literature of the macabre, isn’t fond of social media, loves knee high socks, hates glitter, bites her nails, will only take cold showers, and doesn’t drink coffee. loves cats. is vegan.

— closet theatre nerd. goes absolutely feral for hamilton, west side story, etc. knows all the words to humu humu nuku nuku apua'a from hsm2 and definitely idolised sharpay growing up. now she would claim all of that is trashy but catch her crying in the online queue to get west end tickets to legally blonde as soon as they go on sale.

– ethereal wood elf. plays flute and does ballet. her favourite tv shows are making a murderer and dance moms. she is big on tchaikovsky and bukowski. poetry to alma is soup of the soul, despite the fact that the only things she really feels are apathy and mild disgust. her poems mostly centre around ballet, the beauty of violence and her cat.

– have a full bio plus quick facts n quotes n shit for her here but it's for a ballet school rp so. take it with a pinch of salt.

WANTED PLOTS.

– residents of prospect hill who know her, hate her vibe, want her dead, want her family dead, would poison her herbal tea with window cleaning fluid if given the option. alternatively, residents of prospect hill who have known her and her family for decades and they have each other over for dinner parties

— farm hands / blacksmiths / welders / carpenters / ppl who have worked at the farm that alma fucks with. it's like a power kick for her because she knew she could be absolutely vile and was basically untouchable because the moment they said anything back or didn't play into her games she would just tell her parents to fire them. can be quite emotionally manipulative and coercive. also loves to flirt with the farm hands n try to seduce them and has been doing this since she was a teenager. again, i think it's the power trip, and the idea of having a secret with them that nobody else knows about, but like, also being able to use tht against them.

– regulars at the library!! alma spends most of her time in a cage underground (its what she deserves) in the archives so if u have a character who is big into reading or might be carrying out a research project or even works for the police dept / journalist etc - alma's your girl. guards the town records with her little gloves and knows everybody's business. a real rita skeeter bitch if u will.

– didn't go into dancing professionaly but spends a good deal of time at the studio so dance partners she practices with. if there's a local company tht put on shows or smthn then i want ppl who she actually respects and views as competent peers, ppl who she’s constantly undermining to subtly dig away at their self confidence,  two dancers always goin for the same roles hate each other dynamic, i want mia goth / dakota johnson bein cute in suspiria vibe

– people who share her love of the macabre. freaks alliance

– someone she hooked up with or was regularly hooking up with and maybe even caught feelings for and now just flat out refuses to speak to because she doesn't know how to healthily process an emotion

 – enemies to lovers. cant stress the enough. i watched s2 of bridgerton and i am ready 2 yearn. i want two ppl who hate each other so bad and want each other so bad that every time they brush hands i am physically reduced to tears. i want dancing scenes where the tension is so palpable you could cut it with a knife.

– someone who views her, evil twisted little thing that she is, as a muse. maybe they’re an artist, maybe another dancer, maybe they’re a musician or in an orchestra, but when she dances it fills them with inspiration. i feel like when she’s not limited by the constraints of prescribed choreography her dancing is a lot more contemporary and avant garde, w like, abrupt, violent and jerky, motions. very florence welch choreography, particularly big god, that kinda thing

– jst general carnage and chaos pls. add me on discord n we’ll just stomp somethin out. sorry for this absolute fckn essay!! bt what can u do

[veronicasanders]

Horror movie time! Do you like them? Are you a thriller person or a gore person? Any favorite villain? What horror movie do you think is over hyped? What horror movie do you like the most? How do you feel about jumpscares? Twist endings? If you're not a horror movie fan, just talk to me about your favorite Halloween movies :)

Hello!! 😱😱 

I’m not a horror movie person in general, mostly because I think I don't really get scared. But I do have some horror/thriller movies that I love because I just feel like they transcend the genre: (list after the jump)

Here's the list in no particular order. IMPORTANT NOTE: I  am always referring to the originals, unless noted. Lol

Rosemary’s Baby

Get Out

The Shining

The Exorcist

Carrie

Misery

Poison Ivy (this one is kind of terrible but also amazing)

Cube

Village of the Damned and The Bad Seed (both super old and campy, and maybe that’s why I like them)

Psychological thrillers are way more interesting to me than gore/slasher flicks. Jumpscares do nothing for me. Twist endings are cool with 2 caveats:

The movie has to be good without it, so that if you know the twist ahead of time or figure it out, it doesn’t ruin the entire thing (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, M. NIGHT!!!)

It shouldn't be predictable

Overrated:

Halloween - My brother INSISTED that it was objectively good and totally transcended the genre, like the ones above. He was WRONG. Terrible fucking acting, including from Ms. Jamie Lee - who I generally find to be a great actor, so maybe it was really just terrible directing.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre - I have never been simultaneously BORED and ANNOYED the way this movie made me, so I guess that's an accomplishment. But honestly, I think the entire last HALF of this movie is that one bitch shrieking at the top of her lungs. And me just sitting there going "kill her, kill her, kill her..."

Paranormal Activity - Boring. I saw it (honestly maybe not the first one?) in the theatre with my friend, and the only entertaining part was these two girls near us who kept screaming and yelling at the screen. Which was really bothering my friend. Needless to say, I ditched him to have drinks with those girls after.

The Blair Witch Project - Probably no one cares anymore but when this came out, everyone I knew was OBSESSED and I lost interest like 10 minutes in. GET A TRIPOD, LADS.

The Sixth Sense - Knew he was dead in the first scene, after that it was super unimpressive.

Scream - Meh. Not funny enough to be a comedy or good enough to take seriously.

Other favorite Halloween movies which I will happily watch all year round:

The Craft

Death Becomes Her

The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values

Little Shop of Horrors

Edward Scissorhands

Witches of Eastwick

Beetlejuice

Practical Magic

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Ghostbusters (I’m partial to the remake here)

The Witches

E.T. (okay it may be a stretch to call it a Halloween movie but there is hilarious Halloween content)

Mermaids (same, not really a Halloween movie but like...it's so fucking good and the Halloween scenes are very memorable)

Any Halloween episode of 'Roseanne'

[mask131]

The evolution of Ophelia Addams (3)

And here is actually my last post about Ophelia (for now - I know the prototype-Ophelia of Charles Addams appears in the 2019 animated movie but there isn’t really much to say about her there to make a whole post?). HOWEVER what there is enough to talk about to make a whole post is Ophelia’s appearance in the 90s movie. What? You say you never knew Ophelia was in the two classics live-action movie? You say you only thought she was in the 60s sitcom? Well get ready to REDISCOVER IT ALL!

I present to you: Cousin Ophelia Addams. The picture above was taken from the 1991 “The Addams Family” movie. This character, as identified by the credits, is Cousin Ophelia Addams (not Frump, Addams), played by the ballet dancer Allegra Kent. You can actually see her during the grand Addams family reunion dancing alone with a candle in her hand (or rather dancing WITH a lit-up candle as her partner). She also appears during the Mamushka scene: she is part of the line-up of Addams women that play the tambourines. 

You might think “Oh that’s just a little visual cameo...” WELL NO! 

  If you look at the script for the Addams Family movie (script which is nowadays available online, thanks Internet) you actually can find in there a full description of Ophelia AND small deleted dialogues she was supposed to have - before they were cut from the film. This precious behind-the-scenes and deleted content reveals to us that the movie-makers decided to go back to the original drawing of Charles Addams, and completely reinvent the sitcom character. Fully reusing the Shakespearian Ophelia reference, but by adding a modern American touch.

Here is how she was described: “COUSIN OPHELIA  ADDAMS, who looks like a Tennessee Williams heroine who’s just been fished out of the Mississipi. Later, when Morticia entertains the guests, there was supposed to be a small exchange between her and Ophelia.

Her mind water-logged and bleary, Ophelia adresses Morticia with a spacy Thorazine smile.

OPHELIA: Where is Fester?

MORTICIA: Soon, Ophelia. Soon.

OPHELIA: Where am I?

And you might be even more surprised to learn that Ophelia Addams also appears in the sequel, the “Addams Family Values” movie!

However in it she is played by a different actress, Laura Esterman. Once more, in the movie itself she just makes a visual appearance without any actual line. She is part of the numerous guests for Fester’s wedding, and when Wednesday catches the bouquet, she is one of the two women siding her (alongside Aphasia). [In the picture above you can see Ophelia on the right, biting her nails upon seeing Wednesday caught the bouquet]. 

     Once more the wonders of the Internet allow us to look into the shooting script for the movie. Here are unveiled MORE deleted scenes of the Cousin. Poor Ophelia seems to have her lines cut every time. Interestingly, originally Ophelia was intended to form a sort of comical duo alongside Countess Aphasia. Described as a “faded, demented Southern Belle”, Ophelia was supposed to have an exchange with Debby during the gift-shower.

MORTICIA: And this is Cousin Ophelia Addams, all the way from Memphis.

OPHELIA: Good afternoon, and congratulations. I was married once, you know. And for a time, I was so very happy.

DEBBY: And what happened?

OPHELIA (trying to recall, through a fog): I don’t know. (She looks around the room). Am I dead?

Later, at the wedding proper, she was also supposed to have this brief exchange with Aphasia.

ANGLE on Ophelia and Aphasia, among the guests. Ophelia dabs at her eyes with a lace hanky.

OPHELIA: I do love weddings. Have you ever been married?

APHASIA: Oh yes.

OPHELIA: In white?

APHASIA: In Berlin.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #458

Top Ten Family Films of Lockdown

So we stayed in the house and watched a lot of films this year.

It’s weird, because I always feel that I miss out on more films than I want, but this year obviously was crazy. The last film I saw at the cinema was Birds of Prey; I was hoping to see Tenet and Bill and Ted in the late summer, but I was working and never found time, and then everything started to go to shit again. But even at home, for some reason, I found it very hard to find the time to sit down and watch a movie on my own, despite there being more choice than ever before. Anyway, what I’m saying is it’s even harder than usual for me to try to do an accurate “best of the year” list.

But what we did do, as a family, is stay in the house and watch a lot of films together.

It’s now become a tradition, something we do every weekend; have a family movie night. And I couldn’t be more thrilled. I’ve always wanted to have something like this, and when the kids were tiny babies, I’d fantasise about how and when we’d get to enjoy a film together; about when I could introduce them to this movie or that, ones that were important to me. And sure, we’ve started to do that, but mostly we just think of things they’ll like, whether they’re new or old. And in that spirit, here are the ten best ones we’ve experienced.

I say “experienced” rather than just “the ten best films” because I’m ranking them here in terms of how the whole “family evening” went down; did I like the film, did the kids, was it new and exciting or a trip down memory lane… basically, how many boxes did it tick? Otherwise it’d just be full of my old favourites. Sometimes I was surprised by quite how much the kids took to a film I didn’t think they’d be as into; and sometimes I was disappointed that a film didn’t hold up. And it’s amusing when an older film really piques their interest. One thing I have discounted, though, is a film where we’d all been to see it at the cinema – Toy Story 4, for instance, which I enjoyed a lot more the second time around, but which felt like a cheat for this list as even the kids already knew it so well.

Anyway, this has been my main cinematic event of the year, and like the year’s supposed other big cinematic event, it sort of involves time travel in some way. Long may it continue. We’re focusing on Christmas movies from now on, but I do look forward to introducing the kids to E.T., Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and Transformers: The Movie. Roll on 2021.

Bumblebee (2018): we’re a big Transformers family, I suppose, and this is a great film on all levels. It’s a nice, gentle story for the most part, a girl and her alien pal, full of humour and heart, but it’s also got, like, giant robots what punch each other. My kids loved it, and we loved it too, and it’s got that cool opening sequence on Cybertron that’s like my childhood come to life.

Spirited Away (2001): I was hoping we’d make our way through all the Ghibli films, except my kids ended up watching them on their own! Clearly I’ve taught them good taste. Anyway, this is obviously a masterpiece, full of deep sentiment and creepy visuals, with beautiful animation.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011): this was a pleasant surprise. My youngest has a Snowy plush so she was into it, and having seen it before I thought my kids would like it, but didn’t realise they’d love it, properly into the adventure, laughing at Serkis’ great take on Haddock, and very invested in earnest, smart, baby-faced Tintin. Plus Spielberg directs the heck out of it. Even better than I remembered.

Addams Family Values (1993): we watched both Addams Family films over Halloween, and they proved very popular. Satisfactorily creepy, consistently amusing, but what really won them over was Christina Ricci’s Wednesday. Values is the better film, wittier and offering more for the fantastic young cast to do; the climactic Thanksgiving performance is a joy to behold.

Detective Pikachu (2019): we’re also big Pokémon people, and despite the fact I’d taken both the mini trainers to the cinema to see this one, we all enjoyed it as a family. A suitably compelling mini-noir, with some terrific world building and great effects, it’s the humour and Ryan Reynolds’ performance as Pikachu that really lifts it. Pity the ending falls apart a bit.

The Parent Trap (1998): in my experience, kids love films about kids getting one over on adults, so there's good stuff here. It's really aged well, too; Lindsey Lohan is frankly terrific in the lead role(s). It's funny and sweet and enjoyable, although I always feel a bit sad to see Natasha Richardson being so great and adorable.

Hook (1991): Empire magazine once called Hook the lemon in Spielberg’s basket, but I’ve always thought that’s unfair; overlong, oversugared, and a little bit all over the place it may be, but it’s got a lot of imagination and it can be both spectacular and fun. Plus the scene of the children going missing is quite horrible. Anyway, I quite like it, but my kids loved it, to the point where I think they’ve watched it at least three times this year.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989): one of the first films we watched in lockdown and a great success! I was very pleased to discover it held up just as well as I thought. It’s a great old-fashioned adventure story, with the kids who don’t like each other kinda bonding as they make their way through the garden. The effects, once state-of-the-art, have dated, but it’s still as fun and funny as ever. It actually skews a tiny bit older than I’d remembered. Moranis, of course, is always a treat.

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993): I had worried this might be too old for my kids, but I was very pleasantly surprised; they sat through the more intense scenes of domestic discord and fortunately all the sex references went over their heads. Instead they got a sweet and frequently hilarious tale of a man cross-dressing to win his kids back. It has aged a tiny bit, sadly, in both its portrayal of gender and sexual norms, and in its almost movie-of-the-week depiction of divorce, but overall it remains as funny and sensitive as ever.

Lady and the Tramp (2019): this was another very pleasant surprise, one of Disney’s live-action “reimaginings” on Disney+, but one that was really genuinely very enjoyable. The dogs look great (as for the most part they’re real dogs), the performances are good, and the deviations from the original are mostly sensible and worthwhile. Also the diversity of its cast is to be applauded. Genuinely, it’s a lot better than the Lion King remake; in fact, it probably ranks quite high on the list of live-action do-overs when all’s said and done.

So there we are. Lockdown has had its ups and downs but at least we all sat round the tellybox and watched some good movies. what’s next? Well, a lot of Christmas films; I was disappointed in Noelle, to be honest, but looking forward to Jingle Jangle and Christmas Chronicles 2. And here’s to a new Heslop tradition of regular movie nights! Next year’s when I finally get them to watch a Marvel movie…

[chipmunkfanno1love]

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure Speculation: Varian and Vex Shipping

Though Varian has often been shipped with Cassandra, lately it has been a mixed bag of very strong opinions regarding the ship, especially some negative ones about Varian being too young for Cassandra who is in her 20’s while he’s in his teens. Personally I don’t have a problem with them becoming a couple, so long as they wait until Varian is legally an adult (such as it was with Ferb and Vanessa in “Phineas and Ferb”). I could see them as a couple if the creators of the show flashfoward to the future with an older Rapunzel and Eugene are telling their story and the fates of their friends to their children.

Personally I want to keep out of the arguments, and talk about this from a purely fictional opinion. While I do think Cassandra and Varian had great chemistry together in “Great Expositions”, so far Varian’s feelings for Cass are just an innocent crush (I even heard a rumour that Chris Sonneberg said it wouldn’t go any further than this) which Cass doesn’t requite. So I think the chances of these two becoming a couple, even when Varian’s older is pretty slim. Still, I do hope these two become friends again.

Anyway, the point of my topic is to bring up a potential new love-interest for Varian, and while I am pretty open about his love life and who his future girlfriend could be, I’m pretty keen on this ship I’m about to suggest.

The ship is between:

Varian

and

Vex

I imagine this ship is going to have a lot of mixed feedback. Some may not like it because they’re strong for the ship between Cassandra and Varian, while others won't like the ship because they simply don’t like Vex. Hear me out though, here are some good reasons why I think Varian and Vex could make a good couple.

1. The two appear to be close in age to each other. I imagine they’d be some cute teenage romantic tension between these two. It would be adorable to see the growing puppy love (which may eventually blossom into true love) between them.

2. Vex seems to me like a younger counterpart to Varian’s old crush, Cassandra, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Varian becomes attracted to her. Plus the fact that they both look up to her could give them something to bond over (though it might also cause some jealousy too if Vex develops a crush on Varian).

3. I get the feeling that Varian is attracted to tough women. While his crush on Cass was partly to do with her saving his life, I also think it could be that he admired her for her strength and courage. I reckon if he got to know Vex he would come to admire her own strong qualities. Perhaps like Cassandra before her, Vex could also learn to admire Varian’s compassion and smarts (though she may find his optimism annoying at first). I reckon in time these two opposites could attract.

4. Both are former juvenile delinquents of sorts, what with Varian taking over and almost destroying an entire kingdom, stealing a precious ancient relic, not to mention kidnapping Queen Arianna and later attempting to murder her and Cassandra. While Vex as far as I know hasn’t done that, she had her fair share of crimes including bribery and playing part of a kidnapping. Plus who knows what else (her selling weapons suggests a few possibilities). Over time I can see these two learning to empathise with each over their past crimes and connect over their desires to redeem themselves in their current roles, e.g. Varian in helping Princess Rapunzel and Vex in being Deputy to Captain Quaid the Sheriff of Vardaros.

Fun Fact: I reckon their ship name could be V.V (Varian and Vex). Unless of course Vex isn’t Vex’s real name. I believe she could have changed her name, much like two other former criminals we know (Eugene and Lance).

-

Here are several movie and TV couples that I think could be good examples of how these two could interact as a couple and/or even friends:

Zuko and Mai from “Avatar: The Last Airbender

The one thing I have noticed is that Varian and Zuko’s falls from grace and eventual redemption stories have a lot of similarities to each other, especially since they both had something to do with their estranged relationships with their fathers’ (though I am no way saying that Quirin is cruel and abusive like Lord Ozai was). Both are also rebellious risk-takers who want to do the right thing but often take misguided actions which have terrible consequences to them, though both are eager to make up for their past mistakes and help their respective main character (Rapunzel/Aang) in their destiny. Of course, nerdy alchemist Varian is much more friendly, optimistic and clumsy compared to the hot-tempered, moody and athletically-inclined Fire Prince turned Fire Lord, Zuko. Still, he certainly has his angsty moments which are very similar to Zuko’s. 

I think it makes sense that Varian gets a girlfriend with a lot of similarities to Zuko’s girlfriend, Mai. Mai and Vex are certainly similar in the sense that both are moody, cynical action girls who both seem to have trouble expressing their feelings. Maybe Vex’s cynicism is the result of growing up in her rough town. She had to be tough in order to survive, plus there is a hint that maybe she’s an orphan, so there’s potential that she could be carrying a lot of emotional baggage and even fears of abandonment. She probably pretends not to care about anything because she’s scared if she does she’ll get hurt, similar to how Mai pretends not to care because she was taught to repress her feelings from a young age by her controlling mother.

Either way, like Zuko and Mai, I think both Varian and Vex could bring the best out in each other. Varian could help Vex to open up more, while Vex could help Varian recover from his past wounds (in her own Vex way). I’m sure she can empathise with Varian’s dark past as she wasn’t always on the right side of law herself, or at least her neutral siding didn’t exactly make her stand out as a good guy, until she made the decision to become Captain Quaid’s deputy and therefore firmly planted herself on the good side.

I can definitely see Varian and Vex having a fight similar to Zuko and Mai’s during the party scene of “The Beach”. Also I can also see Vex wearing the pants in the relationship like Mai does (Mai’s warning to Zuko in the series finale never to break up with her again sounds like something I imagine Vex saying to Varian). I believe they will show affection to each other in the same way Zuko and Mai do. This confession of love from Mai sounds like something that Vex would definitely say herself: “I don’t hate you.”

-

Wednesday Addams and Joel Glicker from “The Addams Family Values”

A lot of people have compared Vex’s looks and personality to Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family franchise:

While I certainly won’t deny the similarities, I believe that Vex was inspired by Mattie Ross from the 2010 version of the film True Grit:

Nonetheless, I can’t deny there are similarities between Vex and Wednesday. I just hope Vex isn’t quite as morbid, lol. Still, I do wonder if the writers do bring in more of the similarities into later episodes (if Vex does make future apperances).

Personally I don’t find that Joel Glicker was the most well-developed character ever. He was more the overprotected nerdy boy who fell for the dark gothic girl. Still, I guess that Varian has similarities to Joel in the sense they are both nerdy characters who are a little insecure and intense (though I do hope Varian has better self-esteem than Joel). I think it would be funny if Varian had a reaction to seeing Vex for the first time similar to Joel’s when he met Wednesday. Somehow I doubt it will happen, but it’s still funny and kind of cute at the same time

Wednesday meets Joel. See 1:59 to 2:17:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us3JQh-m2FM&list=PLlXqHikVVQDQerwZg0GuBzJPXel5MIPHi&index=6&t=142s

I wouldn’t call Wednesday and Joel’s relationship the best, and I certainly wouldn’t want the ending of their relationship to happen between Varian and Vex, but underneath all the morbidity and insecurity, I think there’s a lot of cute moments between these two. They are definitely an interesting example of opposites attract, plus there is some adorable awkwardness between them that I think could be brought to Varian and Vex’s relationship. I personally see Wednesday and Joel’s relationship being an example of how Varian and Vex’s friendship and eventually relationship starts out, perhaps even hinted at as spoof material within the show.

Some examples could be Varian attempting the “yawn and stretch move” on Vex, but she holds up a knife and says “Touch me with that arm, and you’ll lose it.” or simply “Don’t even think about it.” causing Varian to fearfully back away from her on the seat. Though perhaps Varian does something that really impresses Vex, whether it’s showing his braver, angsty side (which I believe that Vex would find attractive) and/or he uses one of his inventions to help the town of Vardaros. Because Vex is a little reluctant to show she’s impressed, she simply says thank you and a half-hearted comment to Varian for his good work. Though Varian can tell that how moved Vex is from a small smile she shares with him and a sign that she’s warming up to the possibility of being affectionate with him, as shown by Wednesday here:

Even Wednesday and Joel’s farewell and first kiss I could see Varian and Vex spoofing, though in their own individual way.

Wednesday and Joel’s first kiss

https://youtu.be/ZibUVA54BWY

So while I hope they’re not exactly like this couple, it would be cute if we saw some spoof references like this. :)

-

Arnold Shortman and Helga Pataki from “Hey Arnold!”

I’ll be honest with you guys, I’m probably one of the few people who hasn’t seen the most of the Hey Arnold! TV series and movies. I’ve only seen a few episodes. Still, from what I’ve seen of these two, they seem to have similar personalities to Varian and Vex, plus I imagine their relationship being similar too.

Like Arnold, Varian is friendly, optimistic and always there to help out his friends. While Helga and Vex are similar in that they are both tough, aggressive girls who don’t like to open up about their feelings.

I could definitely see Vex being rather mean to Varian at first, calling him “dork” or “nerd”, but overtime maybe she’ll start to lessen up on the insults and starts to respect Varian for his smarts and the positive affect his inventions could possibly have on Vardaros, though she still keeps him at an emotional distance due to trust issues, and it will probably take a bit of time but perhaps Varian’s mixture of kindness and tough love towards Vex could eventually be the thing that slowly breaks down her emotional walls.

I could probably see Vex developing a crush on Varian (though perhaps not as obsessively as Helga though) but has a hard time showing it. She’ll probably show him affection by punching him in the arm, which is meant to be friendly but hurts because Vex is stronger than she looks.

Maybe she might convince Captain Quaid to give Varian a job as the Alchemist of Vardaros, saying that he can help the people of Vardaros with his inventions and alchemy. Though this is possibly true, I believe she would more suggest the idea to Quaid so she can convince Varian to stay in Vardoros. Varian considers the offer, partly because he believes he can be helpful to the people of Vardaros and the other half because he’s starting to fall for Vex and wants to stay with her. I think he turns down the offer at first (which will probably hurt Vex) but promises he’ll return to visit once he’s helped Rapunzel achieve her destiny and reunite her with Cassandra. Though he may even decide to stay in Vardaros as their professional Alchemist after the mission is finished, eventually becoming Vex’s boyfriend.

-

A bonus unofficial couple I could compare them to is:

Hiro Hamada and Karmi from “Big Hero 6: The Series”

There’s no denying that Hiro and Varian are very alike. Both are intelligent and creative child prodigy inventors who are both adorkable and clumsy. Both have lost and/or almost lost family members, and as a result have almost committed murder in order to avenge their loved one’s, though have tried their best to make up for their past mistakes. They are also the one of youngest in their respective group of friends (though not quite with Varian as Keira/Angry and Catalina/Red have now officially joined the group and are a few years younger than him).

While Karmi is rather different from Vex, they do share anti-social and moody tendencies. Deep down underneath their moody exterior though, both have the drive to do the right thing.

Like Hiro and Karmi, I could imagine Varian and Vex having a rivalry of sorts during their first meeting. Perhaps Varian gets jealous over Catalina (Red) and Kiera (Angry) looking up to Vex over him as an older sibling/mentor figure due to them respecting her “tough as nails woman” exterior. Also maybe Vex could get jealous if Quaid starts paying more attention to Varian and his inventions, e.g. maybe he could invent a special smoker to calm Quaid’s bees, impressing the Captain of Vadaros greatly and gaining Vex’s envious resentment.

Over time though, like Hiro and Karmi, these two could learn to respect each other and their talents, eventually forming a friendship, which over time shows signs of romantic attraction between the two teens.

-

Even if Varian and Vex don’t become a couple, I would still love it if somehow they did meet on the show and eventually become friends. I’m sure it would be cool to see how they interact with someone in their own age group.

What do you guys think? I’d love to hear your feedback, but please refrain from harsh negativity.

[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

Six Baudelaires AU, Part Two: Reference Guide

A quick guide for everything I intentionally referenced in The Six Siblings, Part Two: This Tale is All Sorrows and Woes.

{ao3} {tumblr} {part one reference guide} 

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING - the plot twists from this section of the fanfiction will be discussed at length. 

Without further ado…

Chapter One / Prologue - in which Lilac has to Older Sister

“Release Nick, you fiend!” Violet tackled Klaus to the ground, as both of her brothers burst into giggles. “Never! Nick’s my prisoner of war!” Klaus said, trying (and failing) to push her off.

Nick being the “captive” in the childrens’ game throughout the chapter is a bit of an obvious foreshadow to his captivity from Chapters 12-20... which meant it was really fun when none of you noticed until then and then tried to kill me. XD

A full reference of the books namedropped in the childrens’ game:

Violet and Nick’s kingdom, Terabithia, is from Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. Their original characters, either Susan/Lucy and Peter/Edmund, are a reference to The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. 

Lilac and Klaus’s kingdom, Gwyntystorm, and their characters, Irene and Curdie, are from The Princess and the Goblin and its sequel, The Princess and Curdie, by George MacDonald. 

Lilac says she thought Nick was Eragon, from The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, and Klaus says he was Aragorn, from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. Nick’s suggestion for a new name, Glaedr, is also a character from The Inheritance Cycle. Nick finally decides to be Peter Pan, obviously from Peter Pan by JM Barrie. 

“Naw, they definitely are.” Nick nodded. “When a new baby is born, one of the other children has to die. Everyone knows it.” [...] “Now, since it’s a girl maybe, they could take out one of them,” he gestured towards Violet and Lilac, “But you’re the most useless, Klaus, so-” [...] “But yeah. Babies suck and we should totally throw our sister off the roof.” 

Direct reference to Addams Family Values (1993)

“Watch me.” Nick’s eyes lit up. “Wait, no, better plan. You guys remember Moses-”

Reference to the story of Moses, who was placed in a basket in a river as an infant. 

Lilac quickly answered the phone, saying, “Baudelaire residence. This is Lilac Emily. To whom am I presently speaking?” 

Lilac’s middle name is taken from her actress, Emily Browning. 

“We’re sensible and proper!” Nick added.

A reference to S Theodora Markson’s catchphrase in All the Wrong Questions. 

“What was that, Dad? No, no real ropes. Yeah, promise. We’ll go to bed on time, too. But you’ll all be back in the morning? Yeah, I know. Don’t open the windows.”

The Baudelaire parents don’t want to risk their children getting recruited. 

“He said we have a new sister.” Lilac reported. “Solitude Theodora Baudelaire.”

A direct reference to S Theodora Markson. 

“Can we make a blanket fort?” Klaus asked. “Like we used to?”

Much like the last prologue, this is a reference to the scene from the 2004 film. 

Rest of the fic under the cut. 

Chapter Two - in which the Baudelaires move into a nice Shack

As he stood, Nick turned to look at his brother, and after a second, he realized something. “Wait a minute.” he said. “Are you… taller than me?”

A reference to Louis Hynes’s growth spurt inbetween TMM and TAA in the Netflix series. (Though, fun fact, at this moment in time, Liam Aiken is currently taller than Louis Hynes, so I guess Nick eventually does end up taller.) 

Violet groaned and stood, and Solitude said, “Winnie,” which meant, “We could have Babbitt judge; they’re good with numbers!”

A reference to the main character of Babbitt’s namesake, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. 

After a moment, Nick said, “I’ll give you a tip.” “Yes?” Nick smiled slightly. “There’s a book, about the mother of a girl who reminds me a lot of you, in that everyone thinks she is adorable and perfect. The mother gets scared when the girl’s classmate drowns on a field trip and her daughter steals something shiny off of him, and she then finds out that she has a very suspicious genealogy.”

Nick giving tips in the form of book recommendations is a reference to Lemony’s habit of doing the same thing to Pip and Squeak in All the Wrong Questions. This is a double reference, as Liam Aiken, Nick’s actor, read the audiobooks for ATWQ. 

The book he is referencing is The Bad Seed by William March. 

“Gah-ahc.” said Solitude, which meant, “Let’s sleep outside.”

One of Soli’s lines in the 2004 film. 

Chapter Three - in which the Baudelaires make new friends 

Sunny narrowed her eyes. “Armoracia,” she muttered, which meant something like, “That doesn’t sound right. Apples and Horseradish taste very differently.”

Early foreshadowing for Sunny’s cooking interest. 

“I can get the windows,” Lilac said, “Should be an ordinary-enough pin-tumbler lock.”

The phase “ordinary enough pin-tumbler lock” is repeated a lot, as a reference to the second All the Wrong Questions book, When Did You See Her Last? 

“Yeah, there’s no locks.” Duncan said. “Bonnie said that they fell off a few years ago and never got replaced.”

A reference to a main character from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. 

Chapter Four - in which Duncan and Isadora break into a Library 

“See? Researcher. Like Klaus.” Nick said. Klaus narrowed his eyes at his twin, trying to figure out what Nick was on about. “Is that… really important?” “Yes.” Nick said, and failed to elaborate. [...] “I think Klaus and Duncan should take the fungus.” Violet said, sharing a look with Nick. “The rest of us can keep an eye out for that book.” “Why should we take the fungus?” Violet held back a smile and shrugged, but Klaus quickly figured out what was going on. His face went red, and he glared at her, but Duncan said, “I’m fine with that,” so all he could do was shrug and keep shooting his siblings dark looks.

Violet and Nick are trying to set Duncan and Klaus up, much to Lilac’s horror. 

“Like a little cat.” Duncan said. “One of those feral ones that are super tiny.”

A reference to the world’s smallest cat, the Rusty-spotted cat. 

“That doesn’t sound right, but I really don’t give a shit.” Nick shrugged. “We’ll find it, won’t we, Soli?”

A reference to a line from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode 5x03, “The Great Recession”, which later became a meme - “That doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about stars to dispute it.” 

Chapter Five - in which the children run amok at Prufrock Prep 

“You’re lucky.” Isadora said, sitting on the edge of the roof and kicking her legs as she looked down at the dying grass fields. “Our parents’ estate’s executor doesn’t give a fuck until orphans are ‘in’, whatever the hell that means.”

As revealed in The Slippery Slope book, Esme was left in charge of the Quagmires’ estate. 

Lilac giggled. “Yeah. Mom used to have [a necklace] just like it, except instead of these gear patterns, it had her initials. I always thought it was pretty, but she never let me wear it, so I learned how to make my own. She was… so proud.”

2004 Film Violet does indeed have a necklace throughout the entire film; I just added a backstory. 

“Nick Liam Baudelaire, what the hell is that?” Lilac shouted.

Nick’s middle name is in reference to his actor, Liam Aiken. 

“Marbeau,” said Sunny, meaning, “Maybe they’ve finally opened a daycare or toddler school.”

A reference to Firmin Marbeau, who pioneered a forerunner of modern daycare. 

Chapter Six - in which the Baudelaires have Gym Class 

“Tik,” said Sunny, meaning, “No! Typing and stapling is so hard when we’re tired!”

“Tik” spelled backwards is “Kit”, which, no, is not a reference to Kit Snicket, but Kit Kittredge, who famously carries a typewriter. 

“Say goodbye to Nick, Solitude.” Lilac said, grabbing the toddler’s hand and dragging her to her feet.

Another bit of foreshadowing for Nick’s capture. 

“Olil.” Sunny groaned. “Leave me alone to die.”

“Olil” spelled backwards is “Lilo”, as Sunny is directly quoting a line from Lilo & Stitch (2002). 

“Speaking of which,” Carmelita said, “As this is the second message I gave you, I really deserve a tip at this point.” “There’s a book about what happens when you let a bunch of schoolchildren run around unsupervised,” Klaus said, “And it features a pig’s head on a stick.”

Once again, the book recommendation instead of a tip is an All the Wrong Questions reference. 

Klaus is recommending Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Chapter Seven - in which Nick gets them all in Even More Trouble 

“I’m just telling you what I was told to tell you.” Carmelita giggled. “And since this is my eleventh message, you’re overdue eleven tips.” “We gave you our tips.” Nick said, glaring at her. “But here’s today’s; there’s a book that was made into a popular film that is about a hound dog and a fox. In the book, at the end, the hound kills the fox.”

Once again, ATWQ reference with the tips. 

The book he’s recommending is The Fox and the Hound by Daniel P Mannix; and, yes, that IS how the book ends. The Hound dies, too. You’re welcome for ruining your childhood. 

“Klaus?” he sounded very uncharacteristically terrified. “Klaus? Are you okay?” Klaus, startled, quickly stumbled out, “Y-yeah, I’m fine…” as Lilac and Violet also jumped up, grabbing the infants, and the Quagmires hurried to their feet. “Did your glasses break?” “No, I’m-” “Are you hurt?” Nick pulled away from his slightly, his eyes moving fast as he scanned his brother.

While Nick’s PTSD worsens much later, the first signs of it start showing here; he’s still traumatized from Klaus’s hypnotism, which was always kicked off with him getting tripped and his glasses breaking. 

“I wouldn’t say that.” said Nick, glaring down at the floor. He hadn’t looked anybody in the eye since he’d attacked Carmelita.

Nick isn’t ashamed of attacking Carmelita; he’s ashamed that he “overreacted” to something so minor. He doesn’t like admitting he needs help, which becomes a problem after his capture. 

“We know what homeschooling is.” Violet said. “We were-”

In this continuity, the Baudelaires were homeschooled before the fire. 

“Halloween, age nine,” Isadora said, “Was when we wanted to go as a certain family of six children. The problem being that there’re only three of us.”

A reference to The Brady Bunch. 

“We know you’re not asking.” Isadora said, smiling. “We’re volunteering.”

whelp. 

Chapter Eight - in which Lilac Snaps 

No major references in this chapter. 

Chapter Nine - in which the Baudelaires are given Fashion Lessons 

They fell silent again, and then quietly, Lilac started to sing. She sang a song that was normally played very loud and energetic, but she gave it a slower melody, quietly soothing Sunny as they walked up and up the large staircase. It was a song about how everybody’s looking for something, and as they walked, listening to Lilac’s soft voice, they all really hoped that whoever was looking for the Quagmires would find them quickly.

A reference to “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by Eurythmics, but more specifically, a reference to Emily Browning’s cover version.

“Ah, you’re very adventurous!” Jerome said. “Just like your mother. We were friends a ways back. We hiked up Mount Fraught with some friends- gosh, it must have been twenty years ago-” [...] “Hmm? Oh, no, just the Snickets and that Markson boy.” Lilac narrowed her eyes. “Who?”

“That Markson boy” is a reference to the theory that Bertrand Baudelaire was adopted by S Theodora Markson’s family. Lilac’s recognition is not of her father’s maiden name, but of “Snicket”, which she vaguely remembers from her childhood. 

Chapter Ten - in which the In Auction is planned 

Currently, the Baudelaires were spread out in the living room. Nick and Klaus were trying to read through a book on Emily Dickinson that they’d bought the other day, while Violet and Lilac were going through the newspaper, trying to find something interesting, or some news on the search for Count Olaf.

The Baudelaires miss the Quagmires so much they’ve accidentally picked up their habits; Emily Dickinson is a famous poet, and Violet and Lilac are reading the newspaper. 

“She seems like the kind of person who’d try to set me up with some rich kid.” Nick said. “And I’m never getting married, not even when I’m older. I’m gonna live alone in the woods, and the only one who can come visit me is Soli.”

Nick is aromantic. 

“Ihering!” Soli said, which meant something like, “I’ll live with you and we can raise reptiles in the woods!”

A reference to Hermann von Ihering, a zoologist. 

The waiter nodded. “I didn’t realize this was a sad occasion.” [...] “Did you say-?” Lilac began.

The waiter is a VFD agent; once again, Lilac vaguely recognizes the code phrase. 

Chapter Eleven - in which Klaus finds an Ersatz Elevator 

“I’m not going to let us chase red herrings!” Lilac shouted back, hurt.

Dark foreshadowing to the red herring statue. 

“Solitude is,” Nick said, moving past him to find a pencil and paper, “Sunny is the albatross that curses us.” “Doom!” Sunny cheered.

A reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

“It worked.” Violet smiled. “We never expected otherwise.” Klaus said.

A reference to the line from “The Bad Beginning: Part One” in the Netflix series. 

Chapter Twelve - in which the Baudelaires fall 

“Not so bad.” Solitude muttered. Then, she said, “Radec,” which meant, “Just think of it as a ride, instead of an actual fall.”

“Radec” spelled backwards is “Cedar”; a lowkey reference to Cedar Point. 

“No, we’re going to make a lockpick.” Lilac said. “Flamethrower’s too volatile. Besides, I don’t trust you with it.”

“Too volatile” is a reference to the phrase being used in The Grim Grotto. 

She spun on her heel, exiting out a door behind them. As she did, Nick said, “Should I go after her and tell her the kitchen was out the other door?”

Esme went to call Olaf and the henchpeople, instead of going to the kitchen. 

“Yeet Babbitt.” Solitude suggested.

A reference to the vine/meme. 

They had to walk through a parlor to get to the door, and as they did, Nick stopped a moment, glancing at the phone. It didn’t look broken. “Hey, guys?” he called, but they didn’t hear him, so he started to run to catch up.

Nick started to run to catch up; he never did, because that’s when one of Olaf’s henchpeople grabs him. 

And then, with a swish, there was a thump, thump, thump, and the Baudelaires stopped falling.

Only three thumps- because Klaus and Lilac were carrying the toddlers, and Nick didn’t fall, only three kids hit the net. 

“Nhojnod!” Sunny shouted. “You bastard!”

“Njohnod” is “Don John” spelled backwards, a reference to the character from Much Ado About Nothing, who is a bastard in both the legal and ethical use of the term. 

Chapter Thirteen - in which Sunny crawls up an elevator shaft 

“Sunday Theodora Baudelaire!” Lilac shouted. “You get back down here right now!”

Sunny’s middle name, “Theodora”, is once again a reference to S Theodora Markson; even after her death, she’s still confusing people about what the S stood for. 

Sunny sighed and turned slightly towards them, calling out, “Salvo!” which probably meant something like, “I’m going to go get us some rope and see if I can find Nick! I’ll be back soon!”

“Salvo” is a Latin verb, meaning “to save.” 

Sunny bit her lip and shook her head. “Appentier,” she said, meaning, “He’s not in the penthouse, at least from what I saw.”

“Appentier” is a french word from which “penthouse apartment” is derived. 

“Kim?” Sunny asked, meaning, “Wait, we get leeway for being kidnapped?”

“Kim” is the name of the girl who is kidnapped in the film Taken (2008). 

Solitude glanced at her in confusion. “Greywater?” “Yes, Soli,” Violet said, “A word which here means, ‘basically piss and shit.’”

A reference to a line from IT: Chapter One (2017). 

Chapter Fourteen - in which Some Children are sold at auction 

“You’d be surprised what’s legal and what’s not, actually.” Esme said. “For instance, in our society, cannibalism is legal, but religiously frowned upon-” 

A reference to the only ASOUE canon that matters, the Real-Time Fandub. (part one, part two) 

“Very interesting.” Olaf said. “And I suppose you think that your dear sister Lilac will take care of you then?”

Olaf is taunting Nick here, as he’s about to drop quite a lot of secrets to him, but mainly that Lilac is his half-sister. 

Notably, Nick is the only Baudelaire not present in this header image. 

Chapter Fifteen - in which Nobody’s having a good time 

No major references in this chapter. 

Chapter Sixteen - in which Lilac has a bad plan 

For sapphires and fortunes we are held in here. Only you can end our fear.

Isadora’s poems are ever-so-slightly different in this AU, due to Nick’s presence. 

The addition of and fortunes indicates that Nick is still with them.

Until dawn comes, we cannot speak speak. No voices come from this sad beak.

“voices” is more specific than “words can”; Nick has already started to go nonverbal due to his trauma, and Duncan and Isadora are unable to yell through the statue. 

Chapter Seventeen - in which the Village makes a Big Mistake 

But as she passed the Baudelaires, her hand slipped, and the man turned and met Lilac’s eyes. He stared for a moment, as if he realized with a shock he recognized her from somewhere. Then, he said, very quietly, “The world is quiet here.”

Jacques is realizing that Lilac has Lemony’s eyes; if he hadn’t realized before she was his niece, he does now. He tries to signal her with a VFD codephrase. 

“Now,” Lilac said, “We will need full access to all your inventing materials.” “And I’ll need blueprints of the uptown jail.” Klaus said. “Dead fly.” said Solitude.

While this is an obvious reference to Soli wanting to feed Babbitt, it is also a reference to a similar request made by Wednesday Addams in the 1964 sitcom The Addams Family, episode 1x10, “Wednesday Leaves Home.” 

The first thing you read contains our clues: An initial way to speak to you.

“Our clues”, once again, signals that Nick is still with the Quagmires. 

Chapter Eighteen - in which Count Olaf was not murdered 

No major references in this chapter. 

Chapter Nineteen - in which the Twins get a Birthday Present 

“You won’t keep Nick.” Lilac added. “He’ll get away from you, and the Quagmires, too! We’re never going to give up, and neither are they!” “Baudelaires don’t give up!” Solitude shouted. Olaf just smiled. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

Nick’s trauma has already caused him to shut down completely, and Olaf knows this. 

Inside these letters the eye will see Nearby are your loved ones and the VFD

Nick and the Quagmires are still together. 

Chapter Twenty - in which Sunny drives a Firetruck 

“Nick, hey.” Isadora slowly pulled away from Violet and Lilac and stepped closer to the fountain, her voice very soft. “Your siblings found us. We were right. They found us.”

The Quagmires aren’t as traumatized as Nick; they’ve learned how to avoid the wrath of their captors, and have complete faith that the Baudelaires will save them. Nick’s been tortured and told quite a lot of things that temporarily broke him.

Duncan and Isadora shared a glance, and to the Baudelaires’ surprise, Nick flinched and also shared the triplets’ look. “Well, that’s not a surprise.” Duncan said. “He was the brother of a man who-”

Duncan, Isadora and Nick all know about Jacques Snicket, his relationship to Lemony, and Lemony’s relationship to Lilac. 

Nick was backing away from the fence, eyes wide, gripping onto Solitude so hard his knuckles were white. Isadora ran forwards, and Lilac realized then that he was shaking uncontrollably. “Nick, Nick, it’s okay!” Isadora said. She reached forwards, grabbing his face. “Look at me! Look at me! Duncan-” Duncan ran over, putting a hand on Nick’s shoulder, as Nick said, “They’re going to find us. They’re going to catch us. They’re going to find us-”

A lot of Nick’s trauma came from punishments after he attempted to escape, so he goes into a panic whenever they’re about to be caught. 

At that moment, Solitude pushed Babbitt onto Nick’s shoulder and said, “Hold this!” She immediately started running, jumping over Lilac and crawling through the window and onto the seat beside Sunny. Then she slid to the floor and jumped on the gas pedal, causing them to take off again.

A reference to Pip and Squeak from All the Wrong Questions, who drove their taxi in a similar way. 

Klaus stared back, and then his gaze hardened, and his siblings had never seen him look so furious. “I’m going to kill them.” Klaus vowed, and he meant it. “I’m going to kill them, Nick.” Nick’s eyes widened, and for several seconds, he looked like he physically could not process what his brother had just said.

A running joke up to this point was that Nick would suggest murder and Klaus would remind him that was illegal; after seeing his brother in such a state of shock and fear, this gag drops as Klaus decides Olaf and his troupe have to die. 

Chapter Twenty-One - in which Nick is not feeling great 

Meanwhile, Klaus was leaning against the wall, with Nick leaning onto his shoulder, curled up so he could be as close to his brother as possible. He had his eyes shut, but Lilac knew he wasn’t asleep; she didn’t think he’d slept at all. 

A symptom of severe trauma is the loss of sleep, either because of nightmares, or fear of what could happen while in such a defenseless position. This will be explored in Part Three. 

Nick bit his lip, and then nodded and said, “I-I’m sorry-”

Nick’s gotten over the initial shock of his rescue, and he’s starting to regret breaking down and starting to hate being so obviously traumatized. 

“Wait, Li…” Nick paused. “Can I… can I talk to you?” “Of course.” Lilac said softly. Nick glanced from Klaus to Violet to the toddlers. “Alone?”

Nick has decided it’s Lilac’s right to know she has a different (possibly living?) biological dad than the rest of them, but he also knows it’s her decision who else she wants to know, hence why he wants to tell her alone. 

Nick looked up at Klaus, and said, “I-I…” he shut his eyes. “I thought I heard… no, no, I must’ve… I thought I heard her, but… I had to… she wouldn’t… have found us this fast…”

Esme and Olaf were Nick’s main tormentors; they trigger his panic attacks more than the presence of the rest of the troupe. 

“No! No, don’t leave!” Nick shouted, leaping forwards and grabbing Klaus’s arm.

Nick is absolutely terrified of isolation/abandonment, especially in enclosed spaces. 

“Never!” Klaus pushed Nick farther, incredibly terrified by just how quiet his brother was.

Nick was punished a lot for “backtalking” his captors, so when he’s around Olaf and Esme, he almost never speaks. 

Chapter Twenty-Two - in which the Baudelaires break into a Hospital 

“Dimidium,” Sunny said, which meant, “Well, it’s only half a hospital.”

“Dimidium” is a Latin noun, meaning “half.” 

“We could kick down the door.” Lilac suggested. Then, she gave Nick a small smile. “Remember, Nick? When you were locked in the closet and wanted Mom to kick down the door?”

A reference to a previous one-shot for the Six Baudelaires AU. 

“Do you think that’ll have the information we need?” Violet asked. Nick flinched again, and then he said, “Um-”

Nick heard the word “Snicket”, and immediately assumes the worst- that it’ll out Lilac to the rest of their siblings. 

Chapter Twenty-Three - in which Solitude steals some shit 

Nick still didn’t respond, and Violet’s voice broke. “You have to remember. You couldn’t have been younger than… six or seven. Mother and Father were so mad, when they found us I thought they were going to explode… but you weren’t even upset, I cried but you just said you’d… you’d heard some kind of animal cry, and you thought it might need help, and I was the only one awake to help you… they got even madder, told you you should’ve stayed with them, but you didn’t see anything wrong, and… Nick, please tell me you remember that…”

An animal cry is a signal from VFD recruiters to prompt the children to say the codephrase that begins recruitment. The Baudelaire parents don’t want their children recruited, and were terrified to wake up and find their children gone on a night that they could have been kidnapped. 

Violet carefully pulled the scraps from her pocket, spreading them out in front of her, while Klaus turned to Nick. “Did they tell you anything?” he asked. “While you were… with them? About VFD, or this whole ‘Snicket’ thing, or Olaf?” Nick didn’t look anyone in the eye. “There wasn’t… much time to chat. I only… Lilac, can we talk?”

Pretty much all of Nick’s pleas for Lilac to talk to her are brought on when Snicket is mentioned. 

Nick pulled away, scratching at his arm, “That’s not…”

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING: IMPLIED SELF HARM

Nick’s arm scratches are a tic he picked up during his captivity; he starts to scratch whenever his captors are mentioned, to keep himself alert. This will be discussed and resolved in Part Three. 

Nick looked sharply up at her and said, “Mom stole from Esme. She wouldn’t give a shit.”

Nick knows about the theft of the sugar bowl, as well as the Opera Night. (which are separate incidents, fuck you Netflix.) He’s very pissed at his parents for keeping vital information from them. 

Chapter Twenty-Four - in which Violet makes a decision 

They went to the Js. Then, quietly, Nick said, “Can we go to the L cabinets?” “Why?” Lilac asked. Nick glanced towards his siblings, and then away. “Just a guess.” Lilac shrugged directed them to the Ls, and Nick flipped through one drawer, eyes narrowed. Then he shook his head. “Nothing here.”

He’s looking under both “Lemony” and “Lilac.” 

Nick paused. “I mean… we don’t have to- to watch it right away.”  [...] “Li, please,” he said, “Can we talk? Just outside, just the two of us, there’s something-”

Nick wants to be able to tell Lilac about the whole “Lemony Snicket” thing before they can risk having her find out from the file. 

“I did.” Jacques nodded. “I managed to contact-”

He managed to contact Quigley.

“We’ll find them.” Lilac swore. “Are you okay?” “Yeah.” “Are you scared?” “I’m scared you won’t let me make a flamethrower and turn it on that bitch.”

A reference to this incorrect quote, which is, of itself, a reference to a line from the television show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, episode 3x10, “Yippie Kayak.” 

Still no response. Lilac looked around in terror, her hand flying to her necklace. “Violet Malina Baudelaire! You get the fuck out here!”

Violet’s middle name is taken from her actress, Malina Weissman. 

Chapter Twenty-Five - in which Lilac breaks down 

“I’m not…” Lilac sniffled. “I’m not like you.” Nick froze. “What does that mean?” “You all are so close.” Lilac shut her eyes. “You and Solitude, you and Klaus, you and Violet, Violet and Klaus, Klaus and Sunny, Solitude and Sunny… all of you. You’re all each others’ best friends. None of you care about me like that. [...] I just… feel like… like there’s this wall between us. That we can’t see, but we can’t cross. And I can see you all… you all together. And I just… can’t be like that. Cause I have to be responsible? Cause I’m the oldest? Cause… cause I just can’t be loved?” “Li!” Nick put a hand on her cheek, turning her towards him. “Li, we do love you. You’re our big sister! You’re our sister! You are our family! Sure, we pick on you, but not because we hate you! We all love you, too!”

This is why Nick doesn’t take the opportunity to tell her about her heritage; he wants to wait for a moment where the information won’t give her more anxiety, or make her think she’s somehow less family. 

Nick paused a moment, and then he leaned his head on her shoulder, shut his eyes, and said, “They fuck you up, your Mom and Dad. [...] They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had, then add some extra, just for you.” Lilac stiffened for a second, and then carefully put an arm around Nick. “Where… where’d you learn that?” “The Library.” Nick lied.

Nick is quoting “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin, which is later quoted by Olaf in “The End.” He learned the poem during his captivity. 

“Nick.” Lilac wiped her eyes, and then put her hands on his. “It’s okay to… to talk about what happened to you.” Nick bit his lip. “That’s…” “I’ve been busy, yes, but I’ve also been scared. Scared that I’ll… I’ll hear something that makes everything worse.” Lilac’s eyes darted to the ground a moment, before going back up to Nick. “But I’ll listen. I want to hear you. I want you to tell me.”

TRIGGER WARNING: CSA MENTION

Lilac has been avoiding Nick in fear that he’ll explain what he suffered under Olaf. While she knows learning the details can help her better protect her brother, she is terrified that she won’t be able to handle it, and she’s completely terrified he might have been sexually assaulted, seeing as Olaf threatened to do that to Violet specifically to punish Lilac, and he had Nick under his control for a while. 

Nick smiled at her. “You can do anything, sis.”

Nick knows she’s biologically his half-sister, but he wants to make completely sure she knows he will always consider her his sister and his family, and nothing can change that. 

Chapter Twenty-Six - in which Klaus impersonates a Doctor 

Nick flinched. “You want to be like him?”

Something to note: After his capture, Nick never refers to Olaf or Esme by their names; just him or her. 

Nick took a deep breath. “These vents are a lot bigger than I thought, but, um… they’re still pretty cramped.” Solitude shrugged. Of course it didn’t seem cramped to her, she was only a little over two feet tall. “I was just… I’m not sure I like how small it is.”

Nick’s claustrophobia, gained from being trapped in a red herring, a statue, and possibly other small spaces inbetween, is starting up. 

“Doctor Howser.” Lilac said in an austrailian accent, thinking very fast. “We’re going to perform surgery soon.”

A reference to Doogie Howser, MD, which starred a young Neil Patrick Harris, who played Olaf in the Netflix series. 

“Since when could you do an Austrailian accent?” “You don’t know everything about me.” Lilac scanned the list.

Lilac’s actress, Emily Browning, is Australian. 

Chapter Twenty-Seven - in which the Baudelaires jump out a window 

Nick had placed Solitude onto the ground and now held Violet by the shoulders, shaking her slightly as he shouted. “What did they do to you, Vi? Vi, what did they do?”

Nick knows exactly what could have happened to Violet in captivity, so he’s completely and utterly panicked. 

“I’m with Klaus.” Nick said shakily. “We go together or not at all.”

A reference to the track “Together or Not at All” from Doctor Who, by Murray Gold. 

Chapter Twenty-Eight - in which the Baudelaires visit a Carnival 

No major references in this chapter. 

Chapter Twenty-Nine - in which Solitude finally morphs into a reptile 

“Well, if they…” Nick shut his eyes. “We just… better get there before they drink too much, that’s all.”

Nick has had experience with the troupe while drunk, and would rather attempt to speak with them before it goes too far. 

“Well, then,” Lulu said, stepping forwards and looking a bit confused, “What exactly are you, please?” “You can call me Babydoll.” Lilac said.

A very clear reference to the character that Emily Browning played in Sucker Punch (2011). 

Surprisingly, the henchpeople looked a little startled at that, as did Lulu, but Esme laughed. “Sounds like my kind of girl!” she said. “I drowned an ex once. So did you, dear, right?” Olaf was taking another swig of wine, so they couldn’t exactly see his reaction. 

Olaf “drowning an ex” is a reference to the Netflix show canon, where he left Georgina Orwell under a bridge to drown. 

His reaction being hidden is because, for obvious reasons, he doesn’t quite want to talk about murdered parents. 

“Well, I’m Elliot,” Klaus said, “And this is my other head, Janus.”

Janus was a Roman god with two faces. 

“And that down there,” Lilac said, pointing her thumb at Solitude, “Is our little pet gorgon. We call ‘er Euryale, cause her actual name is just a buncha hisses.”

Euryale was one of Medusa’s sisters in Greek Mythology. 

Chapter Thirty - in which the Baudelaires put on a show 

But as they started to leave, they heard a low rumble, and Nick immediately grabbed onto Klaus’s arm and let out a nervous gasp that was, thankfully, missed in the noise.

Nick recognizes the sound of Olaf’s car. 

Chapter Thirty-One - in which the Baudelaires play fortune teller 

“Or maybe,” Nick said, very quietly, keeping his eyes shut tight, “They were told not to find us.”

Nick learned a lot about VFD during his captivity, including their recruitment. He’s worried that their surviving parent may be ready to give them up to the organization. 

Nick grabbed a selection of paper, staring curiously, and then he quickly tried to shove it back, but Klaus’s eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of it, and he grabbed it from his brother. 

Nick, once again, sees the name “Snicket” and assumes the worst. 

Chapter Thirty-Two - in which the Baudelaires are asked to murder 

“No, thank you.” Esme said, looking down a Sunny and frowning. “I’m afraid I don’t like cinnamon in chocolate anymore, the woman who introduced it to me recently perished in a fire. But it’s very kind of you to offer.”

The Baudelaires received their taste for cinnamon in hot chocolate from their mother. 

“Sounds good.” Kevin said. “I’ve committed crimes before. Why, when I was no older than Elliot and Janus-” 

A reference to the theory that Kevin from ASOUE is the same as Kevin Old from File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents, who committed vandalism and thievery. 

Chapter Thirty-Three - in which someone is pushed to the lions 

“I’m sure you are.” Olaf smirked, and he reached forwards and put a cold hand on Nick’s cheek. Nick tried very hard not to cry, but he wasn’t succeeding very well. “Now go jump into that pit. We want to see you devoured by lions.”

Olaf, who knows that the freaks are the Baudelaires, specifically picked Klaus and Nick to sacrifice to the lions specifically to torment Nick more; he knows what effect he has on him, and is relishing it. Once the boys are gone, they can grab the rest of the Baudelaires and escape. 

“I wish we had a cartographer with us.” Violet sighed. 

A reference to the next book, where Violet will have a relationship with Quigley, a cartographer. 

Chapter Thirty-Four / Epilogue - in which they should have said something

“Come on.” Bertrand said, taking Violet’s hands and spinning her as she giggled. “It’s Duke Ellington. That’s your fav, Li.”

A reference to All the Wrong Questions. 

“What song is this?” Violet asked. Beatrice smiled over at Soli, who was curled up on Nick’s lap, biting his sweater. “It’s got a very special name, isn’t that right, dear?” Solitude giggled. 

“Solitude”, by Duke Ellington, likely Ellington’s song in All the Wrong Questions. 

“Dashiell if it’s a boy,” Bertrand replied, “Sunny if it’s a girl.” 

“Dashiell” after Dashiell Qwerty from All the Wrong Questions. 

“We could adopt one of the outdoors animals.” Nick suggested. Beatrice and Bertrand turned to look at him. “The what?” Bertrand asked. “I keep hearing animals outside my window, every now and again.” Nick shrugged. “Howling or yipping or sometimes breaking a branch. Maybe if we brought them into the house, they wouldn’t get in so much trouble.” 

Recruitment attempts that have not been working, because Beatrice and Bertrand refuse to let their children join VFD. 

She turned to a selection of beach photos, slowly pulling out a small picture of baby Lilac, sitting on Briny Beach. It hadn’t been the first time she’d seen the ocean, but she’d still been so excited to splash in the water. 

Since Lilac was born eleven months before Violet, it’s likely she was born on the island. 

[cinenthusiast]

WARNING: The following contains heavy semantics. This is the equivalent of letterboxd users breaking down their dumb rating systems. OK, not as bad, but still! You have been warned!

I’m starting a new (and final) iteration of something I’ve done my whole life. A single list of my 50 Favorite Actors, covering the full scope of era and gender. I’ll make a new one from scratch each year as a kind of record. 50 doesn’t leave too much room for sudden or drastic evolution, but the long game is what I’m playing at.

All of my old lists (of any kind) used to be ranked. Frankly, fuck that. I’m all for ranking within narrow frameworks (Top Ten By Year, etc) but general lists like favorite actors and movies? Why do it? Numbers make the whole thing an arbitrary assessment, isolating the actors and films into a misguided hierarchy that doesn’t add any insight or clarity. Lists and rankings are such an oversaturated aspect of culture content as it is, and I’d like to avoid this feeling like just another ranking. The collective group is the thing, the totality of taste, interest, and meaning. Keeping this a singular entity (with one or two caveats) preserves this as a personal journal entry of sorts, a snapshot and not the end-all be-all. It’s a way of capturing my taste in film and the people in it. I’ve put a star next to my ten favorites, and I’ve got a separate long list of people I considered but ultimately didn’t add, and that’s the extent of it.

Growing up, I made favorite actor lists obsessively. When I was around six or seven I would play ‘School’. I was the teacher. My students? The likes of Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Danny DeVito, and John Travolta. I had pages and pages of any actor whose name I knew (the entire casts of Angels in the Outfield and Addams Family Values were represented). I took very careful attendance to make sure everyone was present, calling out each name and imagining that yes, they were there. Each actor received a little check in their row of squares (I made sure I had the checkered graph paper to keep everything orderly and precise).

age 11

all of these were made at age 11

Then there were the dark days, the days when tween Katie made lists like Top Ten ‘Cutie-Patootie’ Actors (a reference to the Rosie O’Donnell Show, yes, the Rosie O’Donnell Show, seen above). As you can see, the kid from Dennis the Menace topped that one. I also had my constantly revised Top Ten Favorite Actors & Actresses. Five actors from the lists pictured above are also on this current one: Nicole Kidman, Jim Carrey, Winona Ryder, John Travolta, and Michelle Pfeiffer. They were major icons for me then, and they remain so now, 20 years after the fact. They are forever favorites.

the four quadrants, from 2006 (age 18)

What followed were continuously updated versions of this, covering half my lifetime: Top Blank (at varying points it was 20, 30, and 50) Modern Actors, Modern Actresses, Classic Actors, and Classic Actresses (‘Classic’ accounted for the Hollywood studio era). They were always divided into those four quadrants. I can timestamp the years by who was on them. Simon Pegg at the top? Must be 2008. Katee Sackhoff near the top? I must have been watching “Battlestar Galactica” then. You can find the 2012 versions on this site: here and here.

These categories created considerable grey area, swaths of actors that never really fit comfortably in their group. Those who either featured in films from both eras (Jack Lemmon) or were technically of the ‘Modern’ era but with careers that didn’t really transition into the current (Faye Dunaway). And those ‘Modern’ lists were always much more about the now. I never made room for these actors who qualified as ‘Modern’ but who could be pinpointed to the past. I wanted to feature the up-and-coming, people whose careers I was excited about now! Filmographies I could follow along with as they progressed.

This factor, which meant so much to me then, means nothing re: this new list. For one, I don’t follow current stuff to the degree I used to. 21st century film is less interesting to me (current TV far less so). But I’m really fond of a lot of actors working today, from relative newcomers to tried-and-true character actors to cemented A-listers. The group there was no room for, not by a long shot, were the relative newcomers. I’m an easy lay when it comes to loving actors. But with over a century of performers to choose from, it doesn’t leave much room for the young “oooh I love him/her/them, I can’t wait to see what they do next” ones.

But for the record, the fresher (2010 to present) faces that I’m most invested in are Adam Driver, Elizabeth Debicki, Tom Hardy, Lakeith Stanfield, Kristen Stewart, Jesse Plemons, Nicholas Hoult, and Jonah Hill (whose career trajectory I’m endlessly intrigued by, a man funnier than most of his peers, with the unstable depths of a Chris Penn, whose hyper-sensitivity about being taken seriously and joining the ranks of the prestigious show up on the screen).

The old lists, especially the 50-each ones that totaled to 200 actors, were actually more challenging than this list. Because with so much room, you’re fooled into thinking everyone can be represented. But they can’t; even those lists fill up quick. And now, with just 50 total, it gets down to essentials. There are the favorites, and then the ones who matter most. Oh, I love them? Cool, next! Oh, I love them a lot? Cool, next! Omgtheyaresoamazing? Cool. Next!

There are so many actors whose performances I consistently love or enjoy, that I always look forward to seeing and am often moved by. But there’s a difference between actors who frequently deliver great work, and actors who make something inherently more just by being there, that make me sit up in my seat because what they give either draws out extra engagement from me or they are so distinctive a presence that the fabric of the film/show is thereby altered. But none of this exists without the secret ingredient: that chemical thing that just draws you to one person’s talent and onscreen life more than another.

The factors are endless. Above is my next tier of favorites, the ones that I didn’t go with but thought about and in some cases agonized (yes, agonized) over whether to include or not.

What do you do when a specific stretch of someone’s work means more to you than most people’s entire careers? Most don’t make it (Patty Duke, Diane Lane, Juliette Lewis, Marlon Brando, etc) But a few do: pre-Dick Tracy Warren Beatty, Eric Roberts in the 1980’s, and Sandy Dennis in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

What do you do with the actors who are still alive but not working regularly, at all, or at the same caliber they used to? Most don’t make it (Nancy Allen, Tim Curry, Kathleen Turner, Fairuza Balk, Sheryl Lee, etc). But a few do: Jim Carrey, Shelley Duvall, Theresa Russell (a spot that could have been occupied by many that mean just as much to me, but I went with Theresa this time because it felt right), Eric Roberts, and John Travolta.

What do you do with the actors who mean a lot to you but whose careers were so brief that it’s hard to justify adding them over others? Unfortunately, almost all of those actors didn’t make it (Linda Manz, Paula Sheppard, Laird Cregar, Zoe Lund, James Dean, Pamela Franklin, etc). One does: Louise Brooks.

What do you do about the actors you love watching more than most but whose work you aren’t familiar enough with yet? None of them make it (Natasha Lyonne, Yaphet Kotto, Silvana Mangano, Helmut Berger, Dagmar Lassander, Tuesday Weld, etc). There are plenty of films from the 50 I’ve yet to see, but I’ve at least seen enough.

Then there are all the others, the really tough ones. I think about James Gandolfini more and more as the years go by. Harvey Keitel’s performances resonate a lot more as I get older (those defiant eyes, I can often feel him). I can’t believe I didn’t make room for Christina Ricci. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the defining comedienne of my lifetime. There is only one Carol Kane, Donald Sutherland, Nicolas Cage, Joan Cusack, Parker Posey, Lily Tomlin, Crispin Glover. I get distinct pleasures from watching each of them. Some of my favorite immortals are Marlene Dietrich, Alain Delon, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Buster Keaton, Cate Blanchett. I’m pretty sure I talk about Jude Law all the time. I will, and have, watched Jean-Claude Van Damme in anything I can find. In recent months I’ve rewatched a lot of key Samuel L. Jackson performances (Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Black Snake Moan, Django Unchained), and was newly reminded that he is one of our most compelling living actors. His pervasive and phoned-in presence in every imaginable franchise had led me to forget that. I’ve been hooked on Gene Wilder, Charles Laughton, Eva Green, Cillian Murphy, and still am. It goes on and on and on.

But this is the challenge of it, and the fun of it. My 50 favorites capture my fascination with stardom and long-range careers with eras & reinventions (ex. Crawford, Cruise, Fonda, Monroe, DiCaprio, Farrell, Taylor), physicality (ex. Chan, Ball, Phoenix, Reeves, Olyphant) & commanding physical presence (ex. Reed, Kidman, De Niro, Mitchum), blue moon charisma (ex. Pfeiffer, Russell, Walbrook, Cagney, Reed, Nicholson), the ones I feel a deep connection to (all of them but especially Carrey, Brooks, & Hoffman) & offbeat god-tier character actors (Dennis, Dourif, Roberts, Black, Duvall) I would take a bullet for.

I start to realize some of the people that aren’t even on this second list: Tilda Swinton, Kate Winslet, Robin Williams, Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Katharine Hepburn, Michael Shannon, Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Jeanne Moreau, Saorsie Ronan, Brad Pitt, Gena Rowlands, Dirk Bogarde, James Mason, Jeff Bridges, Ethan Hawke, Jeff Goldblum, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Catherine O’Hara, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Charlize Theron, Robert Redford, Julie Christie, Michael C. Hall, Michael Caine, Malcolm McDowell, John Hurt, Paul Newman, Anjelica Huston, Sigourney Weaver (every time I watch her in something I think about how much I love her. Her work in Alien 3 means a lot to me), Elliot Gould, etc etc etc. Hell, Peter Mullan is the only person on either list who appears in any Harry Potter film, and that franchise employed basically every British actor you can think of. Most of these actors have been on other lists in the past. Some you’d always be guaranteed to find there (Binoche, Deneuve, etc). As I type this I am realize I forgot Michael Stuhlbarg and John Hawkes in that second group. At the end of the day it just becomes about knowing who there was never any question about, and going with your gut on the rest.

But these 50 (ok, 52, I cheated, the truth is out!), the ones I ultimately chose, are the actors whose work collectively means more than the rest, my ultimate favorites: the ones I can lose myself in, and then find myself in. Who are yours?

1st Annual 50 Favorite Actors list WARNING: The following contains heavy semantics. This is the equivalent of letterboxd users breaking down their dumb rating systems.

[jfkladybug]

Gwen Headcanons

For the record this has some sensitive material in it....

Gwen was born to a young mother (age 13) and her father was three years older than her mother, who I headcanon to be named Elanor. Elanor’s parents disowned her because of the early birth and not dropping out of school to raise the kid. She eventually gets a degree at Harvard (yes I know they’re Canadian but it’s my headcanon and the family is from Brooklyn, NY).

Gwen is actually her middle name, her first being Lillith, her last being Gul (pronounced Ghoul, tumblr won’t allow me to add the dots over the u.

Elanor’s original last name was Gul (pronounced like Gull) but Gwen was obsessed with the Addams Family growing up and wanted to change it, and her little brother liked the look for the dots making the U a smiley face

She was born with albinism, type one diabetes, and loads of health problems due to her mother being super young. I also believe she’s of Middle Eastern decent, more specifically Romani (French Indian and Russo-Iranian for exact locations of heritage) but that’s besides the point. 

Age at the age of two, her mother gave birth to her brother, Sebastien (who she calls Bugs due to his Looney Toons obsession)

At the age of three, her father started sexually assaulting her, which went on until she was ten. She started drawing at 3 to ease the pain and find a healthy escape.

Elanor (her mother) started working at an Inn and eventually owning her own hotel and Inn (I’m Gilmore Girls trash what can I say). 

Nana is actually not Elanor’s mother, but the owner of the Inn and helped  take care of Elanor and her two kids.

Elanor met Jeanine (Duncan’s mom) in Mommy and Me classes and the two became best friends.

Gwen and Duncan became very close soon afterwards with her often spending time at his house after school until her mom was done from work. (Duncan has always had a childhood crush on her but respects her wishes of being friends because Lillith refers to a relationship with him as incest)

She knows sign language because her brother is hard of hearing.

She’s fluent in French, Farsi, and Russian.

As for Total Drama, she competed on the first season (on dare from her younger brother- canon)

Gwen is a successfull tattoo artist, despite being younger than allowed, and has promised to apprentice Duncan when he stops messing with the law (something she has no tolerance for- due to her father (Duncan doesn’t about this))

One of her illnesses came back and she enlisted the help of her friends (Shayna aka Pixie Corps and Marilyn) 

Shayna took Gwen’s place on Action, breaking up with Trent for her because Gwen developed true feelings for him and didn’t want him to get hurt by the truth.

Marilyn took over for World Tour because Shayna was an organ match for Gwen. Marilyn never liked Courtney and had a childhood crush on Duncan- thus causing the relationship.

Gwen, mad at Marilyn for being the other woman, forced Shayna to compete in All Stars, despite “Gwen” not being on the original roster (Elanor convinced Chris to have Gwen compete), so she could end things with Duncan and patch things up for Courtney.

I believe that during this time is when Gwen took her father to trial.

I also headcanon that they made a last season with everyone- and I mean everyone that competed on Total Drama, and that’s when Gwen comes clean with everything and they refer to her as Lilly.

Because I’m Gwent trash, Trent eventually ends up with her, having a previous relationship with Taylor (idk she seems like the type of person he would date).

As for Trent’s relationship with Lilly, it’s complicated at first because is SUPER close with her immediate family, and he doesn’t talk to his dad since his parent’s divorce (he has an older sister and younger sister, and then twin younger sisters from his mom’s second marriage). Also, there’s a culture class from Lilly’s sudo-Islamic values and Trent’s Greek-Argentinian Christian views. but they make it work.

Sorry that this is so long- this headcanon story has been in my head for months and ti feels good to finally put it down in writing. Don’t hate me fandom!

[butdidyousee]

My Top 8 Halloween films🎃👻

🎃Hocus Pocus (1993) - The fun Disney 90’s classic that reminds us every year how much fun Halloween can be. Armed with memorable quotes and musical stylings of Bette Midler and the acting chops of A pre “sex and the city” and “Sister Act”, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy. This film always gives the fun feel Good’s for everyone.

🎃Trick ‘r Treat (2007) - I stumbled upon this movie one evening whilst I was getting ready for a Halloween party. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. At first, I just kept saying “damn, this movie is terrible.” But, as it went on, I felt more and more satisfied with the kookiness and chaos. I love the way all the stories intertwine in a single night. “Sam” has become one of my most fav characters I get excited to see every Halloween.

🎃The Strangers (2008) - The first time I saw this film it left me a little nervous and shaken on a visceral level. This story scares me mostly because this isn’t some crazy story that can happen from some outer-worldly force or demonic craziness, this was just people being gross. THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE THE COUPLE WAS SIMPLY HOME AT THE WRONG TIME. The soundtrack gives me the goosebumps and terrible nightmares.

🎃Coco(2017) - Technically not a Halloween movie, but dia de los muertos counts for something huge in my culture. This animated Disney film is so much fun. Memorable songs and witty quick jokes and references and a heartfelt story make this movie fun for adults and kids alike. The animation and visual candy is exciting for any student of detailed work.

🎃The Cabin in the Woods (2012)- No lie, I was still riding high from the sexiness of Chris Hemsworth in “Thor” when I saw this. This just brought me to the movie but, I stayed for the sheer cleverness and good times of this movie. The twists and turns keep you doing mental acrobatics but in a give me more kinda way. A definite must watch.

🎃Scream (1996) - I consider this movie the slasher film of my millennial generation. Staring Neve Campbell on previously only known for “Party of Five” this was her vehicle to be a bonafide movie star and I think she nailed it. All the killings being done using horror movie tropes, make this movie fun to watch. Masked killers will forever make for a good scary movie.

🎃Practical Magic (1998) - Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock star as two witch sisters who are completely opposite looking for love in a small town full of prejudices. This is a fun movie with different elements like a romantic comedy or “chick flick”. This film is sweetly enjoyable without feeling like a lifetime original movie(which there isn’t anything wrong with that).

🎃Addams Family Values - The sequel and in my opinion better of the Addams family follows our favorite kooky and all together ooky family as they go through a new baby, a new marriage and a threat that they don’t know they have until its much to late. Another good time with many memorable actors and actresses giving these characters so much life that you can’t help but love every spooky/fun moment.

💀———————💀——————-💀

Honorable Mentions:

👻The House of the Devil(2009) - A crazy and trippy thriller about a babysitter getting into more than she bargained for when she goes in for a normal job and ends up being prey for a crazy satanic cult. Shot like an old 70’s/80’s movie, this movie is a film students dream with the tropes and cinematography style.

👻Fright Night (1985/2011) - I couldn’t bring myself to choose just one. I loved the original and the re-make about a kid who discovers that his new neighbor is not only an ancient vampire but, also responsible for a string of murders in his neighborhood. Enlisting the help of an old vampire hunter and Las Vegas magician this movie made for a thoughtless yet fun watch.

👻The Craft (1996) - This movie always takes me back to A 90’s nostalgia that I love being blasted back to. Not a very scary movie but a fun watch for everyone during a time when Wiccan magic was at it’s most PR prime. This is a fun and easy Saturday afternoon watch.

👻A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984) - One of the first movies to make me loose sleep after watching as a tender 8 year old, after child’s play of course. This movie has a good story and an interesting and creepy character that has been used time and again in multi-able sequels and remakes. Our dear friend Freddy is always waiting in our dreams to get the revenge he feels entitled to.

[godstaff]

Was Superman justified in killing the joker in Injustice?

A person suffering an immense emotional outburst doesn’t need justification, he/she just acts on impulse, like many others. Maybe not Superman-like, but still understandable.

What isn’t justifiable is the posterior epiphany that what is wrong in the World is the lack of total control and him assuming he is the only one who can bring that to us.

That’s definitely not Superman.

 After realizing the extent of his actions, he should’ve given himself up to the authorities or leave to exile far away from Earth until his thoughts clear up and his emotions settle. The loss of amazing Lois and their unborn baby shouldn’t have change who Superman was. 

Hundreds of thousand of law enforcers, soldiers and civic protectors suffer the loss of one or more loved ones every day so...what? they should go on a murdering spree as well because of it?

The story is meant to justify a video game of superheroes beating the crap out of each other, so it’s verisimilitude is, at best, questionable. There’s not one supposed superhero who acts like him/herself in that story.

Since a while ago there’s this notion that Kal-El will go nuts if Lois isn’t there to calm his violent and despotic impulses, which makes us ask ourselves why didn’t he become that monster in the twenty-something years before he met her.

The only answer is Lois Lane is not only the remedy for Clark’s insanity, but also the cause, because he was a very calm fellow until he got to know her and became Mr. Debbie (note: see “Addams Family values” movie to understand this reference).

So no, there’s no justification needed for Superman to kill Joker (who’s expiration date is long overdue, anyway), but his actions past that momentary lapse of reason, have no justification either.

[spokanefavs]

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Prayer Breakfast - a Washington tradition since 1953 - is by custom a respite from partisan bickering. President Donald Trump shattered that tradition Thursday with aggressive remarks that buoyed his allies but dismayed a wide spectrum of faith leaders.

“A bipartisan prayer breakfast is the last place one would expect to find political attacks on opponents,” said the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, general manager of the conservative United Methodist magazine Good News. “Our country would benefit from a return to the kind of civility and grace reflected in Jesus’ words.”

Trump set the tone for his remarks even before speaking - holding up two newspapers with the headline “ACQUITTED” to herald the Senate’s vote Wednesday against removing him from office.

In a keynote address before Trump’s speech, Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and president of a conservative think tank, had decried a “crisis of contempt and polarization” and urged his listeners to ”love your enemies.”

“I don’t know if I agree with you,” said Trump. He then took a swipe at Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had cited his faith in becoming the only Republican to vote for Trump’s removal.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said.

“Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you’ when you know that is not so,” Trump added, in a reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has offered that message even as she led the impeachment effort.

Pelosi, a practicing Catholic, reiterated that she often prays for Trump.

“I pray hard for him because he’s so off the track of our constitution, our values, our country,” she said after the breakfast. “He really needs our prayers.”

One of Trump’s leading allies in the conservative Christian evangelical community, the Rev. Robert Jeffress of the Southern Baptist megachurch First Baptist Dallas, embraced the president’s remarks.

“I think the president was completely right in what he said,” Jeffress said. “It’s not politically correct, but he didn’t get to be president by being politically correct.”

Jeffress, who said he dined with Trump and Prayer Breakfast organizers at the White House on Wednesday, said the criticism of Pelosi was justified.

“When you have been under nonstop attack for the last three years from people who want to destroy you and your family, it’s a little hard to hear them say, ‘I want to pray for you,’ ” he said. “It’s hypocritical.”

As for Romney, Jeffress contended that the senator’s decision to vote for Trump’s removal “seems more based on self-promotion than religious beliefs.”

Among Romney’s fellow Mormons in Utah, views were mixed.

“I don’t like that he’s the only member of the U.S. Senate on the Republican side who says, ‘I’m a man of God’ so he has to vote a certain way,” said former GOP legislator Mike Noel.

However, Emma Petty Addams, executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, said Romney “really exemplifies the way faith can be used in the public sphere in a very positive way.”

The Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Christian social justice group Sojourners, took note of Trump’s assertion that faith should not be used as a justification for doing what someone knows is wrong.

“Apply this logic to Trump’s white evangelical supporters: they are willing to trade off and even sell out Jesus for the reward of getting judges they like in the Supreme Court,” Wallis said via email. “Jesus taught us to welcome immigrants, to reject the use of racial bigotry, to avoid lying and to respect and love all people as they are made in the image of God.”

Professor Robert Franklin, who teaches moral theology at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, also evoked Jesus.

“If the president is feeling persecuted, he would be well served to spend quality time with his pastor while studying what Jesus did when he was persecuted,” Franklin suggested. “The religion of Jesus promotes the virtues of humility, self-accountability, forgiveness and reconciliation.”

A Conservative Jewish rabbi in Encino, California, Noah Farkas of the Valley Beth Shalom congregation, asserted that both Romney and Pelosi “are moved by their respective faith traditions.”

“I find it deeply problematic that the president uses the National Prayer Breakfast to lambaste the faith of his opponents,” Farkas said. ”He forgets the history of faith in this country, and disrespects others who speak from their sense of faithful conscience.”

At Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia - where Trump ally Jerry Falwell Jr. is president - English professor Karen Swallow Prior said Trump’s breakfast remarks prompted her to reflect on how religious faith can be politicized.

“The problem with such statements is not Trump himself, but rather they reveal how American Christianity has become a kind of currency whose value depends on whose possession it’s in,” she wrote via email.

Toward the end of his remarks, Trump conceded that these issues of faith are not simple.

“I’m sorry. I apologize. I’m trying to learn. It’s not easy,” he said. “When they impeach you for nothing and then you’re supposed to like them, it’s not easy folks. I do my best.”