#in every season the sixth episode is the most iconic
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School Hard is, in retrospect, one of the pivotal episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In this episode, Buffy is trapped in Sunnydale High School, forced to confront one of the most significant villains the show has yet introduced; one of the most iconic and memorable of the show’s seven seasons. Somebody who, the first time he speaks to Buffy this episode, casually threatens to kill her and walks away without so much as a scratch. Somebody who we’re meant to see as an altogether different proposition than his Season 1 predecessors. Somebody whose attempts to destroy Buffy this time around are only foiled thanks to unexpected support from her mother, leaving him free to try again and again for the rest of the season.
A villain who, unlike Luke and the Annointed One and all the other Season 1 monsters of the week, actually seems to be having fun while he does his best to ruin Buffy’s life and inflict misery and torture on the population of Sunnydale. Somebody who relishes in inflicting pretty cruelty. Somebody who was originally intended to be killed off after only a few appearances, but who – thanks in no small part to his performance in episodes like this one – will instead continue to appear on the show for years to come. A character it is impossible to imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer without.
I am, of course, talking about Principal Snyder.
(Also there are some new vampires in town this episode I guess but whatever. This post isn’t about them.)
I didn’t talk about him much during my Season 1 rewatch, but I really enjoy Principal Snyder as an antagonist. I think he might actually be one of my favorite minor characters. He’s incredibly well realized from his first appearance in The Puppet Show: instantly this note perfect pastiche of a self-important petty little bully with just barely enough power to be really dangerous. The show uses him as a contrast to the other adults in Buffy’s life (Giles, Joyce) to such good effect (especially at the beginning of Season 3). And Armin Shimerman is fantastic in the role: you can see why the writers gave up on their initial idea of Sunnydale High having a whole string of different principals who got killed off every few episodes.
He’s such a well done comic character too: funny, but never slipping up and giving the impression of being in on the joke. We’re only seven episodes in, and we’ve already gotten gems like “I can smell trouble – it’s like a sixth sense.” and “What are you, ghouls? There are no dead students here. This week.”. All delivered with this perfect growling sneer and no acknowledgement at all that what he’s saying is ridiculous.
He’s just fun, in a way that I really don’t think any of Buffy’s other non-supernatural antagonists are. Yes, Buffy will continue to find the non-supernatural parts of her life hard after high school, but it’s all so impersonal after this. Other than Maggie Walsh (who is really part of the supernatural world anyway, as head of the Initiative, so barely counts), none of the bad professors she has to deal with in college are recurring characters. Neither is her bank manager, or her boss at the Doublemeat Palace, or Dawn’s security worker. (Okay, very technically her second manager at the DMP is recurring, but you know what I mean.)
Of course, being a Slayer still causes Buffy problems in her day to day life, but for whatever reason – I don’t know if it was a deliberate choice or just a result of the later seasons becoming increasingly serialized and story-arc focused - the show becomes less and less concerned with showing us that everyday life. (Is Parker the last recurring character of any importance who never finds out that Buffy is the Slayer?) And when Buffy goes back to work at the high school in Season 7, everything’s so tied up with her being the Slayer that we just don’t get the same juggling-two-lives thing anymore.
And ... well, I guess Buffy doesn't miss Snyder. I can hardly blame her. But I do.
#btvs#buffy rewatch 2023#principal snyder#they should've made Lorraine Ross a proper recurring character is what I think I'm saying here#(and the fact you had to google that name is proof that they didn't)
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TV Tag Game!
— list 8 shows for your followers to get to know you better. tagged by @abliafina-18782 thank you my lovely!! 💕
No one judge my list. I'm a gay depressed ND british person who's really a grandma in the body of a 22 yr old.
1. Downton Abbey
This is my most rewatched show. I can quote it all in my sleep. No more needs to be said.
2. Midsomer Murders
Also heavily rewatched. If it's on on the TV, my friends do a game where they see how long it takes for me to guess what episode it is. Shortest time has been a few seconds, longest time a minute. It has over 22 seasons and I know all the episodes so well.
3. BBC Merlin
What's not to fucking love? Gay, fantasy, swords, humour... perfection. Apart from the last episode... we don't talk about the last episode.
4. Star Trek - The Original Series
This was a big part of my childhood cause my mum is a huge Trekkie, but it was also on the TV every night at 6pm during sixth form. Which became a ritual and an emotional support crutch. Didn't matter what happened during the day - tos would be on the TV at 6pm and everything would be fine.
5. BBC Miranda
I don't need to say anything else apart from: look at the gif. Of course I have an emotional connection to this show.
6. The Vicar of Dibley
Similar to the caption for Miranda... the gif speaks volumes... I also listen to this to go to sleep.
7. The Good Life
Now this is a British sit com from the 70s, based around a man and his wife who live in the posh suburbs of London. One day he decides to quit his corporate job and become self-sufficient, so he and his wife turn their garden into a farm with crops and animals and it's just carnage. They live next door to an uptight posh woman (right in the gif) who's very disapproving and her husband who is Done™ with life. I can't explain it well but it's funny and very entertaining.
8. Dance Moms
Can't believe I'm putting a reality TV show on this list but it's iconic. It's really familiar so I like rewatching random episodes and watching clips on YouTube. I just find it entertaining.
No pressure tags: @unmistakablyunknown @derpinathebrave @ladymarycrawley @foreverralways @babygirllinds
#tag game#downton abbey#midsomer murders#bbc merlin#star trek the original series#bbc miranda#the vicar of dibley#the good life#dance moms#anna stuff
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Meaning/references behind every Gilmore Girls episode title - Season 3, Part 1
Hi friends! It's been a minute since my last installment in this little series I've been working on. I'm trying to make a definitive, clear, concise list of the meanings and references behind each episode title. I'm going season-by-season and filling in references when I catch them.
Some titles are quite obvious and literal, but many are clever references that emphasize themes and symbolism happening in the plot or character relationships. I like trying to figure them all out and wanted to share in case I have some wrong or people have caught references I've missed or didn't know writers may have spoken about, etc. ASP has such a deep well of pop culture knowledge, I enjoy mining it.
Masterlist:
Season 1
Season 2, Part 1
Season 2, Part 2
Season 3, Part 1
Season 3, Part 2
My notes:
- As always, please correct anything I've gotten wrong and share your own insight!
- Many of these notes are pulled from and/or learned via annotatedgilmoregirls.com - an absolute icon! I claim no author originality. I'm just the one to compile/edit them. :)
- Season 3 marks the first season that pulls literal quotes from episodes for some of the titles. That was never done in S1-2 at all and 5 times in S3!
Season 3, Part 1
Those Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days
Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer is a popular song composed by Hans Carste. It was originally written as "Du spielst 'ne tolle Rolle", with German lyrics by Hans Bradtke, and was first recorded under that title in 1962 by Willy Hagara. In 1963, it was recorded by Nat King Cole, with English lyrics written by Charles Tobias on a theme of nostalgia. The song serves as inspiration for and the soundtrack to Taylor’s First Annual Stars Hollow End of Summer Madness Festival. In keeping with the theme of madness, a barbershop quartet sings this song on a sanity-eroding permanent loop at the festival. It is performed by Mick Foster and Tony Allen in the show.
Haunted Leg
Lorelai catches a cold and wishes for a more exotic illness. “I mean, I’d like to have a good illness, something different, impressive. Just once I’d like to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not feeling so good, my leg is haunted.’”
Application Anxiety
Rory has some reality checks and fears about her college application process as she finally receives her Harvard application. Lorelai uses the phrase when telling Rory about the Harvard alumni visit.
This One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes
The title is a reference to a line from a campy classic film trailer for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (a 1969 spy film and the sixth in the James Bond series), introducing Bond’s love interest (Teresa "Tracy" Bond, born Teresa "Tracy" Draco, and also known as the Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo) with the line “Diana Rigg as the Contessa - the different kind of Bond woman. This one’s got class and style.” Tracy is the girl Bond falls in love with and marries (technically he first marries in You Only Live Twice, but as an undercover ploy). She’s the first Bond girl to really show bravery, intelligence, and talent in her own right. She’s also the first to rescue Bond himself.
“This one’s got class” has taken on a life of its own as a colloquialism to describe a version of something that’s the best of its kind - a high rating based on grade, quality and perceived worth.
Although the title of this episode is ostensibly about the two different plots – Lorelai has to give a talk to a “class” while Lane “dyes” her hair – knowing this context, we know it mostly alludes to Rory seeing herself as the girl with “class”, while in comparison Shane is the one who dyes her hair platinum blonde and engages in PDA, meaning that she isn’t as “classy”. Quite possibly the most literal “not like the other girls” allusion in the show.
Eight O'Clock at the Oasis
Midnight at the Oasis is a song written by David Nichtern. It was recorded in 1973 by American folk and blues singer Maria Muldaur for her self-titled album and is her best-known recording. The song is about an offer of a love affair in a fantasy desert location, and is considered to be one of the most sensual songs of the 1970s. It’s the song that plays as an alarm when Rory looks at the clock (reading eight o’clock) at Dwight’s house, which of course he nicknames “The Oasis”.
Take the Deviled Eggs...
Sherry pressures Lorelai and Rory to take leftover deviled eggs home after her baby shower. Lorelai rants on the way home: “’Take the deviled eggs!’ How many times did the woman say it? And then her drunken friends hear it and they’re all shouting, ‘Take the deviled eggs!’”
Could possibly be referencing other turns of phrase involving taking a kind of food item. “Take the biscuit” is a British idiom meaning to be especially annoying or surprising or to be the worst or best of its kind. Similarly, to “take the cake” means to have ranked first, typically used to describe something that is very surprising, foolish, remarkable, or annoying. Both of these would describe Sherry’s baby shower. Perhaps even “take the mickey” or “take the piss”, British euphemisms for making fun of someone. “Mickey” is slang for “micturate” which means to urinate.
Of course, the girls do in fact take the deviled eggs and end up throwing them at Jess’s car.
They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?
The title is a reference to the 1969 psychological drama film, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, directed by Sydney Pollack and based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Horace McCoy.
Set during The Great Depression, the film focuses on a group of people desperate to win a dance marathon where they are ruthlessly exploited, and stars Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, and Susannah York. The title comes from the fact that race horses are often shot once they break their legs to put them out of their misery. The film was a commercial success, and is regarded as one of the best films of its era.
As in the film, this episode is about a dance marathon - although it isn’t nearly as dramatic as the one in the film.
Let the Games Begin
The ancient Olympic Games were first opened in 776 BC with the announcement: “Let the games begin!” In this episode, the “game” that’s beginning refers to both Jess and Rory’s new relationship and Rory starting to consider Yale over Harvard. Lorelai says the phrase before Richard and Emily pick them up to visit Yale.
Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving
Lorelai and Rory endeavor to attend four different Thanksgiving meals in one day, including Sookie’s which ends up being a deep fried fest thanks to Jackson’s family and the Kims’ which of course has some Korean flair.
That'll Do, Pig
During Trix’s visit to the Independence Inn, Emily begins to eat her food very slowly, resenting how quickly Trix wants to rush them along according to her schedule. Lorelai quips: “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.” which is a quote from Babe, a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Chris Noonan, produced by George Miller, and written by both, based on the 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, by Dick King-Smith. In the film, a grateful misty-eyed Farmer Hoggett says this line to the pig Babe after he has, against all odds, won a sheepdog trial, despite not being a dog. One of the most understated last lines in film history, it’s a dignified, restrained way for Lorelai to say Emily is doing very well provoking Trix.
I Solemnly Swear
Lorelai is asked to give a deposition in support of Emily’s case against Gerta, her unfairly dismissed German maid. This is where the title presumably comes from, because “I solemnly swear” is how an oath to tell the truth taken in legal contexts begins.
Meanwhile, Rory (the current student council vice president) deals with political drama at school between student council president Paris and senior class president Francie. A president’s oath of office also begins with “I solemnly swear.”
#gilmore girls#my gg brainworms#lorelai gilmore#rory gilmore#gilmore girls season 3#jess mariano#gg episode titles explained
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9-1-1 REACTION
This reaction is for the season 6, sixth episode "Tomorrow" which originally aired on October 24, 2022. The episode was written by Nicole Barraza Keim and directed by Joaquin Sedillo. Spoilers ahead!
We are officially a third of the way through this season and I must say, I am really enjoying 9-1-1. Every episode this season, so far, has been a perfect balance of thrilling emergency sequences and checking in on our main characters and their families. This week's episode is one of the best of the series and that's saying a lot because there are so many episodes of this show that are currently sitting on my list of favorites. The episode felt very reminiscent of the 9-1-1: Lone Star episode "Saving Grace" where we got to see how Judd (Jim Parrack) and Grace (Sierra McClain) got together. I left that episode loving those characters and their relationship even more and that's how I feel about a certain couple who were the primary focus of this week's episode of the OG series.
"Tomorrow" isn't technically a "Begins" episode but it certainly feels like one. We start off in 2010 and see Hen and Karen meet for the first time at a bar. Karen, who is rocking some long, curly black hair instead of her iconic dreds, is going on and on about her job while Hen looks absolutely bored. This version of Hen is a bit standoffish towards Karen which was quite jarring to see but it sort of made sense when you realize she had just broken up with Eva (good riddance). What I liked most about the scene was the twist I didn't see coming. Karen assumed Hen was her blind date that her neighbor set her up with while Hen only showed up because she believed she was meeting up with Chimney. As it turns out, Chimney is Karen's neighbor and it was his idea to hook the two of them up. This is so fascinating to me because I'd always assumed Hen met Karen on her own. I do find it interesting that Tommy Vega on Lone Star was the reason Judd and Grace got together and now we're learning that Chimney's the reason Hen and Karen are together. Apparently paramedics make great matchmakers.
We get flashbacks of their romance scattered throughout the episode and we get a lot of info about Hen and Karen that informs their relationship in the present day. We saw in "Hen Begins" just how hard things were for Hen being a black lesbian. Karen has similar challenges in her own career but the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell has her hopeful about the future. Hen's inability to cut ties with her ex, Eva, causes major issues in their relationship and when Hen suggests that she and Karen take in Eva's unborn son, Karen puts her foot down and says no. This leads to the two of them having a brief separation.
Knowing how much Karen has grown to love Denny in the present makes it hard to believe that she was so against taking him in when Eva went away to prison, but I totally understand where Karen was coming from and Hen was definitely wrong asking her to do so, especially knowing how insecure Karen was when it came to Eva. Just when it's looking like Hen and Karen are going to call it quits, Chimney steps in again and gets them back together by spilling the beans on Hen's accident she had on the job. When Karen left the airport and went to see Hen, I thought to myself, Hen, if you don't take Karen back, you're an idiot. Hen tries to get Karen to go away when she stops by to see her, but Karen remains steadfast in her love for this woman. She refuses to leave her side, not again, and she has stood by Hen through thick and then. Karen ultimately accepts Denny coming to live with her and Hen and becomes more of a mother to him than Eva ever could. The three of them become a family and even though there would be problems between the two of them going forward, it is so clear that they are each other's happy endings.
Back in the present, Hen is still getting used to life as a civilian. Last episode she left the 118 so she could begin her third year of medical school. It finally seems like Hen has everything she has ever wanted but she still hasn't turned in her resignation papers to Bobby yet. Meanwhile, Denny is tagging along with Karen to work for a school project. When they arrive at work, she takes him to her office and her assistant Zainab (Krishna Smitha) offers to give him a tour of the premises.
It was fun to see Karen in her element. We're so used to seeing Hen save the day, but Karen is saving the day in her own special way. She has several subordinates working for her, and while I don't exactly understand much of the science chatter they were having, what I did understand was that something really bad happened in the laboratory they were in which resulted in an explosion.
Because Denny was on the phone with Hen when the explosion happened, Hen arrives at the same time the 118 does. Hen tries to go into the building but Bobby reminds her of her civilian status. He assures her he will get Karen out safely. Inside the building there's a lot of fire and smoke and one of Karen's employee's is dead. Eddie tells us that his brain matter is on the floor which thankfully we didn't have to see. Bobby, Chimney, Buck, and Eddie find the rest of Karen's team, including Karen, and they are able to get them out of the building. Karen is able to walk out of the building on her own accord but once the adrenaline slows down, she collapses on the ground next to Hen and Denny. There's a piece of shrapnel lodged in her side.
Hen rides with Karen to the hospital and when she codes, Hen tries her best to resuscitate her. This scene was very reminiscent of the episode where the older woman nearly died after giving birth. Thankfully, Hen is able to get Karen back to breathing and after they arrive at the hospital, Karen is taken into surgery where she has her spleen removed.
Karen comes home some days later to recover and that's when Hen lets her know that she's decided to go back to the 118. Karen is shocked by this news and asks her wife if she is sure about her decision. Hen recalls the visit she received from social worker Diedra (Andi Chapman) earlier in the episode and tells Karen that she doesn't want to miss out on anything important. If she were to continue with medical school, she would be missing out on Denny growing up and not being able to foster kids. She would also be losing out on her other family - the 118. Hen is confident she has made the right decision and at the end of the episode we see her, Karen, and Denny embrace.
I am so glad we didn't lose Karen. Even though Karen isn't a firefighter or paramedic or cop or 9-1-1 dispatch, she is such a vital part of this show. She's been there from the very beginning and I can't imagine the show without her. She is such a great mother to Denny and partner to Hen. No one rides harder for Hen Wilson than Karen, except maybe Chimney. Oh, and Athena definitely is up there, too. Most importantly, I hope whoever watched this episode realized that families come in all shapes and sizes. Hen and Karen aren't what many would call a "traditional" family but this episode proves they don't have to be. What I love most about 9-1-1 is how it's constantly redefining what it means to be a family. A family can be a woman, her gay, ex-husband, her new husband, and their two kids. A family can be a widowed dad, his special needs kid, and his best friend. A family can be two people co-parenting their child. A family can be two women and their adoptive child and their foster kids. Hen and Karen are such an inspiration and I love that this episode served as a love letter to the two of them. What a great episode in a series of great episodes. I cannot wait to see what happens next with the 118, especially now that Hen is back. Until next time ...
#tv reaction#blw reactions#911#fox 911#hen wilson#karen wilson#hen x karen#911 season 6#athena grant#bobby nash#eddie diaz#chimney han#evan buck buckley
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New Test Muse
Name: Kenneth Andrew James McCormick
Nickame: Ken, Kenny
Age: 20 / Height: 5′2″
Sexuality: Panro
note(s): @nurturing-starlight was who gave me my icons. I cannot be assed to watch the show (I dislike the art style & I dislike satire) so Kenny may end up OOC. I have however, studied the wikia extensively.
Kenny McCormick is best known in the show for his recurring death in nearly every episode of the first five seasons, often followed by some variant of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" and "You bastards!" from his friends Stan and Kyle, respectively. The gag has many precedents, going back at least as far as the regular cry, "You rotten swine! You've deaded me!" by Bluebottle voiced by Peter Sellers in "The Goon Show" in 1951. In the first few episodes, Kyle said the entire phrase. Later on, it varied, depending on who killed Kenny.
Kenny has died and come back over 103 times in the franchise (86 in the series, to date, two in the early animated shorts, six in other authorized TV parodies, six times in the video game, and twice in the movie).
He has also been killed nine different ways in the opening sequence. Kenny's most recent death was in Season Fifteen episode, "The Poor Kid" when he is mauled by a Giant Reptilian Bird. Kenny died in almost all the episodes until the writers killed him off permanently in the fifth season, in "Kenny Dies", but he returned at the end of the next season's finale, "Red Sleigh Down", remarking that he has "just been over there" (pointing off-screen).
Although he does not appear in "A Ladder to Heaven", "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", "The Death Camp of Tolerance", or "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers", he technically is in them, as Cartman mixed his ashes with milk and drank it, causing his soul to be trapped inside of him. By the sixth season, Matt and Trey got rid of the practice of killing him in every episode; they got tired of the joke. The reason why Kenny died continuously was given in an interview with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who stated vaguely that it was because Kenny is poor. Kenny is always resurrected for the next episode, although the explanations for his reappearance varied. In "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", it is explained that his soul returns to his mother, takes to another body, is reborn, and then grows to be 8 or 9 years old in record time (and somehow retaining physical appearance and memories), while another simply had Kenny magically reappearing out of thin air in the second part of the two-part episode "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" after he was run over by a train in the first. The most recent explanation comes from the episode "Mysterion Rises", in which Kenny himself reveals he is unable to stay dead and always wakes up in bed eventually, while nobody else remembers his death. However, in the next episode, "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", it is confirmed that, while he may wake up in his bed, it is indeed his mother that gives birth to him every time. Kenny's "immortality" may be connected with the Cult of Cthulhu, as Carol mutters under her breath, "I knew we should have never gone to those cult meetings."
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Okay can someone send me a clip of lazlo in the second season episode 7 where he says/semi sings “in New Yooork Citee” and the one where the baron in season one is talking about which people will be slaves and which will be food and he points at people and says “food hehehehe” and does that little mischievous gesture???? Please!!!
#what we do in the shadows#wwdits#the baron#baron afanas#in every season the sixth episode is the most iconic#don’t even try to argue with me#I will stand by it#lazlo cravensworth#I kin the baron#there i said it#I love everytime when Matt berry decides to make lazlo randomly sing thing#jackie daytona#please make a come back#I want more baron#he was controlling that pink car with his mind#no remote in sight#and him on the hellhound was my joker#THE BARON IS MY JOKER
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18 years ago the world was introduced to what would soon become one of the most iconic animated superhero shows of all time. From it's perfect balance of comedy and action to the beautiful chemistry between the characters, Teen Titans is still regarded by fans as one of the greatest animated shows ever made. It's provided so much joy and comfort to millions of people, including me.
I remember being 5 years old watching Teen Titans for the very first time and being instantly drawn to the characters. I remember watching them on my tiny tv screen and seeing a little bit of myself in all of them (especially Starfire). As the seasons progressed and I continued to watch, I started to feel better about myself. I felt less alone and more understood. They weren't real, but I felt like the Titans were actually my friends, people I could always look to for comfort and reassurance.
And that's what makes Teen Titans so special. They feel real. They feel like real teenagers who go through the same things all of us go through while growing up. All of them are so fleshed out with they're own distinct personalities that even though they're superheroes, you can still relate to them in some way.
There's no denying that Teen Titans has left a cultural impact unlike most other cartoons. With it's lovable characters, amazing plot lines and valuable life lessons taught in almost every episode, it's a show that both kids and adults can enjoy. It's beloved by so many people that even today, 18 years after it first aired, fans are still fighting for a sixth season.
Hopefully it happens. I have faith that it will. But until then, lets celebrate Teen Titans for what it was; an incredible, beautiful, well-written series that's inspired and comforted so many people.
Thank you Teen Titans! We love you!
❤️🧡💚💜💙
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Nancy Drew 2x6
As promised I am done with my most stressful finals and am now posting my review albeit two weeks late, and let me say to start off that this episode would have made a fantastic season premiere.
Ghost kiddies: 1
Lamia: 0
Speaking of things I need to get off my chest wow I can’t believe the arraignment for the morgue break in finally happened. I assumed it had happened and she got off, or that everyone just forgot about it but more the fool am I. Because it is back and kicking off our second season.
And for the record as someone who despises insects and all forms of creepy crawlies with a passion this episode was a teensy bit horrific and not in the fun way.
Like I said at the top though, this episode would’ve made an amazing season premiere. It set up a whole bunch of fun new season plot lines in addition to being a killer episode in its own right. For example I’m assuming with Nancy’s 443 hours of community service to go we’ll be seeing more of Connor the Surly Coroner, and what if his flower shop wife works at the place the gang scammed a few weeks ago to get AJ Crane’s address? I mean be real how many flower shops can one small town have.
In other news I continue to yearn for Chief McGinnis to return. Like WHY in the name of all that is holy would you throw away a perfectly good, lovable book character, not to mention Native American rep, in favor of this new asshole that nobody likes? (This is only 10% me being bitter about my Tamura being AJ’s son theory not panning out.) The only (ONLY) upside to Tamura being here is that Nancy and McGinnis were becoming friends, and now we have a very rude cop for Nancy to be sassy to. “Not a real holiday.” “Not a real necktie.”
Speaking of lovable book characters, it causes me pain how Hannah and Nancy’s relationship was like shot in the head and dumped in a ditch. Like must she eternally be at odds with one of her book parental figures? For those of you who don’t know, in the books Hannah Gruen is the Drew’s housekeeper/cook, and a surrogate mother to Nancy. Like I’m thrilled that Nancy and her dad are back on good terms and working their way towards being the iconic father/daughter duo we all know and love, and I understand that Hannah has every right to be furious with Nancy, but the pain is still there.
Moving onto more lighthearted aspects of the episode, I love the balance this show has found between comedy and horror. Riverdale could never. The scene with the five of them in Nancy’s kitchen and the autopsy was comedic gold. Ace and Bess and George, fairly quickly getting on board with it, Nick convinced they all want to send him back to prison in possession of the group’s one brain cell. But then he immediately loses the brain cell because when somebody shows up AT THE FRONT DOOR, NONE OF THEM THINK to hide the body in plain view in the kitchen??? Guys! Oh and that absolutely iconic bit of dialogue: “No, we are not performing an autopsy in your kitchen!” “No you’re absolutely right Nick, we should do it in the living room there’s more space.” *wheeeeze*
So that’s the comedy now for the horror. So many little delightfully creepy moments sprinkled throughout the episode. George drifting off and singing in French, when the body in the back of the van opens its eye, when the dad stops the car and gets out and it SITS UP, when Charlie and Ted see something outside and all you can see is its silhouette, when the lamia is like sucking their souls out looking like a skeletal cretin straight from the depths of hell. Delightful.
Getting back to season long arcs, my writing sixth sense is tingling and it’s telling me the Women in White are going to be important. How? I don’t know. But there is sooo much potential. What if they’re all comatose a la Sleeping Beauty waiting for someone to call them back once some sort of evil reawakens? What if they’re immortal and walking the earth solving problems in secret? What if they were corrupted and had to be killed by their loved ones? The possibilities are endless and I’m here for it.
Time for my Drewson shipper talk so if you’re not into that skip this paragraph. Ooooh Lordy the scene with Nick and Nancy in the seamstress house made my heart do a happy little tap dance. Really any time they share the screen at the same time, but they had lines directed at each other and it was beautiful. And that gorgeous line of dialogue, “Hey, you can still fix this. No one’s gotten hurt yet.” aeexoijxoij
Now I will close out with some thoughts I had while watching.
Nancy can be so smart but also so dumb, like she hears a mysterious thumping sound and Hangs Up The Phone??? Girl it could be a human killer!
And is it just me or does it seem like if twelve children in a small town were all murdered on the same day and the killer was never caught that would be the sort of thing that lives on in town legend
Nick has the absolute WORST British accent oh my GOD. Understandable, because the actor is Scottish, so at that moment he was a guy with a Scottish accent pretending to have an American accent faking a British accent but still.
Cannot believe on their way to the Claw to stop a soul sucking spirit they had to stop at the grocery store for caramel apples and candy canes like them all running around must have been a hell of a sight for whatever sleep deprived Safeway cashier was on duty
Finally, what in god’s name is George going to tell Jesse? Not the truth I imagine, but I have no idea what possible lie she could sell. Personally I think I’d just tell her I drugged the water as a joke and gaslight her until she forgot about it.
Normally this would be the part where I theorize about what could happen in the next episode but at this point you already know what happens in the next episode so I’ll sign off with my typical schtick instead. Ahem
Writers give me Lucy Sable
#Nancy Drew cw#Nancy Drew#George Fan#Bess Marvin#Ned Nick Nickerson#Ned Nickerson#Ace#Carson Drew#Hannah Gruen#Nick x Nancy#Drewson#writers where is dead lucy#the writers give me a satisfying ending to Lucy Sable's character challenge#I want her BACK#BACK#AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
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Suspicious Questions in the Cast Trivia Battle
Hey everyone! So, just before Christmas, someone sent me something about a TWD Cast Trivia video. I hadn’t heard anything about it, but quickly located it on YouTube and watched it. So, let me first give you some background for what this was.
Emily had participated it, so I was hoping her appearance could be another “weird” thing we could see as a TD-themed appearance. Strictly speaking, it didn’t entirely work out that way. But that doesn’t mean I was disappointed, either. It was just different than I expected.
Why couldn’t we call her appearance a TD thing? Because both Sonequa Martin-Green (deceased character) and Andrew Lincoln (alive, but not currently on the show) were there. So it’s not like Emily was the only deceased or “just gone” character who participated.
And before anyone rushes off to watch this (I’ll drop the URL at the bottom) let me say that I honestly didn’t love this. The reason they did it (and this is probably why it wasn’t widely publicized) was to support two local Georgia politicians who were trying to get elected to the senate the first week of January. Obviously, I don’t know anything about these guys or their politics. It wasn’t that that bothered me. But rather that every two minutes they did a political plug and it felt more like a political rally disguised as a zoom call (which I suppose it was supposed to be) than a TWD thing. That’s all.
So, Emily’s video appearance at the end was a plug for people to vote for the politicians they were supporting. And the actors proclaimed their love for Georgia and being able to work in Georgia and why this senate race is so important. Yada, yada. Like I said, I don’t judge them for it, but I found myself yawning because I don’t live in GA and obviously don’t have a stake in their local politics.
However. There is a silver lining.
The trivia questions. My jaw dropped open at some of the questions they asked. Most if not all of them had ties to TD in some way. And some of them were so obscure, ONLY a TDer would recognize them.
So, the first questions were just goofy things where they asked everyone to imitate iconic things. The first was to imitate Rick saying Carl’s name. The second was to imitate Shane saying, “Let me tell you something.” And the third was just to imitate Daryl grunting. Lol. All good fun.
Then they got to more trivia-like questions and this is where it got really good.
First question: who dropped the key to Merle’s handcuffs down the drainpipe? Answer of course was T-Dog. Honestly, I didn’t right away read into this as being TD. If anything, I just thought it was interesting that it concerned T-Dog, given all the weirdo stuff that’s happened lately about he and Emily being in the bonus episodes.
But given all the other questions they asked, I’m definitely side-eyeing it. We could see it as the beginning of a sequence where a character (Merle) disappeared and then reappeared several seasons later, alive and well. Of course there’s the key angle (Key Theory). And then the Emily/IronE thing.
Second question: What number did Shane wear on his necklace. (!!!) I can’t believe they actually asked that. Has everyone read @frangipanilove’s Shane/22 theory. If you haven’t, do so HERE. But the point is, if you were ever skeptical about that theory, this just proved that it’s something they want us to pay attention to.
Third question: I don’t remember how they asked it, but something about a grain Georgia exports. The answer was sorghum. Not a huge TD symbol, but given that grain can be turned into alcohol, and we saw it heavily in S6 around Denise….
Fourth question: What are Rick’s favorite statues at the airport doing? (This is a reference to the ones he discussed with Clara in 4x01.) The answer: playing leap-frog. (Frog = resurrection symbol.)
Fifth question: In what Atlanta hospital did Beth become a prisoner. Danai got it right.
Sixth question: Where, on his body, did the Termites start eating Bob? Again, not super TD, but of course Bob was a Beth proxy (X) and the fact that they focused on his missing leg is important, I think. (X)
Seventh question: What animal did Enid eat before she got to Alexandria. Answer: A turtle. (Turtle Symbolism.)
See how much TD stuff they included?
They asked what song Negan made Carl sing (You Are My Sunshine). Heaven knows TD had a heyday with that.
And there were a few that were kind of meh. What was the name of the woman at Alexandria who wanted a pasta machine (Ms. Nedermyer). And what did Deanna Monroe do before the apocalypse (congresswoman).
And there were other goofy ones about who would die first in other series (like Seinfield, the Simpsons, etc.)
Others I wrote down:
What trio saved Glenn and Tara in S4? (Abraham, Eugene, Rosita).
Whose house did Morgan stay in in ep 1? (I didn’t write down the answer, but no one knew it.)
Who was Eugene’s fake boss that he talked about? (T. Brooks Elison). I’m not going to go into this one too much here, but we (especially @wdway) have been finding a RIDICULOUS amount of symbolism around Eugene, especially in past seasons. We didn’t always catch it before, but knowing what we know now, to go back and see the symbolism in those early episodes is jaw-dropping.
What tissue sample did Jenner accidentally destroy? (TS-19).
What fake name did the Gov give Tara and her sister originally. (Brian Heriot – side-eying that one, too. X.)
Then they did one where YNB would say a title and the actors had to say whether it was a real title or not. We can definitely read into some of these titles, but not all. The ones she named that were real were This Sorrowful Life, Dead or Alive Or, First Time Again, Twice as Far, A Certain Doom. The fake titles she gave were Beginnings End, You are Welcome, Gun Shy, Walker in the Well, A memory of Mercy, and The Grimiest Day Indeed. Lol.
In terms of the real ones, This Sorrowful Life was the ep where Merle died. Not only is he a character that disappeared and then returned to Daryl’s life, but Daryl and Beth discussed him in Still. Dead or Alive Or suggests resurrection. First Time Again and Twice as Far suggest a return or redo. And A Certain Doom was the CB issue where Andrea died.
Even the fake ones sort of imply something. Beginnings End sounds like Alpha and Omega. GUN shy. Walker in the Well is obviously supposed to be about the well walker in S2, but it also evokes water. Mercy was a title in S8, but I think a memory of mercy could apply to Beth. You get the idea.
So that’s pretty much all I have to say about it. I didn’t love all the political stuff, but the questions definitely felt purposefully TD to me. Thoughts? (Watch the video below.)
youtube
#beth greene#beth greene lives#beth is alive#beth is coming#td theory#td theories#team delusional#team defiance#beth is almost here#bethyl
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Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s
Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.
A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.
10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics
Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.
9. Action Comics #1000
Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.
8. Faster Than A Bullet
Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.
7. Man and Superman
Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.
6. Brian Bendis’s run
Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.
5. Strange Visitor
The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.
4. Superman: Up In The Sky
And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.
3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses
Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.
2. Superman Smashes The Klan
A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.
1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics
When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.
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Hi! Just a thought about "Adapt and Die" - in this week's episode, the Chronicom told LMD!Coulson that Chronicoms "Adapt". I wonder whether than episode might focus a bit more on the Chronicoms and maybe a situation where they have to change tactics or loose?
Hi Anon,
Something AOS LOVES to do is have their titles have multiple meanings. Looking at you Singularity. And I really feel that “Adapt or Die” is one of those. I also feel 6 is gone to be one of those huge hold onto your butt’s kind of episodes.
In what feels like forever ago we had the titles leaked and my initial spec on a lot of them has held on. So here was my gut on 6 with literally 0 context.
6. Adapt or Die
Raise your hand if this SCREAMS when we are gonna see Ward again! Because he said that a few times when he was discussing why he followed Hydra. I just have no idea WHAT Ward we are dealing with…preturn Ward, Hydra Head Ward, Squidward (yay I got to use it again). If not Ward someone has to adjust to the new situation and fast in order to survive. This could speak to someone being captured, gone under cover, or something out of left Field. Knowing who the writer is…could me buckle up for some Fitzsimmons feels people.
Written by DJ Doyle…and a favorite with Fitzsimmons fans as he has given us some of the most iconic Fitzsimmons moments. Past credits include The Things We Bury, Melinda, Purpose in the Machine, Many Heads on Tale, The Team, Deals with Our Devils, INESCAPABLE!!!!!Also worth pointing out the sixth episode of each season has a history of being big FItzsimmons Episodes.
Adapt or Die we know is a Hydra thing. Ward said it on Maveth with SquidWill and that was how they survived all those years. They would change as they needed too with the shifting tides. And by this time its going to be very important to note that Malick has had nearly 30 years with whatever either the Chronicoms themselves (Ie they stayed with him and let their ship jump without him) or to work with the information, instructions, and tech they left behind.
This to me was where the timeline took the biggest hit.. Because where as most of the Shield team was trying to dance around the whole lets protect the timeline thing. The Chronicoms decided to do a big old cannon ball into it and will guide events to get what they want. Exactly what Atarah said they would do on worlds in 6.05.
Adapt or Die is exactly what the Chronicoms had to do when their world was destroyed. They went from being mostly observers to on the attack, taking out the big bad confederacy so they would have the tools that they would need to survive and a step closer to their goal.
This thinking leading to them teaming up and we get to wait for the inevitable double cross. Honestly its a matter of who is gonna turn on who.
Now where I can see Fitzsimons fitting into this outside of the current Patron Saint of Fitzsimmons awesomeness DJ Doyle penning the ep and the history of 6 being a big Fitzsimmons episode stands. Adapt or Die was also exactly what Fitzsimmons had to do during We Had Time. They had to completely change their lives and adapt their tech for this final mission and save the world. Plus everyone and their dog knows what else I think happened during this time. Fitzsimmons adapting this insane new life on top of protecting their new baby.
Insert Mom’s Manage Expectations rant here as they may continue to hide that part of the story for a bit longer.
Finally Adapt or Die is what the team has to do literally every single time they make a jump. They have to adapt to the new time period, blend in, and figure out the Chronicoms plan on a ticking clock. All the while trying not to do something that will destroy their futures. Though I have many concerns with the a lot of the teams cannon ball into the timeline attitude as well.
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Schitt’s Creek is five seasons into a run that rivals — and at times even beats out — The Good Place’s deft ability to be both wickedly funny and deeply morally grounded. Most people have still never seen it.
But please don’t waste any time or energy apologizing if you’ve never watched, or if you’re a bandwagoner — the majority of its fans seem to have discovered the Canadian Broadcasting Company-PopTV co-produced series over the last year via Netflix, where it’s easy to binge through the first four years of 22-minute episodes in a weekend. (Season 5 is currently available on the Pop TV app and iTunes.)
It’s a kind of bizarro-world Arrested Development, with a premise that could even be narrated by Ron Howard: the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, moved to the middle of nowhere, and finally found out how to love each other. Except unlike the bitter, often mean-spirited Bluths, in Schitt’s Creek, the Rose family — Johnny (Eugene Levy), Moira (Catherine O’Hara), David (Dan Levy), and Alexis (Annie Murphy) — chooses, if at times reluctantly, to at least try to be better people, no matter how bewildering a struggle that presents.
Like its characters, Schitt’s Creek has gotten better season over season, leaning into each dramatic curve while keeping a steady hand on the comedic wheel. There’s a smattering of accolades starting to pile up — Adweek called it “the little show that could,” and on Monday, MTV viewers handed showrunner, co-creator, and costar Dan Levy a surprise win for Best Comedic Performance at its Movie & TV Awards, where the show was also nominated for Best Series (a popular vote it lost, not surprisingly, to Game of Thrones). The Television Critics Association threw some much-deserved fuel on the fire Wednesday with a nod for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy Series and a second for O’Hara’s performance. When I started writing this piece there were zero articles demanding that Schitt’s Creek get an Emmy and by now there are at least, like, four.
And yet the idea that Schitt’s Creek might somehow not score an Emmy nomination makes me feel so… dramatic… that I’ve basically been running around town as if I’m presenting an hour-long PowerPoint outlining the cultural, business, and even ethical case for why it deserves your attention. Even if you’re not a voting member of the Television Academy — but especially if you are. (Full disclosure: I am, though as a member of the Interactive Peer Group I’m only eligible to nominate series for the big category prizes, not acting or writing or directing.)
Here’s the short version:
Slide 1: Give Dan Levy an Emmy for writing. Schitt’s slices through the usual sitcom fat of misdirections and MacGuffins in favor of sincere, emotionally honest moments.
In “The Hike,” the penultimate fifth season episode, every one of the main characters shows us how much they’ve changed, even if they didn’t want to and aren’t sure what it means. After a fraught, foible-filled hike up a mountain, David’s boyfriend, Patrick (Noah Reid), proposes. By the time they’ve reached the vista — where, Patrick reveals, he often came while trying to sort out his confusing feelings for his business partner — Levy’s script has shown us over and over that these two men know and trust each other better than either could have ever predicted.
Meanwhile, David’s sister, Alexis, admits she has some reluctance about joining her veterinarian beau, Ted (Dustin Milligan), for a lengthy work trip. “I’ve had have this, like, nagging feeling that as soon as I get there I’m going to start thinking about my family,” Alexis says. Ted, always supportive, tells her that doesn’t sound insane, and Alexis is sure she’s just failed to explain the situation. “Like, I will physically be there,” she says, “but I will be thinking about them here.” Ted confirms this is called missing someone, “and it’s a totally normal feeling.”
The show refuses to rely on the standard return to square one at the end of every episode; instead these characters are markedly different than when they started. After five seasons, they’re all dangerously close to having lived up their actual potential as good people.
Slide 2: Give Catherine O’Hara an Emmy for playing the now-iconic Moira Rose, the former soap star whose onetime escape from a small town similar to Schitt’s Creek has left her determined to help her family recover some of their former glory— ideally very far away. Maybe even as far as Bosnia, where she’s filmed an attempt at a big comeback in The Crows Have Eyes 3: The Crowening.
(Note: O’Hara has actually already got an Emmy, for writing on SCTV back in 1982, but please let that very long gap filled with other outstanding work inspire you to give her a second one rather than assume she’s all set.) This weird little show sold out a dozen dates of a live tour in the last few years, and there is a certain deep satisfaction in hearing thousands of people cheer O’Hara in a standing ovation simply for walking on stage.
Slide 3: Give Dan Levy an Emmy for acting, too. It’s not a one-man show, but five seasons in, Levy has made a compelling case for himself as the auteur break-out of the family. He’s got some great scene partners — Annie Murphy is particularly sharp and in the position of being most easily dismissed despite having crafted Alexis’ flighty, famous-name-dropping schtick with precision. But on a show that distributes its A and B plots with a carefully even hand, David stands out in every episode. Levy’s wincing-or-crying-or-laughing face in any given split-second is a goddamned wonderland of feels.
Slide 4: Just take a huge risk and throw in an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination already. If Pop TV, a cable network whose previous incarnations were best known for having run channel listings, is now in the midst of Peak TV making one of the best comedies of the decade, you can surely take a big swing yourself.
That’s it, that’s my pitch. Go watch this short, brilliant, unicorn of a show and then tell anyone you know who can help it have an awards-winning beginning to its sixth and final season that they should do what’s good for the world and help more people find their way to Schitt’s Creek.
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b99 the podcast episode 6:
from flatline you back nine
@jake-and-ames and I have summarized what we think are the highlights of the sixth episode of the brooklyn nine-nine podcast. maybe those of you who can’t listen to the podcast for whatever reason can profit from it a bit
under the cut as per usual
[[MORE]]
Part 1 with Paul Welsh and Madeline Walter, Dan Goor, Joe Lo Truglio
Madeline and Paul are the first writing duo in the 99 writers room
there’s always changes after the table reads
table reads are on the spot performances and not everyone is great at it
sometimes one of the actors isn’t there so a writer has to fill in and there’s always a debate if they should do an impression or just a suggestion of an impression
06x18 Suicide Squad: the idea to bring back the 99’s worst enemies and they have to side with the 99
there was an idea to bring back Pimento and The Pontiac Bandit but they’re not actual enemies
Kyra Sedgwick, the actress playing Madeline Wunch, directed an episode of B99
Ken Marino and Joe went together to NYU
every show has his unique difficult thing, in 99 it’s writing police plots and make them satisfying in a way/ building the believable police element into it/ it’s limiting that they only have a certain physical perimeter to work within
there’s times when the writers first figure out an emotional story and then the other circumstances
in “The Bimbo” there was a woman choreographing the handshakes and Madeline and Paul ended up calling her “the handshake lady” and Andy called them out and said that she’s an award winning choreographer
the crew is like 180 people on average
cut conversation between Holt and Peralta was a set up to Holt on the street and it’s a tease for S7
Part 2 with Stephanie Beatriz, Rick Page, Beatriz “Bea” Chahin
Bea is the production coordinator and “If you need something call Bea!” is a common mantra among the cast and crew
Steph shot one pilot before b99 and it didn’t go and she fell into a “huge” depression
“Back Nine” means when a show starts with 13 episodes and you typically hope for 22 so if the ratings are doing good the network gives you the “Back Nine”
Melissa was very emotional about the back nine and crying a lot so Steph held back because she didn’t want to turn everything into an even bigger emotional mess
the Super Bowl episode: the episode that airs after the super bowl which means high ratings and promos during the game and then additionally to that there was a Golden Globe nomination and win
the Globes was Steph’s first award show and she didn’t have a stylist and her dress was too big but they won!
everyone was more than thrilled that Andy won a Globe
and they couldn’t believe that the show won as well, it gave everyone a boost, and Steph said that it must be especially validating to the crew because they put the most work into it
during S2 a bunch of people (Melissa and her husband, Joe and his wife, Chelsea and her husband and Steph and her then partner) went on a trip to Paris
the people on the trip were recognized a lot but Steph wasn’t because, as discussed, her behavior and voice are so different
that changed though when she wore a leather jacket outside
there was a Make-A-Wish person that broke down in tears seeing Mel and Steph and Rick says it made him realize that the core ensemble are mainstream icons
they talk about the diversity and complexity of the show
Steph says that working on b99 made her views change drastically and makes her think about work environments and attitudes a lot more
Steph met the Japanese voice-over actors for her and other characters (they also gave her a picture of the whole cast) when she was on her honeymoon in Japan
The show has a very international appeal because of the family that is the 99 so it transcends the US police procedural aspect
MEJ says that the show is very meme-able
they discuss the comedy and the intelligence of the jokes
also that the show creates its own language/ slang terms (noice, toit)
the shouting of the “nine-nine!” is very iconic, it was an internal thing first that was started by Terry and now it’s a mainstream thing
what they remember of the cancellation: it came out of nowhere for everyone and they felt terrible because they couldn’t properly wrap up the show and they didn’t have a chance to work with the 99 crew anymore
after 2 days everyone gave up hopes because Hulu and Netflix passed
Rick was so disappointed and furious he shut down all devices and the next morning someone called to tell him that the show had been picked up and it turned out he shut everything off about 20 minutes before the news broke that they got picked up
Dan Goor sent an e-mail to tell everyone that the show got cancelled and it got cancelled the day before the upfronts
Steph has a mindset of “this is the last season” every year around April and didn’t react emotionally when the news broke that the show actually got cancelled
she was very level headed and talked to her agents about next steps to take and then Brad and her got spicy chicken and beer and got drunk
Steph gets very emotional talking about the outpouring of emotions of the fans because it reminded her of her time in theatre when people would come up to her immediatelyafter the show to tell her how she made them feel during the play and though she was seeing all the of love the internet gave b99 Brad described her as a “little dead behind the eyes”
she really lost it when she realized she wouldn’t see her friends anymore
how do they want the show to be remembered? fondly/happy/a palette cleanser says Steph, as something groundbreaking and it to have a positive impact says Rick
lastly they talk about the impact of the show and Bea says that as a Latina herself she appreciates the fact that the show has two very different Latina characters she hasn’t seen before
“I wanna see more of it for all people. I want everyone to feel like they’re represented on TV. I think that’s really important. And I think it’s important, not only for the people who are seeing themselves, but it’s also important for maybe the people that have always seen themselves and never thought about it. Because, I think, that’s the real issue. It’s like if you have decided one kind of person is the hero then there’s no room for anybody else to be the hero. And then everyone else becomes disposable. And that’s, that’s the worst version that humanity can be is when others that are human beings are disposable. And I think, you know, in a small way this show does a really good job at reminding us that nobody is disposable.”
#b99#b99 the podcast#b99 podcast#brooklyn 99 podcast#brooklyn 99 the podcast#brooklyn 99#brooklyn nine nine the podcast#brooklyn nine nine podcast#brooklyn nine nine
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10- Willow Rosenberg
10- Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan). Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).
Every once in a while you encounter a television character who is so profound and iconic that she not only speaks for a generation, but gives voice and visibility to a population that, until her, was largely unrepresented in pop culture. One such character is unquestioningly Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a late 90s supernatural drama TV series. While there are several other witches in the Buffyverse, perhaps none are as filled to be brim with archetypical and allegorical significance as the young Willow Rosenberg.
From the beginning of the series, Willow is mousy, shy, and unconfident, serving as a mirror opposite to the outgoing and charismatic Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar. She has a natural proclivity towards magic, and as the series progresses, she becomes more and more adept in witchcraft and the ritual arts. In a way reminiscent of young witches like Kiki (#66) and Sabrina Spellman (#62), Willow’s self confidence and assertiveness builds in tandem with her increased magical abilities and proficiency with witchcraft—as her power builds, so does her self esteem and sense of self worth. In this way, Willow continues a long legacy of a primary function of witchcraft, namely to empower and encourage young women as they enter adulthood and come to terms with their femininity, strength, and autonomy.
As the series continued, and Willow’s strength and ability grew, she went from being a lackluster sidekick to an empowered sorceress. Even though Willow became more of a central figure in the show, her predisposition towards—and natural habitat in—the margins of society continued to be explored. Through various subplots and episodes, Willow’s characteristic and representation of Otherness became highlighted. Her role as “Other” was used in multiple ways aside from her witch-identity, with several plots illustrating how it feels for young folk who just don’t fit in to a small town high school.
Willow’s Other-identity and cultural significance can be seen through the fact that, in addition to being a witch, she was Jewish. At the time of the show, Willow showed a favorable portrayal of Jewish women, a characterization which is often seen through negative stereotypes and antisemitism. While some have criticized how the show utilized her Jewishness, functioning primarily as a juxtaposition to an understood Christonormativity, she nevertheless gives airtime to the history of Jews-as-others. This cultural identity contributes to Willow’s outsider perspective in the show, again giving visibility to those in the audience who may not always find representation in pop culture. Willow is only the second Jewish witch from film/TV in my series, with the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff #17) being her only sister in both Judaism and Witchcraft (You could make the argument for 2/3rds of the Sanderson Sisters #25, however it is the actors and -not- the character-witches themselves that are Jewish).
The most pertinent and groundbreaking aspect of Willow’s character, that perfectly illustrates the metaphorical significance of witchcraft in depicting those who reside in the margins, is her sexual awakening. In the fourth season of Buffy, Willow falls in love with another witch, Tara Maclay. Their relationship would go on to become, not only one of the most positive relationships in Buffy, but one of the first lesbian relationships on television in America. Willow and Tara had a groundbreaking televised kiss in the fifth season, which was depicted in a radically different way than had often been shown in pop culture. Willow’s lesbian relationships were not over sexualized, exploitive, or used in a manipulative way to gain a ratings boost. Instead, Willow’s relationships were honest, sensual, and meaningful expressions of true love. Instead of focusing on a formalized “coming out” story, Willow and Tara’s relationship itself was the focus, yielding a more natural and organic understanding of homosexuality. Willow illustrates the longstanding parallel between the coming out process and an LGBTQ+ identity with the process of coming out as a Witch/Pagan/Wiccan and one’s witch identity. Willow is one of the few outwardly lesbian witches in my series, which again reinforces how her character gave visibility to an underrepresented population that is often forced into the margins of society.
In addition to witchcraft and magic illustrating Willow’s increasing self-confidence, religious and cultural minority status, and mimicking her sexual awakening, the creators and writers of the show kept piling on her allegorical significance. By the sixth season, witchcraft becomes a metaphor for addiction. Her character takes a dark turn, and she becomes arrogant, reckless, and obsessed with magic. She begins to use magic thoughtlessly with little regard to consequence or her actions. Her magic is used overabundantly and superfluously, to the point where she must wean herself off of it in a way reminiscent of drug and alcohol rehabilitation. This process fails, however, when the aforementioned Tara dies tragically, and Willow spirals further out of control. Willow becomes Dark Willow, the surprise villain of the season. While witchcraft is typically used to portray the establishment of control and power, here it is used to illustrate the loss of control/power. The nature of addiction as a disease, and not a choice, is similarly exemplified through the fact that Willow is battling a psychotic break, yet another continuation of the longstanding relationship between witchcraft and mental health.
Finally, Willow manages to achieve a balance in her life. In the last allegorical use of witchcraft, Willow’s relationship with her magic becomes a symbol of temptation. She fears using magic again as it may lead her back down the lonely road of Dark Willow, however, she knows she can never deny her true self as a witch. Magic is an innate part of her life, and she cannot merely give it up or disregard it. Instead, she must learn how to establish an equilibrium with her powers, walking a tightrope between empowerment and control. This reinforces the parallels between witchcraft and queerness (you can’t just pretend you’re something you’re not) and witchcraft and the assertion of power.
Willow Rosenberg is a witch who is simultaneously unique and similar to so many others. On the one hand, she furthers common witch tropes, such as her acceptance of her witchcraft mirroring the acceptance of herself. What sets her apart, however, is her total amalgamation of the numerous aspects of witchcraft she represents. She isn’t just a witch who gains confidence through magic, she is also a representative of the Other, she’s Jewish, she’s a lesbian, she struggles with addiction, loss of love, and difficulty establishing balance. She’s a witch more relatable to the average human than not, as so many viewers are able to see themselves in her character. While couched in the supernatural and magical world, she deals with very real emotions, struggles, and issues that any viewer can understand. Her character gave visibility to many subsections of cultures that had little-to-no representation, and in this way joins the ranks of witches who further social justice causes and use their magic to help even the playing field and elevate the oppressed and subjugated.
#witch#witches#witchblr#witchcraft#100witches#halloween#samhain#pagan#paganism#wicca#coven#magic#occult#buffy#buffy the vampire slayer#willow#willow rosenberg#alyson hannigan#lesbian#dark willow
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How to Get Away With Murder's end is officially in sight.
The previously announced sixth season of the ABC drama starring Viola Davis will be its last, the network announced Thursday. The Shondaland-produced drama from showrunner Pete Nowalk will wrap its run with 15 additional episodes in the 2019-20 broadcast season. Murder joins the previously announced 11th and final season of Modern Family as ABC hits ending their runs during the 2019-20 broadcast season.
"Viola Davis made television history with her unforgettable portrayal of iconic female anti-hero Annalise Keating,” ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke said. "I am eternally grateful to her, Pete Nowalk and Shondaland for creating and bringing to life such a smart, sophisticated and groundbreaking series that has long been an integral part of Thursday nights on ABC."
The final season — which returns Sept. 26 at 10 p.m. — will follow Keating's class through their final semester in law school while the deception, fear and guilt binding her with her students proves deadlier than ever.
"Deciding to end this series was a brutal decision, but ultimately the story tells you what to do — as it did here," said Nowalk. "For me, Annalise Keating’s journey has always had a clear ending. Knowing I have 15 episodes left to finish her story, and the chance to give all the characters their own killer endings, is a gift rarely given to a series creator and I’m grateful to ABC and ABC Studios for the opportunity and creative freedom. I am so thankful to the brilliant cast, writers and crew for dedicating themselves to the most rewarding experience of my career over the last six years. I also want to thank our fans. The only reason this show exists is because of your loyalty and enthusiasm. I can’t wait for you all to see how it ends, with twists and turns and all the craziness we love to create every Thursday night. Buckle up."
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Time is running out for Jim Gordon and Gotham, and nobody is more acutely aware of that fact than Ben McKenzie, the actor who has portrayed the flinty Gordon for five seasons on the Fox series that shares its name with Batman’s hometown. “It’s a lot to take in,” McKenzie said about the Gotham series finale that airs tonight. “It really is one of those bittersweet moments. But the show was never an open-ended proposition.”
Tonight’s finale is titled “The Beginning…” but the name isn’t quite as ironic as it sounds. That’s because the drama was built to be a sort of “prequel procedural” that leads up to the familiar Batman mythology that DC Comics has been publishing since 1939. The narrative window would begin in Bruce Wayne’s youth with the murder of his parents, and effectively end with his first forays as a costumed crimefighter: Gotham would end when Batman begins. That graduation moment arrives tonight with the show’s 100th episode, the first to feature an appearance by the Caped Crusader in action.
Gotham fans are more than ready to see the Dark Knight in all his cowled glory, but the show’s creative team hasn’t shared that eagerness. Just the opposite. Executive producer Bruno Heller, the British producer best known for The Mentalist and Rome, has said he would never have developed the show if it was a traditional costumed-hero franchise. “I don’t think Batman works very well on TV,” Heller said back in 2014. “To have people behind masks? Frankly, all those superhero stories I’ve seen, I always love them — until they get into the costume.”
That has made Gotham an eccentric entry in the superhero sector, but not an entirely unprecedented one. Smallville (217 episodes, 2001-2010) still reigns as the longest-running television series ever based on DC Comics heroes, and creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar shared a similar aversion to costumed exploits. Their early mission statement was “no flights, no tights,” and the series held out until its final episode to put Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in Superman’s iconic suit.
For Heller and his team, the key to making a compelling Gothamwithout a Batman was to spotlight the hero’s trusted friend, James Gordon, the dedicated lawman destined to become the police commissioner of a city defined by its lawlessness and celebrity criminals. Gordon was introduced in the first panel of the first page of the first Batman comic book ever published, Detective Comics No. 27, the landmark issue that reached its 80th anniversary last month. Gotham added a key element to its version of Gordon — when Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered, Gordon is the detective who handles the investigation.
Gordon is the good cop who holds on to his morals in a bad city that loses its marbles. The show found the man for the job in McKenzie, who had memorably portrayed LAPD officer Ben Sherman on the highly regarded (but lowly rated) Southland, which aired 2009 to 2013 on NBC and TNT. Before that, the Texan portrayed Ryan Atwood, a scruffy outsider adopted by a wealthy Newport Beach couple and the central character on The OC, the frothy Fox teen drama that aired for 92 episodes from 2003 to 2007.
“I had some things in common with the character,” McKenzie says with a shrug. It’s true, the 23-year-old actor trekked west from dusty Austin (instead of rural Chino) to Southern California, and bought himself a eye-catching Cadlliac DeVille that already had logged 17 hard years and 228,000 long miles. “That’s lot of miles.”
McKenzie has covered a lot of distance in his personal life while channeling the role of Gordon. In 2017, for instance, McKenzie married his Gotham co-star, Morena Baccarin, who has portrayed Dr. Leslie Thompkins on the series (and is well-known for her role in the Deadpool films as the mutant anti-hero’s love interest). The couple now have their first child.
For McKenzie, the end of Gotham closes a pivotal chapter in his screen life. But he’s also hoping that the final seasons will also someday represent a prelude to a different career story — one writing and directing. The actor directed the sixth episode of Season 5, and also directed one in each of the previous two seasons. McKenzie has also written the screenplay for two Gotham episodes: “One of My Three Soups” in Season 4 and “The Trial of Jim Gordon” in this final season.
McKenzie, the writer, didn’t exactly go easy on his fictional screen persona. The cop took a slug in the chest and hovered near death for much of the episode, stuck somewhere between “the here” and “the hereafter” in an existential courtroom where he had to defend his life.
‘I actually feel no sympathy for him at all,” McKenzie said with a chuckle. “The less sympathy you feel, the better, I’d say. The more pain you inflict upon the protagonist, hopefully, the higher the stakes are and the more emotion gets elicited. So I had to be a bit of masochist. Putting him through the ringer and having this existential crisis, this dream, where he’s on trial for his crimes and faces the loss of everything: the love of his life and his child at the same time. I think we got there. That’s about as high stakes as you can get. I think, ultimately satisfying, with the kind of emotional payoff we were looking for.”
That seems to apply to the season as a whole. The final episode is an epic send-off, too, with a story that flashes forward a decade (long enough for Gordon to sport a new mustache) and finds the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) returning from prison and Bruce Wayne returning to his ancestral home after years in self-imposed exile. It also coincides with the rise of the show’s off-kilter version of the Joker (Cameron Monaghan). “It’s fitting that he comes into conflict with Gordon and Wayne right at the end,” McKenzie said. “Cameron has been amazing and there was room for one more big flourish with the role.”
Most of the reviews have veered from good to great, encouraging news for the cast and crew of a series that had been uneven or over-the-top at times. “Everybody’s been very enthusiastic and positive,” McKenzie said. “The final season has been wrapping things up in the way the audience hoped we would.”
Gotham City is arguably the most famous city created in American popular culture since the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz (although Metropolis, Springfield, Mayberry, Twin Peaks, and Riverdale are other prominent spots on the map of un-real estate). Even without Batman, the city zoned by greed, paved in corruption, and mapped by trauma seems to have no limits as far as its story range.
“It’s extraordinary when you think about it,” McKenzie said. “The city itself is a character. There’s a lot of stories to be found in Gotham City. There’s a lot of stories being told from Gotham, too.”
It’s true, Gotham City will be the site of Batwoman, the pilot on The CW this fall, and for a string of upcoming feature films including Joker, The Batman, and the Birds of Prey project.
Also this year: a Harley Quinn animated series and Pennyworth (a series about Batman’s loyal butler) on Epix. Pennyworth and Gothamare unconnected in their story continuity, but both are from the tandem of executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) and executive producer/director Danny Cannon (CSI franchises).
A passing reference in the 2016 film Suicide Squad identified Gotham City as a major metropolitan hub in the Garden State. The city’s location had been a vague matter for decades, but now it is officially part of New Jersey’s map, and Springsteen isn’t the only local hero named Bruce.
On Gotham, the city feels more like Al Capone’s Chicago than Dracula’s Transylvania. “There’s a specific look and style that Gotham has that sets the show apart. It’s visual identity is distinctive and it was really interesting to work within that as a director.”
Has McKenzie inherited anything Gordon, anything he will take with him forward? “Maybe. We have some things in common, too. He’s living in the same city I live in, New York, but just the slightly more dramatic version. He’s had to figure things out on the fly and his life has changed and met the love of his life and had a child. There’s a lot of similarities there. But I haven’t bought a gun and I don’t go around shooting one. And I’m more a jeans and t-shirts guy. Although Gordon’s given me an appreciation for a good suit, that’s for sure.”
McKenzie said he’s learned a lot from the creative team he’s worked with, and he believes his acting has made his directing better and vice versa, as well. There’s several new projects that looks promising for McKenzie, both as an on-screen presence and writer or director. Still, saying goodbye to Gotham has been a sentimental exercise for the man who plays the taciturn detective.
“It’s hard. I’ve been through it a couple of times before. I’ve been on two shows before, so it’s been less daunting then before. I’ve built really strong bonds with these folks. We spent more time together than we do with our families for nine months a year. It’s been a joy and a experience I will never forget. I can’t forget. I wake up every morning to my wife and child who happened during it. So yes, it’s been a city without limits for me.”
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