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themackenzies · 4 years

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Thoughts on Outlander 5.05 - ‘Perpetual Adoration’

Time is a lot of the things people say that God is. There’s the always preexisting, and having no end. There’s the notion of being all powerful—because nothing can stand against time, can it? Not mountains, not armies. And time is, of course, all-healing. Give anything enough time, and everything is taken care of: all pain encompassed, all hardship erased, all loss subsumed. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Remember, man, that thou art dust; and unto dust thou shalt return. And if Time is anything akin to God, I suppose that Memory must be the Devil. — Prologue, A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Wow, I loved this episode, and for the first time this season I’m excited to sit down and write about Outlander. The 1960′s flashbacks, Roger and Bree hashing things out, adorable Adso (I am a dog person, but geez that’s a cute kitten)...this episode felt nostalgic, and good, and right. Material from the books was adapted really well and didn’t feel shoehorned in. To be honest, after last week’s ‘The Company We Keep’, I was considering abandoning the show because I was so disappointed by the writing and characterization of Roger. But, after Episode 5? I’m excited to see the rest of the season!

There’s a lot to unpack from this episode, so I won’t touch on everything, or this will get too long, but here are my thoughts.

Since the title card for this episode is taken from the flashbacks, I’ll start my episode review by talking about Claire, Joe, and Bree in the 1960′s. Claire’s voice over of the prologue from A Breath of Snow and Ashes gave me goosebumps, as did Bree’s line, “Man, I guess you never really know what’s coming, do you?”

It’s so great seeing Joe again, even though it makes me sad that we never got to see Roger or adult Bree interact with him on the show. I smiled at the reference to the romance novel The Impetuous Pirate from Voyager.

The lounge wasn’t empty. Joseph Abernathy sat in one of the rump-sprung stuffed chairs, apparently absorbed in a copy of U.S. News & World Report. He looked up as I entered, and nodded briefly to me before returning to his reading. The lounge was equipped with stacks of magazines— salvaged from the waiting rooms— and a number of tattered paperbacks, abandoned by departing patients. Seeking distraction, I thumbed past a six-month-old copy of Studies in Gastroenterology, a ragged copy of Time magazine, and a neat stack of Watchtower tracts. Finally picking up one of the books, I sat down with it. It had no cover, but the title page read The Impetuous Pirate. “A sensuous, compelling love story, boundless as the Spanish Main!” said the line beneath the title. The Spanish Main, eh? If escape was what I wanted, I couldn’t do much better, I thought, and opened the book at random. — Chapter 18, Voyager

The 60′s costumes, sets, and hair were on point. Man, I really miss the 60′s-70′s stuff (and wish there had been more of Roger and Bree in that time in Season 4 - flashes back and forth like they did with Claire and Jamie in Season 3 would have been awesome). I also liked how the flashbacks connected with the 1700′s story lines. It wasn’t until I rewatched that I even really listened to and absorbed Claire’s voice over throughout the episode about God and the spiderweb:

“I wonder, is time God’s eternal web, silk strands stretching through time, the mildest touch setting off vibrations that echo through the eons? ... Is God the spider, embracing us through our death and resurrection, or is he simply the spinner of the web, watching as the silk shimmers and vibrates through the cosmos, awakening the real spiders, the ones lurking deep within the recesses of our own natures? ... God the infinite, God the merciful, God the eternal. Someday, I will stand before God and I will receive answers to all my questions about everything in his universe, and I do have many questions. But I won’t ask about the nature of time. I’ve lived it.”

There was something about the spiderweb metaphor that sounded really familiar, but I couldn’t recall if it was taken from any of the books or not. So, I did a search for “spiderweb” in The Fiery Cross, and found a couple of passages that I’m still mulling over. There’s this bit from Chapter 37:

“Brianna. What do you want? Do you want Stephen Bonnet dead?” She glanced at me, then away, looking out the window while she patted Jemmy’s back. She didn’t blink. Finally, her eyes closed briefly, then opened to meet mine. “I can’t,” she said, low-voiced. “I’m afraid if I ever let that thought in my mind … I’d never be able to think about anything else, I’d want it so much. And I will be damned if I’ll let … him … ruin my life that way.” Jemmy gave a resounding belch, and spit up a little milk. Bree had an old linen towel across her shoulder, and deftly wiped his chin with it. Calmer now, he had lost his look of vexed incomprehension, and was concentrating intently on something over his mother’s shoulder. Following the direction of his clear blue gaze, I saw the shadow of a spiderweb, high up in the corner of the window. A gust of wind shook the window frame, and a tiny spot moved in the center of the web, very slightly. “Yeah,” Brianna said, very softly. “I do want him dead. But I want Da and Roger alive, more.”

And also this bit from Chapter 73:

She had begun to realize, listening to the talk in the Sherstons’ parlor over the last few weeks, that the Colony was a vast spiderweb. There were innumerable strands of commerce along which a few large spiders—and a number of smaller ones—made their delicate way, always listening for the faint hum of distress made by a fly that had blundered in, always testing for a thinning strand, a broken link. The smaller entities glided warily along the margins of the web, with an eye out always for the movements of the bigger ones—for spiders were cannibals—and so, she thought, were ambitious men. Her father’s position was prominent—but by no means so secure as to resist the undermining effects of gossip and suspicion. She and Roger had talked about it before, privately, speculating; the fracture-lines were already there, plain enough to someone who knew what was coming; the strains and tensions that would deepen into sudden chasm—one deep enough to sunder the colonies from England. Let the strain grow too great, too quickly, let the strands between Fraser’s Ridge and the rest of the Colony fray too far … and they might snap, wrapping sticky ends in a thick cocoon round her family and leaving them suspended by a thread—alone, and prey to those who would suck their blood.

Back on Fraser’s Ridge...

That pillow talk scene between Roger and Bree is the best romantic chemistry I’ve seen between them this season (yes, even better than their wedding). Sophie and Richard acted their scenes, most of which were adapted from Chapter 6 of The Fiery Cross, extremely well.

She was an only child, as he was; she knew the yearning for connection and closeness—but hers had been gratified. She had had not one loving father but two. A mother who had loved her beyond the bounds of space and time. The Murrays of Lallybroch, that unexpected gift of family. And most of all, her son, her flesh, her blood, a small and trusting weight that anchored her firmly to the universe. But Roger was an orphan, alone in the world for such a long time. His parents gone before he knew them, his old uncle dead—he had no one to claim him, no one to love him for the sake only of his flesh and bone—no one save her. Little wonder if he hungered for the certainty she held in her arms when she nursed her child.

My one complaint is that I wish Bree hadn’t stayed silent after Roger asked, about Jemmy’s paternity, "In your heart, what do you truly believe?” That discussion was very heartbreaking.

Thankfully, Roger returns to Bree in the morning, apologetic, after his heart to heart with Claire.

“Oh I wish I had a bit of a husband’s intuition.” “You haven’t been married very long. Intuition comes with listening and time.” “I have time in spades.” [...] “Roger, don’t be careless with the time you have together.”

Perhaps Roger is remembering what he told Jocasta in Episode 1: “I may not have any property or money, but I have time. And I will give it all to Brianna and Jeremiah.”

Everything comes full circle at the end of the episode when Jamie returns home, and Claire shares what’s on her mind:

“Do you know what I finally realized after all these years? Just how much I owe him. His death had a profound effect on me, so much so that I took a leave of absence from work, and went to London with Brianna, and that was where I learned of Reverend Wakefield’s passing. Had we not attended that funeral, we would never have crossed paths with Roger or...or found you.”

A few final, stray thoughts:

I know the priest’s line, “No one’s lost who’s not forgotten” is about Claire remembering Jamie...but, Stephen Bonnet haunting Brianna is what popped into my mind. Brianna has forgiven Bonnet, but hasn’t forgotten him.

Lizzie being present during Kezzie’s surgery and blushing/smiling when he had to drop his britches was funny and cute. They’re clearly laying groundwork for Season 6 (or maybe Season 5?).

I love the sunshine and verdant trees in this episode. It was pretty and refreshing.

Even though I loved Roger in this episode, I haven’t forgotten how poorly he was written in the first 4 episodes and in ‘The Company We Keep’ in particular. I’ll leave that rant for another post, though.

I’m still puzzled by Roger and (maybe?) Bree wanting to back through the stones. On thelitforum.com, Diana said something about the writers, in the first episode, establishing that Bree promised Roger they would go back. But, if Bree made a promise like that, we haven’t heard about it on screen. I don’t understand why that would be cut, because it’s important context to have.

I don’t really have anything to say about Jamie in this episode. I’m bored by the Regulator story line, and am anxious for us to get to Alamance, so all of that can finally be put to bed.

Based on the preview for Episode 6...it looks like Jamie and Claire will be going to Jocasta’s wedding by themselves, while Roger and Bree stay on the Ridge. Interesting.

Roger’s scruff was perfect. Crossing my fingers he stops shaving for the remainder of the season.

“Women will do anything for trinkets, coins, jewels. Anything at all. They’re yours for a pretty penny, or a diamond, or a ring.” “My lass is more concerned with words and deeds.” Bonnet makes me want to vomit, but I loved Roger’s response about pragmatic Bree.

I love how naturally God and religion are being woven into this season. It makes me wish the show runners had the guts to do it in earlier seasons.

#outlander #perpetual adoration #episode review #season 5 #show talk

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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RvB17 Episode 2 Review: Everwhen

Do you ever hear about how some say that some characters just cannot work as the main? Like ‘this character is too ridiculous’, or ‘this one is too dark and brooding to like’. Or, as I hear it, being lazy. Yeah, that's what that excuse is: laziness. Any character CAN work if you put time and effort into making it work. Like when Kishimoto admitted that Sakura was not suited to be the lead female in Naruto, all I hear is “I didn't want to put in the effort in making this character good so I didn’t, my bad!”. It's a stupid, stupid excuse. But that being said, there are certainly some characters that are hard to envision as the central focus. Like IDK how many people would take RWBY seriously if Zwei was the main character... actually I'd watch it.

Despite RvB being... RvB, it's not immune to this. It's probably easier to but say... Carolina as a lead over someone like Jax, for example. So having Donut as the main character in this season... is likely going to tilt some heads. Donut? The innuendo spouting, eternally optimistic character that no one listens to and is missing every other season? That character, of all characters, is going to be our main character this season? How is THAT going to work? Well... how about we find out?

Overview

We begin in what I guess we can now officially call the Everwhen. Donut's still falling through, but it doesn't take long for him to figure out how it works. He can recall different memories, and he'll be shown them. He tests this for a few seconds before deciding to focus to actually get into a specific point in time. The point in time he ends up at? The tail-end of Season 7. Where, if you recall, Wash shot him... yeah... worst? He repeats this about three times. Sheesh. Ugh... at least he knows that Simmons was concerned now? Right?

Okay, anyways, Donut's finally able to get out of the memory and into a new one, though the pain still persists for a bit. He ends up back in S15... I want to say Episode 9. Been a while since I rewatched (the ONE SEASON I fella sleep through during that 30-hour livestream last week), but I think it was Doc's re-intro form the setup. Oh and Doc is in this episode, whoo. Anyways, once he's got himself collected, Donut tires to tell Tucker and Simmons to round up the others... except Tucker refuses. Why? Because he assumes that it's just going to be a tirade of innuendos, and he's not in the mood for it. Donut is confused as he tries to explain that they're reaching an explosive climax... which only makes them less willing to listen. Fed up, Donut leaves for another memory, leaving his past self acting like nothing happened.

We now go back to S10 where Grif reveals that he still has The Meta's Bruteshot... err, Grifshot. First, Microsoft let him have it back. Second, Donut again tries to get the others to listen. Yeah, three guesses son how well that goes. They end up more concerned about Sarge forgetting his speech, Wash trying to encourage him to remember it. Tbf it IS an epic speech that I too would like to hear again. Naturally, Donut is peeved that not only is he bring ignored, but he's being ignored over the guy who... you know, shot him. So he leaves again, this time going back even further... kinda.

We now end up in S3 during that whole 'we got blasted into the future' mess that I'm not going to even try to recall. It's during the play that Donut wrote to explain to Tucker about their circumstances. Donut lays everything out about everything. About being from the future, about technically being made by Chrovos, about Chrovos' current status, and how they're all stuck without being able to recall anything. Naturally, no one is listening, Simmons, in particular, being too annoyed that Donut took his role. Well... actually one person DOES believe it: Grif. Yeah, he says that it sounds familiar somehow and that crazy shit has happened to them before. You know, like being blasted into the future. Now Grif DOES get sidetracked seconds later by Sarge reminding him about who he's listening to, but at least SOMEONE listened.

But yeah, as I said Sarge calls bull and everyone continues to not believe it. Sarge even outright tells Donut to shut up forever repeatedly, no matter how much the poor guy begs him to hear him out. As a result, Donut gives up and returns to Chrovos' domain. In contrast to Donut being a mix of disappointed and annoyed, Chrovos is cheery and happy. Why? Well, their prison is cracking more and more, but after being locked up for an eon, having anything happen is enlightening to them. They also point out what they continued to point out to Donut last season: the guys have never listened to him, and are never going to listen to him. They even tell him to go ahead and stop as they don't like seeing him suffer like this. Still talking like Donut is their 'child' and in that nurturing father... err, motherly type of way.

Donut, not being that kind of stupid, refuses to buy into this again and is still determined to try and prevent Chrovos from destroying everything. Chrovos protests that it'll be painless, and at this point, they might as well since the paradox has caused pure chaos... backward. Yeah, backward. Donut picks up on this, asking about what happened after the paradox. Chrovos tries to pull back, saying that there's just two timelines: one where Wash was shot and one where he wasn't. But Donut points out something: that there's a third. A place out of time, like they themselves are. And aside from him, who else from the Reds and Blues weren't caught in the paradox? Wash.

With this little revelation, Donut gets the discarded time gun and leaves. Chrovos, due to the barrier, can do nothing to stop him. Donut arrives at a canyon on Chorus, assuming that it is where Wash would go. Wash isn't there, which means that our wide-eyed hero is going to have to go through the entire planet in hopes of finding him. Let's just hope that he won't bring up the repeated shootings when he finds him, haha...

Review

Okay! Good episode! So the first thing that I've noticed so far is the pacing. Much as I loved Joe's seasons, the biggest issue I had with both 15 and 16 was the pacing. 15 was rushed and 16 had this bizarre trend of having a lot of having things happen, but taking too long to get to anything significant. IDK if this is due to Jason taking over or because we're in the second half of this arc they can go faster, but things have been going very quickly so far. And I mean that in a good way. We get into things, have a fun little romp with it for an episode, and get back to the point. Both this and last week's episode did that very well, and I like that. Mind you I am concerned about things going too fast, especially since we only get 12 episodes this season, but so far it's been good.

This episode was essentially about showing us how the Everwhen works and Donut's struggles along it. It works simple enough, you can go through the memories of your choosing and possess yourself int hat period. IDK if that's how it goes for Genkins since he possesses AI-figured people, but it makes sense for Donut. It luckily doesn't take him long to figure out how to make it work, so we get a nice laugh when he gets stuck getting shot... and then feel bad for laughing... but my point is, we don't waste time on having Donut figuring out how it works. Again, very fast but the episode doesn't waste our time as a result. It does what it has to do, and moves on to the next thing.

So... Donut. He's freakin' great here. As I said above, there are some characters that are hard to envision as the main character, and even harder to figure out how to execute it. When I started this show two years ago, I would have never, ever, ever, EVEEEEER been able to imagine Donut as the focus character. Ever. Back then, I saw Donut as funny, but utterly pointless compared to everyone else. He'd been gone for various points so he missed out on many events, didn't do much during Chrous or S15, and his double entendre/flamboyant jokes had gotten stale very fast, at least to me. It was gonna take work to pull off Protagonist Donut... and they did. S16 did a VERY good job of helping Donut flesh out as a character and making us sympathize with him. It pointed out how Donut is constantly ignored, belittled, and treated like a joke by his peers, which makes him falling for Chrovos' manipulation all the easier to buy and keep him likable despite obviously doing the wrong thing. Which makes him choosing his friends and the subsequent fight against O'Malley all the stronger. Not just because it was a badass fight and finale all around, but because Donut came in and out of it a much stronger, much better character.

It is because of this that Donut in this episode was so good. First, we do get to see that he IS competent. We all kinda forget that sometimes, but Donut is an overall very capable soldier when he focuses. After all, who grenaded Tex in S1 again? But yeah, he's able to quickly figure out how the Everwhen works and also pieces together that time, to some extent, is still intact after Chrovos' slip-up. The boy is... well I can't say he's not dumb, but it's RvB, everyone is at least a little dumb. But the boy IS capable when he's given the chance to be. He also remains sympathetic throughout as the memories continue to make clear that yes, Donut is constantly ignored and belittled by his “friends”. Chrovos isn't wrong about that. Yeah, they DO care about him. Simmons didn't get upset about Donut being shot for no reason, after all. But they're so horrible at showing that, not just to Donut but amongst themselves,s but Donut's probably the one who gets it the worst. Even when Grif actually listened, it died the second that Sarge reminded him of who he was listening to. And none of them make any attempts to hide it either.

It's clear throughout that Donut is getting tired of this. It was what got him to fall for Chrovos' manipulation prior, after all, and even he pointed all of this out in the S16 finale. The fact that despite it he's still determined to save them all is something that should be applauded. It's time for the guys to start recognizing how far Donut actually goes for them and to be at least a little bit more respectful. They can still be annoyed at the innuendos, which I'm SO glad that my headcanon of Donut having never realized what he was doing is confirmed, but it won't kill them to be nicer. They've all slowly been coming better people, so... yeah.

...did I just write three paragraphs worth of a Donut analysis? Damn, me two years ago would have NEVER seen that coming. But it makes my point I think. Any character, even a ridiculous one, can be done well if the effort is put into it. S16 did a solid job of building up Donut’s character and essentially preparing him and us for this season. As such, because of the character development and the particular situation, he works very well as the focus character and I am loving every second of it. Anyways, moving on!

Chrovos continues to be a fantastic villain. Jason has done such a good job on characterizing the Cosmic Powers (speaking of, when are they coming back? I need more ProZD in my life dang it!). Not only does Chrovos have a ton of personality, including some incompetent traits akin to his son Atlus, but I... almost felt bad for them. When they expressed being so happy to have anything happening after billions of years in isolation, you can hear their pure joy and relief. Mind you they're going to eradicate time as we know it to shape it into their image, but it's good to have that there. It makes Chrovos a more three-dimensional character who we want to see more of, even if they are the bad guy. And them realizing that they fucked up by telling Donut about the paradox effects and failing to stop him from leaving? That was some funny shit. Move aside Mercs, at this rate I may have a new favorite villain very, very soon.

What else can I comment on? Well... it was nice seeing some of the moments again, namely S10 and the S3 skit. I also liked how Grif is the one who believed Donut. Sure he got thrown off, but with this and him being the one who mainly got deja vu last episode and in the finale, I think we've got some strong hints that chances are, he's going to remember first. Which means my fear that he's going to be shown what happened to Huggins, which he's NOT going to take well, grows closer... but hey at least we got one person who listened, brief as it was. Oh, and joking about Wash having shot Donut throughout? Are we finally touching on this? THANK YOU! Even if it's just for this episode, THANK YOU. Now if we can have Wash apologize at some point...

Speaking of Wash, so... we finally got the answer to what I've been wondering for a while now. Wash wasn't caught in the paradox, so his fate was left wide open. Well, now we can confirm that he, like Donut, is in an out of time period. Now we know from last season that he went back to Chorus, my guess is to confront Dr. Grey about his brain damage. Which means that... yeah, he's likely not going to be in the best state when we see him. We're probably also going to see how the regular timeline is doing with the paradox breaking things as Donut searches for him. So... well... next week should be fun, right?!

Final Thoughts

Great episode! It wasn't too long, but it did what it needed to do. It established the Everwhen, gave us a fun romp of Donut's adventures through RvB history, did some character stuff for our main hero and villain, and perfectly set up for next week. I have no complaints that I can think of aside from my fears about the pacing, but again that so far hasn't been an issue. So what will Episode 3 have in store for us? IDK, but I'm going to work on getting my heart ripped out so that I won't be in pain. So gonna go take care of that, and I'll catch you all next week!

#rvb #rvb17 #rvb spoilers #rvb reviews #callie reviews

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thisislizheather · 4 years

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October Occurrences 2019

Forgive the lateness of this post! It was an insanely busy month and I’ll try not to let this kind of delay happen again. SO MUCH HAPPENED! Details below.

I went on two trips this month! The first was to the Bahamas and it was so great. I stayed at Atlantis (because well, that’s where my parents were staying and they kindly let me stay with them, IF YOU MUST KNOW) and while Atlantis was super nice, it really felt like what I imagine a big cruise ship to feel like. I’m not meaning that as an insult at all - it just felt sort of stiff, well maintained, with a very controlled environment. I tried lionfish for the first time (very good), drank Bahama Mamas and slid down the shark-surrounded Leap of Faith (horrifying). We ate at Jose Andres’ restaurant Fish and it was absolutely unreal. The seafood was phenomenal.

Above Photo: Parents in the Bahamas

My second trip was to New Orleans for the week of Halloween! I’ll do a full post on this one because there’s too much to say. (Full post here!)

In some upsetting news, I accidentally “recovered” my phone and lost most of my Bahamas photos. I was so upset because it was completely my own fault. I hadn’t backed up my photos to my computer yet either, so it truly sucked. I do have iCloud but I never opted to pay for the extra space so it’s been full for about a year already. Enter my saviour Marla who told me about Google Photos (which is free) and I’ve already started using and backing up almost daily. I’ve moved on from losing the photos by rationalizing it in thinking that I wasn’t meant to have those photos, they were meant to be memories.

Remember when I told you to watch Tuca & Bertie because it’s so lovely? Well, if you did, this is a really great piece about Bertie’s boyfriend, Speckle.

Can’t get enough of the Pink Lady Apple flavour of Health-Ade. So goddam tasty.

Years ago, I watched and hated the second Sex & The City movie (too xenophobic, cliched and generally terrible) but I rewatched it on a plane recently and while it’s still a bad movie, I had completely forgotten about the storyline about Carrie and Big “defining the parameters of their own relationship.” Best part of the movie! I won’t give away too much, but you may want to rewatch this stinker if nothing better is on.

We rewatched all of the Sleepaway Camp movies and they really hold up well. Such a solid series.

I did two of Nathan’s podcasts this month: one where we talked about vaping and one where we talked about what annoys Nathan and my Joker thoughts! I had a lot of Joker thoughts. Quick summary? IT BLEW. I feel like the world grieves for broken men and I do not wish to.

I tried pumpkin-flavoured Kit Kats and although a little gross at first, they really do taste like pumpkin. And after two or three bites, become delicious.

In keeping with autumn flavours, I tried the pumpkin cream cold brew from Starbucks (I know, despite this one instance, I am still trying to stay away from the corporations that are slowly eating away at society as we know it). Anyway, the drink was only MEH. It’s wild how we’ve made milkshakes acceptable for adults to drink at 8am.

I’m not sure if I’ve already shared this tip, but I have THE greatest advice for someone who’s trying to avoid a cold from starting. You know that point right before you get a cold, when your throat feels a little tingly and sensitive? And you know that a cold is coming right around the corner? All you need to do to avoid this from happening is buy the blue Listerine and gargle with it once in the morning and once before bed and gargle for about 30 seconds each time. I SWEAR TO GOD THIS WORKS. But only with the blue Listerine. I’ve tested this theory twice now and it absolutely works, someone give me a medal for curing the common cold. (And if you really don’t believe me, buy the travel size before you commit to the larger bottle, geek.)

Riverdale is BACK! The season premiere episode dealing with Luke Perry’s death was so good and so sad and that’s all I have to say about that. As for the more recent episodes of Riverdale? The latest Halloween episode was pure and complete madness and I love how nuts it’s becoming.

I started watching the new season of This Is Us and I think I figured out what’s wrong with this show: every character on it is almost TOO in love with their partner. It’s enough already, we get it, love exists. The show is so wildly saccharine now. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed before? Either way, I might be passing on it this season.

I read and reviewed Abbi Jacobson’s newest book and you can see that full post over here.

I really hate cleaning shower curtains and the mold-free one that I got from The Container Store (only $10) has lasted me a full six months before getting gross. Highly recommend!

Cannot stop playing this song or this song.

J. Crew was having a pretty sweet sale and I bought this gorgeous-fitting underwire 90s swimsuit that I can’t stop praising. No one told me about underwire swimwear! So fucking flattering.

My absolute favourite place to get Halloween costume accessories is by far the Village Party Store in Manhattan. They somehow have every single thing you’d need for a costume, they’re super inexpensive and the staff is so helpful (eons better than any Spirit). I was talking about costume stuff with one of the guys who works there and he mentioned how a group of women had just come in to get stuff for their group costume: they all were going to be different Keanu Reeves characters. Is it just me or is that the greatest group costume you’ve ever heard of? He said they were definitely going to do Neo from The Matrix, Ted from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Jack from Speed, Duke Kaboom from Toy Story 4 and Sad Keanu. PURE GENIUS.

My favourite SNL sketch of the season so far, for sure.

LOVED the new season of Big Mouth. But can we pleeeeease stop with the musical episodes? NOBODY LIKES THEM.

Speaking of Big Mouth, I watched the movie Disclosure and wowza. Great movie. Can’t believe I’d never even heard of it before. Just rewatched it again with Nathan this past week. So good.

Another great NYC Halloween store is Abracadabra on 21st street. It’s a more expensive place to shop, but if you just want to browse then definitely visit this place. There are tons of interactive displays and the whole basement has incredible costumes for rent.

You can see this year’s Halloween costume over here, if you so please. In other costume news, Baby Dog was a lion. Roar.

I finally tried Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotion and whoa. I get the hype. It fucking obliterates pimples. It’s hard to sleep in since it goes on like calamine lotion and smudges everywhere if you lay face down (do people sleep like this? I sleep like I’m in a coffin & Nathan hates it because I look like a mental patient but it’s so fucking relaxing, I can’t stop), but it works really well if you can figure out a way to sleep without it rubbing off.

SO, SO excited to hear that season two of Shrill has a release date: January 24th!

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: celebrating American Thanksgiving since I missed the true (Canadian) one last month while I was in the Bahamas, introducing Nathan to the Momofuku Thanksgiving croissant, taking Baby Dog for autumn walks in Central Park, getting my copy of Lindy West’s new book that arrives in my mailbox tomorrow, still working on doing things off of my autumn list, reading Jenny Slate’s new book, if you find yourself always losing your poppy I find it helpful to attach mine to a safety pin rather than just the regular pin that comes with it, and I’ll probably definitely see A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood even though I do think it’s unnecessary.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, you can see what went down in September over here!

#this is liz heather #Liz Heather #monthly post #October #best of NYC #Halloween #Halloween NYC

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