#violivs nmtdaily liveblog

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A moment of silence for The Most Important Line that should’ve been onscreen but instead we only got a tweet 💔

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NMTDaily: Tricking Ben

This does deviate from the watching as aired schedule, but since the Candle Wasters sent out an email for it at this point in NMTDaily, I will liveblog Tricking Ben.

The short film style makes this the only piece of canon NMTD/LLL content that isn't shot in vlog format. Instead we have the omniscient view on characters who don't know an audience can see them. I am still so sad that I will never see any more scenes shot like this for these characters, because that's the only way I'd have gotten to see all the serious Beadick conversations in Lolilo that I wanted to see.

The film still starts with a fakeout vlog beginning, which is interesting. This is the only time we ever see Pedro independently starting to make a video himself, apart from his appeal to John later on in NMTD, and of course it's to show off Balthazar's music.

HOW is Balthazar allowed to just start playing guitar in the library? How are the boys allowed to have a loud conversation in the library? This whole part is just an exercise in suspension of disbelief that a librarian didn't yell at them.

I like that the colors of the Tricking Ben title card match the colors on Ben's shirt! Fun little detail.

Ben is very awkward around Hero here. They're not yet the friends they will one day be. Aww.

"I bet he has your name saved in his phone with little hearts around it." Yeah, and I bet post-NMTD Ben will have Beatrice's name in his phone with little sparkle-heart emojis all around it!

Ahh, Claudio couldn't meet Ben where he said they'd meet, because then he'd have to walk him right into the conversation instead of letting him overhear it. I see.

Ben is so confused, poor baby.

The books are an Easter egg! The one on the bottom of the stack is called "Benediction", and the next one up is "The Dating Game", I think? The next one up is called How to Love, and the top one is clearly a romance novel by someone called Catherine Coulter, though I can't make out a title. Google says she writes romantic suspense and historical romance. Fitting.

Was that girl looking at books the same actress who played Claudio's new girlfriend in Lolilo? It looks like her. Can you imagine going to the same school as the NMTD crew, hearing all the gossip about what happened to Hero, and then still choosing to date Claudio the next year? Damn, girl.

It's definitely her, that's why they have her say hi to Claudio and Claudio run away from her awkwardly!

Claudio is hardcore panicking. He is not good at being sneaky. So that'll be the other reason he couldn't see Ben face-to-face before the overhearing happened- he wouldn't have been able to act normal enough to avoid making Ben suspicious.

"You know how everyone's unnecessarily obsessed with you?" OMFG the song is An Ode, this is not a drill!!!

Ben just drops his entire bag next to some random kid before going to hide? Take that with you, you don't know when you'll be able to go back for it!

His immediate panic face is excellent, lol.

Here is a gifset I made commemorating Ben's excellent faces in this video. It's basically my analysis of all his faces right in one post.

Leo saving the day! Claudio blurted out that thing about Bea making a vlog, so of course the first thing Ben does is get his phone to look for the video. And Leo thinks fast enough to clarify that she never posted it. That could've totally compromised the plan.

Claudio is SO bad at this.

The book that falls on Ben is called L-L-L-Loser, a Lolilo reference.

John is here! I love how he looks up, like, "Is this intel I'll need for my Plan? Oh, no, nevermind."

There are so many other people here, how did this conversation not get reported back to Beatrice? I bet it's because people who don't know her are wisely too scared of her to bring it up.

"Ben is so brave, and funny, and tall, what shall I DO??!!" Matthew J Smith is the MVP of this one, folks. Hilarious. Also, why would Claudio's first thought be "brave"? Ben hasn't done his brave thing yet, and it's standing up to Claudio!

Okay, thank you, the librarian DOES yell at them. Realism.

I just can't get over how terrified Claudio looks right now. He is so stressed. He looks like he thinks even moving a muscle will blow the secret right now.

I will never get over Ben hiding in the tree in this bit. He has to know they could see him by just turning around. Comically bad hiding place.

The way Ben is holding himself as he sneaks over to the tree, too. It's like, "if I just make myself small and quiet they won't notice me." You are too tall for that, honey, it's not helping.

He did remember to go back for his backpack, though!

It's cute that Balthy and Pedro's outfits match! Red and blue!

Balth is so bemused by Pedro asking about and complimenting the chord he's playing, aww.

Ben's like "SHIT no if he texts me they'll hear my phone!" The facial expressions in this video, truly gold.

His shirt brings out his eyes. Even when they're bugging out in panic, lol.

Awww I love how sad Ben looks at the idea that he'd ruthlessly tear Bea apart for liking him. In my gifset, I summed it up as, "No, I wouldn't enjoy hurting her, and I'm sad you all think I would." <3

"Poor little Ben just can't see what's right under his nose." Says Pedro, while sitting right next to the boy he doesn't know he has a crush on. And while, from Ben's point of view, not realizing Ben himself is right under his nose (or above his head) as well.

"She's so smart." "Yeah, except for loving Benedick." We love lines adapted directly from the play!

"Having a crush can be a nice thing, though." "I don't think it's that kind of crush, Balthy-boy." This makes me so incredibly sad, because it HAS to be foreshadowing to Lolilo and how Balthazar's crush on Pedro goes from something nice that feels good to something incredibly angsty and drawn-out and painful for both of them. :(

Ben's watch going off and the boys pretending not to notice, lol

Like Hero and the girls' conversation for Bea to overhear, the boys' conversation also involves pretending to consider telling one person about the other's crush, then deciding they shouldn't interfere.

I do love imagining the boys pitching this whole thing to Leo, though. And Leo being all in because he and Hero have been saying to each other for months that Bea definitely secretly likes Ben.

Ben sneaks off with the MOST ADORABLE little smile! He loves her! Awwww I wanna squish him!!!!

Hero and Claudio debrief and Claudio calls her a legend for stealing Bea's phone. It hurts my heart how cute they are right here. There are no undertones of Claudio's possessiveness and misogyny present, they're just two kids who like each other. If they'd gotten together after Claudio grew up more and unlearned some stuff, they might even have worked out. :(

Of COURSE Bea has Ben saved in her phone as "Dickface". As soon as they get together I bet she changes it to read just “💕Dickface💕” 😆

Shut UP the end credits music is the instrumental to Way To Tell You!!!! Beatrice’s song for Ben! Ending with an acknowledgement that her feelings for him really do turn out to be real!!!

The comments say there’s also an instrumental of Beatrice You’re Vivacious near the end of the short before the credits, which is precious too.

Oh my god, end credits shot of the books, and the historical romance novel is called THE DUKE!!! Amazing. Also the How to Love book is by Katie Cotugno! I’ve read one of her other books, it had bi rep and I liked it a lot.

Harriett as Director of Photography! I love that these projects gave her a place to learn she prefers to be behind the camera and practice that. I hope she’s doing well.

The credits end on a picture of Harriett and Jake hugging, NO ONE TOUCH ME

They had the sweetest friendship and I hope they still do. Angels.

I am now in mourning again because this is the last time I ever got to see Benedick Hobbes on my screen, and the last time I ever will, so far as I can guess. *cries forever* MY BABYYYY

You all already know I have no chill when it comes to him, don’t look at me. *burritos up in a blanket to sulk*

No but I love Tricking Ben so much and I am so glad they made it for us!!!

Wait, shit, since when did TCW have a patreon?! I’m sure it’s defunct now, but did anyone used to subscribe? Were there any good extras on there? DID I MISS ANY BEADICK CONTENT????!!!!

Comments roundup: Balth was the first to play off the Ode as a joke here; Ben’s “what? What?” was a Tenth Doctor reference; just so much love for these characters and series; Matthew J Smith responding jokingly to a Claudio-centric comment!

💖🥭🦩

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NMTDaily: Makeup Tutorial feat. A Special Guest!

- Real interesting time to be watching this episode right now. Someone gave me the feedback that it’s kind of cool that I’m so behind on my liveblog because it means you all get to read them and look back on older episodes through the lens of the ones NMTDaily is currently on. I’m really understanding that with this episode.

- Hero is a little angel. Using “sneaky filming techniques”… like hiding a totally different video in the bloopers for this video, mayhaps?

- Claudio is here! He’s the special guest.

- “Dear Claudio” and “my boyfriend does my makeup” - the Hero/Claudio relationship has gone to the next level of official.

- Tea is a love language in this series. Claudio coming in with tea for Hero because he’s trying to impress her is a direct parallel to a later scene where Ben has already made Beatrice tea and they’re sitting in his room with their cups as he tries to comfort her.

- Hero and Claudio’s mugs are plain block colors, showing that they don’t really know each other at all, in comparison to the fact that the mug Ben will choose for Bea is Game of Thrones themed and is her favorite GoT family crest. Because he does know her. (I don’t know GoT well enough to be sure which one, or if they’re even called family crests. Sigils? Anyway.)

- (Also, I can’t remember, is “everyone deserves tea” a Hero line, or is it a Jane Bennett from the LBD line? It could go either way. Kind of the same character archetype, different font with those two.)

- Hero and Claudio are very blushy and nervous around each other. There is no easy rapport- this is still big emotional surface-level crush territory.

- “Just gonna admire the artwork in progress” The first of many subtle lines that show how Claudio sees Hero as a prize, a pretty thing to look at and possess.

- We’re also doing some light reinforcement of heterosexual gender roles: the man is utterly clueless about makeup while the woman knows exactly how to apply fifty different products. Claudio is okay with looking like an idiot in this video because he’s a guy, he isn’t supposed to know anything about makeup. If anyone else made Claudio look foolish regarding any other topic, we would see the sullen, angry side of him come out.

- Fun fact: ya girl is exactly as clueless as Claudio, I wouldn’t have known that wasn’t foundation without the footnote Hero puts onscreen. Or without reading the packaging. Gender roles are fake! I know I could do nicer makeup than Claudio, though, lol.

- Yeah, letting someone who has never done mascara before near your eye with a mascara wand is some scary shit. This shows just how much Hero trusts Claudio.

- “ya wanna know how I got these scars?” I mean, Claudio actively invoking The Joker is extremely on the nose, but it does count as foreshadowing his villainy, so I will mention it. The smiles he causes Hero to smile now will turn painful soon enough.

- Also! Remember that at the costume party, Benedick is Batman. Ben is Batman, and Claudio is Joker.

- Hero kisses Claudio on the cheek, leaving a lipstick stain, and he deadass says “jokes on you, now I look like a ladies’ man”. Because it’s perfectly okay for him to BE a ladies’ man, to show interest in other girls. Men get to do that. It is not okay for Hero to even be implied by a third party to be showing interest in other guys, because women must be perfectly faithful or branded sluts.

- The eyeliner! He writes his name on her cheek. The most direct, on-the-nose statement of Claudio’s view of Hero. “Now people know who you belong to.” Who you belong to. Spine-chilling.

- Hero is right to punch him for that. Interesting that he apologizes for saying it.

- Just the genuine fear on her face about seeing her makeup look, though. And the “Claudio, what have you done to me?” Said in laughter, in a moment of happiness, but also a totally valid line for her to say again later in a much more devastated way. (She doesn’t say it again later, but she could.)

- It IS very sweet that he won’t let her say she looks like a monster, that he keeps telling her how pretty she is and kisses her forehead.

- “The fact that you’d still kiss me now says a lot for our relationship” No, Hero, your boyfriend still liking you when you’re looking goofy is the bare minimum! He should!

- “Your turn” and all she does is put guyliner on him. The minimum level of makeup to not be embarrassing, to still allow him to think he looks sexy. Claudio’s masculinity must be maintained. He does have lipstick on in the following close-up shots, but that could be from kissing her, so plausible deniability.

- “Maybe you could do my makeup for my 16th?” *dun dun DUNNN*

- Hero is back, looking lovely again. She’s going to post outtakes.

- Beatrice is predictably disgusted both by this video and the prospect of outtakes, giving Hero a reason to post the outtakes on Ursula’s channel. Handy.

- “I’m sure one day even you yourself will watch that video” Says Hero, thinking to herself that one day Bea will see how her friends played matchmaker for her and Benedick, and she’ll be happy about it. Very optimistic, Hero. (She also does just mean ‘someday you’ll be in love like this and you won’t think it’s gross.’)

- Beatrice and Hero edited this video together, because Hero knew Bea would hate it, and she needed Bea to swear never to watch the makeup bloopers video. The plan moves along swimmingly…

- In the comment section, Benedick himself is plugging his own response video, “Disgusted” by dropping a link with “that was so disgusting! watch my video if you agree!” I love the character comments.

- If I didn’t know this was a Much Ado retelling, I’d think Ben needs to learn boundaries. The girls already told you to leave them alone, their comment section is not the place to plug your channel, mister. As it is, though, it just screams “hey Beatrice, I thought the makeup video was disgusting too, just like you did! Notice me! Pay attention to me!” This nerd. So obvious. And he genuinely doesn’t even know he’s doing this. Wild. It’s also great that Hero and Bea’s response is to completely ignore him, lol.

- We’ll also see in upcoming videos that Ben’s comment is a reflection of his insecurity about losing Claudio as a friend now that he has a girlfriend.

- Plus, the comment linking his video lets Hero know that Ben has also taken the bait and will not be watching the bloopers video either.

- In the rest of the comment section: many people gushing about how adorable Hero and Claudio are, some people doing so with a tinge of sadness because they know what’s coming, praise for how natural the acting feels in this and all the episodes, and folks picking up on the hints of Claudio’s possessiveness.

- Mooble1325 hits the nail on the head with “they strike the right balance between making him sweet enough that hero would believably like him and already showing that touch of possessiveness that John plays on so well”

- There’s even a comment saying Hero/Claudio are cuter than Jane/Bing! It was always very interesting to compare and contrast different LIWs to each other, I love that.

- Someone also compared Claudio to the youtuber Jim Chapman, and I had to think very hard before remembering who that is. I think there’s a slight blond-white-dude resemblance, it just trips me out to remember how many youtubers I’ve forgotten existed over the years.

- Hero in the video description urging us again to watch the makeup bloopers, you won’t regret it! This will be plot-important! The game is afoot!

💖🥭🦩

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YES

YESSS

I was RIGHT! I said in my liveblog that he would think that dress was a flamingo costume!

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NMTDaily: Project III - Life of the Party

- Ursula’s video description has some interesting info. She’s practicing filming a long scene in one shot, so building off what she’s learned in prior videos, and I’m proud of her! Go Urs! Future filmmaker/cinematographer of the universe!

- She also says, “I got a bit of background to the big argument Bea and Ben had” which proves that the scene we get here is not the whole fight. A bunch of the fight went un-filmed and we have to rely on Ben’s videos to know what went down. We also know that Ursula knows it was Ben under the cowl, so would she have told Bea? Maybe. I’m still not sure when Bea finds out that was Ben, but I do lean to it being after the fight was over or possibly Ben taking off his mask mid-fight to confront her. Interesting.

- Ursula enjoys making friends with the cat. This is Pedro’s house. That means Pedro (and John), Ben, and Bea all come from Cat Families. Just an interesting detail to note. Many adorable headcanons to draw from this: Bea liking to come to Ben’s after the Hero’s Birthday thing to be with Ben but also to visit with his cat because her own is in Australia with her parents; John potentially getting along with the Donaldson family cat and considering her his favorite family member; etc.

- Finally, Ursula tells us that Meg requested for her fight with Robbie to be put in the video to “show everyone what a dick that guy is”- setting up MegRobbie as a toxic on again/off again thing and Robbie as a cheating ass. Important for later when he shows us more bad behavior.

- This show and the international friends/acquaintances I made through it really helped show me how universal US American culture is in the world, against the world’s will. I’m reminded of that by the girl at the party dressed as the Statue of Liberty. In NZ/Aotearoa.

- Note that Claudio dressed as a cowboy because he saw Hero say in a video that she wanted someone to dress as a cowboy. Note also that his face is covered by a handkerchief- he’s hiding something. His jealousy and insecurity.

- Verges and Dogberry as a mouse and an elephant is funny since elephants are allegedly scared of mice.

- Pedro the Robot comes over to Hero and Bea and gestures in a way that tells us he’s saying “can we talk?” He’s about to tell Hero that Claudio likes her. But as he opens the chest compartment to show a red heart in his costume, Beatrice walks away. Visual foreshadowing of Pedro opening his heart to Beatrice and getting rejected. (Also a symbol of Pedro showing Claudio’s heart to Hero, and possibly of Claudio thinking the heart Pedro is giving Hero is Pedro’s.)

- I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that Bea and Hero end up hanging out together again at this party, and Pedro sticks to them like glue because of his crush on Bea. Therefore, John is able to point Claudio at the tableau of Pedro in Flirt Mode talking to both Dukes, and convince him that the one Pedro’s trying to flirt with is Hero. It’s actually Beatrice the whole time.

- We get a couple glimpses of Ben moving through the party, and he is always alone. Telling. He’s uncomfortable at parties even when not getting yelled at by Beatrice.

- We see Meg and Robbie kissing. This means he made out with her BEFORE openly trying to pick up another girl at the SAME PARTY. What an ass.

- Bea is socializing with non-named characters. Proud of her for putting herself out there as the new kid!

- We see John lurking in the hallway holding a skull. Is the skull supposed to mean he’s dressed as Hamlet? It seems like he wants to join in the party but feels uncomfortable. He’s also looking for Claudio, though.

- Ben and Bea effectively dancing together! Okay, they’re dancing next to each other, just let me have this, lol.

- Is there a significance to Balth dressing as a gorilla? Is he one of the apes Beatrice will lead down to hell before the Devil tells her “Get thee to Heaven”? (A line from the masquerade scene in Much Ado)

- Aww Balthazar talking to Claudio and trying to cheer him up is sweet

- Beatrice and Hero dancing together is also lovely (and Pedro hovering ineffectually next to them)

- Benedick dancing like a dork while the “he is just an arrogant guy” song plays in the background xD

- AND THEN on the line “he’s just lonely inside” it cuts to Pedro! Who is lonely inside because he has an unrequited crush AND because he’s in the closet. Look at him trying to fit snack foods through his robot mouth aww

- It cuts back to Claudio on “he really needs to swallow his pride”. Interesting. Then immediately pans over to Ben again, who’s mugging for the camera under his Batman mask.

- HERSULA!!!! Hero and Ursula dancing together and holding hands, my heart! They look so happy!

- Aw shit, we actually SEE Robbie cozying up with the girl in the nun costume, how did they not notice the camera?

- “I want respect, I want to feel like I’m the only one” “well there’s plenty of others out there” brutal. Robbie deserves that drink to the face.

- It’s Beatrice’s voice in the background saying “oh, sexy, nice, nice” and cheering Meg on for splashing Robbie with her drink. (I think she meant to say “sick, nice, nice” but it sounded like “sexy”, so.) We also see her looking on with the crowd at the beginning of this moment before the camera pans to Meg and Robbie. She’s very pro-revenge on shitty guys.

- Meg looks and sounds very satisfied to have publicly told Robbie off. I’m sad that she goes back to him so soon after this.

- Now that I think of it: does anybody know what Meg’s costume is supposed to be? The white shirt and tie and suspenders make me think it’s supposed to be “sexy private-school uniform girl”, which, Ew. Please respect yourself and other girls, Meg. I know you’ll get there.

- We now cut to the start of the Beadick argument scene. Beatrice starts by asking the girl next to her if she knows where Ben is, not realizing that Ben is sitting right next to them.

- Incidentally, that extra is a Candle Waster. Hi, Minnie Grace! Thanks for doing this cool NMTDaily thing for us! (The other Candle Wasters can also be seen as extras at the party.)

- Ben cuts in and asks, “Who’s Benedick?” He sees his chance to find out what Beatrice really thinks of him, and he takes it.

- In the play, you can technically play it as either Beatrice knowing she’s talking to Benedick the whole time, or Beatrice having no idea the person she’s talking to is Benedick. The comment section seems unsure of which tack the Candle Wasters and actors are taking here.

- It’s worth noting that Beatrice doesn’t even really look at Ben before launching into her tirade. She doesn’t seem to notice or care who she’s talking to at all. She just wants anyone who will listen to her talk about how she wishes Ben was here in an embarrassing costume she can make fun of.

- It’s interesting that she considers her own princess costume embarrassing (“there’s evidence online”). She assumes he’s going to see it online and make fun of her for it, and she’s mad that she can’t make fun of his costume right back, because he isn’t here.

- As the comment section says, Bea misses Ben. It’s fun for her to spar with him. She was looking forward to it.

- “What do you mean you don’t know Benedick, he’s the biggest dick in the world” Yes, she’s being mean. But she also can’t conceive of anyone NOT being hyperaware of the existence of Benedick Hobbes at literally all times. Because she is. Which is very cute.

- “He’d go as Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up.” Savage, Bea.

- “That was quite hurtful” in a tiny version of the Batman voice. Awww Ben my poor baby :(

- Lol, why is Meg just dancing alone in the corner in the background? The dance floor is in the other room!

- “I heard he’s made some pretty good vlogs… I heard his bird one was quite insightful and poignant!” Oh Ben.

- Beatrice goes on her tirade about how she doesn’t watch his videos specifically because of that video, and the scene cuts off.

- I posit that after Bea rants awhile about “who talks about bird killing?” and how bad the video is, Ben gets mad and takes off his cowl and says something like “no, really, what is your problem with me? Everyone else seems to like me just fine, so what did I ever do to you?” And that’s when Bea drops all that stuff we hear about in Ben’s videos about no one really liking him and the whole school laughing at him. And he fires back before storming off to sulk.

- I just find the scene more palatable if she doesn’t know it’s him she’s talking to for most of it, and then the meanest stuff she says is because she feels put on the spot, on the defensive. That’s my take.

- We see more shots of Hero and Pedro hanging out and dancing together, and we see Ben slipping into the bathroom and closing the door.

- Then, we actually SEE John and Claudio in the doorway, looking in the direction of Pedro and Hero, as John whispers in Claudio’s ear. Claudio pushes John out of his way and stalks off to join Ben at the sulking-in-the-bathroom party.

- Pedro unmasks himself as the robot for the camera. Then someone else takes the camera and we end on a shot of a sleepy Ursula and the Donaldson family cat. Awww!

- The last words on the costume party episode are the lyrics to the song playing in the background: “I know you.”

Comment section boogaloo:

- People pointing out that Bea misses Ben, and feeling sorry for Ben.

- Mention that a piece of Kiwiana, a soft drink called L&P, can be seen on the beverage and snack table. I wouldn’t have caught that, being American, so thank you commenter for teaching me a thing! (And for calling John being dressed as Hamlet!)

- Praise for the music, which I agree with. It’s fun, dancey, AND thematically relevant!

- Apparently the nun costume is from American Horror Story, and also a potential reference to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

- Is the cat Tibbles?!?!

- “why do I get extreme Taika Waititi vibes from this” …it is possible that Taika Waititi is just the only other kiwi this person knows. But I haven’t seen all of Waititi’s projects, so I can’t say for sure he’s never done a party scene like this or a teen drama in general. Sorry if he has, commenter! (It is of course too bad there aren’t any Māori actors in an Aotearoa-based webseries like this, although I think there are some in Lolilo and later TCW projects.)

- Comment awards: The person who wrote “poetic cinema” with a time stamp link to the shot of Ben dancing near some of the girl extras while the song in the background goes “he is just an arrogant guy, thinks he can catch any girl’s eye”

- And there we have it! One masquerade, in the books!

💖🥭🦩

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MOTHER BEN. Canon mom friend in nmtd and lolilo!!!

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Ben’s eyebrows were definitely waggling up a storm here, this cringey asshole

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Also: I put this in a fanfic once but I’m also going to point it out again here- Pedro noticed that Beatrice, who loves to call him the Prince of Messina, came to his costume party dressed as a Princess. That’s what gave him the courage, and possibly even the idea, to ask her out. He thought she was giving him a sign.

(She, of course, never considered this for a moment when choosing her costume, and had no idea he was interested until he asked.)

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It’s now canon. Beatrice’s list of criteria for her perfect man is one item long, and that item is “must be Benedick Hobbes”. 💖

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You know what makes me weirdly happy? Is the fact that there is a solid likelihood that if I had written in a question to one of Benedick Hobbes’s Q&As, and used my real first name, and he (or IRL, the Candle Wasters) picked my question, Ben would have been able to pronounce my name without my having to include a pronunciation guide.

(I, an Irish American, have had to teach people how to say my name for my entire life. My name is also an Irish Gaelic word, which has an equivalent word in Scottish Gaelic that’s the same with some extra letters on the end. There appears to be enough overlap between Irish, Scottish, and English people who’d recognize the word, so that there’s a nonzero chance that an English-Scottish character played by a Scottish actor could nail the pronunciation even if he did move to NZ/Aotearoa at a young age. I love my name, and I don’t judge anyone for not finding it easy to pronounce from written, but I also love it when people say my name correctly on the first try. It’s always a delightful surprise. Headcanoning that he would say it right and think it was a cool name.)

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NMTDaily: Football Antics Part One

- I’m just cracking up at how nervous Beatrice is! The nervous babbling! And it is definitely because, since she hasn’t started school yet, this football game is the first time she’s seen Benedick since moving to Auckland- since they were 14, really. (I don’t think she was there when Ursula filmed his part of Vox Pops, or at least she was better able to avoid him then. No avoiding being seen here though!)

- Bea may be in denial, but her “holy shit my crush-that-got-away is Right Over There In Person” energy is radiating! Which is perfect adaptation work for Miss Starts The Play By Oh-So-Casually Asking About Benedick And Playing It Off With Insults.

- “We’re here to support Leo, we’re here to Support The Boys, we’re here to see Pedro, and Definitely No One Else, At All, Promise” 👀 I see you Beatrice

- “I’m sure he’ll be wonderful, and so will-“ *Extremely Long, Pointed Pause* “-everyone, really.” Hero knows what’s up!!! And Bea just assumes she’s talking about Claudio, which, yeah, but the way Hero looks really intently at Bea on this line and says it with such intention- she is teasing Bea about Ben here for sure.

- Bea and Hero are having a sass-off complete with impressions of each other and Ursula is all “just keep taking pictures, they’ll get tired eventually”. Ursula is a treasure.

- The sass-off is also great! I love that Hero, as nice as she is, can still hold her own against Beatrice here. It’s a good thing, because making fun of people is kind of a love language for Beatrice.

- Starting in on Meg again (poor Meg), as a way to seed some backstory that will matter later! (Robbie got kicked off the team, hmmmm.)

- And Bea immediately pivots to bring up Claudio. The fast forward through Hero’s gushing is so funny and cute. She was definitely trying to say Robert Pattinson reminds her of Claudio, which, I can see it. 2014 is calling again though, right at the end of the Twilight era. If this series were set much earlier we would definitely have heard Bea hating on Twilight, lol.

- “He’s nice!” being the only thing she can say, says a lot. And Ursula being the one who gets Hero to admit she thinks he’s cute, awww. The hiding behind the hair! The oohing over Hero’s crush is majorly bringing me back to what it was like to be a teenager, it’s adorable. Poor Hero lol

- Ah yes, “Leo says we can’t film the match” AKA the in-world explanation for not being able to make an actual football scene realistic. I say that with zero judgement. The workaround of Leo saying no is cleverly done, and makes sense since the only plot-relevant stuff goes on on the sidelines anyway.

- The little moment of Hero narrating the game! I love that. She’s so into it that she forgets she’s not supposed to mention Ben in front of Bea, and then she starts worrying about Claudio which is also very cute.

- (My brain instinctively: Ooh! Ben mention! First Ben mention by name in a Hero and Bea vlog!!!! Milestone!)

- Enter Meg! (and Robbie). “I’m going to be the real star, you just don’t know it yet!” An icon.

- Robbie throwing out a Game of Thrones reference, it’s like a signal that he’s sort of part of the group for now, but his energy is Off. Dark colors, never really looking at anyone but Meg. Bad vibes.

- And Meg and Robbie as a visual sign of Bea’s discomfort with relationships, her idea that they’re all PDA and no boundaries. That in Bea’s and to some degree Hero’s eyes, Meg chooses Robbie over their friendships, over homework, almost over her own self, and Bea does not want that imbalance for herself at all. But she doesn’t know how to express her discomfort and concern in any other way but scorn for Meg. So much character work for so many different characters in one episode at once, I love it.

- I love Ursula sticking up for Meg, even if it’s never particularly fun watching other people make out. This is an Ursula Appreciation Liveblog, and I’m also still loving her tumblr, btw.

- Part Two next and it’s time for the I Know You Of Old scene! Ahhh!

- BUT FIRST: another video I didn’t know was posted so early, and get ready, because I’m about to be insufferable in this next one. I will not be able to help myself. My boy is about to enter the scene! My beautiful cringe-y boy! How I’ve missed him!!! Next liveblog post coming soon, I hope. 😊

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NMTDaily: The first three of Ben’s costume party vlogs (episodes 21, 22, 23)

I’m gonna do these all as a set. They flow together as one long scene, so it makes sense. Then I’ll do another combined post on episodes 24 and 25, the second half of the story of Ben’s party vlogs. Long post under the cut!

Episode 21: hello guys i’m at pedro’s party

- Ben starts out very enthusiastic at the beginning of this clip (party party party!) but immediately gets uncomfortable when people start walking past him and it occurs to him that other people can see him vlogging. Add it to the social anxiety headcanon evidence list!

- Hero walks by and says “Batman.” And here’s the thing: she should be able to guess that it’s Ben in that costume. He’s the only one of the boys who would be filming because he’s the only one with his own channel.

- That means either she really isn’t paying attention, or Beatrice never asks where Ben is in front of Hero- or, Hero chooses not to tell Bea that Ben is there or what his costume is.

- Or she does tell Bea and Bea knows it’s Ben she’s talking to when she fires off all those insults later. I tend to think Bea does not realize she’s talking to Ben in that moment, but I had to mention the possibility.

- I’m going to watch the Bea insults Ben at the party clip now, just for fun. That video will still get its own post later, this is just an experiment to see if watching that scene first gives me any new insight into Ben’s videos about it.

- It is interesting to think about the fact that if you’re watching the series as it airs in 2014, at this point you don’t know if you’ll ever actually see the Bea insulting Ben scene itself. For all you know, Ben’s POV might be the only one you get.

- We can assume that in between this video and the next, Ben finds Pedro’s laptop, posts this video (unless he filmed and posted the first video on his phone, which seems unlikely but would be faster), then joins the party and starts drinking and dancing. In a break from the dancing he has the conversation with Beatrice, has his feelings hurt, goes and gets Pedro’s laptop and the camera, and holes up in the bathroom because it’s a convenient and private place to mope.

Episode 22: bath time it’s a bath im not actually having a bath

- First of all, shoutout to belovedcreation’s Beadick anniversary future fanfic that’s named after this episode (rated M so look it up only if you’re cool with that)

- Okay, back to the present. “Parties bring out the sad bitterness in people” definitely feels connected to “vlogging takes the sadness away”. I think this is the episode that starts Ben down the path of emotional dependence on the camera. He’s hurt, and it makes him want to brood alone instead of talk to anyone in person about it.

- “Some… princesses… are bad for your health” is a hell of a line, lol

- “Bad for your mental stability and your general well being” oh hohohoho don’t get me started on your mental health mister, I’ve literally written novellas.

- “Not to mess with people’s emotions or screw with their heads” - That’s interesting, because it sounds like Ben thinks Beatrice did know it was him she was talking to, and that she was insulting him to his face on purpose.

- “When you have a bad thought, you should just keep it to yourself.” Says the guy who called Beatrice a bitchface on camera and posted it. As lovingly as possible, *Meg’s Hypocritical song from lolilo plays in the distance*

- “Go away, I’m Batman!” Another underrated classic NMTD moment right here. I almost forget that he’s talking in the Batman voice until this line, and it cracks me up every time.

- Best comments: esthereckstein2532 from 7 years ago with “why is Ben equal parts annoying as heck and adorable?” (Huge mood, very true), and speaker8417 from three years ago with “Legit thought of the song Michael in the Bathroom” (I’m dying I’ve died I’m dead this is SUCH a great call lmao)

- Making a Ben gifset from this series of episodes with Michael in the Bathroom lyrics, BRB. Can’t believe I hadn’t heard that song yet when I made the nmtd musicals fanmix or that would’ve been on it for sure!

Episode 23: Claudio joins me in the bath of emotion

- The official coining of the term “bath of emotion”! A historic NMTD moment.

- Is it me or is Ben acting 100% more drunk in this episode than the last one? I bet he was drinking while uploading the last video. Not healthy to drink alone, bud.

- the video description is adorable. “Computer is in bathroom but not wet. Pedro has lent me his computer but he does not know this has happened.” Drunk Ben is ADORABLE.

- “parties are a gateway to a spiral of doom and awkwardness” sounds about right. That’s rough, buddy.

- Claudio arrives! Ben is so happy to see him!

- Notice here that Claudio is dressed as a cowboy, because he’s been watching Hero’s videos and knows she wanted someone to go as a cowboy! Cute, but also how does he not know Hero likes him if he’s watching the videos? Either he’s just that insecure, or maybe he doesn’t really watch the videos and Ben told him Hero wanted him to go as a cowboy? Idk

- “you silly billy” “I am a little tipsy yes” ADORABLE

- Why is “he’s stating the obvious now isn’t he” the actual flirtiest thing Ben has ever said lol

- There it is, he DOES have a drink with him, he did get drunker between last episode and this episode

- “I don’t know what it is but it’s so good, it makes my tongue go all tingly” Ben. That might mean you’re allergic to it. Don’t ever drink something if you don’t know what it is! (It’s probably just that it’s carbonated, but still.)

- “The camera takes your sadness and makes it go poof” is an important character sentiment for Ben that will come up again. This IS where his attachment to the camera first starts to get unhealthy!

- “Like tears in the rain” listen I love this loser SO MUCH

- I said he was a sad wet cat of a drunk, but Ben is also a very silly drunk. Scolding the camera for making Claudio sad, awww

- “not the camera, the Captain” Pedro is the captain before he’s even himself, no wonder he feels so pressured to be perfect

- “this EXHAUSTIVELY DOWNER PARTY” meanwhile the background music is all cheery and everyone besides Ben and Claudio are dancing and having a grand old time

- Claudio, if you were brave enough to talk to Hero yourself when you have a question for her, you would avoid a lot of heartache.

- “he hasn’t gotten her for you, he’s gotten her from you” you’re not even dating yet and she can make her own choices!

- “the party’s been infected by a sadness bug” this sounds like a Doctor Who plot or something tbh

- “look at his little face!” Ben doing to Claudio what I want to do to Ben, he’s so squishy!

- “that hurts!” “I know it does, buddy, but you will get through it! You’re a brave little soldier!” Lol amazing

- Claudio is angry angsty, while Ben is sad angsty. You can tell Claudio will lash out at others about it while Ben will mostly just lash out at himself and the camera.

- Claudio leaves, Ben promises to tell Hero bye for him, and turns off the camera. Why are these all separate videos he turns the camera off after making? Maybe shorter videos are easier to edit quicker.

- Comments: loving on Tipsy Ben, being sad for Claudio, clocking Claudio’s cowboy costume as being for Hero. One comment saying Claudio doesn’t even seem to like Ben, which makes me sad because Ben is currently worrying that his friends don’t like him.

- Favorite comment: sydneymcgowan with “he looks like a little angel boy aw Ben”

- Indeed that’s my little angel boy and I LOVE HIM and his squishy face <333

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NMTDaily: Watching 101

This particular liveblog post has spoilers for the rest of the plot of NMTD. It’s a short one, but I’ll put it under a cut for first-time watchers to avoid it.

- Dogberry and Verges are sweet but ineffectual yet again. Dogberry is actually right about the importance of filming to gather evidence. They already have some right here, without knowing it.

- Their enthusiasm for detective work and constant malapropisms are still awfully endearing and a clever adaptation from the play.

- We get a tiny snippet of plot-significant dialogue:

Cora: “But what will they think of Hero?”

John: “That doesn’t concern me.”

- This dialogue is happening before Pedro’s costume party, which means the plan John and Cora are discussing here is the plan to make Claudio think that Pedro has “stolen” Hero from him by romancing her for himself when he was just supposed to tell Hero that Claudio likes her.

- What’s interesting about this is that in the fallout of this plan, no one does think badly of Hero. No one blames her for the confusion and no one really thinks she was two-timing the boys. So John was right in this instance- his plan posed no risk to Hero in the end.

- This is why John was so certain that Operation Make Claudio Believe Hero’s Sleeping With Robbie would have zero effect on Hero’s reputation and happiness. Because he already meddled in her love life for his own ends once, and she came away unscathed. So he figures, no way will this next plan harm her. He genuinely is caught by surprise later on when he realizes how badly his scheming hurt her the second time. This makes John extremely naive about how the world treats women in relationship matters, but still, his remorse and shock is genuine.

- It really also hammers home how John’s plans could all be avoided if people just talked to each other and trusted each other. And how if you’re trying to arrange your nemeses’ downfall, you shouldn’t do it in a public courtyard where you can be overheard.

- Also, wait, Verges says John and Cora are seniors. Does that just mean “upperclassmen” in NZ/Aotearoa, as opposed to meaning “in their final year of high school”? Because I thought John was younger than Pedro by at least a year. Are they both Year 13s? Confusing.

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NMTDaily: VOX POPS

- Hi all! I’m going to be rewatching along with TCWs NMTDaily and making posts about each episode, or as many as I can (I might miss some, but I hope not!)

- I want to start by saying thank you again to The Candle Wasters for making my favorite thing. Just, the amount of joy and creative fulfillment and friendship and delight I’ve gotten from this show and this fandom is still unmatched. Thank you so much for making it and sharing it. The love and care and skill with which NMTD was made still shines through and I’m still so awed by it. I think I was probably somewhat overdramatic about my reactions to Lolilo in places where you, TCW, could see, on my main blog, and you didn’t deserve that. I really hope I didn’t send you any aggressive asks about it, or make you uncomfortable in any way. I’m a little afraid I did, but I don’t know for sure. If I did, I apologize. I’m older and more mature now, I promise. I hope you’re all doing so very well now!

- I didn’t realize until today that Project I: VOX POPS was posted first, before any other video in the series. I didn’t start watching NMTD until right around the time Benedick’s first Q&A video was posted, so I binged the first chunk of episodes around that time. It will be interesting to watch them at a slower pace this time!

- I am immediately overwhelmed with warm fuzzies at seeing these characters again. They’re such babies! I love them!

- I never made a post about this, but Ben’s first line being about how he shares a (differently spelled) name with a Pope is both a great first line for him on a character level since he starts as kind of a cocky overconfident asshole (a cover for his soft sensitive insides) AND it’s evidence for my theory that he’s probably Catholic, but lapsed/non-practicing/maybe agnostic or atheist solely because I WILL keep projecting parts of me onto this character, it’s just what I do at this point. Other evidence: he has a confirmation name. We don’t get his full name til Lolilo, but still. And he’s partly Scottish, which can account for the fact that English people usually are not Catholic.

- “you need to imitate an eagle, that’ll scare them away!” That’s Ben’s second line and first bird reference! Already! Wow.

- The favorite band question! Mumford and Sons! Fife and the Drums! Sheep Dog and Wolf! The LORE! The REFERENCES! We’re already off to the races.

- “I don’t need chat-up lines” Beatrice I love you , and you have no idea what’s coming.

- I forgot about Beatrice’s Favorite T-Shirts Ranking System lol

- Extremely funny that Ben says bananas are his favorite food and then he goes on to become synonymous with mangoes instead. Sorry, buddy, you will always be Mango Skin Boy to us. xD

- I forgot how delightful Dogberry and Verges are in this episode

- “that you would leave me” oh Meg. Oh honey. Oh no.

- I’ve seen nine seasons of Doctor Who and only five episodes of Game of Thrones since 2014. Sorry Bea, I side with Ben on this one. And I’ve seen one season of Community. I’m slowly hacking away at the list of media referenced in nmtd that I need to watch!

- love it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you, it will set you free! ❤️

- Balthazar plays every instrument, of course.

- Bea must not have an ear for music if she hated that question enough to force Ursula on-camera so she doesn’t have to answer it… Unless Ursula asked her something else she didn’t want to answer! Lol

- Ben makes me cringe so hard a couple times this episode. And yet I still love him. To be fair, that’s just every Benedick at the start of Much Ado, though. The cringy lines are completely in character.

- I decided to save the full story of how I discovered NMTD for whenever the NMTDaily email for Ben’s first Q&A episode goes out, because then it will actually be ten years almost to the day since I started watching. But I’m so impatient and excited to tell the story!

- It’s amazing how back then, these kids were my contemporaries and the Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast felt impossibly old compared to me. Now the NMTD kids are babies and I’m older than Lizzie Bennet! Trippy. It sure has been a nice ten years.

Until the next one! Happy NMTD Day, fellow flamangoes!

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NMTDaily: And So It Begins

- Beatrice’s first vlog! What an opening line, I love it lol. I remembered the hand wave on “hello, people of the Internet” having a wider arc across the screen than it actually does, funny enough! Glad I didn’t specify the wide wave when I referenced this line in MARRIED, the fic I posted on the 25th.

- “I’m not too old for Halloween”, girl after my own heart!

- Always thought it was interesting that Bea’s mother is American. I wonder how/why they decided that. It’s the kind of super specific detail that makes Bea feel so real, because who would make that up? It’s also interesting that it means Bea and Ben’s families are both somewhat international. Another parallel for them, another thing they have in common.

- I bet the Aunties’ wedding was the cutest thing ever, imagine Hero and Leo standing up with them! That’s probably the last time all of the Dukes were together before the story starts.

- I’m surprised Bea’s parents moved because her dad got a promotion. I would have assumed her mom did, because we get the impression of her as the high-powered businesswoman. But good for Bea’s dad. Is it canon that he’s a university professor? (Promotion = tenure?) Or did I make that up for fanfic and/or confuse him with Ben’s parents being professors in canon? Listening for that. Maybe Bea’s dad was actually also a business person all along and that’s how her parents met. Who knows.

- Bea says Australia like I say Indiana, lol (no hate to anyone from Indiana though! Just another of those inborn rivalries with the neighbor, like the Oz/NZ one.)

- “A great science program” I forgot Bea was a science person!

- I always loved the set decoration in this room, I remember it’s Hero’s room, and it’s so artsy and cozy and pretty. Love the wall art.

- “Leo and I are in charge of the house for the next six months” Excuse me, does this series really only take place over six months? Well, it ends in the first week of November, so that’s seven full months. I think it felt like it lasted a whole year when it was airing though. Time slowed down during a certain arc for sure.

- “in-joke with myself!” Classic. I kind of love that the text on screen saying “good one Beatrice” is Bea talking to herself again in-world, but out-of-world it’s kind of the Candle Wasters talking, interacting both with their own main character and with the audience. Meta.

- “Sorry my life is so boring” are like, THE famous last words for an LIW protagonist. Honey, you got a big storm coming!

- I was always so incredibly impressed with Beatrice’s independence, her comfort with leaving her parents and essentially being on her own before she even finished high school. I was alone in a college dorm hours away from home when I first watched this, second semester of freshman year if I’m not mistaken, and I could barely believe I’d managed it. I couldn’t imagine doing that any earlier than I had. I thought she was so brave and cool. I think Bea actually shows more hesitation and nervousness than I realized she did in this episode, both because she’s not used to vlogging yet and because being in a new place is nerve-wracking, but I still think she’s so brave.

- It’s so interesting that in a reversal of the play, it’s our Beatrice who comes from away to Messina to start the story, instead of Benedick and the other men returning from war. Of course, we’ll see how the boys’ arrival on the scene is modernized soon enough!

- Harriett does such a great job making you care about Bea and like her right from the start. You just want to keep listening to her talk. I can’t wait to do just that over the next seven months.

- The Benedict Cumberbatch crush is a stroke of genius, but what are the odds that there happens to be a super famous guy named Benedict that you can reference who is at peak relevance in the exact year your MAAN modernization premieres? Truly, this series as it exists could only have happened in 2014. It was the perfect time and the perfect people. What luck.

- Oh, this is the wider arc hand wave I was remembering! It’s just at the end of the video and not the beginning. Funny!

- Covering the camera with her hand and ducking out of frame at the end of her first video is a direct parallel to what Bea and Hero do in their final NMTD video, sliding out of frame and all. Love that.

- I can’t believe how much there is to talk about even with these early episodes. These posts are gonna get so long they’ll have to go under a cut for the later episodes!

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NMTDaily: Q&A (Bea and Hero’s first Q&A video)

- Okay, I took a brief break from my rewatch liveblog, but I’m back. Let’s do this.

- “But first, tea!” Cute little teacup cheers animation and sound effect!

- Wait, also, this is another moment of Bea’s hypocrisy and the things she has in common with Ben being exposed! Miss No One Needs Tea actually IS a tea-drinker! (And Ben is still watching her videos at this point, I wonder if he noticed that…)

- Sigh. Content warning: Harry Potter. I continue to be aggressively furious with JKR. Ten years ago I would have never thought HP would become inextricable from a vitriolic hate group, and it breaks my heart every time I think about it. How trans people are suffering at the hands of that woman, most importantly. But also how she took away my ability to enjoy the series that got me through a bleak early adolescent onset of my anxiety disorders, AND she’s retroactively corrupting my comfort media by association now too. Boo. Hiss. Let’s move on.

- There IS some good character work in this Hogwarts House discussion section though. More foreshadowing of Pedro failing to live up to his brave, heroic image. Meg being a Slytherin. Bea thinking Ben would be a Muggle. It is interesting to think about what could replace this discussion today in terms of media references. I really don’t know.

- Hero being uncomfortable when Bea brings up Claudio and her being matching is interesting. I guess they aren’t officially official yet. And then she gets revenge by bringing up Benedick, lol. Perfect.

- Bea makes fun of her a bit again about the holidaying in the South of France, not really sure what to make of that.

- Bea catching that question and refusing to be tricked into saying Ben is her friend, and still refusing to watch his channel. Hilarious and plot-important.

- Arch-nemesis, what a strong word! Remember the fanart transforming Kate Beaton’s Nemesis comic to be about Ben having a photo of his nemesis Beatrice above his bed? I loved that, but now I think Beatrice should’ve been the star of her own version of that, lol.

- I love her making fun of Ben’s channel icon, because I still think that icon was a perfect character choice. Exactly the kind of deeply cringe nonsense that Benedick MuchAdo would and should do in a modern AU, I love it. And I love that Beatrice hates it. Perfect.

- “You have to pick a side, you pick my channel or you pick his!” “You do know you’re not the only two channels on YouTube?” Lol get her Hero!

- Just hollering again because Ben is definitely gonna watch this video and see Bea talking about their past I’m!!!!!

- I know what it’s like to be a kid and have a group of kids you only see during summer but who all see each other year-round, and you never feel as close to those people as they are to each other. So I understand why Bea might feel resentful that all her Auckland friends are still friends with Ben year-round, especially after she had such a falling out with him.

- “Like he does with his newest most bestest friend thing, he latched on to me as the other new kid in the group” MY HEART.

- Ben was clearly still struggling with being the new kid, and saw someone who related a bit to that and wanted to bond over it! Oh my GOD he is just the embodiment of the Puss-in-Boots-being-a-cute-kitten-with-huge-wet-eyes gif to me and I cannot help being absolutely in love. Protect this lonely baby!!!!!

- HE KNEW SHE WAS LEAVING AT THE END OF SUMMER. He was ripping off the band-aid early by pushing her away. We know he genuinely didn’t know his feelings for her were romantic at all at the time, so all Ben knew was Bea was trying to get closer to him right as he was about to lose her, and he was giving them both an out because it already hurt too much to lose her!!!!! (A HUGE parallel to his behavior of pushing her away ahead of losing her to travel in Lovely Little Losers by the way.)

- And poor Beatrice. She’s already used to maintaining friendships from eight hours away. She would have just taken for granted that she and Ben were going to stay in touch after she went home to Wellington, like she always did with Hero and Pedro. But she also knew she had a crush on Ben, and as soon as she tries to put herself out there in a messy 14-year-old way and create more situations where they’re alone together, Ben starts saying friendships die in three days. Because he doesn’t believe it’s possible to be friends from eight hours away, so why try? And Bea thinks he doesn’t care about her at all and she’s heartbroken.

- If Ben had only been able to communicate that he was scared because he liked her so much and insecure because he’d never had a friend who actually bothered to stay in touch before. If Bea had been able to listen without having her feelings hurt, and actually communicate her own feelings. If they both weren’t terminally fourteen years old about this, they could’ve been friends this entire time.

- Beatrice is SO heartbroken by Ben’s rejection that in the past 3 or 4 YEARS since this went down, she never talked to Hero about it before this video. Not once. And she tells Hero everything. That’s huge.

- “You know my life story now.” That’s how she phrases it. This friendship breakup is a defining event in Beatrice’s life so far. It’s the heartbreak of her life. No wonder she’s so adamant about hating him.

- “Traveling is going to be on the agenda in the next few years” and we already have the setup for Lolilo, not even halfway through NMTD.

- Like really, Lolilo is basically Ben and Bea having the same fight and making the same mistakes as they did when they were fourteen, and yet again finding their way back to each other, finally mature enough to never make the same mistakes a third time.

- Art Curator and Queen of the World. These precious girls.

- Beatrice wants to do something that challenges her and makes her think. She doesn’t want easy street. I love that. (Enjoying a challenge, enjoying learning and thinking, another thing that also applies to Ben.)

- Bea and Hero get along because they have the same sense of humor and they grew up together, they have history. Shows what they value in any kind of relationship, platonic or otherwise.

- I love Hero being sad at the idea of a world where she doesn’t know Bea, she’s so sweet. And Bea finding that emotional stuff gross is also perfect.

- “I think you have more in common with Ben that you do with me.” “Hero I’m going to kill you right now.” Perfect.

- Godddddd the pale blue dress I’m already in pain. Knowing what’s coming just ughhhhhh

- The beaded necklace! I love these two so much, we love sisterhood (cousinhood, you know what I mean)

- Ohhhhh St Miranda’s! I just got it, that’s a The Tempest reference and the magician principal is Prospero, or more likely Prospera a la the movie. I don’t think I had seen or read The Tempest yet when I first watched NMTD, so that went over my head. I knew it was a Shakespeare reference but it’s only now that I understand it.

- (About Pedro) “I can be myself around him, we just know each other really well” and again I’m in PAIN augh the foreshadowing

- Do we think Bea really doesn’t know that her name means Blessed? Interesting. Love that they worked that detail in.

- Saying goodbye in German? Well Hero is clearly a Sound of Music fan, lol. Well, that or Cabaret, but she strikes me as a Sound of Music girl.

- Reminding the audience that we don’t really know her outside of this channel, thanking everyone for their kindness and good questions, backhanding the ones who asked about Ben with “MOST of the questions were really good and not annoying at all”. Lol, way to model a mostly healthy relationship with your audience, Bea! I mean that genuinely. Boundaries are important. Even though you’re fictional.

- “Why are you watching us? We’re not that interesting.” This line will be paralleled somewhat in Bea and Hero’s final video.

- And all their favorite YouTubers in the description box! Mostly OG British YouTubers I haven’t thought about in years. That was a blast from the past!

- Thank you comment section for pointing out that Hero chose to include a question sent in by Benedick! She left out his name so Bea wouldn’t notice, but he’s the one who asked “how much of yourself do you put in your videos” and Bea said it was an interesting question. I love that.

- He wants to know how genuine the things she says in her videos are and he wants advice as a fellow YouTuber at the same time, and she lets him know that she’s for real. That has to hurt given the things she’s said about him, but he could also take from this video that he matters to her, or she wouldn’t still be so upset about their falling out. Whether he does understand that from this video is another question- probably not. Not yet.

- Someone in the comments, AlashiaTuol, is a genius, pointing out that Bea jokingly telling Hero to pick a side between herself and Ben is a direct parallel to a much more serious “pick a side” conversation Ben is going to have. I love that call.

- Another commenter said what I’m always thinking when I rewatch this series: “I’m so glad this exists!”

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