#so like i don't wanna diminish what the character went thru or the importance of discussing issues like endo

[mermaidsirennikita]

I think the biggest problem with CWF is the casting; the actors are just not compeling enough and the chemisty is not great. Say what you will about Daisy and Paul (I think they're over rated, him especially) but they were perfectly cast for Normal People and that's what made that show work. It also doesn't hurt that Normal People is the better book compared to CWF....

Idk if I totally agree (Paul and Daisy do nothing for me lol) buuut I do think that the issue with CWF is... The lead girl. Alison Oliver is a void of charisma and has no chemistry with anyone on this show. But two out of the four main players are supposed to be in love with her. It makes no sense.

I think that Jemima Kirke is the best thing about the show, and she has very little screentime relative to the importance of the role she's in (in a cheating narrative... the cheatee should be a key figure. Because you should feel conflicted as the viewer. Fuck.). London Boy (The Artist Known As Taylor Swift's Lover, Joe Alwyn) is a decent actor, I liked him in The Favourite, which was a much more interesting role despite less screentime... He tried to make chemistry happen here. But he couldn't.

Sasha Lane is a good actress but she had a thankless role. I find it extremely odd, tbh, that the show had the awareness to call out Frances being shitty to Bobbi in light of her sexuality (suggesting that Bobbi as a lesbian was jealous of Nick, a man, fucking Frances, her ex)... But didn't confront Bobbi's race in the same way. Frances, a white woman, basically fantasizes about what it would be like, and how easy it would be, to be Bobbi--a Black lesbian. Like... what? They call Frances out for writing her fantasies about being Bobbi in a general way--but while the text explicitly calls Frances out earlier for her handling of Bobbi's sexuality, I don't think it took into account how fucked it is for a white woman to be acting like a Black woman (a Black lesbian at that) has it so fucking easy, oh she wishes she could be her. Like, I'm sorry you're dealing with endo and a horrible father, Frances--as someone who's also struggled with her reproductive system and a horrible father, I GET THAT IT SUCKS. But damn. The ignorance!

Because Frances is in basically every season and nobody has relevance unless they are interacting with Frances, they're all dragged down by that one critical casting error. Everyone else is underwritten. Everyone else is viewed through the lens of Frances, never as an individual--which is troublesome in itself, but when the roles are as critical as "the married guy she's fucking, his wife, and the best friend she used to fuck"... Damn, the shallowness of it all is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid.

I don't care for Normal People or Conversations with Friends as books, but Normal People is the stronger book. Conversations with Friends has the more intriguing concept but it kinda flops, imo.

#feel like i should add a disclaimer--i don't have endo! i do not want to compare what i've experienced to endo #bc as far as i know i don't have it tho i've never explored it #but i do have hormonal issues which caused severe bleeding and pain to the point that i had chronic anemia #like 3 week long periods #and they finally just stuck an IUD in me to make it go away lol #so like i don't wanna diminish what the character went thru or the importance of discussing issues like endo #buuuuuuut it did feel like they were at points trying to make me feel like frances's endo was like #her tragic pain which excused all of the shitty things she did #and i will not! do that! any more than i would w her tragic childhood