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lightsandlostbells · 5 years

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Skam France, season 3, episode 1 reaction

here we go again

So I’m actually pretty intrigued going into this season, because on the one hand, I had some giant problems with Skam France’s first two seasons, and I know a lot of people felt that it was one of the weaker remakes (myself included). On the other hand, unlike with S2, they were able to adjust for viewer feedback with S3, possibly course correcting for some of the common complaints, and they’ve promised a lot of changes to a beloved story. It will be interesting to see how much Skam France grows into its own this season.

Also that Maxence guy sure has a face

I was not a fan of Skam France’s S1 and S2; up to this point, I’d say it’s my least favorite remake. So upfront, here are my main concerns going into the season:

The biggest problem with S1 and S2 was that it was such a copy and paste of the original show, to the point where it didn’t make sense a lot of the time. It was often like they’d redone 80-90% of the original material, with some slight changes, but then they failed to account for how those slight changes would affect the story or the scene. So we got weird inconsistencies and contradictions because the writers didn’t take out stuff from the original that no longer made sense. Or jokes or events happening without the setup that made it work. Characterization that didn’t feel natural or play to the actors’ strengths. Now we have learned that apparently the Skam France crew wanted to do more changes but were told to not stray too much, and that they have been given much more leeway to deviate from the original show with their S3 and S4. S3 and especially S4 are supposed to be heavily changed; I really hope they’re not exaggerating and that they’re going to be making bigger changes like story elements and plot structure, to the point where we can’t predict the upcoming clips based on the original show.

Skam France lacks a lot of the authenticity of the original and other remakes, such as casting older professional actors for many of the roles, or the overall more “polished” look and vibe of the show. Which cannot be changed at this point, and which does not bother everyone, but for me it can seriously detract from the material. It’s one thing to watch spotty teens act like spotty teens and screw up and act immature; it’s another to watch 22-25 year-old hotties make the same mistakes on screen, because I can’t completely reconcile the fact that maybe they should know better by now, heh. Rawness and vulnerability are such an essential part of Skam’s storytelling and so they need to account for that. Actually I think that’s why they reaaaaally need to dig deep into the quiet and “mundane” moments, because often those come across as some of the most emotionally fragile.

Don’t hate me: Lucas was one of my least favorite characters on Skam France in the previous seasons and my least favorite Isak across Skams. (I mean, it had to be one of them?) It’s nothing against the actor as a person but I always felt like he was acting rather than giving a natural performance. And not gonna lie, I was kind of creeped out by him in a way I haven’t felt with other Isaks. Like when he was snaking Emma, or when she called him on it and he had to respond, I didn’t get any sense of ambiguity or conflict or messiness - there was something a little blank and robotic about the way he was reacting. Not just in an “Isak is putting on a fake persona” way but in a “I would not be surprised if this dude had a collection of human heads in a freezer somewhere” way. But I am willing to give him another chance! There is more emotional range from his character in this season, and hopefully love will bring out more softness in him. With the changes to S3, maybe they’ll also play more to his strengths, and incorporate more organic and original moments so he’s not stuck recreating Isak’s greatest hits.

Scenes are RUSHED to fit the time limits per episode. This I dread, because S3 has so many scenes that are dependent on the pacing. Part of the effectiveness of Hjernen er alene or Minutt for minutt, for example, was that we got to listen to the long pauses, the silence. The scenes felt languid and peaceful and took time to let the atmosphere build. Skam France frequently didn’t have time for that, and consequently the mood of the clip often didn’t land, the actors had to rush through their dialogue instead of sinking into their characters’ emotions thoroughly. The best way to fix this would be to rewrite scenes so they’re not rushed - like instead of trying to cram a seven minute scene into four, rewrite the scene so there’s only four minutes of material, if you get what I mean. Or write a new scene that works within the time frame. Eliminate scenes that might not be necessary - personally every scene in Skam S3 feels necessary to me, but that might not be the case with Skam France S3 due to changes in the story.

Overuse of music. Skam France is one of several remakes that use music in almost every clip, typically in predictable ways - song starts clip, song ends clip over the credits. It lessens the impact of the soundtrack and makes it feel more obligatory and less vital to the scenes. So stick to music that matters and helps the tone or impact of the clips, rather than shoehorning it just because.

The directing could feel detached/distant in a way that didn’t serve the material. At the same time, sometimes it also got so OTT and soap opera-ish that it was comical. Hopefully they can find a balance that serves the characters’ emotions without going overboard.

Previously they filmed two seasons at one so they couldn’t make changes based on viewer feedback. That’s still in effect here, as we’re getting both S3 and S4 this spring. If there’s something people hate about S3, they can’t change it in S4. However, they did have plenty of time to incorporate feedback from the first two seasons before making S3 and S4, so I do have a lot of hope that they have fixed some of the biggest flaws. We know that they have changed a title of an episode to be “the boy who was afraid of the dark” so I believe they have changed the rebirth symbolism from Skam S3 into something different, probably light and dark symbolism to match Lucas’ name associations with light, and that is a huge step in the right direction.

Anyway, that’s out of the way, so here’s the actual episode.

Episode 1

Clip 1 - Sad reflection time

The very first clip of the season is new and not an adaptation, so that’s a promising start.

Lucas is sitting alone on a bench in a park. Lots of social media WhatsApp messages and Facebook notifications going off. The boy squad is talking about going to Emma’s party later and bringing beer and weed. Lucas stares moonily at man-woman pairs and a group of girls. I don’t think either do much for him. He puts the phone in his pocket. He sees a group of dudes and is perhaps more affected, so maybe he finds one of them attractive, or he’s just reminded of his own social situation, wishing he could be completely relaxed with his squad and not hiding a secret from them. The title of this clip was “Disconnected” which he obviously is, surrounded by people but still alone. He blue steels into the distance as we cut to the title card.

I usually save social media comments for the end, but the best part of this clip is the juxtaposition with Lucas’ IG post made right before this clip. A shot of the park, about him living his best life. Of course that’s some giant irony, because we know from the clip that he’s not living his best life, he’s detached from everyone around him and unhappy. So either he made that post with a lot of sarcasm, or specifically to put up the appearance that he’s fine. Or both.

Clip 2 - Good thing they were on the ground floor?

WILD N CRAZY TEEN PARTY TIME

Daphne is talking to a girl, but gets interrupted when a guy enters to make out with the girl. Daphne is like … OK then! And walks away. Daphne, my #1 of Skam France, I missed you the most.

Daphne goes to dance with Emma who also is drawn away by make-outs, this time with Raptor Alex. Daphne again is like ... OK then! She looks around and sees so many couples making out at this party. So I guess she’s gonna feel romantically and sexually frustrated like Vilde did in S3.

I got a laugh at her trying to connect with that younger girl over not connecting with anyone, when some dude swoops in to kiss that girl. Poor Daphne, trying to assert her older wisdom, be so helpful, and it didn’t work out.

In the kitchen we see our French boy squad. Arthur (glasses), Basile (no glasses), and Yann and Lucas of course.

Can I just say, thanks Skam France for adding to the scant glasses rep across these damn remakes? It’s wild to me that there are so few characters who have glasses in the Skam Extended Universe. There’s Amira from Druck, Luca from wtFOCK, Poonam from Skam Austin ... errr… that guy who sat next to Noora in S1 … some of the theater kids ... did I forget anyone?

Lucas talks about an attractive girl by saying, “Who cares about the size of the boobs?” which is truly a 100% authentic statement from a bonafide Kinsey 0 heterosexual man, yessir.

They’re interrupted by a girl running to the sink to puke. The boy squad is really funny with their reactions, Arthur is already winning me over with his facial expressions. I laughed at Arthur and Yann in the background when Lucas is flirting.

French Emma is called Chloé. Lucas gets Basile to take over hair-holding duties. Not gonna lie, I don’t really buy Lucas as this dude with mad game when Yann is right there (or Arthur, probably). Yann has got to be just as smooth. But they gave Lucas more helpful dialogue, I guess? It’s still slick like Isak but a little milder, he’s trying to calm down Chloé, he doesn’t neg her. So perhaps that helped him win her over.

He also shotguns with her which would be smooth except about 3% of the smoke made it into her mouth, but then again she seems like a novice so she probably didn’t care.

Their moment is interrupted by Maria hacking some more, but soon she and the other boys leave, and Lucas and Chloé make out. This is a pretty big divergence from Isak, who started making out with Emma while his friends were present. It was all a performance, and he clearly got uncomfortable once he was alone with Emma and eventually shuts it down. Lucas’ flirting is presumably a performance, too, but he could’ve stopped it after the boys left. Instead he goes forward with it.

Lucas does not start to show signs of discomfort until they’ve moved to the hallway and Chloé is unbuttoning his shirt and kissing his neck. We didn’t really see him show much doubt up until this point - like we saw Isak take a moment to gather himself when he realized he would have to flirt with Emma in the bathroom, the boys were pointing out it was “his girl.” But Lucas didn’t seem to falter until this point. I wish they’d shown more conflict earlier in the clip since they are emphasizing him putting on an act (like with the IG post). IDK if there’s also more of a self-imposed struggle he’s going through - maybe he’s also putting more pressure on himself to hook up with girls, not just to look straight but to be straight? It seemed like he might have even gone through with hooking up with Chloé had the cops not come up to the door. He was even starting to kiss her neck back.

When the cops show up, he takes advantage of the distraction and literally runs away from Chloé and jumps out a window, which is HILARIOUS, except this dude just dropped the weed on the floor in plain sight. Lucas, you’re a dingus.

I want jumping out of the window to become some symbolic running gag much like Isak struggling with his locker was, like every time Lucas has a problem he jumps out of the nearest window, in an increasingly dramatic fashion with glass spraying everywhere or him leaping out of an exploding building several stories onto the roof of a car. Doesn’t matter the situation, if there’s a window and an issue he doesn’t want to face, he ain’t gonna take the stairs. And I guess at one point the window won’t open so he has to stop jumping and running from his problems, and then his version of O Helga Natt involves climbing up and going through a window. But mostly the increasingly dramatic exits.

Clip 3 - Mika, Lisa, Manon, and a cranky gay hamster

The Skam France team got the most important detail of Isak’s season right, which is the box of tissues beside Lucas’ bed.

When Lucas wakes up he has a text from his mom, a message about going to church and praying for God to punish Lucas’ father for his sins, which SURE IS SOME SHIT. That isn’t just happy cloud religion, it’s hoping a vengeful God will strike down your enemies.

The text itself seems … coherent? Just religious. IDK if anything was lost in translation. Isak��s mom’s texts often seemed more rambling, or straight-up Bible verses about sin.

But hurrah, they’re keeping the religious themes in this season! Lucas is another Biblical name so I’m interested to see how they develop that symbolism.

Lucas’ mom says she is praying for the both of them and that she misses him, so there’s more of a sense of wanting to connect with her son - like Isak’s mom’s texts were pretty intimidating and I could see how he’d feel closed off from them and would find them more judgmental and a sign of her mental illness more than anything, not necessarily a sign of her missing her son. Lucas’ mom is more clearly reaching out to him, I guess he’s just not responding or giving anything back.

Yann texts Lucas that the police found stuff at Emma’s, and he wants to know if Lucas has the weed. Lucas is trying to find the weed when Mika and Lisa come in with Manon on the phone. Lucas does not greet Manon with enthusiasm although we will see that they’ve got a fairly warm relationship.

Mika has an Alt Er Love phone case, which is very cute and a sweet nod to Skam! Every season of Skam France so far has had a shout-out to the original show, which I think is a nice gesture.

Mika says Lucas has problems like “how to get a girl to deflower him” which sure is an interesting comment. Either Mika truly does not suspect anything, which is doubtful, IMO, or he’s just covering for him in front of Manon or trying to make Lucas feel like they don’t know his secret, which is considerate of him.

Mika compares Lucas to no better than a hamster because all he does is sleeps, eats, and poops, like a hamster and Lisa thinks that it would’ve been better to get a hamster. Lucas gives her an offended look. LMAO.

Manon is being nice to Lucas, which is sweet of her. She has Lucas show off the apartment. So this is a different apartment from season 2? Were they not able to get the other one? Occam’s Razor, I assume this was a filming/location issue.

Manon asks about the rent and Lucas says his dad feels bad because he can’t take him in, so he’s helping Lucas out. Wasn’t Manon supposed to pay for Lucas’ rent because her parents didn’t know she was moving out of the flat and in with Charles? I guess their patronage stopped because she couldn’t avoid telling them that she was leaving for London with Charles. Which makes me wonder why they bothered to keep in that part at all last season. (Or maybe again, because they had to switch apartments so Manon’s parents wouldn’t unknowingly pay for someone’s rent in a place she’d never lived.)

Manon asks about Lucas’ mom, whether she will be OK, and he says that she’ll be OK (obviously he is not sure of that), and then she asks if Lucas is seeing someone. Doubtful that he realizes how loaded that question is, considering Manon has seen what’s on his phone! He does this blatant lie where he pretends Mika is calling for his phone back to avoid answering.

I do not actually get why they’re doing Manon in London? Or why they redid this scene so closely? In OG S3, there were several reasons this scene existed, such as showing the mother’s religious text and Jonas asking about the weed, and planting some seeds for Isak being uncomfortable with some of Eskild’s behavior (like Eskild talking about lavender scent). But it was also a way to explain that Isak was living at Kollektivet, and a followup to Noora after her season and a setup to explain why William wasn’t around anymore, and we don’t need either of those things here. Manon directly offered her room to Lucas at the end of S2, so we know he would be living there, and there’s no reason to write off Charles because the actor isn’t leaving the show. The only thing you’d kinda need to address is why they’re in a different apartment, which could be easily explained with a line or two or dialogue (Mika or Lisa complaining that something was better/worse at the old apartment).

Noora’s whole subplot of sorts in S3, with her and William going to London and her returning when their relationship faltered ... I don’t know what Julie’s plans were had Thomas Hayes not left the show, but that definitely seemed like a development necessitated by his decision. Julie even managed to write in some parallels between Isak’s and Noora’s romantic situations to create some thematically relevant material from this development. But we still don’t actually need to do that with Skam France! The actor who plays Charles isn’t going anywhere from what I know. Like I don’t get why they can’t just have Manon and Charles living at their own place, as planned, and then they’re in the background with parties and stuff. Especially keeping in mind the time restrictions on the episodes, and that they’ll likely need to cut stuff, and this is something that could probably go without affecting the main story.

Skam Italia also wrote out the Noora character and sent her to England during their Isak’s season, too, and I thought it was kinda unnecessary, although that I can understand more because they switched S2 and S3, so it was a reason to keep Eleonora away from Edoardo (the William) until her own season. But overall it’s not something that I think needs to be carried over from remake to remake. I hope they have a good reason to send Manon away other than just repeating the story from the original show, especially considering that IMO that drama ended up dragging down season 4 (but that’s a whoooooole different essay).

Clip 4 - That’s enough, Basile

It’s school on Monday and Daphne is running around the courtyard, handing out flyers. Daphne’s existence is one thing that improves any Monday, personally.

The boy squad is all pissing in a row, sans Lucas, who’s on his phone waiting for the others. Once again he is disconnected from his pals, this time from the manliest of all male bonding rituals, the synchronized bladder release.

Yann and Arthur wash their hands and Basile does not, so guess who is going straight to the bottom of my boy squad rankings? Ewwww.

And he says it’s because he touched the girl’s butt on Saturday? …. The girl who was puking? Yeah, he could not plummet faster.

Basile starts going off about a wildlife documentary, referring to “females” as marking their scent on males, and IDK if the connotations are the same in French but men referring to women as “females” outside of a scientific context usually is a red flag.

And he hasn’t washed his hands since Saturday? But he’s jerked off???? I’m gonna puke. Yann points out he’s gonna smell like dick.

This conversation tanked Basile for me, because afterwards I could not stop thinking of his stank hands whenever he was on screen.

Daphne hands the flyers to the guys. She’s renovating the common room and is gonna make it “the place to be”. I guess they’ve just dropped her awesome party or whatever? Or is that happening in S4? Even though it’s kinda pointless, wasn’t it supposed to attract older boys and make the girl squad really cool? It’s been like over a year since they wanted to plan that, lol.

Basile seems super into Daphne and is willing to do the project, although Arthur is like, no, you aren’t. Basile, you have time to grow on me, but right now I do not approve of you hooking up with Daphne with your disgusting unwashed hands. She deserves The Best.

The other guys think Daphne is weird but Basile thinks she’s hot, so you know, he has that going for him. Though I think he would fall for any woman who acknowledged his existence. He would fall in love with the Annabelle doll if it looked his way.

Lucas gives the others a high five as he leaves, except for Basile, because he says Basile is disgusting. My favorite thing Lucas has ever done, tbh.

Basile does a pratfall over the bench on the way to class. That’s one way to get Daphne’s attention! But what makes it really funny is that Arthur stumbles over a rock at the EXACT SAME TIME in the background. I mean Basile is obsessing over everyone woman in the vicinity when clearly he and Arthur have some kind of soul bond going. (Arthur is probs too good for Basile, though. Arthur/Yann all the way.)

Things that did not appear in this clip: penguins, helicopters, treasure maps, mysterious hot new students making eyes at Lucas. Clearly there was no reason for any of those to be present. I don’t even know why I mentioned it.

(This aired on January 21st, Skam France, do you even know your audience???) (JK but for real.)

Clip 5 - The beginning of a beautiful friendship

Lucas stares at his teacher, who is wearing a sheer top that reveals her bra. I have to say he doesn’t look like uninterested. Arthur comments on it, too, that Lucas is checking out the hot teacher. Which is what I would believe if I did not have deeper insight into Lucas’ preferences.

Imane shows up and shoos Arthur away, and she asks Lucas whether he lost something on Saturday. When he asks, “What are you talking about?” she’s like, “Your virginity.” HA, that is an excellent burn, Lucas is toast.

We didn’t see Imane when Lucas jumped out the window, but she had to have been nearby for her to realize it was Lucas’ weed instead of anyone else’s. He didn’t take the time to plant it, he just dropped it, so that was less snake-like than Isak. And maybe a little less deserving of the roasting that Imane gives him, since this isn’t a matter of him being inconsiderate, just dumb. Sana was pissed off that Isak would do something like that on purpose and potentially get Eva in trouble; Lucas did it by accident. I guess the end result is the same if weed was found at Emma’s house, no matter how it was left behind.

Imane says they find Daphne’s project annoying, too, so I assume they’re all just doing this to make Daphne happy.

When Imane gets up to leave the teacher is like, no, Alexia and Arthur are now partners and Imane and Lucas are now together. Both Lucas and Imane look positively thrilled about this. Just delighted. I think Arthur’s reaction is meant to be sarcastic but lmao, dude, you get to work with Alexia, that’s a damn privilege.

Clip 6 - Lucas is bad at subtlety

It’s time for Daphne’s meeting! Just the girl squad, boy squad, maybe that girl who was making out with Lucas, and no other new characters of importance.

Lucas shows up, looking as eager as you’d expect. The girls are there sans Manon. They talk about how sad and depressing the room is. It looks OK to me? Like, not super warm and inviting, but they describe it like it’s Azkaban. Daphne is the only one who’s peppy and says they’re going to turn it into something so great people won’t want to leave high school. That sounds like the premise for a horror movie.

Some dudes show up and Daphne is all ready to greet them to her meeting. At first I thought that this lounge was their usual place to hang out, since it looks like one of them had a board game or something, and they had zero idea that a meeting would be happening, lmao.

We get another shot out of the window and for a second I was wondering if a mysterious new student might be standing below, lurking around, perhaps stalking somebody.

The boy squad actually joins Lucas for this meeting, which is nice of them, although in a second I’m going to wish they’d stayed away. Basile thinks Daphne is winking at him, Arthur says she’s just rubbing her eye. Why couldn’t Arthur be the one ship-teased with Daphne?

Oh, and Chloé has arrived. She sends a non-imaginary wink toward Lucas. I know she’s probably not going to stay that way, but for now Chloé is a very cute person.

Just as the boys are telling Lucas that Chloé is into him and asking about their hookup on Saturday, some male model just walks off a photo shoot and into the common room. We know this is significant as the music gets tinkly and Lucas deadass stares at this dude without reservations. Mysterious male model stares back and makes eye contact with Lucas. (I feel like looking into Maxence’s eyes is the gay equivalent of Bird Box, where just one glance is enough to make a guy like Lucas abandon the last remnants of chill and heterosexuality.)

Somehow Lucas does not die from this interaction, but he does keeping sneaking glances at the handsome stranger while Daphne does her awkward introduction. Chill, dead and buried. Heterosexuality on life support.

Basile applauds Daphne in her introduction - OK, I love her too, but calm the fuck down, weirdo. Daphne, don’t encourage him.

When the crowd starts adding their commentary, Imane steps in and tells people that the next one to interrupt Daphne gets their shins broken, which a simple yet iconic moment, especially because Yann certainly seems to get nervous.

Lucas keeps checking out the hottie in the row behind him and I mean, the camera loves that pretty face, so why not?

I already want to kill Basile.

Daphne is also done with him and roasts him when he asks for her number. Everyone giggles, which makes her smile and gives her some confidence, so I guess that’s what Basile’s good for. Except then he’s instantly in love with Daphne so arrrrrgh.

Lucas keeps checking out the view behind him because Basile is not the only one who’s developed a crush.

I like the idea of a musical cue or theme for Lucas and Sexy Newcomer but I’m kinda ehhh about this one, because I can already see it making certain scenes cheesy and overdramatic, like Yann spiking his skateboard or Charles slow-mo racing to Manon levels of unintentional hilarity. Unless Sexy Newcomer’s a pianist? Then I can understand it more if this type of music is relevant to his character.

Clip 7 - Weird is good

Lucas is walking home and what do you know, he sees a snack at the vending machine. Give some credit to Lucas, he goes right up to him. Although he doesn’t say hello, just lurks behind.

I recently watched the series You on Netflix so all these scenes of Lucas staring at the object of his affection with his large unblinking eyes are feeling a lot more ominous than intended.

Dream Boy is like oh sorry, i didn’t see you there! Fucking fake, he probably saw Lucas’ reflection in the glass or something. He can’t decide what to get, so Lucas recommends #24 which is a crunchy choco bar (looks like a granola bar). So in the promos for this season they mentioned “chocolate” as an important element in the story. Maybe crunchy choco will be their always!

Dream Boy gets one crunchy choco bar, and then another one, so there are no more left. His version of taking all the paper towels. He got very lucky that there were only two crunchy chocos left and that Lucas didn’t want the almond & seeds bar instead. He would’ve had to buy the whole damn rack. Dream Boy says one of the crunchy chocos is for Lucas. Except we don’t see them eat the bars, lol.

They sit down and smoke at the bus stop with one seat between them, and I could tell Chloé was gonna come and sit there. But I think it’s also supposed to be some no-homo space between them, like buying choco bars is one thing, but sitting next to each other??? It’s not like they’re married or anything.

They talk about how weird the meeting was, the importance of the common room. Lucas’ future husband says it’s a good opportunity to meet new people, but we know he’s thinking of one person in particular.

Earth Angel is a third year studying literature. Lucas asks whether it’s weird to start a new school five months before graduation. I mean ... they could have just made him Lucas’ age since he’s already like 25 in real life, at that point it’s not going to make much difference if you say he’s 17 or 18. Angelface is like, everything is weird with you! He muses that he too must seem weird. Well, weirdness is a quality I like in an Even, because Even was a giant fucking weirdo and it made him memorable and charming. And we know that our French Even has reasons for people to think he’s weird and is used to it, even if Lucas doesn’t know that yet, so it’s more loaded than Lucas even knows.

No offense but why is Chloé trying to chase Lucas when there is a literal male model on her other side? Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Chloé is like, the meeting was fun, right? Lucas is awkward and Sugar Pie Honey Bunch kindly chimes in that the general opinion is that it was weird. Chloé seems to be like, oh, OK, as if that will be her new opinion to stay on the same page as Lucas. SPHB adds, but we like weird, I think. NOT SO SUBTLE. You know what he means by that.

Chloé introduces herself to the new guy and he introduces himself as Eliott, so I can stop making up stupid nicknames and pretending I don’t know the name of this character they told us about months ago.

There was a really good post by @skambyme about how both S3 remakes so far have done the end of this scene by putting the Emma character literally in the middle of the Isak and Even, while in the original, it’s Isak who ends up between Emma and Even. The remakes have the focus on Emma coming between Isak and Even, and it’s not like a terrible choice to do that or anything, but I think it’s more perceptive in the original to recognize that the biggest obstacle is not Emma, but Isak himself, caught between a girl and a guy, a safe lie and a terrifying truth. It puts the emphasis on Isak’s internal journey rather than a more external obstacle (Emma).

We learn from the credits that Eliott’s last name is Demaury and he has an Instagram account! So already that’s different from Even, who’s a total ghost on social media, except for the birthday video, obviously.

It’s a little funny to me that Arthur and Basile do not have last names according to the credits, though, lmao. Everyone else does and they’re just Those Two Guys on a first name only basis.

Social Media/General Comments

I mentioned it above but I liked that prior to the first clip, they started the season with an IG post from Lucas saying he’s living his best life, of course to contrast with the disconnect he feels in the clip itself. Putting up a facade on social media much like Isak did.

FOR SOME REASON Basile found it necessary to document the sink girl’s puke afer she was done, like … no one wants to see that, bro.

The boys talk about Lucas’ great game with Chloé in a chat, and Basile wants them all to know he has game, too. They just ignore him, lmao. As one should.

Manon and Lucas have a pretty solid friendship going on, which is nice. They’re on heart emoji level and she offers to throw Earl Grey on Mika and Lisa if they bother Lucas too much. I wonder if Lucas will properly come out to her at some point during the season, or confide in her. Especially if she ends up coming back and crashing at the apartment like Noora did - she’ll be around to talk to in person.

Mika not only calls Lucas hetero in a clip, but he refers to him as such in an IG story, and I’m not sure what to make of that yet? Because he knows about the rumors that Manon and Emma told him last season. At some point last season Lucas started crashing in their building/apartment, so Mika must have found him and let him stay over. If he didn’t find him at a gay bar, then what happened? I don’t think Mika legit thinks Lucas is straight; I think he’s just trying to keep up the appearance that he doesn’t suspect Lucas is gay, for Lucas’ sake. I don’t know if that’s the best method, but that’s my guess.

Unless Mika genuinely didn’t think he was gay after Manon and Emma, and he didn’t find Lucas at a gay bar but in some other situation, like IDK, drunk at a park/bus stop/whatever? I doubt it. Or he’s ironically teasing Lucas about his heterosexuality because he suspects otherwise, which is mean, so I doubt that, too.

Basile again talks about how hot Daphne is in a chat … stay away from her, dude. He did wash his hands or sanitize them eventually, thank God.

Manon is posting throwbacks of her and Charles on IG … the fact that it’s a throwback makes me think things are not so great between them right now. Reinforced by her later posting Rupi Kaur quotes, “if you are not enough for yourself you will never be enough for someone else.”

Eliott is doing some type of Instagram puzzle with 4 out of 9 squares currently posted, and I’m not even going to take a guess as to what the finished product will be as of now, but I think it’s a really cool idea for the Even character to do something artsy and mysterious like that, and a fun way to tease the audience.

There was talk about how good Maxence’s acting was, with some divided opinions. I thought his acting was fine for his first clip. IDK how good he’ll end up being with the heavier material of the season, but he seems to have a lot of energy, which is something I find really important with Even, and he had a weird charm that felt right for the character. I know I saw some stuff that he sounded awkward to French speakers.

After the party clip I wrote something like “I really like the boy squad so far!” and it should be clear that my opinion changed to have one glaring exception by the end of the episode, lmao.

I’m already done with Basile, like we had 3 clips with him in it and 2.5 of them had him being obnoxious and creepy about girls. I say 2.5 because I thought he was OK the first time I saw the party clip, just an awkward goober dude, and then later clips retroactively ruined him in that one. The other two clips had a rather large focus on his desperation over girls, like I know basically nothing about Arthur so far, and Yann hasn’t done much yet this season, but I’ve heard a shit ton about Basile being gross. They have plenty of time to redeem him or tone him down, but I hope it happens fast. And Daphne is my favorite character so the thought of her hooking up with him makes me shudder.

That’s one disadvantage of them filming two seasons at once, though ... if they keep up his shtick and people dislike it, they can’t tone it later in the season or in S4 because it’s already filmed.

Overall I thought the use of music has improved. Some scenes started with silence! I liked that song at the very end!

Opinion of unknown popularity: I’m tired of the promo and behind the scenes stuff already.

Skam France is not the only remake that has done this, but it felt like they went on promo overload with this season, no doubt to build hype since the original S3 was such a hit, and I mean, from the perspective that they want people to watch and comment and like and subscribe … yeah, certainly I get it! But one thing that made Skam so special to watch was the lack of promo, the total immersion in the story. Completely not knowing what was coming, having no idea about what happens next. It was very unusual compared to almost every other TV show.

Right now it feels like they’re operating under the idea that everyone has seen the original show. Certainly fandom makes this assumption a lot of the time, but it’s one thing for fandom to do it and another for the director/writers/actors/marketing team to assume it? And I can’t help but feel that this spoils some of the effect of the season. S3, especially in the beginning, relied on a lot of ambiguity that kept you guessing. It was firmly locked into Isak’s POV, so when he doubted Even liked him, so did many of the viewers. We didn’t know that Even was mentally ill at the beginning of the season. We didn’t know Even noticed Isak on his first day of school. We didn’t know Even had a girlfriend. All this promo is giving away so much.

That’s actually an issue I have with the Eliott trailer, because as cool as I find the idea of finally getting that first-day-of-school POV, and although I think it’s a well-made trailer, it does remove a lot of the ambiguity regarding Eliott’s feelings toward Lucas, something that goes a long way toward establishing tension and putting us firmly in Lucas’ head, especially in the early episodes. For example, if Eliott turns out to have a girlfriend, we still know that he does have some feelings for Lucas - we saw Lucas grab his attention in the trailer. Whereas when Isak learns about Sonja, he doubts whether these moments he shared with Even were really what he thought they were, whether Even is actually into him - and the audience can doubt with him, because we don’t know any more than Isak. It doesn’t matter a ton to me as someone who’s seen Isak’s story, but what about someone who hasn’t?

Like I’m just imagining being a French viewer who has never seen the original show - you’d already know so much about where the story is headed just from the promo material. (How much of the audience is made up of total newbies who haven’t seen Skam, anyway?)

Of course, we don’t know how the changes in the story will be affected by spoilers, so perhaps there is a lot that we still won’t see coming. But honestly I would rather just watch the whole season and then get all of the behind the scenes goodies when it’s done. Especially because they’re saying that they’ve changed so much about this season - it would be great to go into that without any hints or spoilers.

I mean I love getting Skam interviews, bloopers, and scripts now, but I’m really glad it’s well after the show ended rather than while the season was airing. I remember the experience of watching live and not knowing where the story was going, and I really think that has a lot to do with Skam’s overall success and intense audience engagement. Some of the remakes have also done this - Skam España S1 and Druck S2 were/are divergent enough from the original seasons that it was exciting to wait for clips not knowing what to expect all the time. But I’m just imagining if Julie was posting a ton of explanations and hints during S3, and if that wouldn’t take a lot of the suspense and fun out of the experience.

Obviously the people involved are extremely proud of making this season, and want to share that love with everybody, so I don’t want to sound like an ass and complain about what they should or should not do. I know, I know, the solution is not to look at the extra material. It’s all optional and for the people who want to read it, everyone else can avoid it. But I’m thinking the best way to do that is just to avoid the tags and discussion of the show, because it felt pretty widely discussed and circulated. Anyway.

This episode on the whole was better than what we saw from S1 and S2 on average. Honestly, there are still some of the same directing weaknesses - not huge things, just like … stuff I would tweak, showing cause and effect, getting from Point A to Point B type stuff. But they’re not as pronounced so I think they can pull it together. I do think this season is going to be better than Skam France’s first two seasons.

I am not French so feel free to clarify or correct me if I misunderstood something.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions #long post

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sueboohscorner · 6 years

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#OUTLANDER S3 Ep12: "The Bakra" aka The Witch Is Back (and someone else)

ONE MORE episode my Outlandish friends. ONE more. Then we have stuck in that dreaded Droughtlander once again for about a year. Where does the time go?

After a couple of slow-moving episodes, we are finally back into plot twists, adventure, and intrigue. Quite a bit in this one hour!

The episode starts with a few months before when Ian is abducted from Silkie Island and is thrown onto the Bruja. He has that Fraser spirit and fire as he bites the hand of one of his captors and he impresses who I am guessing is the captain with his spirits, and they decide not to kill him, but that "the Bakra" would like him and the Bakra likes young boys. Okay, Ian, you are in trouble. When they say someone likes young boys.... it is never good.

When the ship arrives in Jamaica, Ian is taken to a holding cell for these young boys. He soon finds two other boys are in there with him. He asks about this Bakra. The one, Henry, says that all he knows is that there used to be more boys and one by one they were taken to the see the Bakra, and they never returned. Great news, isn't it?

However, it isn't long before Young Ian is taken to a bedroom on this estate he has been taken to. He is made to sit on a bed. By this time the poor lad is totally freaking out. He is probably sure he is about to die. Especially being the first thing he sees is a woman bathing in a tub of blood..... YES.... I SAID BLOOD. A literal bloodbath. Of course, Young Ian must be thinking that the blood is of those missing boys, which probably doesn't help his anxiety levels. He asks the woman in the tub of blood "Are you the Bakra?" To which a very familiar Scottish woman's voice answers "I am." Holy hell, it is Gellis Duncan that crazy ass witch from season one and also not so sane in the 1960's either (aka Gillian). Well, that bitch is NOT dead.

She slinks her way out of the tub and closer to Ian and smiles as she says she heard he was Scottish and proceeds to pick up a jug of water while telling Young Ian not to fret it is only goats blood. Woman....how many poor defenseless goats had to die for you to take a sick ass bath? Gellis rinses off her body with water and tells Young Ian (and all of us) that it is what keeps her skin young. Not a remedy I am willing to try anytime soon. She puts on a robe an barely closes it as food is brought in. My alarm bells are going off. She poisoned her husband back in Cranesmuir, so there HAS to be something in that cake or tea.

Well, Ian scarfs down the cake, Gellis offers him some tea. He takes a sip, and apparently, it is bitter, and Gellis tells him it is better with sugar and adds some. She waits a bit and then asks him how he came to be holding her treasure box when the pirates captured him and that there were three sapphires in the box and now there are only two. She demands to know if he took it and where it is. Young Ian with a mouthful of plum cake replies he doesn't know. Gellis asks him again and watches as his facial expression starts to change. Young Ian blurts out that maybe his uncle took it as he knew where the treasure was. He quickly claps his hands over his mouth entirely shocked that he said that. Gellis chuckles and says that the tea has a truth serum in it that a local witch doctor makes for her and is very effective. She asks who his uncle is and it is her turn to be shocked as he says "James Fraser of Broch Turoch."

Gellis makes sexual advances on the poor boy and Ian informs her that his uncle is coming to rescue him. “Oh, I’m counting on it, lad,” she says, slithering over him that makes that snake climbing over Claire look tame in comparison. Gellis mentions that she beds the boys that they bring to her because their main value to her is their virginity. “I’m not a virgin,” he says. “Good,” she replies, flipping her robe open. “You’ll know what to do then.”

Just a note here. Gellis is a large woman when we meet her in the books again. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed because I chuckle at that. However, I knew they weren't about to put poor Lotte Verbeek in a fat suit, and the scene doesn't disappoint me at all.

We finally catch up with Jamie and Claire with Fergus and Marsali as they dock and come ashore in Jamaica. Jamie tells his men to take the Artemis and hide it back in one of the coves they saw on their way in, just in case Captain Leonard comes about. A man introduces himself and is very happy for a shipment of fine liquor this late in the year. Jamie says that Jared is his cousin to which the man is delighted and offers them an invite to the ball that evening to welcome the new governor. He asks if he can be of any assistance, to which Jamie explains about the situation with Young Ian and learns that the Bruja had indeed been in port and they should ask in the slave market.

By this time, Claire has wandered off and is already in the slave market totally and utterly appalled by what she is seeing. Men, women, and children in cages with barely any clothing. She comes across a woman who is branded and almost gets sick. Finally, she comes to an auction happening which is featuring a man with a gimpy leg. The auctioneer is asked about his virility (meaning how well endowed he is) and the auctioneer goes right ahead, shows off the man's private parts and even handles them for the audience. Well, Claire has had enough and proceeded to yell at the auctioneer to stop it and beats him with her parasol. Of course, this causes quite a skirmish amongst the crowd and Jamie steps in and grabs Claire. She is in tears and tells him to "Do something" and to help the man.

Inside their room later, Claire is looking at a bill of sale for the slave. Jamie had no other choice but to buy him. Claire is disgusted that she owns a human being and insists they must set him free. Jamie concurs, but not right there in Kingston, as he would be caught and resold. Claire threatens to tear up the paper, but Jamie reminds her that without that she has no proof that Tremaire (as he is called) is hers and he could be taken and resold that way too. Jamie and Claire talk to Tremaire about the fact that they want to free him when it is safe to do so eventually, but that they could use his help that evening. He could ask around with the slaves about a white boy that was sold off to someone and where. He agrees.

And so they all attend (including Fergus with Marsali and Yo Tien Cho) the governor's ball. Claire is looking lovely in her dress from France and Jamie looking dashing, but.... oh that powdered wig! When they arrive at the front door, Claire looks up and sees someone that shocks her. Archie Campbell who greets her as Mrs. Malcolm. He agrees that it is funny that of all the islands in the West Indies, they both end up on the same one. It appears they are in the employ of one of the wealthy landowners in the area.

Inside, they wait in a line to greet the new governor of Jamaica. Fergus and Marsali are giggling and acting as newlyweds do and Claire remarks to Jamie if he remembers them being so obvious in public. He replies that he does and that she couldn't take her hands off of him, but since she was on the back of a horse most of the time he guessed it couldn't be helped. Claire playfully slaps him. They then have some serious eye sex, that only on Outlander can we have 20 seconds of no one speaking and get more than enough meaning!

"Is he genuine?" Jamie and Claire hear a woman say and see her staring at Mr. Willoughby. Jamie introduces him as Yo Tien Cho from the Celestial Kingdom of China, and the woman gushes, and Claire rolls her eyes. With that out of the way, the line has moved up. Claire takes a step but notices Jamie goes white as his wig and hasn't moved. He almost claims it is Claire's fault for coming through the stones that all these ghosts from their past keep showing up. Hmmmmm. They step forward and the new governor is none other than Lord John Grey who is stunned speechless at the sight of the man he secretly yearns for again. They do the formal hellos, and Jamie introduces Claire, his wife. Lord John is stunned again and begins to say "I thought she...." and Jamie stops him and tells him that he too thought she was dead, but she turned out not to be and came back to him. Lord John asks Claire how, to which she simply replies, "It's a rather long story." Lord John invites them to speak privately in his office.

In the office, Lord John and Jamie share looks that are making Claire suspicious. Jamie's first question of course "Is Willie with you. Here." and Lord John tells him no, that Isabel and Willie will be coming over when it is safer to travel. Jamie asks how Willie is and Lord John tells him that he is doing very well and is a wonderful and talented equestrian and yes, he still remember Jamie from time to time. Jamie is pleased to hear it. The two stare at each other again to which, Claire has had enough and steps in and asks politely how he became Governor here in Jamaica. Lord John says it is a step within a series of "promotions." Jamie sees something hanging from Lord John's pocket on his vest. "Is that.....?" Jamie starts to ask, and Lord John says yes it is the sapphire that Jamie gave to him. He wears it to....pauses briefly.... remember their friendship. He then tells Jamie again, almost in awe, how good it is to see him again and then excuses himself to attend to his guests.

Once again out into the party, Jamie and Claire come upon the gentleman from the docks who says he has a couple of Freemasons he would like Jamie to talk to as they know just about everyone on the island. Being a woman, Claire knows that she is not allowed in on this conversation, so she says she will make some inquiries of her own. She pauses, and Lord John comes up to her, and they share awkward conversation. Thankfully, she turns very white when she looks to her right and sees Gellis Duncan walking towards a door outside. She follows and catches up with her.

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…” Gellis starts off the conversation. Claire asks how it is she is not dead. Gellis says that as Claire already knew, she was with child, so they couldn't pass judgment on her until the baby was born. "It was the wee ratling that saved my life," she tells Claire. They kept her in the thieves hole in Cranesmuir for three months, and when her pains came on, they took her, and she gave birth in her bedroom in her house. She got to hold the wee lad for a bit, and he was "as warm as his father's balls" (almost lost my drink on that one), but then Dougal came to fetch him because he didn't want anyone finding out that it was his. The bit of conversation that follows is true Gellis. "Why are men such fools? You can lead them around for a while by the cock, then you give them a bairn, and you have them by the balls again. Whether coming in or going out that is all you are to them... a c**t."

Gellis says that she was right about Claire (meaning a time traveler) and was wondering if their paths would cross again. Claire asks how Gellis ended up in Jamaica. Gellis says that Dougal helped her escaped, and they put an already dead woman in her place and yes... Gellis watched her burn. She goes on to say she hid out for a spell but then met and married a wealthy plantation owner, a Mr. ABERNATHY (sound familiar?) and of course the tropics can be a deadly place for the English constitution, and he died. Yeah... okay, because your last husband wasn't poisoned or anything.

Gellis asks what brings her and Jamie to Jamaica. Claire (stupidly) tells her they are there to search for Young Ian, Jamie's nephew who was kidnapped and that they believe he may have been sold into slavery. Gellis feigns shock and asks how she can help. Yeah.... because she is such a helpful person. Gellis agrees to help as much as she can.

Back inside, Claire brings Gellis to Jamie (who is sitting and smiling and talking to Lord John). He is just as shocked to see her. It isn't long before Gellis sees the little bauble hanging at Lord Johns hip. She "shockingly" grabs it and demands to know where did he get such a lovely gemstone. Lord John tells her that it was found on an island off the coast of Scotland and given to him by a friend..... er prisoner. She hastily excuses herself and Lord John comments on how odd she is. Dude.... you have NO IDEA.

Gellis finds Archie Campbell and tells him to get his sister, and they are going to do readings tonight. He is shocked, and Gellis takes him forcefully to a doorway and while looking at Lord John, says she is only interested in one reading.

So, Archie and Margaret are doing their thing and have gained quite a crowd around them. Gellis spies Lord John and insists he has a reading done. He tries to politely decline as he has guests he needs to attend to and Gellis asks the crowd if he should indeed have a reading done. Of course, the curious crowd agrees. Jamie and Claire watch with a suspicious eye, and Gellis tells Lord John that Margaret needs something personal of his to hold and points with her eyes at the sapphire. He reluctantly agrees and sits down. Margaret, already holding the other two sapphires gives the reading (actually earlier in the episode, we know that the three sapphires held together with a seer will give a prophecy of when there will be a new king on the throne of Scotland). Her eyes open wide and she speaks with a thick accent. Lord John grabs his sapphire back as soon as she is done and makes his getaway. That wasn't odd at all.

Mr. Willoughby watches with care and concern as Margaret holds her head in her hands. NOTE: I couldn't remember where in the timeline of the episode it happened, but there was a very touching scene with Mr. Willoughby and Margaret outside in the garden. He tells her that her brother doesn't treat her well at all and she deserves so much more. When she touches his hand, she says he is a very rare soul, and Mr. Willoughby smiles and says something in Chinese which when asked what it means.... says Flower from Heaven. It is a scene we do not see in the book. Mr. Willoughby is a much better person here, and I hope it doesn't end for him as it does in the book. Maybe he and Margaret can run off together.

Outside, Gellis and Archie try to decipher the cryptic reading. They figure out that there is a baby that is 200 years old when it is born standing in the way of a new king of Scotland. Gellis is confused. I was, but now I remember. Gellis doesn't know about BRIANNA yet. Next episode!

Fergus and Marsali are fooling around like love-struck teens outside against a tree when they hear horses go past. They see it is Captain Leonard! They rush inside to find Jamie and Claire and warn them. Jamie tells Fergus to have the carriages ready, and he and Marsali with Mr. Willoughby go ahead. Just then Tremaire reappears and tells Jamie and Claire that one of the slaves saw a yellow-haired boy with an accent like Jamie's and he was taken to Rose Hall owned by Mistress Abernathy. Claire is pissed at this point (really? when at any point could you trust this woman?!) that Gellis lied to her. Tremaire tells them that free/escaped slaves live in the mountains near there.

They hurry and get into their carriage. Somehow, Captain Leonard, standing on the porch seeing the carriage roll away, seems to know that Jamie is in that one. They are headed for Rose Hall and have to stop when Tremaire sees the mark for the path to where the slaves live. Once again.... you think you might be followed, but let's stop, get out and wish Tremaire good luck and stand there and watch him walk into the jungle. So, needless to say, they are finally about to get back in the carriage with horses appear, and a voice says "Mistress Fraser, I see you have found your husband." Jamie quickly gives Claire the pictures of "the bairns" for safekeeping just before he is arrested. Claire is more than pissed and pretty much accuses Captain Leonard of being an asshole after all she did to help him and his crew. If it weren't for her, they would all be dead. Doesn't seem to bother him and Jamie yells for her to get to Rose Hall and save Young Ian.

Well.... the common sense thing here would be to get in the carriage and go BACK to the Governor's house and ask for Lord John's help. However, this is where the episode ends, so you will have to wait until next episode!

I liked this episode. Yes, the book has a lot more, but as Diana Gabaldon said, they usually creatively interpret things in the book or change things in the books for the better. I agree with what was in this episode. I am giving it an 8/10.

Your thoughts? Comments? Please feel free to let me know below!

#OUTLANDER #OUTLANDER Recap #Outlander

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

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why I’m not keen on Evak 2.0

fredweasleying replied to your post

“Skam Italia episode 7 reaction”

Im italian and i have the same opinions mostly....why dont you want an evak 2.0 tho im curious!!

Hi, I’m sorry for taking some time to respond! I was feeling a little sick this week and I have a long answer for this question, lol.

The main reason I don’t want an Evak 2.0 is because is that, well, I feel that Evak 1.0 is about as perfect a canon ship you can get in execution, and S3 has no major flaws for me - I only have one gripe of any substance (having to do with Emma outing Isak) and it doesn’t ruin the season for me or anything. Personally I didn’t want any of the seasons to be direct remakes and would vastly have preferred new stories tailored to the culture, with new characters developed around the actors’ personalities and strengths, but there’s not anything we can do about S1, and at least one S2 remake is mid-season, with more being set up. And I believe the contracts required the remakes to do S1 and S2 of the original? But S3 is not a guarantee. Anyway, S3 and Evak had some weird magic going for it where everything worked. Very rarely have I seen a fandom react with near-universal praise and satisfaction toward something, especially a canon ship. Obviously not everyone is going to love S3/Evak but I think it’s hard to deny that they’re overwhelmingly well-received. Not just by fans, either. I’ve seen professional film and TV critics gush about S3, too. Much of S3′s success comes from elements that can’t be replicated just by following the outline of the original.

The chemistry is hands down pivotal to the success of S3. I can guarantee you that, strength of the writing and directing aside, if those two actors aren’t fantastic together, then the season is just not going to work. Imagine two actors with no chemistry doing all the bed scenes, or the kitchen scenes, or the O Helga Natt scene. It would be so awkward. I think OG Skam overall did really well with cast chemistry, and Tarjei and Henrik’s chemistry was really something special - you can see little things in their body language, the way they mirror each other, turn toward each other, come up with unique gestures for each other that make them seem more real as a couple. They react to each other and feed off the other’s performance rather than just performing a script. I think it’s going to be extremely difficult to find actors who are even remotely as good with each other. (And frankly this is harder with gay fictional couples due to possible biases in their depiction ... I want to believe the best of the remake production teams but I’m not gonna lie, until I see it in action I’ll be a little apprehensive that they won’t let their Isak and Even be as affectionate together as the original. Even “progressive” shows can display double standards about that.)

You need a seriously gifted actor to play Isak. Not that you don’t need talent for all the characters, but there are quite a few scenes where Isak just looks at stuff on his computer, or gets a text message, or talks on the phone with someone, and you need an actor who can clearly communicate what Isak is feeling without help from other actors or stimuli. Then of course there are the bigger emotional moments, but Isak is a very internal, very vulnerable character for much of the season. As far as the remake Isaks go, Lucas hasn’t felt that believable to me in most scenes and his facial expressions/subtlety are especially what have left me cold, and I like Martino but his performance doesn’t feel that vulnerable to me yet. Matteo from Druck is the one who seems most capable of being Isak-like but IDK what’s up with Druck. I am very willing for these actors to show me excellent performances in the future, I’m just aware that they have a lot to live up to.

You need a seriously gifted actor to play Even. This could make or break the Evak pairing in the remakes, perhaps. I would argue that you need more acting chops to play Even than to play any of the other love interest characters in Skam, because you need someone who can pull off depression and mania convincingly. That’s really tough subject matter and someone who isn’t up to the challenge could potentially make the character a parody or caricature, the last thing you want to do in a season with positive mental illness rep. You also need someone who can walk the tightrope of carrying a big secret through most of the season while still being charming and sympathetic even as we’re stuck in Isak’s POV, being hurt and confused by Even’s unexplained behavior. We need to have some trust in Even. It will be hard to root for Evak if the Even seems like he’s just messing around with Isak and lacks that core sweetness and sincerity. Personally speaking, I never ever doubted that Even’s feelings for Isak were genuine, even when he was ghosting and giving mixed signals, because honestly, Henrik’s heart-eyes were just that convincing, lol.

Some of the symbolism and richness of the original’s writing and directing will be lost no matter what, if they stick to the S3 script.

For instance, 21:21 does not make sense as birth/rebirth symbolism if the character is not named Isak/Isaac/some variant. Of course the story can still continue and make sense on a surface level, but it will lose aspects that gave the writing additional depth. One reason of many that I love S3 is because the symbolism gives the story so much more weight. It makes Isak and Even’s relationship feel much more important than just a sweet teenage romance. Not to sound ultra corny, but presenting Isak’s love for Even as a form of spiritual rebirth feels downright profound and puts it up there with the “epic love stories” that Even likes, tragedy or not.

The Romeo + Juliet references are not going to make as much sense if they can’t, say, get the rights to the music from the original. Like … if you do a close remake with the pool kiss, and it might be a pretty scene, but you’re going to need some R+J music over it for it to have the same resonance. But then, lol, the scene will be too similar to the OG scene. The R+J references weren’t just fun Easter eggs for the viewers; they were woven into the story very thoroughly and thoughtfully. Even’s love of Baz Luhrmann tells us a lot of about personality and outlook on life. It gives us an idea of his romanticism but also hints at his depression. Thematically, R+J is hugely important in terms of creating tension and suspense throughout the season, that undercurrent of “epic love stories have to be tragic” and making the viewers expect the tragedy, only to subvert that expectation. A story about suicide becomes a story about rebirth.

They should not even bother trying to redo O Helga Natt, man. Just don’t do it. They’re going to lose a lot of the symbolism anyway.

There’s some other stuff but IDK, there’s just … so much that can go wrong. The Evak relationship feels really specific - they have so many inside jokes that are unique to them, so many recurring themes, so many little gestures, and they all work together as part of a whole. Copying them wholesale is going to feel artificial. Some of the remakes have handled the adaptation part better than others, but there’s some stuff that I just don’t think will work as 2.0 at all.

Since we’ll likely be getting an Isak season in each of the remakes - it was such an international draw that I can’t imagine it not happening for each remake that is renewed - what I really want is for them to write their own S3 featuring a coming out story, with the same care and detail as Evak, and covering similar themes, just ... not Evak. Not the same scenes, the same dialogue, the same characterization. Make Even have a totally different personality. I wrote a post about different films they could reference in S3 other than Romeo + Juliet, and like, I wrote it as a joke, but also? They should pick different movie references for S3 if they decide to incorporate them. Perhaps they could pick iconic Italian/French/German films from the country of that remake. Think carefully about the story and weave in different symbolism. Just recreating those motifs will be the ultimate sign of a remake’s laziness.

I do think S3 is very important in terms of the issues discussed, and I think it would be wonderful for youth in different countries to get the LGBT and mental illness representation. I would just prefer if they created something thoughtful and original rather than trying to recreate something that’s already considered a masterpiece by many critics and fans.

#fredweasleying #skam remakes #evak

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