Ok, I'm not usually the one to rant, but this just bugs me so much... I've been seeing comments under various Beelzebub / Ineffable Bureaucracy videos and posts along the lines of "wow, I can't believe they recast the original actress because they thought she wasn't pretty enough," "oh look, they didn't think the first actress looked good enough for Gabriel so they replaced her" and the like. And I'm just like... Wow. Just wow. It's been stated on various occasions and by various sources that Beelzebub had to be recast due to scheduling conflicts. So no, honey, you are the one who thinks so and it's so shallow and sad. Don't try to blame your thinly veiled insults on Neil and Co.
Both Anna Maxwell Martin and Shelley Conn are talented and beautiful, I loved the way Beelzebub looked in both season one and season two, and - though I'm not usually a fan of recasting in movies or shows - I love the way this one was addressed and explained in canon instead of just ignored like it normally is.
Anyway, I just had to get that out of me and into the void. I know the people it's meant for will probably never see it, but I'd rather let out my frustration with them in this way than by fighting in the comments lol
Anna Biller: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of bluebeard's castle
Mary Shelley: sup fuckers?
Shelley: you telling a gothic story here?
Biller: it's not gothic, it just uses classic story telling elements of gothic
Biller: it's its own original thing
Shelley: oh yeah yeah i'll be the judge of that
Shelley: seein' as i invented gothic and all
Biller: it's not gothic, it just uses classic-
Biller: it's not like angela's bluebeard story
Biller: very different
Biller: but let me explain angela's story in detail
Biller: blow by blow
Biller: for pages
Biller: this woman goes to a spooky secluded manor
Biller: like daphne du maurier's rebecca
Biller: with a brooding aristocratic husband
Biller: like Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights!
Biller: and she has a sweet heavenly voice
Biller: like urkel!
Biller: this part of my story is a reference to Jane Eyre
Biller: you guys might not have heard of it, its pretty obscure
Biller: don't worry, i'll just grind the story to a halt so that i can describe jane eyre
Biller: and this bit is a reference to dracula
Barker: oh my god its like gothic ernest kline
Poe: clive, be nice
Biller: anyway eventually she kinda just putters around until her brooding husband poisons her
Biller: and there was nothing she could do to avoid it
Biller: real girl boss hours
Shelley: what, she just gets poisoned?
Shelley: couldn't be me
Shelley: if i was there, i would have shivved that bastard but good
Biller: UM no actually
Biller: that wouldn't work!
Biller: there's a whole concluding chapter about how stupid you, the reader, are for thinking she escape
Shelley: rip to her but i'm different
Biller: so what do you think?
Mary Shelley: i like the bit where you just repeated angela's version
Poe: clive
Poe: no wait i mean
Poe: mary
Angela Carter: no no i can see why she might like that part
Biller: the important thing about my work is to know that women and men should stay in their lanes and follow the strict rules of their gender
Patricia Highsmith: poison's a broad's thing
Biller: excuse me?!
Highsmith: that's how a dame does a murder
Highsmith: a real man does a murder with his hands
Biller:
Highsmith: or a boat oar
Highsmith: see, my ripley-
Biller: oh god again with the ripley
Biller: always with your OC patricia! we're all tired of hearing about your OC!
Shelley: no patricia's right, killing a guy with a boat oar is cool
Shelley: poison's sissy shit
Shelley: i like how ripley does all those murders
Shelley: fucker's got style
Highsmith: that's what i've been saying!
Anna Biller: see, Bluebeard's castle is all about how men are men (evil) and women are women (stupid)
Biller: as opposed to the love witch, which was about how men are men (stupid) and women are women (evil)
I wonder if Aziraphale only didn't come out so traumatized after the trials of Hell because Beelzebub didn't harden their voice on “Crowley” like Gabriel did to “Aziraphale”
maybe Beez already had a head start at the emotional intelligence arc Shelley Conn was talking about when she took over the role
Hiya! :) Yeah, unfortunately Anna Maxwell Martin was in two shows and a stage play when the filming took place so she couldn't make it. Beelzebub in season two is played by Shelley Conn. We will miss Anna but I'm sure Shelley will be glorious :). If it helps you can headcanon that Beez was discorporated and got a new body? ❤
Anna Biller: Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this the tale of bluebeard's castle
Biller: it's about a woman trapped at a secluded castle under the thumb of a mysterious and dangerous nobleman with dark family secerts
Biller: but with a feminist twist
Biller: the twist is gender essentialism
Angela Carter: that's hardly feminist, anna
Carter: now, when i retold bluebeard-
Biller: oh you say that now angela
Biller: but i got a secret weapon no woman can resist
Biller: detailed lists of luxury fashion brands
Biller: did i mention this lady has a prada hat, a valentino dress, and dior boots?
Biller: chanel, armani, versace
Biller: those names won't mean anything to you men
Biller: but to us ladies
Biller: oh damn phewww is it hot in here or is it just me?
Biller: in fact, girls, i feel the sudden need...
Biller: to go SHOPPING!!!
Tabitha King: shopping!!!?!
Sonia Greene: eeeee!! shopping!??!!
Angela Carter: shopping!?!?
Biller: we're all going to the mall!!!!
Patricia Highsmith: ugh pass
Biller: what's the matter, patricia? no interest in a girls night out?
Biller: i think
Biller: someone needs a make-over!!!
Mary Shelley: sup fuckers
Shelley: what's this, you tellin a gothic story?
Biller: what? it's not gothic!
Biller: it's simply a novel that makes use of class story telling techniques of brooding fear, isolation, and dark secrets
Biller: and if you think that makes it gothic
Biller: well i just don't know WHAT to tell you
Shelley: so it's not a gothic story?
Biller: no it simply makes use of classic techniques
Shelley: is this like how the love witch wasn't a pastiche
Biller: IT'S NOT A FUCKIN PASTICHE
Shelley: it's a pastiche
Biller: SHUT UP!!
Biller: whatever happened to sister solidarity!?
Biller: now my work asks, why do women stay with abusive men?
Angela Carter: interesting
Biller: could it be because it's kinda hot?
Carter:
Carter: uhhh
Angela Carter: but anna! what about feminism?!
Biller: don't criticize me!
Biller: i did it for YOU, all for you!!
Biller: sure, your guilty feminist conscience may force you to dote on sensitive new age guys but you know deep down you secretly long for a hot-tempered he-man to slap you around, pull your hair, and rule you like a king!!!
Edward Lee: bro
Lee: bro
Lee: i'm gonna tame this filly
Barker: yeah good luck with that
Lee: naw naw it's cool
Lee: i like em spicy
Lee: yeah babe i getcha, i hear the love witch was a pastiche
Biller: IT'S NOT A PASTICHE
Lee: yeah it's a pastiche
Biller: IT'S NOT A FUCKIN PASTICHE!!!
Lee: [to Barker] this is called negging, bro, works every time
Biller: UGH YOU MEN
Biller: you're all the same!!
Biller: arrogant! bull-headed!
Biller: god why can't i quit you?!?
Hiya! :) Yeah, Anna Maxwell Martin unfortunately wasn't free at the time of the filming. :( They might explain it by Beez being discorporated and getting a new body :).