#this episode felt very obviously like a man writer and man director trying to portray women’s rage

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

It may just be because I’m super not in the mood for it (sitcoms only!!!), but 4.01 of The Handmaid’s Tale feels like a really boring and lazy parody of The Handmaid’s Tale.

#also at this point i feel like lizzie moss NOT staring wildly into the camera would show some range #i get it #she’s staring into the camera ferally!!! #though the song choice + situation in the final scene is pretty hilarious #dollsome’s deep thoughts #this episode felt very obviously like a man writer and man director trying to portray women’s rage

[roswellnmsource]

‘Roswell, New Mexico’ interview: Amber Midthunder talks Rosa’s music playlist, and the surprising ways people can relate to each other

One of the best things Roswell, New Mexico has done is bring back Rosa Ortecho from the dead. Not only is Rosa one of the best characters on the show, but she’s also portrayed by Amber Midthunder, who imbues Rosa with a lot of strength, sarcasm, comedic timing, and a vulnerability that’s hard to look away from. When she’s not calling out the aliens on their bullshit, Rosa’s offering a steady kind of wisdom to those around her, whether to her own sister Liz, or to Wyatt Long. At other times, Rosa learns how to be gentle with herself. And this is all on top of waking up as a 19 year old who’s been dead for 10 years.

A lot has happened to Rosa Ortecho on Roswell, New Mexico. I got speak with Amber Midthunder over the phone about the majority of it, including her hopes for Rosa as Season 3 comes to a close next week.

Not transcribed in this interview are the first couple of minutes where we talk about how much I love fall (after our general hellos and how are yous, Amber starts asking me questions, which is very kind of her but not at all interesting for those of you reading this interview) and about how much I enjoyed her performance in The Wheel, which premiered at TIFF a few weeks ago. Keep your eyes peeled for when that eventually releases wide.

The Young Folks: Rosa’s very heavily influenced by songs from the ’90s and early 2000s. If Rosa had to update her playlist to today’s top hits, what would be on it?

Amber Midthunder: Oh, man. Honestly, I feel like with her coming back, that has already happened and I feel like she’s so committed to what she is. I feel like she’s the girl who still listens to Courtney Love, you know what I mean? That’s just who she is.

TYF: One of my favorite scenes from the season was between Michael and Rosa, when he acknowledges his part in covering up her murder, which led to years of racism and hatred toward her family. How important was it to include this moment, and what were some of the conversations you had with the writers, Alanna Bennett and Danny Toli, the director, Rachel Raimist, and Michael Vlamis to prepare for the scene? Especially since it happens between two characters who haven’t had a lot of interaction up until this point.

AM: That’s a great question. Honestly, I feel like our writers do a great job of incorporating real life conversations, and making sure that the story is relevant to what’s happening in the world. So in general, we just have a great team, we’re very prepared and that’s nice.

I think between me and Vlamis, it was just like … first of all, we got to have scenes together this year, kind of for the first time ever, which was really fun. He’s a very fun scene partner to have. And that scene in particular was actually quite fun, in a heavy way, you know? It was really on him, which is I think true to life, as far as repairing or building a bridge between people that have a hard history together, it is true that it’s on the person in his position to do the reconciling.

We didn’t have a whole lot of conversation. I think that was intentional. And I think it was not necessary for us to talk about it because everything was there on the page. When it was time to go, I felt like I had a scene partner who was there with me and he’s a very present actor—what he gives you is different every time. So it was just easy to allow myself to be affected. And in turn, I feel like I was able to give the same. So, it was honestly just fun for us to go out and just experience what was written.

TYF: In both Seasons 2 and 3, Rosa’s been trying to find her place in this world that’s similar yet totally different at the same time. As well as learning she has new powers. How do you think her discovery of her alien powers contribute to her journey toward sobriety and finding herself again?

AM: Honestly, I think that it’s been really fun to see Rosa as somebody who battles so much with her sense of self-worth at times. It’s really fun to see her learn that she not only has a place, but that she has responsibility to herself and the people around her who she loves and cares for.

Her thing for so long was and has been that she feels as though she failed Liz, and she failed her family, and that she’s not good enough. She tries and she fails. But I think for her to finally, especially in this season, in the last few episodes with Isobel and Maria, and then with Liz, realize that she has importance and that she contributes and that she can help because that’s all she wants to do, is help. I think for her to see that she has that significance inspires her to know that she, in fact, can be good. It’s simple and kind of heartbreaking. But for her to realize that she really can do well just being good, is, I think, huge for her to stay inspired to be sober.

TYF: Another one of my favorite parts of the season with Rosa is that she does have a lot of conversations with Liz and also Isobel and Maria, to support her in that journey. In 3×11, again, Rosa teams up with Isobel to find a way to stop Jones. What do you like about the friendship between Isobel and Rosa? And why do you think it’s so strong despite their history in season one?

AM: First of all, I just love that you pointed that out. The girl gang, I love all the girl gang moments that we get to have. It’s so cool and so fun. I love those scenes because I love these women, and I love getting to work with them. I love when our characters get to support each other.

I think that [Isobel and Rosa] have the bond of being victimized by the same person. They have a history, whether it was through mind control or however it came. They do have time shared together. I think initially it was a triggering experience to be in the presence of Isobel. But Rosa obviously has done a lot of work in herself in that way and how she responds to triggers and trauma. And I think she and Isobel have the common bond of being victimized by the same person and they have far more to relate to in their personalities and their experiences than I think people realize.

TYF: Rosa’s had a pretty interesting storyline with Wyatt this season. What’s important about showcasing the similarities between Wyatt’s and Rosa’s situations, where they wake up in an unrecognizable world? And what do you wish people to take away from this storyline?

AM: I think it’s just an interesting debate. I think people have a lot of feelings about it one way or another, and I think that all of them are correct because it is an insane situation. What’s fun about this show is that we get to explore this crazy “what if,” that otherwise would never be real.

You can’t really experience, “what if one girl died but only for 10 years and then this guy is left insane, but then gets his memory erased,” right? That’s what’s cool about what we do. But, I think their relationship is fun just as people, because I think that they relate on a level that is surprising. They both have the experience of feeling outside of their communities. I think it’s always exciting when you find somebody that relates to your deep thoughts or the things that you don’t tell people. That they had that history and then they get to explore it again. I think that’s always exciting.

TYF: What are your hopes for Rosa as we head towards the Season 3 finale and beyond?

AM: I’m excited for her to continue realizing all the things that we talked about. Her relationship with everybody and her place in the group, and beyond that. She’s doing something very important, which is she’s investing time in her greater good and then the big picture of her life to ultimately benefit those around her. And so I’m excited to see where everybody takes that.

#roswell new mexico #amber midthunder #rosa ortecho #rnm spoilers #3x11 #cast #press

[hotcoffeecoldmornings]

(This shit is long so bear with me.)

Can’t Eat, Can’t Sleep, Reach for the Stars

I haven’t felt this way in awhile. This ‘can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, world series kind of love.’ 

It’s hard to describe. The last time I was all-consumed like this by a TV show and a ship, that TV show was The 100, that ship was Clexa, and my world was, quite honestly, turned upside down by it.

I used the first two seasons of The 100 as background noise as I wrote my Master’s Thesis in 2015. To be honest, I didn’t really know exactly what was happening until Bodyguard of Lies (an episode anyone reading this post probably remembers well) came on. And a passionate kiss between two world leaders left me speechless and shocked. I was blindsided by it, unaware that that kiss would be the beginning of not only finding myself, but also accepting myself, and then finding a chosen family I never knew that I needed because of it.

There’s been alot of (okay, not a lot, but more) f/f ships on TV since then. Maggie and Alex. Nicole and Waverly. Elena and Syd. Kat and Adena. Anissa and Grace. Stef and Lena. Karolina and Nico. And the list goes on… While each of these ships is equally important, and each one represents another push towards more inclusive storytelling, there was never a ship that hit me as hard as Clarke and Lexa did.

Until now.

Harold, They’re Lesbians

Gay. Witches.

Motherland: Fort Salem said the words. And I fucking came running.

Okay, so it took me a few weeks… Thank you, twitter timeline, for finally getting my ass on board. It’s not that I didn’t want to start the show. It’s that my anxiety-ridden brain had other plans for me in mid-March. Like spending the majority of my time researching a global pandemic and then crawling into a depression hole because of it… Or something like that.

But nonetheless, I’m here now. And I’m fucking staying.

I knew I’d love this show. The concept of witches peppered with the idea that sexuality is irrelevant is honestly my one and only weakness. So I went into episode one with high hopes. And I sure as hell was not disappointed.

Episode 1 gave me even more than I could’ve asked for. We meet three uniquely powerful individuals, who all come from three uniquely interesting backgrounds. Abigail Bellweather, born into a lineage of the most powerful and elite witches Fort Salem has ever seen. Tally Craven, the last one standing in her family’s long-line of service, selflessly choosing to say the oath when she didn’t technically have to. And Raelle Collar, who has an unparalleled set of powers, combining her mother’s Christo-Pagan ways with those of the seeds learned at Fort Salem.

Rounding out that already brilliant cast is Scylla Ramshorm, the ‘sexy weird’ Necro who may or may not be evil (but we love her all the same). General Sarah Alder, the original witch who signed the Salem Accord, selling out every future witch to the United States Army, and whose ego quite often gets the best of her. And Anacostia Quartermaine, the Bellweather Unit’s Drill Sergeant who has a peculiar fondness (and leniency) for Raelle Collar.

The fact that this television show is entirely female centered (like, we’re talking 60 seconds of male screen time in the pilot), is what separates this show from most. Men exist in the world of Fort Salem as characters to exclusively propel the female leads forward, which is a stark contrast to the majority of shows right now.  And not only is the entire main cast female, the main lead is gay. And honestly, the sexuality of every character on the show is questionably debatable as well. Except for Abigail, who quite clearly is into any and all men, and Tally, who grew up on a Matrifocal Compound and ended up in Fort Salem as a virgin. Which, of course, no shade to her, but it did strike me as odd when Abigail immediately assumed Tally’s virgin-ness when growing up in an all-female world was brought up.

So let’s start there, shall we?

 The Heteronormative Narrative (or not…)

Something I did find puzzling about Motherland: Fort Salem (and the only thing, really) is how they portray sexuality, relationships, and love. In regards to sexuality, Eliot Laurence, the creator and executive producer, has been incredibly forward in interviews with the narrative that ‘your sexual preference doesn’t matter in this world.’ Which I appreciate to the fullest, trust me. But pardon my slight hesitation when I hear that line, because I think we’ve all been burned by it once before.

Motherland: Fort Salem has done a tremendous job of this. They’ve allowed characters to own their sexuality without question. It was never a thing when Raelle started dating Scylla. At Beltane, everyone went off with whomever the dance paired them with - even if that meant the same gender, and even if that meant three or four or five of them. Sexuality, in regards to same-sex partners, is never a character arc in this show, and it’s never there to create a plot point. 

HowEVER, there were a few things I noticed that confused that fact. 

Like I said about Abigail in the very first episode, when the Bellweather Unit is meeting for the first time, why was Abigail so quick to question Tally’s virginity after learning she comes from a Matrifocal Compound? If there are no heteronorms in the world of Motherland: Fort Salem, then why is it assumed that losing your virginity is related to relations with a man? Even though Tally is (well… was) a virgin, why would that question be brought up? If roles were reversed and it was Raelle living on the Matrifocal Compound, the conversation would’ve gone strikingly different, and it would’ve supported this heteronormative narrative that I thought we were trying to avoid. I’m just going to blame this one line on how badly Abigail wants the D, so sleeping with a woman wouldn’t even cross her mind.

But then what about the idea of this ‘five-year marriage contract’? It’s simply about producing a child, so I assume a woman could never have that sort of thing with another woman, and that those women could never add to their lineage (unless they entered into a five-year marriage contract simply to reproduce). Doesn’t this, alone, signify a heteronormative world without even meaning to do so? While they accept LGBTQ+ relationships, how do they actually fit into the society and culture that this show has created? Wouldn’t the gay witches be seen as almost inadequate in carrying on the gene if they don’t have a child? (AmI just thinking too much into this...?)

But then again, the whole concept of ‘love’ in Fort Salem is rather insignificant itself. As Gerit mentions, no one is supposed to spend their life with just one person. Witches are committed to one another in five-year partnerships to reproduce, and then that’s it. So in a way, I understand that nobody, no matter what their sexuality is, really gets to experience this fairytale ending that we’re used to seeing in a (*cough* heterosexual) ship on TV. And in a way, I also think that’s what makes this show all the more fascinating. Eliot Laurence gave everyone a level playing field by just removing the idea of a happily ever after altogether. In Laurence’s world, witches are meant to train and fight and die for their country. Love is their weakness. But what’s so compelling about that is even though love is their weakness, he made sure that love also manifests into their greatest strength.

From what I’ve seen in interviews for Laurence, every single thing has a purpose. So I’m quick to let this go, and see where he takes us. He’s been building this world inside his head for nine years, so I know that there’s so much more to this story than what can be told in a 10-episode season.

 But Back to the Lesbians

Anyway, back to love. Specifically gay love. I wish I could put into simple words my obsession with Raelle and Scylla. 

From the incredible chemistry that Taylor Hickson and Amalia Holm share on-screen together to the directors and writers who’ve portrayed their love story so magically, Raelle and Scylla are truly something special. They’ve taken the place of a ship this queer fandom lost when Lexa was killed. It’s a ship that you want to hate, because every part of this story tells me to hate Scylla. She’s Spree. She’s vindictive. She’s dangerous. Yet every part of my brain tells me to love her. And to love them together.

I don’t like easy stories. I want stories that make the ending worth it. I want hardships and pain and hurt and work when it comes to love. Which is why I like the story of Raelle and Scylla. There was a spark between them in their very first scene together- a spark you could feel through the TV. It was believable and real. They come from similar backgrounds of loss and solitude, and that’s what originally bound them together. And over the next seven episodes, we watched their relationship grow. We saw their vulnerabilities, their growth, their passion. But now we’re going to see the hardship. The pain, the anger, the betrayal. 

I appreciate that they’re not skimping on telling any part of their story. The two are special together, and so far, this show has proved that.

 She’s Special

I want to break down Raelle Collar before bringing up anything else, because, well, obviously she’s the main character, but she’s also got a lot going on. The fact that Raelle channels her power through something other than the typical ‘seed’ is something that will be of importance to why she’s so powerful. Petra Bellweather, herself, claims that Raelle’s mom, Willa, used unconventional methods that delivered incredible results. “She was the fixer every unit wanted to deploy with.” 

While all witches in Basic Training are learning about utilizing their extra set of vocal cords to create magic songs, Raelle can do it in a way that’s reminiscent of where she grew up- Chippewa Cession. In the very first episode, she makes note that her family was there before it became a Cession. Aka, before the land was given to the Chippewa tribe in exchange for their magic.

Raelle comes from a line of witches that all have more unique abilities than what’s taught at Basic Training. She uses a combination of Native American spirituality/Christo-Paganism skills during her days at Fort Salem, which brings up questions (and judgment) from other witches. It seems as though that kind of magic was the way witches used to do things before Sarah Alder released her song into the world and created a vocalizing army with it. Raelle’s peers look disgusted when they see her still using the same ways witches once did. It’s particularly noticeable when she heals people, and recites Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The entire theme of the Book of Matthew, in regards to Christianity, is about prayer. Asking and receiving. That God will provide you with what’s needed, and nothing more. But when it comes to Paganism, it’s about the law of attraction and return in our universe. It outlines that there is no life without balance - that all prayers can be answered, but they’ll be answered with things that are taken from elsewhere. All prayers almost have a consequence. Just like all magic has a consequence. 

Raelle’s power, at least what she knows of it up until now, is based on a consensual balance, bringing the theme of Paganism’s Matthew 7:7 into the type of witchcraft she practices. She can heal someone, but what she heals them from will be transferred onto her. Balance. Consequence.

Bringing General Sarah Alder back into this, this is the same type of magic that she traded for back in the 1700’s when she granted the Chippewa Tribe the entire length of the Mississippi River. In exchange, she gained the magic that could keep her eternally young. But just like the magic that Raelle does, this age defying practice has consequences too, and requires balance. Every 50-60 additional years that General Alder adds on to her endless life, a young witch must be sacrificed to take on those years, and must stand by General Alder the rest of her short-lived life. 

But where does the balance go?

Adil is such a great addition to the cast because he sheds a light on something so crucially ignored on campus. All magic has balance. This is teased throughout the season, like when General Alder hits turbulence on her way to The Hague and jokes (but not really jokes), “I assume I have one of you to blame for that.” Or how Raelle soaks up her ‘patients’ illness. But it’s not truly smacked in our faces until Adil says it.

As Abigail is flaunting her ability to *one day* “grind iron into ore and mountains into dust,” Adil drops a truth bomb on her. “All that weather you fight with has a cost. Floods. Failing crops. Famine. Every war, people starve.” She’s quick to reply that the good they do far outweighs the bad. But to who? Certainly not to Adil and his people. Meeting him is going to give our recruits a serious insight into just how consequential their ‘work’ can be. He’s going to play a crucial role in realizing how manipulative and egotistical General Alder has been. 

Not only is weather an issue, but plagues. “Like the one attacking my sister.” Adil and Khalida come into the storyline because Khalida is sick with a deathly black webbing wrapped around her body. When they first make it to the Military Outpost (somewhere in the dessert between Russia and China?), the Soldier who meets them at the gate yells, “they’re here.” So were they expecting them? 

Raelle eventually is the one who heals Khalida, (by using her Christo-pagan means) but instead of taking up the illness like it usually does, instead, it infects the giant mushroom that Raelle touched earlier. 

The balance of Mother Mushroom.

I go back and forth between theories for the giant mushroom growing under Fort Salem. But today, I’m convinced the mushroom is attached to General Alder’s vitality. And consequently, the entire vitality of Fort Salem as well. In one episode, Berryessa reminds us that all life on campus is directly connected to Alder. And if what Scylla says in My Witches, that “life becomes death, which becomes life again,” is relative to the life on campus and how General Alder parallels that, then this theme of balance throughout the series is more prominent than we realize.

The giant mushroom living under campus is clearly important. It has hands and replicates faces and takes on diseases and Izadora is not a fan of  anyone touching it. So yes, you could say this fungi is a main character now.

But. Why?

“In the kingdom of plants, mushrooms occupy the underworld. Nothing ever really dies.” Mushrooms have an entire underground network of language to one another. And they are responsible for the breakdown and decomposition of death so that organic matter can become something else. Necros have an obvious connection to this ecological process too, so they must have a connection to the continuous process that General Alder goes through to support and sustain life on her campus. 

I think that the “Mother Mycelium” signifies each and every consequence that Fort Salem has accumulated. It holds the hurt and death and pain and regret of everything General Alder has created. And now that the Mushroom is infected with whatever plague Khalida had, I think it’s going to wreak havoc on Fort Salem. Magic is based on balance, and I think massive consequences are coming to make up for years of disparity. 

One last thing on my mushroom-thoughts, is when Helen Graves said “the dead make excellent eyes and ears.” An underground network of mushrooms all connected to recently dead organisms would certainly be a great way to gain insight too. Scylla mentions that she needs something recently dead to grow her deathcap, so does this Mushroom need to be constantly “fed” with death to continue the creation of life? 

Does Alder know about that? Are the mass-murders that the Spree are doing related to this? Killing hundreds of people at a time would definitely be a good way to keep the mushroom o’ death fed. Is Alder behind the Spree!?

 Sexy Weird 

Speaking of Spree... Can we talk Scylla now? First of all, what the hell is this girl’s timeline? When we first meet her, she’s a cadet (second year) in War College already, meaning she would’ve had to enlist on Conscription Day the year before Raelle. Yes? In Mother Mycelium, we see that she *might* (still don’t believe it) have been the person behind that first Spree attack on Conscription Day of this year (so when Raelle, Tally, and Abigail enlisted), so was she at Basic Training for an entire year before deciding to become Spree? Did she enlist knowing that she would eventually be Spree? Does this ever get addressed in the show?

Since we’re here, I might as well say there’s no way Scylla did that. I’ll never believe it. And I’m using my one semester of Greek Mythology in college to tell you why (who knew that class would eventually come in handy)

In My Witches, when Tally, Abigail, and Glory first meet Scylla, Tally makes it clear that ‘Scylla’ is a Greek name. Okay. Greek. Cool. Mythology. Let’s go. I already knew that Eliot Laurence doesn’t waste any minute of screen time when it comes to plot development and storytelling, so my meta brain did a little digging.

In Greek Mythology, Scylla was a sea-monster who haunted the rocks of a very narrow strait, opposite of the whirlpool of Charybdis. The monster’s purpose was to lead ships and boats towards the whirlpool, which was lethal to all who attempted to pass. Scylla was used to lure boats towards Charybdis, but was never meant for actually destroying them. Scylla was a fear tactic, not a murderous monster. In poetry, it’s often said that Scylla isn’t a monster at all, just born into a monstrous family. In conclusion (from my 4 months of Freshman-level Greek Mythology and a little refreshment on Google) I think Scylla is simply being used to lure people to the Spree, but not actually doing the mass-murdering that is being shown in the episode. 

What I do know is that Scylla Ramshorn is absolutely Amalia Holm. Mainly because I refuse to accept that Raelle is falling for the red head (sorry, red head). But also because at the end of the Pilot, when Scylla (in red head disguise) looked into the mirror, the balloon was her reflection, and it followed everything that she did. But in other scenes, when Scylla’s face is the normal Scylla face, she can see her own reflection. So the redhead girl is unimportant. Plus, IMDB says she never appears again this season... 

We Are The Spree 

As much as I hate to believe that Raelle’s mom (or Aunt!) is alive and leading the Spree, the connections between the two entities do add up. Both (Spree and Collar’s) are against the authority and power that the Witch Army has over populations of witches. They’re both against General Sarah Alder. I believe they both use spoken word magic rather than just vocalized magic. When the Spree carry out their attacks, they’re whispering words under their breath, not singing any song. Which is reminiscent of how the Collar’s do magic. Additionally, it would make sense as to why the Spree would want Scylla to bring them Raelle. And I still can’t get over the conversation between Raelle and Tally when Raelle explains her family’s combat charm. “A bowerbird’s foot. They love anything blue.”

Blue? Why. WHY. 

Maybe Willa Collar was captured by the Spree? Or the Aunt was? Or the Spree needs Raelle to heal someone? 

One last weird very unthought out theory goes with the other Biblical verse Raelle recites - Isaiah 43:2. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” The fact that all Spree attacks have happened with something to do water- in the snow, at the pool, on a cruiseship. And the fact that the last line of that verse is literally, “you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” This type of witchcraft has to relate to how the Spree does magic. Right??

Now I’m re-talking myself into the fact that the Collar’s might be somehow leading Spree...

 But who’s ‘we’?

If the Collar’s are in charge of Spree then this next theory would actually check out. 

Anacostia has been a little more over-bearing with Raelle than any of the other girls. On multiple occasions, she’s said how Raelle is gifted. In fact, they all have. Even Abigail in Hail Beltane mentions that “Raelle didn’t go outside of canon, she’s naturally gifted.” They all know she’s gifted. It would make sense if the Collar’s were the ones running Spree, and that Anacostia, aka. General Alder’s head bitch, was sent to protect Raelle from ever joining them. Alder wants to capitalize on the powers that Raelle has, and keep them in the Witch Army. 

But I also think Anacostia could be playing General Alder. There have been too many times where she stares at Alder just a little bit too intently, and I can’t stop thinking that she might be in some sort of rebellious group too. Maybe a certain cell of Spree?

Because you can’t deny that Anacostia has also taken in interest in Scylla, particular to keep her away from Raelle. When Anacostia first caught them flying high on Salva, she told Scylla to stay away from Raelle, and it seemed as though she (tried) to use some sort of coercion magic while doing so. When Anacostia then saw them together at the Bellweather wedding, she almost sounded shocked, “I expressly told you to stay away from her.” Did Anacostia attempt coercion magic on Scylla and it didn’t work? And if she did, why didn’t it work?

That entire exchange felt odd yet familiar. Like the two have history. “Your name wouldn’t have been on the list. You’re not supposed to be here.” Particularly the “you’re not supposed to be here.” Did Anacostia know about the attack on the Bellweather’s? And did she think it would be threatened with Scylla there? Or did she know that Scylla was supposed to bring Raelle to the Spree at 6pm. And was sent to make sure Scylla never completed that task. 

I found it interesting that Anacostia was never seen fighting off the balloons like every other Witch was when they appeared. And her being at the actual wedding felt odd too. Especially if she’s General Alder’s right-hand (wo)man, because last time I checked, Alder and Petra Bellweather weren’t on the greatest terms. In fact, none of the General’s are on great terms with Alder. 

Since we’re now on Bellweather season...

Camarilla. No, not Carmilla.

There’s certainly a second threat in this show. And they were the ones behind the attack at the Bellweather’s. Not only has this already been proven by Jessica Sutton on Twitter (lols) but the clues were literally all there. They didn’t use any magic to fight. They had to use a mechanized sound machine to stop Abigail and Petra from using their powers. Then they covered themselves with gasoline and lit themselves on fire before the mother-daughter duo blew them away. It wasn’t Spree. But it was meant to look like Spree. And I think the balloons were simply a distraction, so all efforts and power would be outside fighting off the balloons while the civilian waiter’s could attack. 

But who is doing this?

It’s been brought up that there are alot of humans who don’t agree with the Witch Army that Alder leads. Even the President of the United States is hesitant about them. “You, too, are bound by rule of law to the will of the American people, who have elected me to represent their interests and protect them. Don’t you forget it. Or you may find yourself reminded.” Then Tally gets confronted later in that episode by a civilian who says, “It’s witches who are committing these attacks. It’s your kind of people .” And then even later in the series, there’s talk of a “growing debate in congress to revoke the Accord and disband the army.” So you could say there are definite opinions about this Army by civilians. 

In A Biddy’s Life, there’s a shot when Raelle and Scylla are in the room with weapons once used to kill witches. There’s an undeniably important shot of the Camarilla Scythe. Camarilla, itself, is defined as a small group of people acting as private advisers to a ruler or politician with a shared and nefarious purpose to carry out secret plots. 

Since civilians are the ones that are most opposed to the Witch Army, it makes sense that maybe the President, herself, is the one behind these attacks. She’s trying to take down the most Elite of the Witches (the Bellweather’s), hence inhibiting the Army from being as successful as it’s been in the past. And what better way than to kill the most elite witches of child-bearing age. 

While this theory checks out, I can’t help but to also think that Petra Bellweather could be behind the attacks. I know, it’s a stretch, (specifically because it’s her own family that’s being targeted) but I do love that ‘good powers, bad people’ trope. And what better way to make sure nobody questions your efforts if you’re the last one they’d suspect? Petra Bellweather has been itching to boot Alder from head witch honcho for awhile. Since killing Bellweather’s is the ultimate attack against witches, this would be a great strategy to showcase that Alder is inept in dealing with these enemies, creating a fall in power. And eventually, a rise in another. A Bellweather. 

Okay, I know what you’re all probably thinking. “So you’re saying that she wanted her own daughter killed!?” Not necessarily. When you watch Bellweather Season, and specifically the wedding scenes, they put an insane emphasis on timing. And I don’t believe that that’s just because of Scylla trying to get Raelle out of there by 6pm. When you watch the sequence back, the Bellweather Unit was supposed to be having their interview with the Dean of War College, starting at 5:30ish. If the interview took a good bit, say 30-45 minutes, this would strategically put Abigail not in the line of fire (aka Charvel’s room) at 6pm when they struck. 

But on the complete other hand, Abigail was supposed to be up with Charvel at that time helping her get ready. Meaning if it wasn’t Petra Bellweather, someone perfectly timed both Bellweather’s of childbearing age to conveniently be in the same place at the same time. 

Then the fact that Scylla was meant to leave with Raelle at 6pm (the exact moment the waiter’s and balloons struck), can’t go unnoticed. Did they want her to leave with Raelle at 6pm because the Spree knew about the attack? Did someone warn them? Does this explain why Anacostia was shocked to see Scyalla. “You’re not supposed to be here.” Why wasn’t she supposed to be there????

I’m just going to tap out of this theory now. 

But One More Thing

This might be a totally aggressive theory, and I have to credit the initial spark of this idea to my girlfriend, because during my 67th rewatch of this show, she brought up something I’d never thought of before. She asked me what Scylla’s purpose of attending the wedding was, and if the person she was supposed to bring to Penelope Road at 6pm really was Raelle? 

This got thinkING. What if it was someone else???

When you look back at all the times Scylla spends talking to her balloon mirror, they never actually say Raelle’s name. Sure, we’re meant to believe that Raelle is the obvious target. But what if that’s a cover?? What if she’s using Raelle to infiltrate something else and get to someone else??

It would make sense to use Raelle to target Abigail instead- an elite Bellweather. Like I said, this is a very unlikely theory but it would definitely be a shock to literally everyone (except my girlfriend apparently)...

Has the entirety of the show been leading us down a path to distract us from something else going on!? With every other ounce of brilliance here, I wouldn’t even doubt it.

In Conclusion

I went into this show expecting to be seen and represented as a queer woman, but what I actually got was so much more. What I got from this show is the realization that me being queer doesn’t have to have anything to do with me being a woman at all. My strength, and will, and mistakes, and growth, and grace, and support, and passion, are what make me a woman. Each of our stories are deserving enough to be told just because we are women.

I’ve struggled with that fact my entire life - my womanhood.

Femininity, feminism, and female empowerment are all things I’ve only recently connected with. I was raised in the culture of traditional gender roles. My dad went to work and my mom stayed home.  It’s not that I was necessarily taught that men and women must occupy those roles; it’s just that’s all I knew. To even further confuse my adolescent existentialism, not only was my mother a stay-at-home mom, she was also in the Marine Corps. And she never really understood the fact that not all women are as strong as she is.

My mom’s a badass, don’t get me wrong. She’s one of my hero’s. She came from a family who didn’t have much, and after realizing that she couldn’t afford to go to college, she enlisted instead. Six years later, she went to Penn State on a full-ride. She’s worked for every ounce of success that she’s seen, and she’s worked her ass off for it. But because of that, she struggles with the idea of feminism.

I can’t blame her too much. I understand the mindset she’s coming from. Growing up with that being instilled in my mind was hard though. Because it was expected that I, too, grow up to be a strong independent woman. 

I graduated in the predominantly male industry of agriculture (I want to be a farmer, okay!?). All through college, grad school, and post-grad school, I worked on farm after farm after farm. And it was there that I was introduced to the idea of toxic masculinity. I tolerated comments that I won’t even say out loud. I’ve “accidentally” been touched in more ways than I care to count. And what I hate the most about it all, is that I fucking tolerated it. I’d laugh it off, and then I’d walk away, mortified at what I’d actually just put up with. And while by no means do I blame my upbringing and home life on this, I do blame the upbringing and home life on the female characters I saw on television. If Brooke Davis was constantly and overly sexualized in high school then I guess I was supposed to, too. Right??

Sure, I still hear comments that I wish I didn’t. But I’m also surrounded by people and characters who taught me to never put up with the shit I once did. Female characters are portraying a storyline that people take more seriously now. They’re persevering. And that jumps off the screen in Motherland: Fort Salem. 

It’s taken me a while to realize how Raelle and Scylla have affected me as much as Clakre and Lexa did (two characters who literally awakened my sexuality). But I think I get it now. 

I love both Raelle and Scylla. Each one. Individually. As witches. As warriors. As females. As humans. As strong female characters. So, in a way, watching this show has awakened something else in me that I’ve also been suppressing all along. My femininity. My strength. My perseverance. 

Sure, Raelle and Scylla are my favorite ship right now, but it wasn’t them being together that made me fall in love with this show. Oddly enough, it was them being apart. It’s the fact that each one stands on her own as a unique and beautifully complicated story. And it’s the fact that I, too, am deserving of a beautifully complicated story.

Last Section, I Swear 

Motherland: Fort Salem is a magical mix of intense story building, relatable character development, and fascinating cinematography, all while being told through a gender and sexuality normative opposite of what we’re used to seeing. It’s a show that encompasses female strength unlike anything I’ve experienced before, where men are the background noise who aid in pushing the plot forward. It’s a show that deserves another season. And another and another and another and another. 

It’s a show I needed ten+ years ago, at 18 years old, freshly out of high school and wondering why the fuck I never had crushes on guys like everyone else my age did. It’s the show I needed so I didn’t always wonder why I was so obsessed with Peyton Sawyer and Summer Roberts and why I was the only one I knew who thought Torrance and Missy should’ve ended up together. It’s the show I needed to learn that my femininity doesn’t make me any less tough than my male counterparts. It’s the show I needed so I never put up with anyone’s shit. It’s the show I needed to teach me that I am storm and I am fury. 

It’s the show I needed then. But it’s also the show I’m so happy that I have now.

#motherlandfortsalem #motherland fort salem #raylla #clexa #motherland fort salem theory #scylla ramshorn #scylla #raelle #raelleandscylla #raelle collar #lgbtq #this is so long i'm so sorry #abigail bellweather #tally craven

[amillioninprizes]

An entirely too long post on how to fix Veronica Mars

So, anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows: 1) What a massive Veronica Mars fan I was and 2) how distraught I’ve been over the most recent season that debuted on Hulu in July. I’ve been pretty angry about it since it dropped, but the first month after I was pretty occupied with real life stuff. Now that I’m more settled, I’ve found myself getting sadder and angrier over time with just how terrible S4 was and what an obvious fuck you to longtime fans it was. It feels dumb to be so upset over a tv show, but this show got me through a lot over the past 8 years, and I feel like it’s been taken away from me.

 It’s anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a new season. Ideally it would end here with maybe an alternate ending filmed to avoid alienating fans further. On the one hand, the botched release, overwhelmingly negative response, and silence from the creators after initial interviews don’t look good for renewal chances. On the other hand, Hulu doesn’t have a lot of streaming hits, it probably did relatively decent numbers, and there are rumors floating around that its pickup chances look good. On a personal level, I hate the idea that this is where the legacy of Veronica Mars ends, while at the same time being extremely wary of what the creators have planned. I think a big part of the disappointment with S4 was that the movie and books set up what could have been some really interesting storylines and situations, all of which RT and co. squandered for cheap drama and to apparently turn the show into an entirely new vehicle; additionally I had hope that S4 would be a chance to rectify some problems the show has long had, but again, S4 exacerbated them. At this point I don’t expect anyone higher up in the creative process or at Hulu to give a fuck about the fans or making the show better as long as they hit streaming targets, but here are some suggestions:

Fire Rob Thomas

 While he created the show, it’s become clear that not only has he lost touch with the audience and the original spirit of the character, he doesn’t seem too keen on putting much effort into writing the show (as I will discuss below). Then you have his clear misogyny: his views that women in relationships can’t be interesting, that what makes Veronica interesting as a character is her trauma and how much she can endure, and the fact that basically every female character in the history of the show has a history of sexual victimization. He thought that making the Mexican cartel hitmen “philosophical” was subverting expectations (which says a lot of what his expectations of Latinx characters are). Then this is the way he essentially exploited his long term fan base to earn a new season of the show, only to turn around and tell us that we don’t matter. From a business perspective alone keeping him doesn’t make sense; selling a streaming platform on your loyal fanbase and then proceeding to purposefully piss ~80% of them off would be pretty questionable to me as someone in charge. The sheer cruelty with which he treated not only the fans who have supported him for 15 years (I fucking used to liveblog iZombie y’all. iZombie!), as well as how he callously dismissed long time cast members in favor of celebrity guest stars should not be rewarded. He’s admitted in interviews that he would be ok with younger writers doing a reboot many years in the future; why not just let him have a producer credit and then hand the show over to someone who’s invested in making it good?

Put a woman in charge and diversify the writing staff

A big problem with a) Veronica’s characterization in S4 b) RT’s ideas about what makes female characters interesting c) the show’s long history of problematic treatment of sexual assault is that it comes from a man’s conception of the female experience. The Veronica showcased in S4 and that RT wants to write in the future is very much a male fantasy: hates marriage and children, traumatized, DTF, and is too cool for other women. RT stated in interviews that he wanted to show Veronica at a “crossroads” this season in a way he claimed had been shown for men but not women; many female viewers found this depiction to ring false (few women are spending their time fretting about how committing to marriage after five years in an established relationship will bar us from strange sex going forward). In addition to having RT at the helm, most of the show’s writing staff for the majority of its run has been white dudes, which doesn’t bode well for telling the story of a female PI in a diverse community in today’s political climate. Putting a woman in charge would hopefully help rectify these issues to make the character feel more true to life and put a damper on the misogynistic storytelling. The show has a natural candidate in RT’s second-in-command Diane Ruggiero-Wright (despite her problematic history, never forget #KeisterEggGate), who has admitted to not being able to watch the last episode. Jennifer Graham, who wrote both of the books, would also be a worthy addition to the writing staff; while the books had a mixed reception, most fans agree that she got Veronica’s character right. And with the show’s problematic historical treatment of minority characters, adding more POC writers going forward is also necessary.

Bring back Logan (alive)

You don’t have to be a LoVe shipper to recognize just how integral Logan has been since the inception of the show, not just as Veronica’s partner but as a character is his own right. Logan’s journey in many ways parallels Veronica’s, and shows a contrast in how different characters respond to similar trauma. The most critical plot line in the show’s history, the mystery of who killed Lilly Kane, simply doesn’t work without Logan’s importance to Veronica. RT and his defenders like to claim that Logan was holding her back from true growth, which is frankly bizarre as he is the only character to consistently challenge her, like when he tells her that she obviously isn’t happy this season. Additionally, Logan’s scenes this season were the lone highlight of what was otherwise a painful slog of a season. Of the people who have said they would watch a potential S5, a good portion are only interested because they believe that the ambiguity of the last 10 minutes of the season means he’s not really dead (despite what RT has said in interviews). Then there’s what Logan’s death does to Veronica’s character, effectively cutting off what would have been an interesting character arc and stagnating her forever. No matter how much they try to shove Leo the pedo creep and other milquetoast RT self-insert love interests on us, no one else can possible measure up to Logan’s level in terms of being able to match Veronica as a character, intellectually or as a result of shared history.

Plus, the fact that we haven’t had a Weevil/Logan interaction since S3 is a goddamn travesty and should be rectified immediately.

Bring back Veronica

As sad as I am about Logan’s death, for me the most upsetting aspect of S4 was the assassination of Veronica’s character. For many viewers (including myself), the character we saw Kristen Bell portray in S4 wasn’t Veronica Mars but a different character with the same name. Between her abusive behavior towards Logan, her general indifference to her father’s medical condition, her dismissal of Wallace, and her racism towards Latinx characters (using a kid’s lawyer to threaten deportation: not a good look!), she was lacking the marshmallow-y center that always balanced out the pricklier aspects of her character and made her compelling. This change in characterization was especially jarring given that she was not this way when we last saw her in the books, where she mused about having children and sent her half-brother Hunter to summer camp (side note, but does he even exist anymore?). Many of us who had grown up with Veronica were hoping to see her grow with us as a character; instead we got an extreme regression lower than we’ve ever seen her. It would be one thing if they were trying to depict a PTSD storyline, which would make sense given her background, but since her change in behavior is never addressed by the narrative, it just makes her look like a cruel asshole and makes it impossible to root for her. This is exacerbated by the fact that RT has made it clear he has no interest in portraying her inner life, as shown by his wanting to avoid showing her grief over Logan’s death because it would be a real downer compared to the entertaining but ultimately hollow banter and quips he wants to focus on. Veronica this season was also just plain dumb: you mean to tell me that the girl who nearly got killed by Aaron Echolls in her back seat wouldn’t think to check her backseat every time she gets in a car?  (And let’s not even start with RT’s bizarre assertion in an interview that she apparently votes Republican). Not helping matters was Kristen Bell’s performance, which felt very flat for me this season compared to S1-3 and the movie; I don’t know if this was due to personal limitations or a reflection of the bad writing. Writers of future installments and KB herself would be wise to revisit S1, the movie, and the books to figure out what makes sense for Veronica’s character, leading me to my next point:

Get reacquainted with canon, develop a show bible, and hire a continuity director

This show has long had a problem with dropped plots, timelines, and continuity issues. Shelly Pomroy’s party has two happened either in the summer, or the fall. Then we have the movie paradox: Veronica graduated high school in 2006, which means her 10 year reunion should have taken place in 2016. The movie was released in 2014 and the books seem to keep to 2014 dates. Then S4 states that Keith’s movie accident took place in 2013, and mysteriously ages Veronica up to 35 when she should be 32 in 2019. Logan mentions an Aunt Naomi in S4--why didn’t she take care of him after Aaron was arrested (and what happened to Trina)? How the hell is Leo working as an FBI agent when he presided over the disappearance of the Lilly/Aaron tapes? Veronica is shown to be tentatively forgiving of Weevil taking the settlement from the sheriff’s department in Mr. Kiss and Tell, but is then shown to be extremely angry towards him for it in S4. This is just a small selection of the inconsistencies within the show. Plus there is the problem of repeated plot lines: Veronica rejects Leo in favor of Logan in S1, then rejects Leo in favor of Logan in Mr. Kiss and Tell, only for her to...reject Leo in favor of Logan in S4 (and RT says he wants to leave the high school plots behind). This sloppiness doesn’t bode well for a series that is supposed to be about mysteries, which require tight plotting. It would behove TPTB going forward to once and for all determine a timeline of Veronica’s life, keep a detailed record of past plot and character points, and have at least one person on staff who thinks to remember this stuff (RT notoriously has only a “solid, not spectacular” memory of the show, no matter what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says).

Make an effort (and do your fucking research) 

Moving on from continuity issues to more general problems with the laziness of RT’s writing. He has basically admitted that he doesn’t care much about facts or characterization when writing plots--he shoehorns details to fit the plot rather than have it evolve organically from the characters and prior canon. I know that when writing it’s often impossible to make every story detail 100% accurate, but the extent of RT’s sloppiness is alarming. This excellent Reddit thread details a lot of the problems with S4 in particular, but this has been a problem since S2. Did anyone ever understand exactly why the Fitzpatricks were invested in framing Logan for Felix’s death? In the movie, it makes no sense that if Cobb and co. wanted Carrie silenced, they would add the complication of framing Logan for her murder--given her history, it would have been a lot easier just to make it look like she had accidentally overdosed. Given his previous patterns of villain writing fans were able to guess the identity of the S4 bomber based on casting alone. The mysteries in both Mr. Kiss and Tell and S4 are both ripped from the headlines, which indicates that RT wants to turn VM into the next Law and Order. Meanwhile, he complained about how hard including Logan in the story in S4 was, while Logan arguably had the best lines and most interesting scenes this season--apparently when you put an effort into things, they work out! This laziness extends past storyline issues and into factual problems that detract from the quality of the plot. Longtime fandom pals are probably tired about hearing me go on and on about how there’s no way Aaron’s lawyers could have gotten Veronica’s medical records due to HIPAA laws. Logan’s career change from naval aviator to intelligence is highly unlikely (and unnecessary, given that they changed it only to fridge him at the end of the season). Meanwhile, I know fanfic writers who have spent hours on the phone with strangers in order to research what type of firearm would cause a specific type of bullet injury. It’s very puzzling to me that RT wants to take the show in the direction of being mystery-only when apart from that one time he is piss poor at writing mysteries and puts no effort into them. I shouldn’t have to tell television writers to, you know, do their job but this is what we’ve come to in 2019.

Know your audience

A majorly annoying thing about the promo for this season is how in every single interview Rob Thomas did he was always talking about how he wanted VM to be like other shows and movies: Fargo, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Chinatown (which is apparently the only noir movie he’s ever seen). The thing is, if I wanted to watch those shows, I would; I watched Veronica Mars specifically because I enjoyed its unique qualities, and I would say most fans agree. The general perception within the fandom is that with this season Rob Thomas seems to have been aiming to dump the old, majority female, CW fanbase in order to achieve what he perceives as a cooler prestigious male fanbase; the issue is, new people aren’t going to take up a show in its fourth season if they didn’t watch or didn’t like earlier seasons. Also, trying to write a prestigious show doesn’t make your show prestigious. Considering that based on anecdotal evidence most of the people who like S4 seem to be male, he may have succeeded in the first part of his aim. However, this majority female fanbase he was so willing to cast aside are the ones who have run fansites and rewatches during fallow times (i.e. between S3 and the movie and then between the books and S4), so drumming up interest among fans (and therefore streaming views) in the future may be a challenge. Plus, women are a better advertising demographic since they are more likely to be in charge of household purchasing decisions, so maintaining us as a fanbase makes business sense as well. He may have tricked enough people into watching S4 that S5 is given a go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if streams are weak beyond that. If the show is to succeed as a commercial endeavor, better to go with appealing to a known quantity than trying to make a generic show that very few people have expressed interest in watching.

Bring back the mystery of the week

This is a more minor thing I felt was missing from S4. I think after the criticism of S3 not having a season-long arc RT overcorrected in focusing on one mystery. However, the mystery of the week had the following benefits: 1) giving chances for the characters to interact and telling us more about them 2) helping to modulate the pace of the season-long arc. With better writing a season-long standalone mystery could maybe work, but in the case of S4 specifically the mystery was kind of dull and repetitive and could have stood to include a couple of diversions in the form of a smaller case here and there.

Re-evaluate the creators’ interpretation of the word “adult”

Much of the promo and reviews for this season noted the more “adult” content to be expected this season now that Veronica’s grown. Many fans hoped that meant seeing Veronica act like, you know, an adult with adult problems rather than a teenager less mature than the actual teenager she was. Unfortunately, the show’s interpretation of the word seems to be more in keeping with a television rating sense of the word--meaning sex, drugs, and gratuitous violence (But apparently not the word “fuck.”). Look, it was expected that as the show moved to a streaming service and given the overall dramatic scope that there would be an upgrade in some of this sort of content (and I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t looking forward to steamier LoVe moments, which were sorely overpromised), but the way it was included this season felt like RT and co. included this stuff just because they could and not to serve the storyline. For me, personally, the biggest example of this was Veronica’s drug use, which I know didn’t necessarily bother everyone. Given her history as the daughter of an alcoholic as well as someone who had been the victim of two roofie attacks, not to mention the fact that her character never seemed to be into partying, I found it very out of character (and book writer Jennifer Graham agrees). It felt like RT included this just bc they thought it would be funny to see Veronica on drugs without considering whether it made sense for her character. Also, were the beheadings strictly necessary? Plus there’s RT’s little temper tantrum over not being able to use curse words this season--they weren’t present in the original show, no one was going to miss them now, and the “cuss” thing was just annoying and reminiscent of The Good Place. 

Dealing with a parent who maybe has dementia--that’s an adult storyline. Too bad RT ended it with a dumb excuse about “mixing meds” (another factual error! Pharmacy software would have caught it!) rather than actually exploring what it would mean for Veronica to see her father in decline and take over the family business (and give Rico Colantoni the exit he appears to want). This is the kind of adult content I would hope to see in future seasons.

Adult is not a synonym for “unrelentingly bleak” either. The original show, while dark, always had an element of hope that was completely removed from S4 (no matter what KB might claim). And would it have killed the writers to show Veronica wearing disguises and going undercover like she used to? There was nothing fun about this season (and no, I don’t count the multiple partying scenes as fun, more like sad).

Kill your darlings

It’s cliche, but it’s true. Another issue the show has long had is the writers keeping around characters or inserting jokes and references for their own personal amusement rather than for the story. The most notable example of this is the continued presence of Dick, a highly problematic character considering he pushed Beaver into the room with Veronica the night of Shelly Pomroy’s party, among a whole host of other racist, sexist, and generally obnoxious actions over the years. But because Ryan Hansen is so widely beloved among the cast and crew, so he stays. Then there’s the matter of the infamous Keister egg in 3x08, which the writers and KB have all expressed love for, despite the fact that said Keister egg is an example of sexual assault--which, even if the victim is a douchey fraternity president, is never funny. 

Also the constant Big Lebowski references are tiring. Watch a new movie.

Improve Neptune’s gender ratio

Veronica Mars, despite having a female lead, has always been a male-dominated show; other than Veronica herself, the only consistent female character over the original show was Mac (and she didn’t even come back this season). This is unacceptable in 2019, for any show. The books introduced promising female characters in the form of Marcia Langdon and Petra Landros, but Marcia’s character was was watered down for S4 and Petra was nowhere to be found. Additionally, Veronica and Mac have always been written as “cool girls” who looked down on other women for their femininity, which isn’t a great message. Almost every other female character, even the innocuous Parker, is portrayed as somehow bad or incompetent. I would love nothing more than a season centered on the women of Neptune and their interactions with each other. While we’re at it, stop giving every woman on this show a background of sexual victimization.

Treat VM as an ensemble show, not a Kristen Bell vanity project 

A major complaint from Burnt Marshmallows and S4 defenders alike was how little time was given over to the original core cast this season. While Veronica may be the protagonist, a large part of how the show became so beloved was her relationships with the other characters. Yet RT has decided that going forward VM will be a KB solo project, with her traveling town to town quipping and sleeping with strangers. This seems strange, given Kristen’s recent interviews talking about how difficult it is to shoot VM and how she never wants to be first on a call sheet ever again, not to mention how she asked for less screen time all the way back in S2, which resulted in the Weevil-Logan storyline, which was way more interesting than Veronica’s storylines during the first half of that season. (The traveling detective thing also seems weird considering that KB is pretty insistent on shooting in LA to be near her family.) Additionally, if this is truly the last season of VM with all the original characters, then no one got a proper sendoff. 

I’m not sure how willing much of the cast will be to return for future iterations, given how uncomfortable many of them seemed during promo as well RT and KB’s treatment of them (insensitive at best, deliberately mean at worst) this season (shout out to Tina Majorino for recognizing what a shit show this was going to be), but bringing back all the original characters into the fold and giving them significant storylines would go a long way to mending fences with fans, improving the show from a character arc perspective, and would also give KB the break she apparently wants. 

Recourt the fanbase

What has VM always been renowned for above all else? It’s incredibly loyal fandom which not only got it renewed twice during its original run but also put up their own money to get the movie made--I know many people who donated when they really couldn’t afford to. RT basically owes the last 6 years of his career to VM fans--the success of the Kickstarter arguably got him the iZombie show running gig, and the fourth season likely wouldn’t have even happened if not for it. Thus, the blatant cruelty and disregard with which RT and KB have treated fans during the promotion of S4 has been incredibly insulting and hurtful; I still can’t fathom what in the world possessed RT to think that throwing away this 15-year relationship was a good idea. It’s not a good sign when the 2 fansites most active during the post-movie period (VMHQ and VM Confessions) cease operations in the wake of S4, and when at least 3 out of 8 board members of the oldest running fan group, Neptune Rising (who were dormant during the post-movie period but played a critical role during earlier fan campaigns and in the S4 promo) resign. A fandom this loyal that was betrayed will not stand idly by if the S5 RT wants to make goes ahead; given the number of tweets the official Hulu VM account has had to delete in the wake of S4 due to the overwhelmingly negative response as well as the controversy over editing out Logan from S4 promos, I imagine that S5 will be a PR nightmare. Even if future seasons are amazing the trust can probably never be fully repaired, but it would be helpful for RT (or fingers crossed, a new show runner) and KB (as star and EP) to go overboard in reaching out to fans and at least admitting they made a misstep with the entirety of S4. Back in the day, the old Mars Investigation fansite was invited to set to conduct interviews; maybe do that again. Also someone should get KB some sort of VM fandom-fluent media trainer because I don’t think she has conducted a single interview during her entire stint on the show that didn’t anger fans (it might help if she actually bothered to watch the show).

Map out an endgame

Look, this can’t go on forever. As long as RT keeps leaving every installment open ended with the hopes of maybe getting renewed again five years down the line, the story is going to keep running into the issues the movie and S4 faced with having to shoehorn the characters into nonsensical plot lines to reconcile those endings and deal with actor availability issues. Either plot another 2-3 seasons to wrap the show up with a satisfying conclusion, or map out a greater timeline of Veronica’s life with spots where a mini series or movie here and there could fit in.

#Veronica Mars #still angry #mainly written for personal catharsis #need to stop being angry about this and focus more on studying synaptic transmission #Burnt Marshmallow #we use to be fans

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Here are the most relatable depictions of women masturbating on TV and in movies

May is National Masturbation Month, and we're celebrating with Feeling Yourself, a series exploring the finer points of self-pleasure.

For too long, female pleasure was portrayed on-screen through the prism of the male gaze. 

When it came to TV and movies, scenes portraying women masturbating were basically straight out of a male director's sexual fantasy. More often than not, the woman would writhing around on her back and she'd usually begin moaning the moment her hand came into contact with her vulva. If only it were that easy. 

Truth is: We don't masturbate like that. We're not always thrashing about on our back making loud fake orgasm noises. It's usually pretty mundane and unglamorous. And we can get pretty creative with positions and props depending on how we're feeling. 

SEE ALSO: This sex toy company uses niche meme accounts to spread the joys of masturbation

Thankfully, times are changing. TV and movie depictions of self-love sessions are becoming more realistic, more anatomically accurate, and much, much more relatable. 

We've ranked some of the most iconic on-screen female masturbation moments for their realism and relatability. 

Samantha's priest fantasy in 'Sex And The City'

Sex and the City's Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) did a lot of good in smashing the stigma surrounding female sexuality. But, it needs to be said that some of the orgasm scenes were a tad melodramatic. In "The Agony and The Ex-tacy" Samantha meets a good looking priest who she quickly dubs "Friar Fuck" — only problem is, this friar won't, uuuh, fulfil her fantasy. Samantha ends up masturbating about him, during which she breaks out into a full-on operatic orgasm. If only masturbating were actually that good.

Marnie's bathroom break in 'Girls' 

In Season One of Girls, Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams) does something many of us have but dreamed of doing. She becomes so aroused after talking to bonafide arty douchebag Booth Jonathan that she has to go masturbate in the bathroom of an event space. "I want you to know, the first time I fuck you it might scare you a little because I'm a man and I know how to do things," Booth says to Marnie. Soon after, Marnie locks herself in the loo, puts her hand down her tights and cracks one out while standing up. I mean, it's a great idea in principle, but who among us has ever had great success masturbating in an upright position (not me!). 

Betty Draper and the washing machine 

In Season 1, episode 11 of Mad Men, we witness Betty Draper become overcome with horniness after meeting a good looking door-to-door salesman. After he asks to come inside to measure windows upstairs (we've heard that one before), she decides against it and instead asks him to leave. Once he's left she begins fantasising about him and rubs herself up against the vibrating washing machine. Anyone who's ever tried this move at home will know that it's a nice idea in theory, pretty anti-climactic in practice. 

The cry-wank in 'Mulholland Drive' 

Naomi Watts' masturbation scene in Mulholland Drive is not bad. It's free from all the inauthentic thrashing around that you often see in porn, and all you see is Betty (Naomi Watts) sweaty, pained expression (accurate) as she makes repetitive motions with her hand down her unbuttoned trousers. The only thing we'd change is the fact that she's aggressively crying. I'm just not one for masturbating when I'm upset.

Naomi Watts in 'Mulholland Drive' in 2001.

Image: Studiocanal/REX/Shutterstock

The giant vibrator in 'Slums of Beverly Hills'

Back in 1998, long before Russian Doll, Natasha Lyonne was already making quite the impression on screen. In Slums of Beverly Hills, Vivian (Lyonne) decides to try out her cousin Rita's (Marisa Tomei) massive vibrator. One tip though: Try not to use other people's sex toys. 

Image: Fox Searchlight/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The bidet in 'Broad City' 

When it comes to portrayals of sex and masturbation, Broad City is a damn delight to watch. Free from the male gaze sex scenes of old, Abbi and Ilana have sex and masturbate like you and me. Ilana's bidet scene was a wild, wet ride — the only note I'd give is that if she'd turned her body around to face the tap, she'd have a better chance of having an orgasm. But, hey, whatever floats your boat (or bidet).

Ilana Glazer told Out magazine what makes Broad City's portrayals of female desire just so brilliant: "It's like these girls are horny but not under the male gaze. They're horny, period. Just starting from the vagina, not starting from some man looking at them."

The 'Black Swan' 'bating sesh 

All too often, on-screen depictions of female masturbation show women in the same position: lying on her back with her legs spread apart. Newsflash: we don't all masturbate in the one position. That would be pretty boring. This scene gets bonus points for showing a woman masturbating in the face-down position, which is a pretty popular position that you don't often see in TV and movies. 

Image: Fox Searchlight/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Aimee's first time in 'Sex Education'

You always remember your first time. The first time you wank, that is. When Sex Education's Aimee Gibbs admitted that she'd never had to masturbate before, wannabe sex therapist Otis stepped in to offer up some advice. "So you're prescribing a wank?" she asked him. Correct. 

Aimee's first time has a familiar feel to it — she tried out a bunch of different positions like she's on a voyage of orgasm discovery. When she finally comes, she has a sudden pang of post-orgasmic hunger. We've all been there, Aimee. 

Aimee discovers the joys of masturbation.

Image: netflix

The pillow hump in 'The To Do List'

Aubrey Plaza stars as virginal valedictorian Brandy Klark who decides to draw up a list of sexual escapades to complete before heading off to college. In the film, we see Brandy masturbating by riding a pillow, which frankly you don't see often enough in movies. 

Aubrey Plaza and Rachel Bilson in  'The To Do List.'

Image: Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The dead battery in 'Insecure'

In Season 1, episode 3 of Insecure, Issa goes to grab her vibrator only for the batteries to die pretty much immediately. Obviously, she doesn't give up on that dream straight away, so she trawls through her apartment looking for batteries and yelling out "fuck!" when she fails to find one. It's a highly relatable moment, to say the very least. 

Issa Rae told Glamour about the significance of this moment: "In the [writers’] room we were talking about what it feels like to be thirsty and how we don’t really get to see female characters masturbate. Even in a funny way. Especially black women! So we wanted to portray that, while remaining true to our show and showing sexual frustration."

The Obama speech in 'Fleabag'

Anyone who's ever masturbated with a computer in front of them will be all too familiar with the specific laptop-wobble that comes, uhh, hand in hand with the act of self-love. 

In Series 1 of Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge brought us a refreshingly honest masturbation scene. Not everyone can attest to having masturbated to Barack Obama delivering a speech about democracy while their boyfriend's asleep in the bed next to them, but this particular masturbation scene felt mundane and real. There were no writhing around or fake orgasms in this scene, just a woman wearing her pyjamas masturbating noiselessly under her duvet as her laptop moved up and down with her hand. 

Puberty hits in 'PEN15' 

Puberty is rough. Especially the rush of extreme horniness that comes with it. Episode 3 of PEN15 features one of the realest depictions of teenage self-exploration ever shown on TV. 

When Maya Ishii-Peters (Maya Erskine) first discovers the wonders of masturbation, she can't stop herself from doing it all the time (who can blame her, tbh). But, Maya also feels ashamed of what she's doing — a feeling that many of us can identify with. "I'm a pervert, and I really shouldn't be doing what I'm doing," she tells her friend Anna. "I've been putting my hands down my pants — my area — down there to feel good." 

The episode is about learning to masturbate without feeling shame — which is a rite of passage that's not often talked about, let alone shown on our TV screens.

Happy masturbating! 

WATCH: Consent-oriented condom packaging says four hands are needed to open it, but then again – maybe not

#_uuid:74c28d02-b018-3ce0-baf8-528c131906af #_author:Rachel Thompson #_category:yct:001000002 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000DTrEpEAL #_revsp:news.mashable

[vivace-joyous]

The Umbrella Academy 1x01-03

okay, so I have been watching this new show cause y’all know I love me some group based narratives. And the premise feels very fun with lots of ways they can play around with it. It’s like Sense8 if Sense8 focused more on worldbuilding and constructing an overarching narrative to connect all the characters too. However, I find these two shows to be inverses of each other even though their premises are similar thematically. UA and S8 (how I will abbreviate them) seem to excel and stumble in a complementary fashion. Before I get too deep in what I mean, I should talk more about just the UA itself and my general impressions over the first 3 episodes.

OVERALL, it’s enjoyable. I feel like the world building and the over arching plot are the two main elements propelling me through the series. Which like... GOOD! That’s what is supposed to happen when watching a show. If you don’t like the story, watching the show feels like a task. But I am genuinely intrigued by the mystery of the show and what will happen next. Five: “The world will end in 8 days.” Vanya “I’ll put some coffee on then.” Solid way to end a pilot and leave me wanting more. Not just for the next episode, but that is a great way to kick off the first season. BOOM! The Hargreaves have to band together and stop the world end of the world. I just appreciate this because it gives a solid foundation for all other storylines to center around. It is something your brain can stay conscious of throughout each episode and I feel that is such a strong element and important element for a tv show to posses to be good. 

Continuing with the writing, I think so far the pace is decent and the writing is competent from episode to episode. The less important, character-driven storylines are given weight but never take too much focus from the main plot. The dialogue is passable. It doesn’t have a very distinct personality to itself though. If the character is not eccentric themselves, then they probably won’t ever say anything interesting. Which ugh ehh. I just wish the dialogue called more intention to itself because that way the writers could infuse more character moments in fun little quibs. However, it does its job so I can’t complain. 

But I will complain about the use of flashback in the show. The flashbacks feel more used to quickly establish something that is happening in the present day storyline than really be anything more than that. Which is.. like technically okay and the POINT of a flashback. But it is so cliche and I believe there are other, more unique ways to deliver information than just cutting to a flashback. Granted, I do love seeing then team as young teens fighting crime. That’s super cool and I wish the show showed more of that. Cause MY GOD does this show need some more ACTION scenes in it. 

I feel like my biggest problem in the first 3 episodes is that the action feels second to the drama and that totally needs to be reversed. I’m so sorry, but outside of whatever Five is doing, all the other individual character storylines are so fucking boring. I don’t care what any of them do when it doesn’t relate to the main plot. I think that’s why I like Diego’s character cause his whole thing is ABOUT the main plot. I mean, I feel like the show will deliver in terms of action. It’s clear that more insane elements will get thrown in and the filmmakers do like the demonstrate the special powers in fun ways. So I am excited to see what action scenes will come up. I just think overall the show needs more cause the melodrama kinda sorta makes the episodes drag. Like, why is Diego constantly in his fight clothes but he has only been in 2 fight scenes? And Five has like what 3 or 4 in just the first 3 episodes? 

And MY GOD DO I HATE HOW THIS SHOW IS SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH the cinematography is fucking crap. I hate how it is lit. I hate how the director decided to compose the shots. I hate how there appears to be this like.... haze fliter???? on everything??? Like every scene looks cloudy. It’s like supersaturated. I don’t like it cause 1) I feel it does not help the tone of the show. I feel like we shouldn’t take everything so seriously and have more fun with the premise. But this smoky haze filter makes everything more somber and I think it bumps with most of what actually happens on the show. And 2) it genuinely makes it harder to make out expressions in the actor’s faces. Ugh fire the DP. They are doing a terrible job. 

Let’s talk about the individual characters:

1) Luther. Hate him. Boring white man. Why is he “the leader of the family” after the dad has passed? Like he has not a single interesting aspect about himself. I am honestly so bored every time he talks. And it doesn’t help with the fact that the actor’s head is way too small for the illusion they are trying to create for the character. It’s like “Yeah, let’s put a stale ass, tiny ass white man head on this GIANT 7 foot muscle clad body. He just looks bizarre cause his face says “5′11″ and toned” but his body is that of a bodybuilder. I just wish they found an actor who is just massive like that already for the show. The ridiculous costume they have him in honestly takes me out of it for a bit. And it doesn’t help that they actor isn’t really trying to do anything with the character. Luther says lines. Luther is strong. That’s about it. I will say that despite him being “Number 1″ and “the leader of the family” the show hasn’t given him that much screen time and we still don’t know much about him at all. Which I really appreciate cause it is giving a lot of other (more interesting) characters necessary focus and thus makes getting through Luther scenes that much easier. I don’t know need to learn more about it. Just have him be strong in a corner. 

2) Diego. MY FUTURE HUSBAND!!!!!! HE IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! I WILL SUCK THE SOUL OUT OF HIS DICK AND ASS HE IS SO FINE OMG yeah badass martial artist who throws knives and has a bit of an anger management problem. I am SMITTEN! I mean eww why the fuck does he have to be straight and keep hitting on that one detective. Honestly, ugh I hate that he is straight. It’s boring and unoriginal. It would have been neat for him to be asexual. He is good looking so people assume that he would be a lady killer. But he is WAY too obsessed with fighitng crime that he literally doesn’t pay attention to his own sexuality. But WAHTEVER! The queer character has to be the eccentric one with the drug problem alkfhadlskfadslkfbdskh ANYWAYS I like hos Diego adds a healthy amount of doubt amongst the group. In terms of constructing group dynamics, he is a lancer AKA the one always playing devil’s advocate. I think he adds a valuable perspective to the team and it will be interesting to see how the family will solve problems with integration of Diego’s help. I don’t like how the show handle showing the relationship between Diego and Mom/ Grace. But I will dive more into that when I talk about the flashbacks.

3) Allison. My god is she boring. But like, in the perspective in how she is an actress, yet doesn’t act like an actress. I mean, yes some actors can act like “normal people” but like... most actors don’t. I say this as someone who lives in LA and knows actors. They have BIG PERSONALITIES. They like to be KNOWN! However, Allison just feels way too subdued and “normal”. Like, okay she must have pursued an acting career of her own violation. So she must be a person who loves attention and strives for their chance to be in the spotlight. Everything needs to revolve around them. But that’s not Allison. She isn’t really anything. She is concerned about her daughter... if feel like that’s the only real thing we have learned about her so far. I wish her narrative had an angle about her being attention seeking. During the scene when all the siblings were reading Vanya’s autobigraphy, the voiceover cut to Allison when the VO mentioned attention seeking. Which, if that is an aspect of Allison’s character, then SHOW it to us. Have her do SOMETHING besides give creepy incest bedroom eyes to Luther. 

4) Klaus. Finally, an interesting character! His powers are unique yet have a direct influence on how his personality is shaped. His is a drug addict because dead people are constantly trying to talk to him. Kinda sorta metaphor for the mentally unwell and how they abuse drugs because “It makes the voices go away”. They just have a lot of things they can do with him and the writers know this. They obviously have some extra fun when writing him. I just wish the other characters were a lot more sympathetic towards him. Like.... maybe try and talk to him about his drug problem? Rather than patronize it literally every single time you talk to him. SERIOUSLY every single scene Klaus is in with one of his siblings, they always HAVE to mention his drug problem AND THEN scold him for it. Like............ that’s not very constructive? Like at all! But I guess that’s just how some families are to one another. Also, it is very interesting to see how they are handling Robert Sheehan’s performance in UA compared to Misfits. In Misfits, he has a tendency to devour each scene he was in, to the point where he felt like the central character of that show. But Nathan was such a great character, that often times you didn’t mind how he would steamroll over others because it was done in such an entertaining way. But in the UA, the director’s have chosen to use Robert Sheehan’s signature eccentric style to flavour the scenes, rather than change the tone of the scene altogether (unlike how they used Nathan in Misfits). Anyways, I am most intrigued to see what they will do with his character. 

5) Five. I don’t have too much to say about him because I feel like there is a lot more to be discovered about this character. Overall, I like the concept around the character and tbh he gets some of the best scenes in the first 3 episodes. I am truly impressed with the actor portraying this character. I think he is doing quite a great job in giving us the nuances of the character. A 58-year-old trapped in the body of a 13-year-old. Like, I get that. I see that. It works and I am here for it. 

6) Ben. WOW so the one Asian one is dead and barely gets any lines. Ugh okay. Really REALLY want to learn more about him. Really intrigued with how he died to begin with. Hopefully the show shares this story element in an interesting way that connects to the main plot in a way other than just thematically. 

7) Vanya. I.... I wanna hold my tongue about her. Cause she is obviously the audience perspective character for this world. So there isn’t much to say about her besides her being a tool to help the audience get integrated into the show’s world. I just... I gotta wait cause I feel like they are going to do something cool with her character and I don’t wanna make any.... undeserved assumptions. I just want more from her which like... I guess is a good thing? 

#the umbrella academy #Imma try and do reviews for this show #but it probably won't be episode by episode like I did with Sense8 #netflix #review #tv show

[mirandacaroll]

Real & repressed - UnReal series finale analysis

(Warning: since I’ve discovered, upon going through the Shiri Appleby tag, that there actually over 160 people that ship Tim and Rachel ??? I just want to make it clear that this is a Male Suitors Free Zone and that I ship Rachel and Quinn. Hard.)

So, as some of you know I’ve been binging UnReal lately, and I’ve been dealing with the spiral all on my own since everybody’s rightfully moved on from that shit show of a show. But I still needed closure, and now that  I’ve seen the series finale I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Obviously there’s a lot to unpack, or rather, a layer of heterosexual bullsh*t to cut through before we get to the good stuff. But after careful consideration and listening to the entire series playlist (w on a loop today during work I’ve decided that the finale actually satisfied me in terms of Rachel and Quinn kind of getting what they deserve - and what we, after four seasons of smoldering looks and not-so-subtle parallels, deserve as well. Or it could have been worse, let’s just go from there.

Because even though we are supposed to believe that the love between Rachel and Quinn is merely some kind of extremely disfunctional, codependent maternal thing (and maybe on some level it is), their fate is kept ambiguous in multiple ways, and I think that’s deliberate. And once you take a closer look at the finale of a series that has been, let’s be real (hehe), about things needing a closer look from the start, you’ll discover that, what we were all hoping seeing they have together may actually be there beneath the surface and be actually real - real, but very, very repressed.

I think this finale, like the rest of the series, was written to mirror the show they portray: on the surface it’s this flimsy story about women finding happiness with the man of their dreams (both in terms of the suitors/candidates and Quinn and Rachel themeselves), but it’s also the story of something else: the people behind these shows, the non-romantic struggles women face, the powerful bond between women who love each other, the different meanings of family, how annoying men can be, etc. And along the way, that other show became much more important. For Quinn and Rachel, and, as their chemistry together started sizzling off the screen more and more with each episode, for us as well.

And even though I’m sure the demographic, like with Everlasting, just wanted the flimsy hetereosexual stuff on top, I think the writers and directors were never shying away from telling two stories at once (although it could be said that they shied away from making the Quinn and Rachel story more explicit, which is what they should have done, but hey - I love me some repressed lesbian love!). It’s just that, as always, no one noticed. But it’s there. 

Of course there’s the jealousy and the sexual tension and the ‘I love you’s and That One Scene in the control room, you know which one. But since that’s probably been discussed before since I’m very late to this party, I’ll just focus on the finale for now. 

So let’s look at the facts, shall we?

We have: 

Rachel desperately screaming and banging on Quinn’s door once she realizes Quinn is ready to give up on her

Quinn taking over for Rachel after her breakdown and literally saying: ‘Let’s see if we can make up for an entire season of screw ups in three hours and make me believe in love’. I’m not paraphrasing here, this is an actual quote. She (like us) is done with Rachel’s bullshit and she wants  real love.

Rachel ultimately choosing Quinn over anything else even though she had the chance to produce her and come out on top (but we all know that’s not what she wants….)

Quinn ultimately ending up helping Rachel and getting rid of Tim ‘because I could never do that to you.Never.’ and Rachel just letting Tim go just like that. (Also worth mentioning is Chet’s face as he watches Quinn saying this to Rachel)

Basically Quinn and Rachel ultimately producing everyone else and ending up together

Yeah.

Jay: 'This was basically Quinn saving Rachel in the least surprising move of the season’ Fiona: 'Well, she’s her ride or die’ …..???? (I see you writers)

Rachel dying her hair brown again, because as much as she wanted to be Hot Rachel for Quinn, she knows Quinn ultimately loved This Rachel much more. You’d think I’m reading too much into this, but then, upon seeing her, Quinn tells Rachel she likes the hair. So. 

The final scene of the series is Quinn and Rachel lying in bed together with Quinn 'we don’t touch each other’ King holding Rachel and stroking her hair. Let me repeat that. The final scene of the series completely forgets Chet and Tim exist and is them laying in bed together and holding each other (while the set of Everlasting and all it stands for burns to the ground).

(before that, we have Rachel showing up on Quinn’s doorstep with a cake she baked herself (????) and Chet telling her 'I love her’ and Rachel saying 'Me too’. This could mean a lot of things but basically it leaves in the middle who loves her most and who Quinn deserves/wants to be with)

the final line of the show is 'we can do better’ , whether that’s about finally giving up the men in their lives and choosing each other or about the Everlasting set burning down, or both, we’ll never know…but it’s probably both.

Did Quinn give up the baby because there was something wrong or did she give up the baby because she was not meant to be a mom OR she felt like she was not ready to start a family with Chet and this was her way out and a chance to start over with Rachel, because, like she says: they can do better.

They Can Do Better

They can do better but they’re afraid and broken and hurt and difficult and annoying and SHE’S SO BEAUTIFUL and repressed but they know now that what they have is real in a world where nothing is real and they know that they can do better so they’re gonna try OKAY?? okay. 

Let me repeat one more time how Rachel and Quinn ended up being in bed together and holding each other tight 

EDIT and THEY WERE THE HAPPIEST THEY HAD BEEN IN A LONG TIME because  Constance Zimmer said so herself! 

#well #this is still fucking long lol #long post #unreal #unreal spoilers #I guess #for the three people who haven't seen it yet #quinn x rachel #kingsgold #I should really write fanfic I have so many feelings #pls someone interact with me before I ruin everybody's day and actually do that

[orphanblackzone]

“You are shit mother.” —Helena

Orphan Black has come full circle. Season 1 ended with Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) trying to kill her twin sister, Helena (Maslany), and the penultimate episode of Season 5—and the series—ends with Sarah trying to save her. Imprisoned in the bowels of Dyad by P.T. Westmorland (Stephan McHattie)—and emotionally tormented by Virginia Coady (Kyra Harper)—Helena makes the only choice that makes sense to her: to commit suicide to spare her unborn “bebes” from the life of torment she has endured. (And flashbacks showing the unholy acts of monsters wearing holy clothes emphasize that she has been viciously abused from a very young age.)

Luckily, Sarah’s non-convincing impersonation of Rachel (Maslany) lands her in the right place to offer a life-saving blood transfusion, which allows Helena to take out Coady—a “shit mother” if there ever was one—in brutally satisfying fashion. But we’re left with a major cliffhanger, as Helena’s water breaks while she and Sarah are trying to escape Dyad.

Joining us to break down all the plot twists in the second-to-last episode of Orphan Black is co-executive producer Alex Levine, who tells us more about Helena’s flashback scenes and gives us a few hints about next week’s huge series finale.

Penultimate episodes can be tricky because you want to build momentum, but you don’t want to outshine the finale. And “One Fettered Slave” isn’t just any penultimate episode, it’s the penultimate episode of the entire series. Did that pose any special challenges for you? Alex Levine: Oh man! Every episode of Orphan Black poses special challenges, but yes, you’re right, the pressure was high on this one. And frankly, we shifted gears very late in the process. As a creative group, the decision was made to set the story on the mainland, in Dyad, during prep, rather than return to the island. We actually overhauled the story and rewrote half the script well into the prep process, which is very unusual. But we all knew we were making the right decision by changing course.

It’s an honour to write such an important episode of the show, and I was willing to do whatever it takes to make it as good as possible. But it wasn’t easy! I am confident that we made the right decisions. And I have to give credit to a posse of young creatives for pushing to change the direction of the episode and make it great: Mackenzie Donaldson, Renee St. Cyr and Tatiana too.

This was Helena’s episode, and we find out lots of details about her backstory. How did the writers’ room decide what portions of her dark past to focus on? The Helena flashbacks were challenging but so fun to dig into. The genesis of the early convent scenes was a scene from a classic Faulkner novel, Light in August. There’s a killer in that story who has a seminal event in his childhood. So I riffed on that, and with Tat’s help, created a visceral early moment in Helena’s childhood where we see that she isn’t just an evil child, she’s a victim. The other scenes were key moments of her past we knew we wanted to explore, and it was about choosing the moments we felt would resonate with Helena’s current predicament. John was always eager to show her first kill, and the twist of her not knowing she’s a clone really made it sing. Graeme and Renee deserve much credit for the Barbie scenes with Tomas. The Barbie house that our art department created was brilliant.

Cynthia Galant played young Rachel in Episode 507. Why was Habree Larratt cast as young Helena for this episode? Cynthia was cast to portray young Rachel, and we love her in that role. She’s composed and obedient and restrained. She’s a wonderful young actor with great chops. But in portraying young Helena, we wanted to be sure we had an actor who could explode emotionally, who is wild and untameable. And Habree really blew us away during the auditioning process. Her portrayal gave us the confidence to expand the scenes with Young Helena.

I thought the scenes between Helena and Dr. Coady were fascinating, with their back and forth about Coady killing her kids and Helena being an unfit mother. In any pairing, we are looking for the deep dramatic juice. We wanted to dig into this relationship anew, because they did have a number of scenes back in Season 3 at the Castor camp. We knew Coady was struggling with her responsibilities as a mother and that helped crystallize the line in which P.T. forces her to euthanize Mark. And we figured she would want to drag Helena into that nightmare with her. Tatiana actually pushed for Coady to be harsher in the final climactic scenes. She wanted Helena to be destroyed by this woman, to properly motivate Helena’s decision to commit suicide.

The scene where Coady killed Mark was both chilling and heartbreaking. Why did she go through with it? I think people forget that Virginia is a ruthless eugenicist. She bought into P.T.’s grand vision and had the cold, evil heart to do certain things that no other party would do. She started this thing with him and she had no moral qualms about using humans as experiments. She always saw the big picture, even with the Castor sterilization plan. And she was very loyal to P.T.; she knows he has the grand vision, that she can’t do it without him. But she also grew to love Mark and became a mother by default. The struggle you see is the amoral heartless scientist suffocating her own maternal instincts. Kyra is a terrific actor and she definitely showed depth in that relationship and in that scene.

I’m sure you gave half the OB fandom a heart attack when Helena tried to kill herself to save her babies from Neolution and herself. Tell me about the decision to have her attempt suicide—and, after all she’s been through, can she handle being a mother? We had a number of discussions about this choice. We know it’s a very dark choice, that it’s almost anathema to lots of people, specifically mothers. But we saw it as a heroic choice. Helena saw that these children would end up being tortured, being used and manipulated, being twisted and corrupted as she was corrupted as a child. And she believed by making this choice that she was saving them from a lifetime of horrors. I likened this choice to the siege of Masada, one of the final events of the Roman-Jewish war in 73-74 AD. The Jews were trapped on their mountain top village, Masada, surrounded by the Romans. It was only a matter of time before the Romans, who were building a ramp, would invade and enslave them. Having resolved never to be servants to the Romans, the Jews in Masada decided to die free instead. They killed each other and last man committed suicide. But Helena is so resourceful, we had to take her to a place where she truly felt she was out of options. And it sure helps to have an actor as strong as Tatiana sell that moment and make the emotionality credible.

As for Helena being a fit mother, I think she’ll be OK, in that she’ll probably let them run around like wild pigs and climb trees and eat dirt.

If there was any doubt about it, this episode proved that P.T. Westmorland is an evil, crazy misogynist—and he’s also bald! What do you think of him as the ultimate villain of Orphan Black? Is he someone that you and John Fawcett and Graeme Manson envisioned all along? P.T. was always supposed to epitomize the misogynistic patriarchy that still pervades the world. But he really lets his flag fly in these last few episodes. I think we always knew he had to say some evil things to represent this accursed, awful world view that is the root of all the horrors of Neolution, we just needed to get him to a desperate enough place where he would let loose. I think he and Coady are joint grand villains, sort of a 1a and 1b. And by the way, Stephen McHattie isn’t bald. He’s got some hair, but he thought the better choice would be to shave his head once the wig came off, and it turned out great.

OK, this episode ends with Sarah and Helena—who’s in labour!—trapped in Dyad with Westmorland. What can you tell us about the big series finale? The best thing I can tell you is that the finale is not all run and jump/battles. We will get to see our sestras as they come to terms with life after the war. And that, to me, is the most interesting and rich part. I have to give Graeme full props for carving out of each episode and each season ample time to explore these characters simply as human beings in a very credible version of our world. I forget who, but somebody smart said sci-fi is just a vehicle to explore how people react under different circumstances. It’s only good when the characters are truly relatable, no matter how cool the sci-fi ideas are. And that’s the best part of Orphan Black—the mundane, the realistic, the human.

You have been with Orphan Black since the beginning. How has the show changed you as a writer? What will you miss about working on the show the most? I have grown so much as a writer working with Graeme and some of the best writers in Canada. Everything I write now is coloured by what I’ve learned on Orphan. The reason I stayed with the show all this time is that the material and the characters speak to me. I don’t think any other show being produced in Canada offers the same canvas in terms of all the story and humanity we get to put on screen. And Orphan Black is really three or four shows in one: a thriller, a love story, a horror movie, and a suburban satire. Where else am I going to find that, all in one script?

John and Graeme are experts at what they do. John is such a seasoned director, his instincts are so good in prep and on the floor. And obviously—OBVIOUSLY—we have the best actor in Canada, and working with her is such an incredible treat. To watch her transform material is really rewarding. She is such a professional in every way and sets a tone for all the other actors and cast and crew; and us as writers and producers. And we have a bunch of other amazing actors as well. Jordan and Kevin and Kristian and Maria, just to name our core cast. I’ve been on other series where there are difficult people, people who put their ego above the show. And that never ever happened on Orphan Black. Not ever. And that’s a testament to the quality of the bosses and department heads. Special shout out to Kerry Appleyard, our exec from Temple Street, who’s also a lovely person and brilliant creative who always helped set the tone. End of the day, I’m extremely humbled and grateful to have been part of the series.

#orphan black #5.09 #s5 #alex levine #clone club #article #habree larratt

[dapperfvck-arc]

🔥 The TV show... (Because I really want to know exactly why you don't like it [or hate it?] because i'm so freaking curious. Also I think in general a Constantine TV show would do best on AMC rather than NBC... FEEL FREE TO COMPLETELY RANT. I WANT TO KNOW. Please.)

Unpopular Opinion Time!

Oh boy. Hooooo boy. I’m still going to be relatively gentle, because honestly, I’m saving my true vitriol for the times that I must defend my choice not to RP it or for the hysterical consensus opinion from the fandom that TV show was an improvement over the film (lol nope, aside from Matt Ryan “looking the part” but that’s a whole other can of worms). 

Note: Cut for length and maybe a bit of brutality in my honesty.

*sighs* Ok, I’ll first preface this with that I still have like four episodes to go. Obviously, I have massive issues in the needless changes made to the adaption of comic canon. It was unnecessary to make Chas American while retaining the fact that he’s John’s oldest and best of friends. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but who knows. Maybe it’s explained a little better in one of the last few episodes, but you know. My hopes aren’t high. I don’t like Chas’s virtual invulnerability, not just because it takes away the stakes of the danger he’s putting himself in, but also? It’s a plot device scarcely used? So why make that choice if it’s not going to be capitalized on with meaningful frequency? I hated that Zed was portrayed as a novice, and that the teeth were taken out from the Newcastle Incident. Now obviously, I understand why they’d have to alter a bit of it due to Network censorship, but at the same??? I mean child abuse and sexual violence are nothing new on shows like Law and Order: SVU and Criminal minds so…Idek, it kind of comes off as an excuse. It’s not a child’s show. Maybe it could be argued that it was marketed toward teenagers, but it’s not like they’re ignorant to those horrors in the world. I’m not asking them to show Astra’s rape, just to acknowledge the true horror of the situation instead of making it all about John’s failure. So yeah, I was annoyed by the occasional attempt to adapt source material and completely mucking it all up.

Now to begin with, I completely get the SP/N’s fandom bitterness more than ever. Before watching it I thought they were just trying to be like “whaaaat, another show about magic and exorcism? Of course it’s a ripoff because don’t you know our fandom invented those things?” I honestly believe the crux of the issue is that NBC clearly wanted their own SP/N as well as to cash in the popularity of comic book based media, so there’s that. To me, it comes off as a shameless cash grab. I honestly believe if I felt like there was some kind of passion from its creators, I could have dealt with some of those changes, but I don’t get that. It’s been a soulless experience overall. Like it’s not been a matter of me nitpicking like “oh this is wrong, this has been changed, boo hoo, it’s not all existential horror and fucking and drugs.”

Because frankly...I just think it’s a bad show. It’s poorly written, poorly made, poorly researched, poorly acted, it’s just bad. The main issue I have with it is that it’s a lot of telling and not showing. There’s not a lot of tension or foreshadowing, just “boom this is how it is” and so much exposition. John, for example, about half of his dialogue in any given show is verbal exposition. It’s frustrating, tbh. Like, it doesn’t make sense for me in this day and age for a TV show, even on a network channel, to be this bad. Over the past several years, television series have improved exponentially in content and writing. It’s not shameful anymore to start off on TV anymore. We’re in a very exciting time that television and cinema are almost completely on equal par of perceived quality. So yeah, it’s been an even greater disappointment for me because it’s not just that they fuck with the source material but because on top of that it’s literally a bad show. I’m not one bit surprised that it wasn’t renewed because there just...Isn’t enough to like about it. It’s not faithful enough to the comic to secure that base of fans and it’s not good enough to be taken for face value. 

The other massive issue I have is the portrayal of magic, which honestly extends to DC’s handling of Hellblazer and John as well. See, what you have to understand is that predominately, throughout the Vertigo series, it’s clear to me that most of its writers either have some awareness of how magic works or at least have done their research. I can follow the logic and ritual in what he’s doing. ​Let me tell you a little something about magic. It's all about focus and will. You can do and say whatever the hell you want as long as you're putting your intent behind it. The ritual of spell work, use of candles, crystals, incense, chanting, incantations, etc. are meant to be the focus of a magician's energy and will on a particular result, but it could be attempted without as well. To explain it in more fantastical terms, in Harry Potter casting without a wand is considered impressive. This implies that the wizard's focus and will is so strong that they no longer need a wand to draw out their intent. Now I get it. By this understanding magic doesn't make good TV viewing (I guess...), but my main concern with this series is there's no attempt to portray an iota of witchcraft's reality along with the fantastical. Now part of this problem is that they've removed a great deal of John's innate ability. He can no longer see spirits/ghosts and there is no mention to his connection to synchronicity (as far I’ve seen, mind). Instead of happening to end up where he needs to be or what have you, he's following a map, and he uses a lot of artifacts and other implementation to get the job done. Which bothers me on a few levels. For one, it imbues the focus, not the caster with the power, which is not how magic works (at least in the sense of portraying gritty urban fantasy), and for two, it's very much against character. Let me give you an example: In the two part story Newcastle Calling, at the end of it, John hands a dying man a twig, telling him it's the finger bone of St. Cavartigan and that it's known to bring relief to those in need. He tells him to squeeze it tightly and focus on the pain going away. Near the end of the scene, the young man tells John that it's working. A couple things can be taken away from this scene: John's will was that the dying man would believe as he was told and his instructions were rote ritual. By contrast, in the series, John would probably had actually given him a Saint's fingerbone. You see the comparison takes the power of the scene away, as well as the mystery. Is the power of John's suggestion so strong that he could make the guy believe by holding that twig his pain would do away? Or was he so desperate to believe in order to not die in pain? You can interpret it either way. Hell, I could invent other interpretations, but going by what I believe would happen in the show, it can only be interpreted in the most literal sense. Now, to be honest, most television shows portray magic poorly. Even movies do a better job while keeping fantastical elements. The Craft, for all it’s 90s cheese, is a great example of this. So I suppose I could be blamed for getting my hopes up to be dashed because it’s just following the formula of 95% of all TV shows that feature a magical element or theme, but I mean...it’s not like Buffy or Charmed that was working without a script, so to speak. The TV series had a ready made blueprint and still chose to take the mumbo-jumbo bullshit route. Now, I have a lot of theories on the why for this, but that’s another post altogether and this has already gone on for way too long and I still have more to say.

Now, I guess I should, at least briefly, touch on the elephant in the room: Matt Ryan as John. What did I think? Because a lot of people have told me that he’s the shining beacon of this show, even literally admitting that yeah, it’s a poor representation of Hellblazer but that Matt Ryan man, he’s great! The problem that I have is that it’s not a good a show, and so no, I don’t like him in the role. I’m not going to compare him to Keanu because that’s not fair for a number of reasons, and maybe I’m a little biased because I adore Keanu (there’s also that can of worms I mentioned earlier, which is honestly yet another separate post lol). The way John’s written for this show, he’s positively insufferable. He’s not charming at all, which is find the most offensive, because one thing that can be said across all series and iterations of the character is that John is magnetic even despite xyz (he’s dangerous, he can be an asshole, he’s unreliable, etc.). Here he’s just a know-it-all, condescending prick. Now I do think with better writing, in a better representation of John’s character and Hellblazer in general (and maybe with a voice coach or director to discourage that Welshy intonation because yeah, his accent does irritate the shit out of me, but I’ve been very vocal about that before and honestly, at this point, I’ve come to realize that Ryan’s vowels are the least of this show’s problem), I think he has potential to be a fine John. As it stands in the media he’s portrayed John in so far (idk, maybe he was good on Arrow, but I’m talking the TV Series here and the JLD animation, which I’ve admittedly not seen, but I hated the comic so I’m not real likely to give that a chance considering my disposition toward the source material), I’m not entirely sold on him. Like if they tried another TV series for Hellblazer and didn’t cast him in the role, I wouldn’t be upset over it. 

I do agree that it probably could have been better on another channel, but here’s the rub, all the blood and gore and sex and loose censorship in the world could not save that show without better writing and direction. It could have been a fine show even on network if it had been crafted with some degree of caring. Let me give you an example off the top of head, namely the handling of the Newcastle incident. It was laid out pretty plainly within a few episodes. Alterations from canon aside, it doesn’t portray the horror of it at all and is one of the show’s many missed opportunities to really play up the scarier, more mysterious elements of John’s backstory. For example, instead of laying it out in a sloppy flashback with a laughable puppet, picture this scene instead: ​John is having a chat with someone, maybe Zed or Chas or some b-plot character. Something reminds him of the Newcastle incident and he gets a far off look in his eyes. The folly drops away to an eerie silence as the camera comes in tight on John's expression. Filling up the silence is a little girl's scream, then the voices of his friends, perhaps some sounds of violence, an inhuman sound or voice, it all blends together to become a hellish cacophony of sound as John's expression becomes more strained. Then suddenly the other person calling his name snaps him out of his reverie. The screams stop, the folly returns, and the scene appears jarringly normal. John shakes his head, makes a joke, and they move on. Yeah, that kind of scene has been done before, but the reason for that is it’s effective without giving away the whole story. It shows that this is a man haunted by something horrible. It’s also cheap and doesn’t necessitate straining the no doubt thin budget of a TV show that has yet to prove itself worthy of having more money thrown at it. 

Honestly, the issues I have with this show are innumerable and I’m just scratching the surface here and laying out my biggest problems. I could nitpick for days, and that’s the reason I’ve stayed mum about my opinions. There are people that follow me and that I write with that really like and care about the show, and I don’t want to make them feel...you know, bad about it or that they can’t talk to me or whatever. You know, if they found it enjoyable more power to them. I just didn’t and that’s maybe on me. By no means am I trying to bash the show here (because lord if I wanted to, I could), but to offer up what was requested, and that’s my undiluted opinions and feelings about the series. Of course I’m sorry that I couldn’t share the joy and that I couldn’t even like it on a similar level that I do the film (as a very solid AU, which people have tried to sell the show as to me, knowing my previous understanding of some of the changes made that deviate strongly from canon. As I said, maybe if it had been better made and written, I could, but as it stands currently, I can’t and unless real changes are made in the future, I’m unlikely to alter my opinion of it).

So yeah that’s it. Apologies that this got so very long, but as you can tell, there’s been a lot that I’ve been holding back.

#idk some bloody punter ( anon ) #do you need a light too? ( asks answered ) #eyyyy so I got real honest here #probably a little more than I intended #I would not click the read more if you aren't prepared for me to be very frank on my opinions #by no means do I bash it #but I'm not kind to it either #so reader be warned and all that rot #unpopular opinion

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/theo-devaney-supernatural-father-crowley-gavin-macleod/

Theo Devaney on his 'Supernatural' father Crowley and Gavin MacLeod

Theo Devaney first appeared on Supernatural in Season 9, as Gavin MacLeod, Crowley’s son. It’s easy to see why Theo was cast as Gavin – not only does he have the lovely accent, his acting in "King of the Damned" showcased Gavin perfectly – someone who was transported to our current time, completely bewildered by the world he was in. You first appeared in Supernatural as Crowley’s son – Gavin MacLeod – back in 2014. Tell us about your experience then, as compared to your most recent experience. I suppose the first time it was still quite new to me; the whole world was new to me. I had only really watched a couple of seasons of Supernatural just to understand the show when I did it the first time. And then obviously in the intervening years, between 2014 and to the end of 2016 – so 2-1/2 years – I’ve done fan conventions, gotten to know the fans, connected with so many people on Twitter, watched a lot more of the show, became more familiar with the mythology of the different characters and things like that. I suppose it just becomes a part of your life, I think, if you’ve played a role that people enjoy -- you end up becoming sort of quite close with people, talking about it and getting used to conversations around certain things. I mean as an actor, obviously, unless you’re doing the show for a whole season or something and you’re a regular, you’re working on a lot of other things in the interim, but nothing I’ve ever done comes close to having the kind of fan support and engagement that Supernatural has, which is a massive privilege, you know, to have that. In terms of how I approached it this time, I suppose the first episode I did, Gavin is a fish out of water and everything is brand new to him. So there’s a lot of broad kind of horror, shock, surprise, bafflement – so I kind of engaged in a very theatrical way, with that, and brought a quite heightened theatrical performance style. He has to be utterly blown away by everything that’s happening, which in a way kind of refreshes for the audience some of the experience he’s having … a lot of the audience from Supernatural have seen this kind of possession, torture and time travelling and demons fighting each other before, it becomes something that people understand and get used to some degree. Whereas for Gavin, it’s brand new and it’s completely bizarre, and I wanted to communicate that. In the recent episode, Gavin’s been in the modern world for a couple of years and I think is a bit more seasoned. I wanted there to be – based on what’s happening to him – to justify the choice that he makes to return to his own time, even though he knows he’s facing death. A certain amount of resignation, there’s a certain sadness, I think, because he’s spent the last couple of years and he still doesn’t feel like he belongs. I think knowing that in another time, without the intervention of supernatural powers, he’d have been dead. He’d just have been dead. That natural process, I think, he feels has been somehow changed and I don’t think it sits right with him. I think he’s someone who believes in destiny to some degree and I sort of wanted a calmer, more reflective, more still and kind of mournful energy for the character, which I think justifies his position, his decision in the second episode. What have you enjoyed the most about filming for Supernatural? (Both then and now.) I think it’s probably just the relationships that you make with the other members of the cast. Obviously, being an actor, a lot of what filming really is, is mostly to do with connecting with other characters. So your character, how you express your character and how it bounces off other characters. But, there’s another element to that, that is also really enjoyable. Just being on these big sets where there’s these wonderful crew members and technicians and artists of different kinds, who are all working together to make the magic happen. I love working as part of a team, I love everybody committing their energy to the same endeavor, and something being created that is greater than the sum of the parts. When I was younger, I was in my teens and I was looking forward to becoming an actor when I was older, the dream was to be part of a theater company. You show up in a new town, you and your team, your family, I suppose, of artists. You make a piece of work, touch people, hopefully move people, or you interest people, somehow entertain them, and then you leave and you do it again. You’re bringing this magic with you and everybody commits themselves 100 percent to making the show as good as it can be – greater than the sum of its individual parts. Partly, I think, for me it helps me to be better, when other people give me feedback, support me and criticize me in a constructive way as well. I think by being open to a big team, you’re able to give more than if you were just working on your own in isolation. On a set like Supernatural, the family, the team, is so established because they’ve been there for 10, well initially when I went there before it was eight, nine years, now it’s been 12 years that they’ve been together and many of the crew members are still the same. So everyone knows their roles within the family and also there’s this unspoken connection between a lot of people. Stuff gets done efficiently, but then you still have the director, someone who’s not there all the time, they are there for one or two episodes maybe. P.J. Pesce was the director of this one and he directed me, bizarrely by coincidence, in the one 2-1/2 years ago – or perhaps it wasn’t coincidence. We had good rapport, he’s very supportive, a very intelligent and talented, warm man. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that the wonderful thing is working with a big team, on a big project, where everyone is so familiar with each other, and so warm with each other. That’s the real gift of it. Last but not least, but of course, a major part of this was working with Ruthie. I worked real closely with Mark in the first episode I was in, and now with Ruthie -- we’d become friends prior to my return to the show anyway -- she’s just a lovely person, a great human being and a brilliant actor so it was lovely for us to have a bit of time together on set and in front of camera, which will always be special. Do you have any behind-the-scenes stories to share? Probably nothing as very interesting as some people who spend longer on the show, but some of the behind the scenes stories … I don’t know, I mean probably the fun thing is enjoying watching people getting made up and getting their hair done – because I think that’s all magic. For some reason, Supernatural tried to make me look as kind of geeky and kind of silly as possible, I think, because Gavin is an incredibly sort of sweet and vulnerable character. He’s sort of like this little lamb … I had some laughs when I saw my double breasted royal blue woolen jacket that I got to wear in this one, where you couldn’t have made the character look more harmless and sort of sweet if you tried. He actually looks like Paddington Bear in the second episode which I found quite amusing. And it sort of helps me to understand how the showrunners and the writers intend the character to be portrayed. I can take a message from that and say, okay, so Gavin hasn’t spent the last two years becoming edgy – or getting drawn into anything even vaguely sort of criminal or sinister. He’s clearly still an innocent, and has been protected as such, one way or another, probably by Crowley. So I was able to play him with this sense of insecurity, which is obviously borne out of the narrative in the second episode. The obvious stuff is Jared and Jensen kind of bouncing off of each other and winding each other up – and winding other people up. I was pretty lucky, normally they target people with pranks but I was – I don’t know what it was about me that made them kind of, you know, be gentle with me – probably because the character, Gavin, is such a gentle character anyway. They just felt like it would be like punching a puppy in the face so they just didn’t. Although, actually, come to think of it – you can ignore what I just said. There was some banter about European actors and how we all take ages over our lines, which is absolutely justified because we did the seated scene, just before Gavin, before they do the ceremony to send Gavin back with Fiona. We sat in this little room before Crowley enters. We have this long scene, it’s a chatty scene, a couple of minutes … I was still getting to grips with the lines to be honest, trying to work my way through them, because you don’t get to rehearse much on TV, the way you would with theater. I tend to use the first rehearsals we do on set, and the blocking rehearsals, to really find the nuances of the scene, which means I do them slowly, so I can figure out what’s happening, and then I speed it up for the performance. I did it particularly slowly, because I had just come back from a few hours on break, and the director comes in and goes okay, we’re going to need to speed this up a bit guys. The boys are just like, yeah, we please, Jesus! We all got into this conversation, this sort of bantery conversation, because obviously in this scene were me, Ruthie and Mark – all of us British actors – Jared was very funny, saying, I’m … a … European … actor! … and … I’m … going … … … to take … my … time! Which is totally fair, because I think European/British actors are a bit more indulgent than Americans. We like to add a bit of theatrical zest to what we do, which means we labor it a little bit. So that was quite funny, we had a good laugh. I was almost crying actually, because I’m very aware of the fact that I can take my time with things. If I don’t have someone behind me, you know, sticking a dagger in my back … [caption id="attachment_44306" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Photo: Natalya Chagrin[/caption] Any current projects you’re working on? I’m working on a few things. Last year, 2016, was a good year in terms of doing variety. I did a couple of commercials, I did some indie films, and some sort of quirky projects. This year, so far, January was quiet. Right now I’m filming a feature that’s going to be on Netflix at the end of the year. We’re in Romania right now. I’ve got a small part in a feature, a British gangster feature that’s coming out, I know the producers so I’m doing a day or two on that next month, which will be a fun little scene, a cameo, in the British gangster feature. I’m waiting to hear back from a few other projects, so yeah, we’ll have to wait and see. I can’t say much about what I’m doing at the moment, but if you keep an eye on social media toward the end of this year, then the film will be released on Netflix, so I’ll be sure to make sure that everybody knows about that when it’s available. Further to that, I’m also producing, I did my short film, Run, for the past few years, with a lot of support from members of the SPN family who are lovely. That’s still in film festivals, but I’m actually planning to try my hand at directing so I have two short films, both dramas, that I’m looking forward to directing this year. That will be an enjoyable challenge, having done some writing, producing, and obviously acting, now I’m looking forward to seeing if I have anything to offer as a director. So that’s going to be a lot of fun. Two very contrasting projects, one is a fairly dramatic psychological piece of work and the other is about, it’s kind of a teenage coming of age story.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

#Crowley #Featured #Interviews #Supernatural #Theo Devaney

[spiritcc]

Sherlock Holmes 2013

So as per usual part of this marathon, here comes the post with my overall opinion about stuff, this time, obviously, the show known as the new Russian Sherlock Holmes series. The "new" part loses its meaning with each year passing, but anyway.

This is going to be the Vague(tm) type of post written mostly for advertisement purposes, free of spoilers and trying way too hard to encourage peeps to watch a show with a fanbase of 2.5 people. But anyway again.

So, Sherlock Holmes, aired in November 2013, eight episodes in total, one hour and thirty minutes long each. Grossly underappreciated everywhere for no proper reason, I guess it's just this obscure show somewhere from wild Russia, nobody heard of it and so why should they even try. Well, let me spill my thoughts about why you should, I stan this show quite actively. So actively I'm one from the team that subtitled it.

First of all, this show has a quite interesting premise, the idea of "what if the stories Watson writers were romanticized to various extents, and the reality is completely different from what we know it?". Not a brand new idea for the fandom, but forgive my ignorance of other adaptations, it's at least one of the few shows that explores it, and explores it delightfully.

The director of the show Andrey Kavun noticed a thing once when he read the canon: ACD's characters do not develop in the slightest, Holmes is the same in the first story, Holmes remains the same in the last story, where he's already a sixty-something year old man. The world of Sherlock Holmes is painfully static on top of that, it bends to suit the narrative and is barely inconvenient on an every-day basis. At the end of the day, James or Hamish? Injured leg or shoulder? James Moriarty and James Moriarty? Who gives a shit, certainly not Conan Doyle.

And so Kavun decided to take on Dostoevky's approach to his characters, and make the life around them real. This show never fails to remind you that Watson survived the horrors of war, that he is suffering from injuries that never magically vanish past the initial introduction, that the experiences he'd been through affected his personality and views. It contrasts bright with Holmes, a dude somewhere in his world with skewed priorities and a large portion of ignorance to events that affect Watson deeply. These guys are polar opposites, they clash, they fight, but they consider each other friends, for reasons the show explores quite clearly as it goes.

The world they live in? Kavun, actually, secretly filmed a show about Moscow 2013 and its contemporary issues, but in my opinion, even though the approach he takes is very Russian, it's still easily applicable to any country, and makes a whole lot of sense. War veterans like Watson? Hello, they just came back from a gruesome war, lucky if their limbs are still intact. Some never settled for a peaceful life after what they've been through, they turn to crime. Their injuries allow them to take only the most pitiful jobs. And, considering the Afghanistan experience, all of them are blatantly racist. Does it sound logical, true to life? It surely does to me, and I love how raw it is shown in this series. Knock knock, real life coming, meet the real face of war and its aftermath. It's not sensitive, it's not censored in the slightest, and you know it's true. That's the real life, and whatever the non-problematic bullshit can be found in the Holmes stories.

To me, a gal used to the non-problematic approach to adaptations, this was mind-blowing and refreshing to watch. Betrayal, bribery, racism, everything is there and does slap you in the face with what the real world would actually be in this universe.

Watson is not the only one with some quality character representation there, even though he is the main character (again, hello, he wrote the stories, who else would the hero be), everyone has depth to them, and I can say a lot of those characters go through an arc of their own. They might not even change per se, but your opinion about them can. I, for example, felt that by the time of the last episode, I could see through all of them and their bullshit, I knew exactly what they felt and thought. Well, pretty much everything goes through an arc and wraps up in a very satisfying way, in my opinion, but it was still quite nice to realise.

The arc happens because, aside from one episode, the series follows one single grand plot that does a fantastic job of playing with canon and Holmes references of various obscurity, it's extremely well put together, and this story is told from a very great approach. That's what slightly pissed off Holmes will say once, forgive for a bit of a wanky translation:

The curious reader can’t wait to see what happens next? He waits for Sherlock Holmes to come, stretch in his chair, sort everything out and elegantly pull a rabbit out of a hat. And could the reader think of everything himself? He saw everything I saw, and he knows everything I know. <...> So what, now let’s see who will be smarter: the reader or Sherlock Holmes.

Everything the series wants you to know, it will show. You will indeed see everything the main characters see, no more and no less. It always leaves enough information for you to make your own conclusions and assumptions, and if you won't do it, nobody will do it for you. That's why I always nag people to re-watch the series after they're done, because not only will bits and pieces of the plot make more sense in the long-run, but some fresh findings will be completely mindblowing, and I cannot emphasise the last part more, because it's huge. The show will not point you to them in any way, you can completely miss all of that in the first place because the series doesn’t scream “look how genius we are!!!” left and right. You indeed see everything Holmes and Watson do, and it’s up to you to decide what to do with that information. As Holmes says, can you think for yourself? The show assumes you can. 

The plot itself is quite delightful because it mashes so many canon stories together into one, and it works perfectly, and it still manages to be its own thing that serves the show’s narrative. It’s still original and new, so the thrill of case solving from the other side of the screen is back. It still clearly knows its canon, since yeah, Watson must have some inspiration for writing his bullshit off of something. The plot is wholesome, sets in motion since the very beginning, and ends perfectly, no questions left open.

Then there’s the acting, decorations, music and so forth: all of it is great as well. The main theme is very fun, the locations, even though still Russia and nearby countries, manage to do a convincing enough job of portraying London and the countryside (with the help of CGI). But the acting though *inhales softly*. 

The director gave almost full artistic freedom to the actors, letting them work on their characters however they wanted. Which resulted in an incredible job done by everyone involved, their characters have their own quirks, habits, speech patterns (not like you’ll notice it behind the language barrier, but oh well), all of that made up by the actors themselves. It also helps that the actors involved are all beyond fantastic, they look so natural in their roles you don’t even notice the full scale of awesome at first. One man you’ll sure notice, Watson played by late Andrey Panin - a man of so many expressions I did over seventy gifs of his faces and that was still just looking at the surface. His Watson is one of the best, if not the best Watson you’ll ever see on screen, and it’s not just me pulling this out of my ass. That is an opinion I still keep seeing from many people from different age groups and parts of the world, from casual viewers to elderly and respected holmesians alike. Panin’s Watson, being the main character after all, is extremely well thought out, fantastically portrayed, incredibly expressive, marvelously developed in the course of the show. Of course there’s Petrenko’s Holmes that I love with all my heart for his fascinating portrayal, level of detail and characterisation, there’s Boyarsky’s Lestrade that doesn’t do anything interesting at first, but then blasts so hard he might be dangerously close to overshadowing other adaptations, but these guys are up to your liking and are totally subjective. Watson, though, is someone I can bet all my money on, he will not disappoint in the slightest, definitely one of the best, if not the best, Watson ever shown on screen. 

Secondary actors have also done a fantastic job, their characters are well played, likable, sometimes even dangerously likable considering who they are, and are certainly a great part of the show. The fucking Moriarty they have there, hoho, I will die arguing that this guy is a scary genius worthy to be one of the best ones on screen, he is the reason why this show has to be seen at least twice. Love the guy, honestly, 

Does the show have any downsides? Of course it does, it’s really far from perfect. I personally think that it could’ve done much better without Irene Adler or the entirety of the seventh episode, non-important to the overall plot points are beyond bullshit sometimes, even though they are non-vital after all. If you’ve seen the second RDJ movie, the third episode will definitely not be a blast for you. You might not like things I’ve just gushed about in the first place, everything is subjective, after all. Does it stick out so much it might turn you away from the show? Not in the slightest. But it’s there and it’s noticeable. 

So, Sherlock Holmes 2013, here’s the playlist on youtube. Totally worth of checking it out, still fucking awesome. Take it away, Holmes

#new russian sherlock holmes #marathon notes

[doopcafe]

The Clone Wars: Senate Spy (2x04)

Summary: Padmé agrees to cheat on Anakin by lusting after a fellow Senator in order to learn he’s been helping the Separatists. 

Comments: You know, the writers really have to stop telegraphing character reveals. The Senator under question—Senator Clovis—puts Captain Sleaze to sham. The premise of this episode was that Padmé is asked to rekindle a previous love interest with Senator Clovis to ascertain if he is a traitor. We are then introduced to Senator Clovis and yes—this guy is a traitor. Trust me. I can tell. You can skip the whole infidelity plot line, Padmé. Can we go to the next episode now? 

The dude is like eye-f—ing the s— out of Padmé over dinner, but his haughty smirk and general arrogance, passion for money, dismissiveness of his underlings... all these fabulous character traits come flowing from his date-rape mouth during his one-minute introduction sequence and like, yup, this dude’s signing weapon deals with the enemy. I guarantee it. 

Later Padmé discovers clear evidence Senator Obviously A Bad Guy is a traitor, but it’s portrayed as a huge reveal. She even makes the Pikachu face. I’m paraphrasing, but I believe she says something along the lines of, “Oh no! Senator Visual Rapist is in league with the enemy! Damn it, I must have been fooled by his obviously-a-piece-of-shit looks!” 

*sigh* 

Anyways, this episode begins with Anakin returning to his wife after a long tour of duty. After a romantic hug, Anakin announces he’s brought dinner for them, to which Padmé responds in a surprised voice, “How’d you manage that?”

But like... it’s a box of sushi? So, I am led to believe that Padmé’s expectations of her husband are very low. Like, maybe he told her about that time he knowingly drank the poisoned liquor that was handed to him by some pirates and then awoke chained to the floor of a prison beside Count Dooku? 

Anakin explains he acquired the box of sushi from the freighter captain he hitched a ride home with, which confuses Padmé since he should have been on a military transport. Anakin further explains that the military transport “blew up” and chuckled a bit at the thought. Lemme be clear: Anakin laughed at the memory of a military transport exploding, men being burned alive, screaming in agony. Yes, I get that the Clone Troopers are disposable people, but the sheer hubris of these characters continues to disgust. 

Ugh, anyways, I’m still talking about this episode. Anakin then gets a call from Prequel!Wan to attend a meeting and Padmé’s like, “fine, no, go, whatever, I’m not upset,” but she is clearly upset. Really stretching the limits of his Jedi abilities, Anakin is able to ascertain that his wife may, just in fact, actually be upset, so he makes a mini-speech about how even though he has to run immediately after sex, she shouldn’t take it personally because “duty comes first, especially in war time.” The problem here is that it directly contradicts his argument to her a few episodes ago when he was trying to get into her pants but she had some important piece of legislation to finish and she was like “Anakin, you know duty comes first.” 

Excuse me, who is writing this show? Who is the director? Is there a director?

Er, okay, and then, at the OP!Jedi meeting, Windu reveals that Padmé used to be “close” to Senator Clovis to which Anakin’s ears perk up and he replies, “I didn’t know that,” in a surprised, jealous voice. There’s a cutaway shot to Prequel!Wan raising one seriously suspicious eyebrow as Prequel!Yoda calls Anakin out on it, “Private matters for the Senator these are. Why would you know them?” 

Anakin provides an unconvincing response and everyone drops it, but like... maaaaaaybe you should follow-up on that line of reasoning? Why would Anakin expect to know every private detail of Senator Amidala’s life? The Senator he is clearly married to? 

There’s a horrible scene where Anakin and Padmé “fight” (I think). I dunno, the dialogue was just so confused and didn’t make any sense, but I think that was the intention because they were mad at each other. So Padmé puts herself into a vulnerable position with Senator Date Rapist and goes with him on a business trip. During this awfulness, Padmé wears a revealing, sexy dress for her new guy and it’s... anatomically disturbing. Like, I’m not entirely sure the animators have ever seen a female body. There’s a hint of it above, but further Google searches are not recommended. 

After fighting, cheating, and never trusting each other or resolving their conflict, the episode ends with this horrible exchange of dialogue:

Anakin: Your mission was a success. Padme: But I made you doubt me. Anakin. Never.

Uhm, excusemewhatthefuck? The entire episode highlighted the doubt and suspicion and well-founded jealousy between these two nut waffles but there was no resolution. There was no scene of heart-felt remorse or exchange of intimate dialogue. Just this superficial exchange. To be fair, Padmé was poisoned when she said this, but it’s still portrayed as the resolution. 

Police Officer: I have multiple witnesses claiming they saw you stab this man to death. Me: ... Police Officer: And you’re holding a bloody knife? Me: I never actually killed him.  Police Officer: Oh well, that’s all right then. Carry on. 

In conclusion, Anakin and Padmé should get a divorce. 

#pie211-tcw

[joneswilliam72]

Film as catharsis. - A chat with writer/director Daniel Farrands of The Amityville Murders and The Haunting of Sharon Tate.

I caught up with writer, director, and producer Daniel Farrands for a chat on filmmaking, horror, true crime, influences, the ethics of treating a true tragedy in cinematic form (a subject I've written at length about for The 405), film as catharsis, and more as it relates to his latest, The Amityville Murders, in theaters, On Demand and on Digital now, and his other project The Haunting of Sharon Tate, coming April 5.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate takes its cue from a curious episode which happened to Sharon Tate before her murder in 1969 at the hands of the Manson Family, in which she had reportedly had a premonition of her death.

Stay tuned to The 405 for more on The Haunting of Sharon Tate as it gets closer and watch the trailer for it below this interview. Also, check out my interview with The Amityville Murders star Diane Franklin, at this link.

Ms. Franklin is a veteran of the Amityville franchise, having starred in Amityville II: The Possession where she played daughter Patricia Montelli – a loosely-based on a true story character. In The Amityville Murders, however, she plays one of the real victims, Louise DeFeo, in a tour de force performance that adds tremendous humanity to this very dark story. The Amityville Murders as a film does this too, while giving us a truly disturbing look into the underbelly and dysfunction of what – for most outside accounts – seemed like a normal New York family.  

On the night of November 13, 1974 in Amityville, NY on Long Island. Ronald Joseph DeFeo Jr., also called "Butch", (played by John Robinson in the movie), aged 23, grabbed his father's .35 caliber hunting rifle and went room to room in his family's huge, rambling Dutch colonial house, shooting his mother Louise, father Ron DeFeo, Sr., and his 4 siblings as they lay sleeping in their beds.

One of the oddest parts of the grisly discovery at 112 Ocean Avenue was that only 2 DeFeos stirred as Butch went room to room firing a rifle with a report louder than a jet engine – not even a single neighbor heard the shots. All of the DeFeos were found on their stomachs in bed. There was also zero evidence of drugs in the victims' systems.

The DeFeo Murders happened two years before the Lutz family would move in and have the experiences that shaped the original 1979 Amityville Horror. As for Butch, he is still in jail (serving 6 concurrent sentences of 25 years to life), after having told a number of stories about the murders – including saying it was actually the mob who killed his family and (at a different time) that voices compelled him to kill. To hear more on the true crime details, check out the Real Monsters podcast here. I will be on it Thursday February 14 for our episode on this bizarre crime.

The rambling Dutch colonial at 112 Ocean Avenue after it became a crime scene. Source:historyvshollywood.com

The DeFeo children. Source:historyvshollywood.com

Enjoy the interview below and catch The Amityville Murders in theaters, on Digital, and On Demand now.

Hello, Dan.

Hello.

How are you?

Hi there, I'm doing well. How are you?

Not bad. Getting right into it what initially inspired you to do a film on the DeFeo murders?

It goes back a lot of years. I had done – back in the 2000s for the History Channel – a two part documentary that was kind of a reinvestigation, if you will, of the truth behind the haunting of the house. The family that is there is there subsequent to the DeFeos but the story also functioned as a kind of a recap and a look back on those mass murders.

Interesting.

So that began my interest in it all and flash forward to all these years later, I had done a movie called The Haunting in Connecticut, that I produced. So I was kind of a person that seemed to be, kind of drawn to or at least looked at these based on a true story movies, with super natural elements to them. And the DeFeo story had never, I felt like, been told very well…

Nope it hadn't. Till now.

And, I thought that it was an opportunity to direct it in a totally different way while, sort of a nod or homage to the earlier films and, the so called, Amityville franchise. I don't know why they even think of it as a franchise but, there are a lot of movies with the word "Amityville" written in the title.

Indeed. Just a cursory Google search yielded 21 titles, including The Amityville Murders.

Indeed, I just thought you know what of the variety of this crime and that there were so many elements that were, to this day, unexplained. I think it's a very interesting, subtle place to sort of look back on it. And really look at it, first and foremost, as a sort of relationship and with drama. You know, and sort of seeing what the dynamics of that family may have been. But that's what interested me from the get-go.

I understand that. And that's exactly what I was thinking while watching it. To my knowledge there has never been a movie that's focused more on the murders, versus the rest of it…

Yeah, the second movie in what they call the Amityville franchise. Amityville II: The Possession, which was way back in the early '80s. Kind of adapted the DeFeo story but then you see them bringing the make believe trying to sensationalize it for everyone. Then there is the exorcism at the end and insanely active haunts.

Yeah. Not exactly realistic.

It was a movie of that generation where the devil was a really free in American; it was like he was haunting all of us. The Amityville movies, The Omen, The Exorcist, all of those things that scared us so much.

Indeed.

I wanted to kind of do away with all the Catholic frills. I didn't want a priest showing up at some point to exorcise the house. All of that kind of stuff. I wanted to focus more on this idea that has three different parts to it. One being that Butch Defeo [John Robinson] was this young man who lived under the iron fist  of his very controlling and an abusive father.

But also this dynamic where Butch being a greedy kid. He got cars and money and was probably given too much. He is from Brooklyn on Long Island. Kind of a product of the "I want it all!" generation.

The third is what if there has been some kind of dark force within this house that the family believed resided there? There was a lot of talk. To this day people would say things about the house, that they don't necessarily want to say publicly. That people do still think that there is something to the haunted house aspect of it.

Yeah. It's arguably one of the more enduring supernatural tales in American history, no matter what one thinks regarding the veracity of  the Lutz family claims at 112 Ocean Avenue.

So as the movie goes on it becomes more and more focused from Butch's point of view. So you're never quite sure, and I don't want the audience to be quite sure of whether or not this is really happening or is he losing his mind essentially. So I wanted the paranormal in the movie to be ambiguous: is it figments of his imagination, ramblings of a very disorganized mind…

Either influenced by drugs or obviously the other mental issues going on in the household. But I did borrow… and  filled in some missed pieces from my researching the story. There is a lot of that too.

(L-R) Paul Ben-Victor as Ronnie DeFeo, Diane Franklin as Louise DeFeo, Kue Lawrence as Jody DeFeo, Zane Austin as Marc DeFeo, and Noa Brenner as Allison DeFeo in the “THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS” a horror film by Skyline Entertainment. Photo courtesy of Skyline Entertainment.

Oh, absolutely. That actually was a question I had… What were the challenges like, and the one that I would be particularly curious about, what are the ethical challenges like when you're doing something based on a true story?

Always a tough line. You want to be respectful, but at the same time film in an art form. You are telling a story that is meant to be seen in a dark theater or on Netflix.

That movie is the type that has to have a structure and it has to have momentum and it has to have that "Boo!" moment. And it has to do what a movie of that type does.

Right.

You know I did also want to be careful about not going too far in any one direction. And just sort of… I didn't want to exonerate Butch DeFeo, and make him out to be a victim. He was a perpetrator for sure.

Yeah. I didn't think you portrayed him as a victim here.

I also don't like the fact that Dawn [Chelsea Ricketts in The Amityville Murders], his oldest sister, has gotten some bad press over the years because of him saying that he theorizes, you know he comes up with all these different theories from his prison cell – he sits there to this day saying who did it, he did it, they did it, everybody else did it. He didn't do it.

The one theory he kind of sticks to is that-was the one where he said that Dawn had been the one that committed the murders and he killed her in self-defense. But I have looked at the crime scene photos, and there was hardly a struggle. She was in a night gown. She was tucked into her bed… You know I don't see that that was the case. And I don't think any serious investigator would ever give that much credibility to him.

Agreed completely.

In a way I wanted to show the family as being a loving family, but who were living under extreme conditions with a father that's just tyrannical in many ways. He abused the mother, children and certainly Butch was the focus of a lot of his wrath… Butch would leave and dad would bring him back. It was this see-saw thing going on. I thought of the whole thing like more of a Greek tragedy more than a standard horror film.

It really was more of that Greek Tragedy-tinged kind of psychodrama than your usual horror fare.

…Just thinking about the crime, I think, for me like most people, what sticks out the most is that nobody heard the report of the 30-30 rifle that night.

I know.

That is such a loud gun. It’s report is actually louder than a jet engine at takeoff.

Yeah, oh my god it's a hunting rifle. It would've been heard a mile in every direction. And it wasn't, Listen, I'm sorry, if I am asleep in the dead of the night and I hear several gun shots going off in my house, I'm gonna jump out the window.

Yeah, oh yeah.

I don't know how that could even happen. They weren't drugged. There was no silencer piece – that was all proven in the trial. Even the investigators, they couldn't explain it. Why did no one in the neighborhood – it wasn't like in the movies where the house was kind of off on its own on a lake. This house is built right next to all the other houses quiet literally in this bedroom community. How would the neighbor on either side of the street not hear gunshots?

Oh absolutely.

Doesn't make sense.

That probably is one of the elements that made me think, maybe there is something more to that dark energy throughout the story. Who knows? I don't think we will ever know because only Butch Defeo is alive to talk about it and he is never going to tell the truth.

Chelsea Ricketts as Dawn DeFeo in the “THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS” a horror film by Skyline Entertainment. Photo courtesy of Skyline Entertainment.

I think you're right on that, sadly. Switching gears just a bit to a question I like to ask everybody, slightly modified for you. What makes great horror?

I think it's that primal fear of death.

We fear the unknown; we fear the thing in the closet, that thing in the darkness. But we also fear what's in ourselves and the potential we all have for doing something unthinkable and not being able to take it back. I don't think it's monsters, I think it's what's in us and the potential we all have for evil. I think that's what's scary about it, is that we can all look at moments in our lives where we may not have been good or something has driven us... Just little things that people do to get back at each other.

Very true.

Look at social media, in some ways it's just a platform for people who are angry to vent that anger. And that has resulted in real violence, in the real world. That scares me more than anything. Our inability to connect with each other.

That's very well said, most definitely. And like you were talking about the sensory ambiguity in your movie, that really hit me too. That's one thing I always love in a horror movie – when the ambiguity is done right. Like The Shining, for instance, I think does it pretty well too. I’ve actually written about that aspect of Kubrick’s movie before.

Right, oh gosh. To even be compared to that would be. But that is just the perfect way. Because Jack as a character is so, he is troubled but he's still sane at the start. Then there this influence of this location that brings out the madness in him. I think there is a similar trajectory if you want to call it that, to the Amityville story and what happened with Ronald DeFeo – at least my depiction of that story.

I hadn't thought of that. That's a good point.

Definitely well done in your movie too. Both of them. Its kind of –

Much lower budget but we tried [Laughs]

[Laughs]

...and I have to give a lot of credit to my production designer [Billy Jett] on the movie who just pulled out so many different little miracles for me. I mean he trotted in a house in Los Angeles – he found that Dutch Colonial, which is rare to find in L.A.

I imagine. Wow.

They transformed the interior of that house to look like the 1974 DeFeo house. We had the crime scene  photos as reference: from the red tacky carpet going up the stairs, to the tackier gold and purple curtains at the top of the stairs. We even replicated the family portraits that were hung on the stairwell.

I love that attention to detail.

The cast was posed exactly as the family did in those portraits and it was really something. We even created the foyer tile to be exactly the way it was in the house back when the DeFeo's lived there. There were a lot of little touches that you find really interesting, then you start to feel like, oh my god this is where the lights were. We are set in a certain way from midnight so you really get that energy of what that house must have felt like back then.

That sort of thing – and how it relates to mise-en-scéne – is always crucial for me in order to suspend my disbelief and properly get into a movie.

John Robinson as Butch DeFeo in the “THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS” a horror film by Skyline Entertainment. Photo courtesy of Skyline Entertainment.

Let's see, another one I would like to ask everybody. What directors and films would you consider most influential on you as an artist?

Another big question… [Laughs]

[Laughs] it is…

…that's a great question.

I was such a John Carpenter fan as a young person. I try to emulate his movies; but my first big break came when I was 25 and I was hired to write Halloween 6. So that to me was, I felt like I had gotten the golden goose right away. But I had gotten that job because I was such a fan of Carpenter's work and of Halloween in particular. So I would have to certainly say John Carpenter.

Nice.

I would certainly think George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Scorsese, William Friedkin – oh my gosh, I could go on and on. Certainly let me mention Stanley Kubrick. All great, great film makers, I hold them very high. My admiration of their talent.

Fantastic list there. You know I didn't realize until I was doing a little bit of research on you the other night that you had also wrote The Girl Next Door, based on Jack Ketchum's book of the same name. I remember first seeing it in college – actually renting it from the video store. Damn that's a profound piece of horror – so sad and so true.

So traumatic. Yet another one based on a true story. With the Sylvia Likens case – oh gosh, just monstrous. It's one that I really can't revisit…

I don't blame you one bit Dan.

…that's just one in my list of films that I have been involved with. I appreciate what the movie was. I appreciate the work that went into it. But it's so difficult in knowing that happened and continues to happen. Just last week there was story of a little boy that was starved to death by his parents. Forced to live in a cellar.

Absolutely disgusting. They withheld food as a form of punishment. They were sentenced to 25 years (the husband) and 20 years (the wife).

The Girl Next Door is one I would hesitate to recommend to our readers. Not because it's a bad movie – it isn't, it's a fine film – but because it is that extreme and unsettling in its story – and I'm the type who has a high shock threshold. It takes a lot in a movie to really disturb me. "Watch it only if you have a strong constitution" is usually the position I fall back on with it.

You know its stuff like that that's just the stuff that keeps you up at night. That I can't reconcile how that kind of human cruelty even exists. The children and animals…

Absolutely.

At heart despite the movies I make, I'm a cry baby I think. I have to say and I think that those are the things that upset me and define me in a way. I think by me telling some of these stories, it exercises a little bit of that sadness that I feel. For stories when you hear and when you read of these things. But that one really gets you on a really deep level.

Absolutely. The catharsis.

It's just horror beyond imagination, it really is.

Definitely.

We are actually at the last question. Which is, what's next for you?

Oh gosh, you're killing me. [Laughs]

[Laughs]

After this we have… I did a film last year that's coming out the end of April that's called The Haunting of Sharon Tate. Which has already become kind of controversial because of the title. It's because people don't know what the movie is yet, and I hope that they go in with an open mind. I didn't make a movie to exploit the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends.

From our chat now I can't imagine you doing that either Dan.

That is the last thing in the world I would want to do or ever put my name on. If fact what I wanted to do was give that story a twist so that the victims of that horrific crime were actually given a fighting chance. So I kind of rewrite history a bit in a way that keeps it interesting and then empowering.

…I can't wait for that one. It being 50 years since the crime too.

It's going to be amazing, everyone involved in that film did it with so much care and respect especially for Sharon Tate and her friends who were butchered at the hands of this horrific cult. I don't even give them names in the movie, I don't even look at them as people. I look at them as phantoms or boogie men. Charles Manson is not even a character in the film so they're just not people to me. The only human beings are Sharon Tate and her friends, and that's the way I want them remembered.

Hilary Duff as Sharon Tate in the forthcoming THE HAUNTING OF SHARON TATE.

THE AMITYVILLE MURDERS trailer.

THE HAUNTING OF SHARON TATE trailer.

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (2007) trailer.

HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1995) trailer.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2tnuBfY

[hotspotsmagazine]

It’s Not Over Till It’s Over: Sean Hayes Talks ‘Will & Grace’

Where would our queer world be without Will & Grace?

That’s where my head was just before Sean Hayes phoned, recalling my lonely teen years, when gay white men on TV alone — here’s to evolved representation! — was unprecedented and life-changing for people like 15-year-old, closeted me.

It’s not enough, then, to say Hayes, 48, portrays Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom, because some roles become legend, upstaging even the actor giving him life. Jack is one such character.

And so, a call from Hayes is like being a kid and spotting your fifth-grade teacher at the grocery store: It doesn’t quite feel real. And yet Hayes is a real man with a real life and even a real husband, music producer Scott Icenogle. But to the late-’90s TV landscape, it was the actor’s half-fiction as Jack and his exploding-rainbow persona that cut through heteronormative programming with gay jokes even your grandma could get down with.

And then, there’s Karen.

You obviously don’t need me to needlessly ramble on about Jack’s socialite best friend (played by Megan Mullally), who never met a martini she didn’t like. You know her, you love her. And together they truly make all of our friends out to be absolute fucking bores. The sitcom’s recent revival reinstated #friendshipgoals when the snarky pals, along with titular housemates Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing), came swishing back to NBC in September 2017 for a ninth season after ending its initial 1998–2006 run.

Hayes isn’t Jack, exactly. But you might be fooled if he called you, too. His usually-unflashy voice sometimes picks up wind and takes on the kind of rapid-fire cadence his famous Cher-worshiping alter ego is known for. With Season 10 premiering October 4 and Season 9 now available on DVD and digital, I caught up with Hayes to talk about those who’ve long criticized Jack for being “stereotypically” gay, the history of the legendary Karen-Jack slap fights, and who helped him be OK with being gay.

It’s hard to put into words exactly what it feels like to talk to the man who gave me such an iconic gay character when I needed it most.

Oh my god. That’s so sweet. I really appreciate that. And you just answered the reason why when people ask me what’s the best part about playing it — that’s the best part.

Is it?

One-hundred percent.

When did you first realize Will & Grace had impacted the LGBTQ community the way it has?

Just a couple of weeks ago! [Laughs.] No, I’m joking. You know what’s so funny — first of all, you have no idea how much that means to me, you saying how much I mean to you. It means equally as much to me, so thank you.

So when did I know I had an impact? I think when I was young and doing the show I was so wrapped up in myself, in acting, in getting the part: “Am I going to get fired? Am I gonna learn my lines?” I was just happy to have a job.

It’s such a fascinating thing to discuss, and I’m so glad you asked. I felt normal growing up, so when I got a job, playing a gay character on a television sitcom I just thought, “Oh, I just have to be me, kind of, a heightened version of myself.” I didn’t think it would have that much of an impact because of the bubble I grew up in. I surround myself with people who are accepting of me, so naively I was like, “The rest of the world must be OK with it.”

I mean, I knew the stories [about homophobia] out there. I grew up and knew [being gay] wasn’t accepted, but I just didn’t think on any big level it was any big deal. So, that gave me the confidence to play Jack as outrageously as I could because, again, I’m surrounded by writers and actors — everybody else — who embrace this, so I felt loved, I felt supported and I felt confidence. So, I wasn’t heading to work thinking about how this is going to affect anybody.

[That] was a wonderful byproduct later, and I was like, “Oh, ohh!” And once it started, and all the press and blah blah blah, and we never got any backlash for being political in that sense, meaning how they politicized gay people, which is wrong. That’s another interview.

WILL & GRACE — “The Wedding” Episode 110 – Pictured: (l-r) Eric McCormack as Will Truman, Debra Messing as Grace Adler, Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)

Over the years, people have criticized Jack for being “flamboyant.” How aware were you of that concern when the show returned for its revival season?

Oh, I never heard that. This is the first time hearing it. So, you’re saying people were worried, but I was playing him — I call it “outrageous” because “flamboyant” means a certain type of gay person, I think, and that’s another conversation to have. I was playing him as outrageously as I was before. So, people were concerned that I was playing him a certain way?

People wondered if Jack was too stereotypical for TV in 2018 and expressed some concern over what the straight community might think of us.

I think that’s [internalized] homophobia. Because I know people like Jack, because one part of me is like Jack, and so if you’re saying people in the gay community were concerned that I was playing Jack a certain way and people would “worry” that gay people act like that, they do act like that. And there’s people who act like Will. There are people on all spectrums of human behavior in the gay community, just like there are people on all spectrums of human behavior in the straight community, so I nix that, and I say “bye” to that — I say, “Bye, Felicia!” — because that doesn’t make any sense to me.

Similarly, the character of Cam on Modern Family was criticized for being an over-the-top and exaggerated version of what a gay person is. And I’m like, what exactly is a gay person supposed to be in 1998 or 2018?

Yeah, exactly. What are they supposed to be? And by the way, they are exaggerated, some of them. And so are straight people. Look at Jim Carrey, look at Robin Williams. There are lots of straight people who are exaggerated as well. I hate that argument — no, I’m glad you brought it up. I’m just saying I love talking about it, because it’s ridiculous.

As a kid coming to terms with being gay, who was your person?

If you’re talking about a famous person, Andy Bell [of Erasure]. Because I was in college and I was 17, 18, and I was shocked that somebody was out and proud, making a living in the arts or in pop culture by being who they are and not apologizing for it. I thought that was mind-blowing. “A Little Respect” was the No. 1 song on the radio, and I was like, “Wait, the guy is gay, and everybody is OK with that?”

The truth is, not a lot of people knew [Bell was gay] because we didn’t have the internet. But I knew, and all my gay friends knew. And I was like, “That’s amazing.” So that was inspiring to me, that you could be gay and make a living by singing, acting, whatever.

What has it been like to be a part of a show that has existed during two very different times, culturally and politically, for the LGBTQ community?

First, I feel very fortunate and lucky to be part of the chorus of the movement. I may not be a single voice, but I’m enjoying being a part of the chorus. And I think we’re lucky to have the voice and the representation for people to talk about it again, because I don’t think it should ever stop being talked about because everything is not OK. There are still gay kids being bullied. Look at that [gay] couple [that was assaulted] in Florida in the bathroom during [Miami Beach Gay] Pride. It just doesn’t end. The hate doesn’t end overnight.

So, we have to keep doing things, and again, my contribution may not be as an activist, because I just don’t feel comfortable doing that, it’s not who I am. It’s not in my blood, it’s not in my DNA to stand at a podium and speak in sound bites about how we need to prevail over the government and the system. I leave that to people who are good at it — I’m not good at it.

What I’m good at is being comfortable in my own skin and showing people that I have a husband, and we make stupid Facebook videos and try to show people that we’re as normal as any other human. I try to do my best at that.

So, I’m happy the show is back because there’s still tons of work to do. The power of comedy is so incredible; that’s why we broke so many boundaries the first time. And hopefully we can continue to do that.

Megan Mullally has said that you’re her “second husband,” after her real husband, Nick Offerman. How does your chemistry with Megan after all these years compare to the first time that you stepped onto set and shot the pilot?

It’s so funny that she calls me her second husband because Nick and I were born on the exact same day, same year, about 30 miles apart. Isn’t that hilarious?

But it’s like working with your sister. There’s a shorthand that nobody else would understand. So, it’s like, “I’m gonna do this,” and she’s like, “I’m gonna do that,” and then we just do it together. And there it is. So, we now know how to cut through all the stuff that you need to [cut through] to get to a comedic moment in a scene. And that’s what’s great about all this time that’s passed: I understand her, she understands me, we understand each other, so the chemistry has only gotten hotter.

Tell me the history of the slap fights between Karen and Jack.

There’s an episode called “Coffee and Commitment,” where Jack is trying to get off of coffee and Karen’s trying to quit alcohol. That was the first time we slapped each other. On paper, it was just, “Karen slaps Jack, Jack slaps Karen.” But of course, [Will & Grace Director] Jimmy Burrows, who is incredible at physical comedy, said, “Let’s make a dance out of this.”

So, we rehearsed the rhythm of it. I think that’s what makes you laugh — that’s what makes me laugh: the pauses and then the slapping again and then the pause and the slap-slap. It’s music, so you have to rehearse the beats and the rhythms in order to get that. [Laughs.] It makes me laugh even thinking about it.

What do you envision for Jack’s future?

Well, I don’t want him to change too much because our friends are our friends from high school because they never change, right? Maybe get married, but still remain Jack somehow, or find a long-term relationship. Or maybe — maybe! — there’s someone close in his own life that might be a suitable partner for life. Who knows?

Will?

I have no idea.

Could you see them together?

Could I see Will and Jack together? Maybe!

You’ve said you want to see him with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Just so you know, I’m here for it.

I think that would be a hilarious episode, and I hope Dwayne comes to his senses and comes to the Will & Grace [set] to play and have a good time.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/07/12/its-not-over-till-its-over-sean-hayes-talks-will-grace/