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uninformedartist · 7 months

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So just finished watching the ep so review. Spoils ahead:

So the episode was ok to me, solid 6/10 one of the better episodes which since this was supposed to be an "extravagant" ep why does it got better quality than the main eps, idk Viv has her moments like this ep and other eps its a train wreck in writing ect.

Mammon worked on my nerves, from design to his movements, personality ALL of him was annoying, which props for an annoying Villian but its Villian I never want to see back again and he's hinted for some sort of return.

Side tangent: Mammon is like the how many-ith Villian to get a return ep/hint at one. It was 1st cherubs, then dorks, then stella/ice twink, striker/crimson now Mammon & according to the leaked storyboards a ghost guy that tries to talk IMP into off-ing themselves... its a flipping lot and cherubs & dorks seem to be forgotten dispite dorks knowing & having hard evidence they exist, flip Viv chill it with your Villian of the week cos its way too many now.

Anyway, Blitz didn't need to be in this ep besides the flashback. Ozzie got him to talk Fizz out of being Mammon's puppet but ultimately Ozzie spoke him out of it & gave him courage to quit/confront Mammon. Even Blitz being a bodyguard/killing people for Fizz could've been any imp. Blitz is starting to feel like Steven from SU, in every ep even tho the ep doesn't need him/ the episode surrounds topics a wee child shouldn't be in (i.e Lapis trauma dumping on Steven & he a child isn't really equipped to handle that situation).

My fave part of this ep was Ozzie and Fizz. Ya'll I legit prayed Viv wouldn't mess these two up and my prayers were answered. Absolutely a joy these two were. Fizz especially what a darling. Loved that small scenes with him and the deaf imp child, l dont know sign language but it looked genuine animated and was just sweet moments.

From their interactions, Fizz's panic attacks/self doubt felt & were genuine... I felt that as someone that has panic attacks from high stress on my studies/life. It was just handled well. Fizz feeling less than and needing to prove himself from 1. his past 2. his appearance, that accident affected his self image/worth so much (why I felt him forgiving Blitz was too hastily done but I digress) & 3. him doing this Mammon contest still to gain/earn Ozzie's love for him cos Fizz believes Ozzie only sticks around because of this fame Mammon gave Fizz. Ozzie finally saying what he loves about Fizz was lovely, wanted that in the 1st ep but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Their song was... I didn't like it BUT the message in it was beautiful. Lastly Fizz saying fuck you to Mammon from the courage/strength Ozzie gave him was a nice send off... also Ozzie saying he loves Fizz ah ngl that made me smile agh I just love them. I want to see them more than the Stolitz show but thats only a wish. Props Viv, you get 1 brownie point not messing this up.

Last findings, the ep was bloated as hell my soul Viv please stop cramming so much in an ep, this one is 30 mins long & yet still felt bloated. Pacing was a motherfuka damn it was bad & the swearing was jarring (its a Viv written ep I don't expect any less but still gonna point it out) and the comedy wasn't so prominent in this ep, Blitz/Mammon gave some comic relief but in the best and worst ways:

The way the VA delivered this line "to be fucked" made me laugh, the line is cringy but the delivery lol gold

Aand Blitz, my soul shut the fuck up & get out this ep. Last ep & this one he said something so agonizingly cringe I pulled my face

The world of HB is legit American hell or earth just painted red since Fizz named all these places in America just "hellified" where his fans come from.

And very last, congratulations Salem glad you got the cathartic send off you deserve from working under Viv, truly fuck you "Mammon" indeed :) also glad they credited you this time.

#vivziepop critical #helluva boss critical #spindlehorse critical #helluva boss criticism #my post #can we get a moment for Salem cos heck yeah for them whoooo!!!!

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helluvabossrewrite45 · 11 months

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Always sunny anon replying: funny you mentioned Bojack being I believe Viv has said in the past on her twitter that she wants HB to be the next BH yet seems to not understand what makes a show like Bojack work to begin with. (I'll admit I haven't watched Bojack Horseman yet. I've been sleeping on it way to long tbh).

Yeah absolutely. Viv doesnt seem to get that bojack worked in not only in its ability to make people like bojack while not excusing his actions, but also how its structured as 'comedy turned drama'.

(major spoilers for bojack horseman btw, you can just skip to the end/the last paragraph of this post)

Now in bojack's first season, it was a comedy pretty early and stayed that way till later down the season and it continued to grow naturally to a drama (though the comedy is still there of course). Helluva boss though, seems to be all over the place as just after episode 1, episode 2 takes a more serious/dramatic approach when the show is meant to appear at first to be a dark humoured comedy, along with most of the season not even sticking to its original premise, instead focusing more of set ups and stolitz drama that both didnt go much of anywhere (striker might be an exception though i feel like the end with him could be another set up). What wouldve worked is that episode 1 - 4 is entirely on the original premise for helluva boss and the rest would be more serious (with strikers introduction, the agents and stolitz drama) with season 2 continuing the more serious approach. Hell, if their gonna include stolas family drama, why not portray it as comedy at first, then use it later on to portray it more seriously. Like in season 1 of bojack where he and sarah lynn slept with each other, its being treated as comedic. But when he revealed that he slept with her in the interview, its being treated completely seriously and use it to highlight bojacks problem from him with young women and his issues with accountability, episode 2 could portray the cheating as comedic (with stella throwing objects while rambling while stolas dodges them like a dodgeball game with octavia initially being presented as the typical 'lonely stuck in the mud teenager' but we still get hints of her being more than that later down the episode) and while it ends on them leaving the festival in an awkward comedic way, that would used in seeing stars where octavia vents about her family drama, including on how neglectful stolas has become as a father from the festival incident. Im kinda surprised viv didnt consider to use it because it would be a perfect tool for helluva boss to use.

Another reason why bojack worked compared to helluva boss is its characters. While bojack was written well, the rest of the characters (especially women) shine through and we get to see more of who they are overtime. We dont really get much on that with helluva (especially the women), sure we get their backstories though we dont really have much depth if that make sense. Like when we compare todd to moxxie, todd's deal is that he's extremely helpful and he actually have stuff going on for him, its only bojack thats holding him back so when he finally distance himself from bojack, not only is it consistent but its also not repetitive, instead we get to know more about todd, seeing his relationships, discovering his asexuality etc...hell, he even has his own episode where he learn to make time for himself too instead of always helping out everyone. Moxxie has an arc of overcoming his weakness but the thing is, it repeats the same arc that it can get tiring to watch. What would work for him is that he slowly develops him overcoming his weakness instead of it just being repeated (like maybe further snapping at blitzo or confess that he considers quitting) Its a real shame too because him being close to morally good than morally grey or bad (which i predict thats what most of hells beings would be) opens a gate to a lot of possibilities for him as a character like why he took the job, how he met his wife, how he views the world around him etc...but they clearly didnt know what to do with him especially when season 1 wasnt even properly planned (as viv literally admits this on twitter too) so its why he as a character feels stagnant. But a bigger comparison however, has to be the women in the shows. People tend to praise the show for how it writes its women characters, often from diane and princess caroline. They're shown to be as messy and complex as men like bojack in the show though other women characters had their time to shine like hollyhock, kelley, gina, penny, bojack's mother etc...Its clear that bojack writes both men and women well in the show. Helluva boss on the other hand, is quite unbalanced in its writing for men and women. Specifically with the men having more variety and generall knowledge about them than the women. Like millie and loona, despite being major characters, have very little depth especially with millie who wouldnt even be a character if we remove her from moxxie. And even with the other women characters, they dont have much depth either (or at last we dont get to see that depth often like with verosika), they all in some way are in the roles for men characters (octavia and loona being there to establish the good in stolas and blitzo or stella and verosika being there to establish to either be the villain or to show a part of the man's past) Its very clear that viv favours men characters than women as alastor and angel dust having more going on than charlie, the main character herself. I mean, both shows are technically character driven and to be character driven, your gonna have to make sure your characters can equally shine on their own instead of one having more depth than the other.

To put it shortly, i dont think viv really gets why bojack was successful to audiences to begin with and in turn, failed to achieve that success with it being how she structures her show for the 'comedy turned drama' style being all over the place when bojacks was of natural progress and her imbalanced/poorly planned writing of men and women characters where it wasn't an issue in BoJack

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #helluva boss criticism #helluva critical #helluva criticism #helluva critique #helluva boss rewrite #ask #anon #ive also been sleeping on bojack for too long though i finally watched it a few months back #its really good i definetly see why so many people like it #me included #major spoilers for bojack skip to the last paragraph for nonspoiler summarization #hopefully if you watch it you like it too

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helluvapurf · 7 months

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*not me forgetting to watch the newest HB ep a few days late* -BUT yeah, the Mammon ep's here!

Figured it'd be nice to chat about it a bit since this'll probably be the last S2 ep we'll get for the year, so lets get into it~

Quick spoiler warning below for those who haven't seen the Mammon ep yet-

Alriiiighty, to start things off lets talk about the Pros of this ep!~ :>

-Bless. 👏My. 👏Guy. 👏Fizz. He was SUCH a gem to watch, here!~ 🥺Everything from his strong passion for being the best performer possible, his anxieties about fitting up to his idol Mammon's vision (in spite of all his exploitative treatment of Fizzarolli), and him eventually finding the courage to stand up to his crooked boss to quit on a high note (aka: his "F*** You") song… aaaaa, just chef kiss Loved it~

-Ozzie's back to being the best smooth talking-yet-loving bf to help out Fizzarolli, which is also a big treat to see!~❤️ You can just feel how much he truly loves and thinks highly of Fizz, trying to encourage that he's the best just how he is… and that he doesn't need a prick like Mammon to "improve" his act 🥰. Honestly, would SO be down to just see more of Fizzmodeus' wholesome lovin' over the Sto*litz melodrama we've got now… for real lol >3> 👌👌

-Speaking of which, Blitz was fun to see pop up in more of a supportive role to Fizz's story, standing by as his "security" while trying to remind Fizz of what's really important over kissing up to Mammon's crowd. I even liked that tidbit from Ozzie that Blitz is just a "kind-of friend" rn, showing that he and Fizz are actually taking time to rebuild their bond instead of everything being fully-swept under the rug… which imo is refreshing to see, all things considered 👍👍

-As far as Mammon himself goes… well I mean, what you see is what you get when it comes to him lol 🤷 . A crude, money-grubbing showboat who's all about making a profit… which def fits the vibe to him being the embodiment of Greed imo .3. Glad he got his comeuppance and whether he comes back or not in the future, lets just hope Fizz will keep to standing his ground against this walking moneybag 🤞🤞

-Those Klown sisters "Glitz & Glam" were a fun lil duo themselves, catty but committed to their roles as stage performers 🤩(and ngl, their song "Klown B***h" was pretty catchy too~). Didn't even try to cheat/sabotage Fizz's acts despite all their attitude with him earlier, so good on ya girls~ 👍

-That moment of Fizz bonding with his fan over sign language was super sweet, really showing at the core what a caring idol Fizz is to wanna make his audience happy~ 😊😊

Now, as far as any Cons regarding the episode… hmmmm:

-While I get what they were trying to go for with Mammon's aesthetic (lowkey being a walking Christmas tree, aka: commercialism lol)… ehhhhh, I feel like something's a bit "missing" in him fully feeling like a Greed sin imo .x. Idk if it might be his head giving the "same-face syndrome" vibe as some other HB guys, or his whole "true form" basically just having some extra eyes/spider legs for some reason… buuuut eh, just not really feeling it from an artistic standpoint 🤷.

-Ngl, am I the only one who felt kinda bad for the Klown twins' predicament by the end? ^^; Like, yeah they were pretty bitchy to Fizz earlier but I mean… it lowkey-wasn't too different to Blitz' asshole attitude to everyone else (which is usually played off as a good thing/joke by the narrative) so like… did they really deserve getting slammed by that giant rock thing at the end? Heck even just a quick heads up from Fizz letting Glitz & Glam know what an exploitative prick Mammon actually is (at least more with the whole "make a s*x doll out of your image" thing... *shudders* >>; ) could've sufficed fine… esp since the girls themselves could've easily fit in better to like, Verosika's crew or something with their popstar-vibe. But again, that miiiiight just be me… .3.

-That one stalkerish fanboy of Fizz was a real creep indeed… which I guess also played well to his established role (though at least Mammon had some entertaining presence to him, in-comparison >>). Glad Blitz at least offed the guy off quickly to give his bud some breathing room👍 . The less we gotta deal with incels like that, the better -x-;

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Aaaand yeah, that basically about covers my thoughts on the Mammon ep! :thumbsup: Didn't expect it to release so soon as it did, but I say it did a splendid job as the mid-season finale(?) for S2! ^^ Lot of heart, lot of laughs, lot of splendor and polish to entertain a viewer… hope to see more of this improved writing for the rest of the season to follow!

As far as my current ranking of Season 2 goes, here ya go!

1) "Mammon's Magnificent Musical" (S2 Ep. 7)

2) "Oops" (S2 Ep. 6)

3) "Western Energy" (S2 Ep. 4)

4) "Exes and Oohs" (S2 Ep. 3)

5) "The Circus" (S2 Ep. 1)

6) "Unhappy Campers" (S2 Ep. 5)

7) "Seeing Stars" (S2 Ep. 2)

#helluva boss #helluva boss spoilers #helluva boss review

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ltleflrt · 3 months

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oh lol, I finished watching HB like last week, but i haven't dipped into fandom yet so i didn't realize this comparison was something being done elsewhere as well! Mostly im rewatching the episodes. Honestly to me, the comparison is a bit superficial and has more in common with earlier/mid-season canon trope buckets and how the characters are written in AU fics, rather than how they are like in later seasons of SPN. (the DeanCas dynamic shifted a lot over 12 yrs imo!)

Most superficial thing - the Stolas-Cas owl /headtilt connection. 🦉😂 But Stolas is also a deeply lonely but repressed and dutiful member of a provileged higher class / 'better' group of beings, where he never quite fit in despite being well-placed. It was a meeting with Blitz that put his entire life into a different trajectory, where he finally started to feel things and question his previous life, and ended up forsaking that old perfect life for associating with a guy from a 'lower' class of beings, that he faces derision from his peers for. He is naive to the ways of the world, but willing to learn, even as he is often quite unintentionally derogatory about imps. (this often happened with early Cas) He also has a strong love for his child and a strong connection to the identity of being a father, even though that journey is rocky. He seems to have grown up alone and yet part of a innumerable nameless horde of siblings with a largely absent father, and it is later revealed that the fascination of Blitz and his doubts and unhappiness actually predates the supposedly "first" meeting when they started associating.

The relationship in the beginning is transactional (though in very different ways for both ships), but slowly and surely evolves beyond that. Stolas, despite being much for powerful in supernatural ways, Blitz's is often the one taking the lead and Stolas let's him. Even as Blitz secretely actually thinks Stolas is completely out-of-his-league and is just putting up with him, because he's the toxic guy who everyone leaves if they have a choice and only puts up with if they have to. Then there's the growing up in a nomadic lifestyle with a not-so-great dad, and dead mom in a fire! Right now you could consider the Barbie Wire and Blitz relationship in the Stanford-era!Sam and Dean zone, but clearly Blitz has very strong feelings about his sibling with whom he was close growing up.

lol I was in the tags 5 minutes after the last episode, looking for fanart to reblog. If you want to dip your toes in, I recommend blocking some tags, because the fandom and ship tags are full of antis who need to go watch a different show because they really hate this one and I don't understand why they're still here? Go touch grass, folks. But at least they're pretty good at tagging their hate. I've blocked "anti stolitz", "stolitz critical", "anti vivziepop", and "vivziepop critical" and that seems to have caught most of it.

Thanks for coming back with an explanation! That's way better than the posts I'd seen about it, and I think you're right about the parallels. I think my mental block on it comes from the fact that I ship them for different reasons.

Dean and Cas are reluctant allies at first who become close friends, and there are things keeping them from moving past that. They're always dealing with world ending events that take priority over their own personal drama, and they both fundamentally misunderstand each other's love languages and think things are one sided. I ship them in a star crossed lovers kinda way.

Blitz and Stolas are interesting to me specifically because it started out as a fucked up bargain where Stolas was using Blitz for kinky sex, and Blitz was Not Into It. The power imbalance and dubcon was HOT. And when I found out that Stolas was married too, I was like aw yeah, this guy's a bag of dicks, and he's shoving them into all of Blitz' holes.

Delicious toxicity mmmm.... And then...AND THEN...it's slowly revealed that they both want something more, and Stolas only made the deal because he thought that was the only way he could get Blitz to come back. And it didn't even occur to Blitz that Stolas could feel anything for him because of their class differences.

In the episode that ends with Blitz going "he can get hurt?" with shock and confusion, omg I about fell off the couch. Because on the surface he's talking about physical injuries, but in subtext he's talking about Stolas getting his feelings hurt too. *chef's kiss* ugh it's so fucking good.

Come to think of it, you could make that another Destiel parallel, since Dean doesn't think Cas is capable of feeling romantic love. Now that you've given me a few points of entry, I'm going to start connecting dots all over the place lol

#ltleramblings #reply #anonymous

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pluckysidekick · 2 years

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The week started out with more of a whimper but ended with a bang from the ND set this week. As often happens, we got a few choice items on Friday as they wound down their week of 16 hour days. The headliner was Kennedy’s Twitter post, captioned “Happy Friday y’all,” that appeared and then disappeared, but not before it was captured and reposted a gazillion times:

Can’t stop staring at this one. Some eagle eyed fans noted that it looks like they’re sitting in a booth at the Claw, and that Alex and Kennedy are wearing the same wardrobe as in Kennedy’s equally frenzy-making post from last week from the Icarus Hall set. It was quickly proposed and rejected that Alex was wearing the sunglasses from Ace’s apt. set. I suspect neither of their sunglasses are actual wardrobe and they’re having fun with us, but who knows?

Kennedy was very helpful (jk) with her enigmatic posts responding to fans:

It’s impressive how much chaos can be created with one mostly blacked out Nace photo that appeared for 20 minutes, so job well done. Kennedy did assure us that she knows how important Ace’s earring is to us.

Speaking of the Claw, filming this week on Episode 7, directed by former AD Adrian Deipold, continued from last week and seemed to center on the Claw set as many of the crew members posted from there, including a few that indicated at least some filming was at the location vs. the studio built set.

Back to the cast, Leah gave us an adorable hair look with shades of Wheezie from “Dragon Tales,” while Larry was back in the saddle on Friday and gave us an equally adorable video of Scott who didn’t quite know what episode he was filming 😂. It seems Larry is shooting both more scenes from Episode 6 (which he directed a few weeks ago) and Episode 8.

Two other tidbits: a glimpse of the HB Police Department set from Friday, and a lime green VW Bug from Tuesday, both courtesy of applebananapear. Dying to know whose car that is - Bess, maybe?

I did want to address the fact that a few spoilery things were shared in Discord this week. I’ve thought about it and decided that I want to keep this blog to sm posts from the cast and crew vs. things that weren’t intended to be public yet. I personally enjoy following the fabulous cast and crew and all the glimpses of production they share with us, but I really don’t want to be spoiled for plot points, especially if they weren’t shared by production folks who know how to walk the NDA line. Hopefully you understand as that’s my plan going forward. I hope you enjoy these little glimpses of the show that still keep us guessing.

One last thing - a shameless plug for The Space Between, my Season 4 spec fic. My intention is to give us all the feels and wish fulfillment we’re looking for in S4 while we wait. Chapter 9, posted this week, has some choice moments for Ace, Ryan (!), and Nancy as well as the rest of the crew as they attend a fancy fundraiser for the Youth Center at Icarus Hall. Ace in a suit, check!! Also, sassy ghosts…

#nancy drew #nancy drew cw #nancy drew s4 #nancy drew season 4 #cwnd #cw nancy drew #kennedy mcmann #alex saxon #leah lewis #scott wolf #larry teng #ace [redacted]#nace #ace x nancy #nancy x ace #author: pluckysidekick

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marithlizard · 2 years

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Thoughts on Helluva Boss S2E2, “Seeing Stars”

To be clear, I love this show, it's blown me away since the pilot with the writing and characters and music and voice acting and in particular the impeccable comedic timing. And I am on the Stolitz train all the way to the end of the line. But this particular episode mostly did not do it for me, especially after the powerhouses that were 6, 7 and S2E1.

The new writer (Adam Neylan) has done a predictable by-the-numbers plot that could have been lifted from any American television sitcom from 1980 onward, and quite possibly was. I could see each plot beat coming a mile away and I could have recited the dialogue ahead of time.

HB has always been full of deranged "I can't believe they SAID that / I can't believe they DID that" energy, and then swerving from that into genuinely moving and well-grounded character moments. None of that is here. The characters don't sound like themselves to me. Blitzo's colorful trademark rants are missing, most obviously, and so is Stolas's ludicrous inappropriate dirty talk, but everyone else is at least subtly off.

Continuity is also lacking. At the end of the last episode Stolas miserably realized that Blitzo sees their relationship as a transaction, and not always one he enjoys. He also stood up to his physically and verbally abusive wife for the first time. Now suddenly he's casually sniping at her and comfortably sassing Blitzo. The lines are funny but they don't make sense! (Have we ever seen Stolas criticize Blitzo before, ever, even in jest?)

We did need a lighter tone for this episode, and it makes sense to have Blitzo and Stolas avoid the dreaded Feelings Talk and/or set it aside to collaborate on finding Octavia. It just wasn't done very well.

The voice acting also felt off to me, particularly for Millie and Octavia. I love Octavia's hoarse voice and accent, and Millie's southern drawl, and they were gone here.

The forced-to-act-in-a-sitcom plot is hard for me to assess because I really don't like that particular kind of humor. Watching Blitzo and the audience suffer just made me pray for violence that did not come soon enough. And if I started in on the gaping logic holes I'd be here all day, so I won't.

Things I did like, even if they mostly weren't well executed: Human Stolas being gorgeous, with red sunglasses on his forehead to mimic his upper eyes. The magical-girl transformation sequence. Moxxie following up on his hallucination-resolution to be more assertive. Blitzo seemingly taking Moxxie's advice and support. Octavia accidentally killing the real whatsisname-actor when she arrived. Moxxie being an enthusiastic patron of the arts. The Loona flashback, AUGH, that was actually affecting, I hadn't guessed her situation was so horrible. Stolas getting Blitzo's name right. And of course Loona and Octavia bonding, we've all been wanting that.

The conversation between Stolas and Octavia at the end of the Loo Loo Land episode, and the one between Blitzo and Stolas after Ozzie's, are how you do messy emotional situations right. They're brilliant scenes. I want more of that and more zany murder shenanigans. Hopefully they haven't let this guy write any more episodes on his own and we'll get them.

#helluva boss #helluva boss spoilers #helluva boss s2e2 #seeing stars

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thatcartoonnetworkblog · 2 years

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Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest- “Digital Doublecross”

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest has a more interesting backstory than the final product suggests. The series would be one of Turner’s last cross-network productions from Hanna-Barbera Studios, premiering on TBS and TNT alongside Cartoon Network, and would also be their last series featuring legacy characters before HB turned into Cartoon Network Studios. Turner really wanted this to be a big series, possibly hoping to entice nostalgic adults into seeing this fresh new take on the classic Jonny Quest characters, but really hoping that kids would like the mix of “cutting edge” CG animation alongside globetrotting hand-drawn work.

That didn’t quite work out. By all accounts, the showrunners and the higher ups seemed to want two different shows, the former preferring to update the classic Quest formula while the latter was keen on doing as much QuestWorld as possible, and neither are particularly well-defined. The show wasn’t quite the git Turner was hoping for, as I think Cartoon Network’s first all-ages original, Dexter’s Laboratory, became the bigger draw on the three channels. Real Adventures made 52 and quietly bowed out less than a year after premiering.

While Turner’s other channels would increasingly phase out cartoons as Cartoon Network started to appear in more homes, CN still found a space for their costly Real Adventures relaunch, and it received a primo spot on their new Toonami block for its first couple of years. By all accounts, this wasn’t something the crew was happy about- Jason DeMarco, Toonami’s co-creator and current showrunner, is very candid about his indifference towards the series- but Turner spent millions in trying to return to Jonny Quest, so they were going to make the most of it, by god!

It’s just not a very good show. The QuestWorld segments are charming in how primitive their computer animation and early take on the World Wide Web was, but ReBoot arguably does it better in every single way. And even outside of that, the writing and animation isn’t much to write home about. Time hasn’t been especially kind to the original Jonny Quest, primarily with its depictions of race and lack of female characters, but Real Adventure’s attempts to redo these wrongs doesn’t quite hold water, itself. Hadji still talks like a mystical prophet and is unfortunately voiced by Rob Paulsen, a decision he regrets. And while the addition of Jesse Bannon, Race’s daughter, is admirable, she’s fairly flat as a character, although to be fair, that’s true of everyone here.

Oh yeah, as for this episode. In this one, Jonny and Jessie have a hoverboard race that ends inconclusively, so they log onto QuestWorld to prove once and for all who’s faster. But their archrival, Surd, enters a virus inside of QuestWorld and has them stuck. The rest of the Quest gang try to get them out, which results in Race making a trade he’s going to get. Not a bad idea for a story, but the pacing is poor and never quite adds up. Additionally, Jonny and Jesse’s dilemma never feels as deadly as it should and it all kind of peters out.

#the real adventures of jonny quest #jonny quest #toonami #cartoon network #friday spotlight

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fishylife · 3 years

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Street Dance of China, Season 4, Episode 4

- I’ve had issues with Tumblr not saving my posts again v.v I’ll just save often and hope that that does the trick.

- Latrice and Ibuki reenacting HB’s performance haha. From the behind the scenes clips I’ve seen, Ibuki does speak English, so I like to think they are now friends :D

- Hilty & Bosch have known each other since they were six years old T_T That’s cuuuute. Apparently they don’t get into arguments a lot because they always keep a distance between them XD Good strategy.

- San’er’s performance was great! He definitely brings the entertainment in his creativity (including incorporating a story line), but he doesn’t forget about the technical parts of dancing (the popping).

- Bouboo cheering on Rochka when he challenged Jianyan :P

- This spinning move he did was neat

- 不咋地 is going to be the recurring inside joke between Yibo, Rochka, and Bouboo ^^;;

- Yixing singing the SDOC theme song again XD With his super low energy voice XD

- Yibo was tipping the bench which was why Yixing and Henry were like, rocking back and forth at the same pace lol.

- Admittedly George vs. C-Lil was kind of rough. George tried to include Chinese elements in his performance, but he was injured, so he couldn’t really showcase them, and the latter part of his performance became just a typical contemporary dance. C-Lil’s performance was alright, but I think the judges were expecting something more impressive. While break dancing is very impressive to watch, I am starting to see the limitations of it, because if a dancer is not impressive, they are just kind of mediocre. George and C-Lil weren’t able to bring anything superbly impressive, which I think it was difficult for them to vote. Yibo abstained, and C-Lil got two votes, so C-Lil advanced.

- Zyko was incredible as always. It fascinates me how he’s mostly performed with these ballad type songs that don’t really have a beat. Also his flexibility is insane. I’m glad he got through with four votes because we need to see him more.

- I really liked Chika’s performance! I feel like women’s dancing is sometimes a bit limited in the mainstream because people just expect them to look sexy. It isn’t as much the case on this show because all of the ladies on this show are dancers and not idols or pop stars. But anyway, I just love seeing women dance without their bodies being sexualized. Chika’s dance showcased not only control over her body, but POWER. I loved her big movements. Compare the power that she shows vs. the power that say, Ibuki shows. Ibuki is a much smaller lady and it shows in her proportions, so how she expresses power looks different from how Chika expresses power, and Chika’s is the sort of power that I’ve really looked forward to seeing.

- Rochka fanboys over everybody, I love it. Keep spreading the love, dude.

- Ok, Xiaoji’s performance was pretty entertaining. I am not kidding when I say my jaw dropped, at the same time that all the captains went OH SNAP. But this guy definitely has charisma and stage presence. His confidence made up for his lack of ability to improvise XD I was CACKLING when this guy thought the song was done and Yibo was like “bro there’s more” and Xiaoji had to come up with something to end it off lol. I wouldn’t say his challenge was as good as Xiaohai’s, mostly because he hadn’t memorized the music like Xiaohai did. In terms of technical stuff, his performance did seem more impressive than Lai Wei’er’s, but he also did less “stuff” (like, there were a lot of pauses in his dance probably because he didn’t now the music). But Xiaoji’s was definitely more entertaining, though that may just be because of who he is and not his dancing. (By the way, Xiaoji’s real name is 林森. I thought the name 林木森 was just a joke because of how much wood was in it. I never guessed that someone would name their kid 林森 X’D Guess his 八字 indicated that he had a weakness in wood or something lol)

- Have some laughing captains, it’s good for the soul.

- Acky-san acknowledged that he’s probably not going to beat the younger dancers in terms of technique, so what he brought instead was style. The “robot” style of popping is pretty old, but no one else has done it in this competition probably because it’s so old school, and he definitely delivered in a way that only he could.

- Henry singing Frere Jacques with the French contingent X’D

- Thoughts on Han Yu vs. Boris. I can imagine what Han Yu was going for in his original performance, but I don’t think it worked. I don’t have the vocabulary to explain it, but basically the way his performance was choreographed just didn’t really impress. As Yibo mentioned, Boris was impressive in his dance to Han Yu’s music, but his dancing didn’t suit the song as much as Han Yu’s did. So the original dance + challenge was a matter of impressiveness vs. whether the dancing suited the music. Han Yu shone in the battle. I think he seemed a lot more impressive when back in a hip hop sort of groove, music that has a lot of major beats, compared to the piano music that was less grand an epic. As for Boris, I think that seeing a few of his performances in succession showed that his toolbox is a little limited in comparison to Han Yu. It hate to see Boris go because I loved his battle against Zyko but alas. I also wanted him to stay because he’s one of the few non-Chinese contestants who speak Mandarin relatively well. He had no issues speaking in Mandarin with most of the Chinese people on set. The ending was hilarious, when he was asked whether he had any last words, and Boris was like “well, I’m literally going to see these guys in two seconds when I’m back in the audience, I’m not dying” lmao.

- I don’t know how I feel about how the show has decided to deal with the last 29 contestants, of which three would be chosen to join the 49 dancers advancing. They’re competing fairly with the other contestants that haven’t performed yet, but they’re at a disadvantage compared to the previous contestants that were judged individually. For example, what if the fourth best dancer was better than a dancer that had already entered the 49? It would only be fair if the judges were allowed to take out people from the 46 contestants that had passed. It would’ve been a bigger problem if there were still a lot of big names to go though. Most of the best dancers have already secured a spot for themselves, so I think that’s why I’m not like, the most perturbed.

- I was low key waiting for Xiao Jie’s performance because his audition performance during episode 1 was so amusing. I thought his individual performance was fun! He managed to add some creativity and story telling (Chinese dude getting drunk) but also showcase some of his specialty skills (locking).

- I forgot to mention this before, but it amuses me that so the editing team will so diligently put in a “don’t try this at home” warning message whenever a dancer does a dangerous move haha.

- So the captains are doing a dance battle for the reborn event, but I’m not really sure how this is all gonna work. I’m digging Yixing’s look for the battle btw.

- Anyway, pre-battle hugs for all.

- KRUMPMASTER. Also I think he did some of the routine that he did back in Season 3.

- Not gonna lie, I wasn’t super impressed with Han Geng’s first dance but his second dance was pretty hype.

- Lol Yibo feels most comfortable challenging Yixing during his battles. He did move where he dropped onto his back right after Yixing did it (i.e. being like you can do it but I can do it better). Based on what I saw of season 3, I think Yibo would call out Yixing in his performances then too.

- Yixing was definitely heavy on the krump side, though I actually thought his first performance was really interesting because there was barely any krump in that one. He mostly stuck to other elements. As we got through the other rounds, he became more krump heavy, and I think he lost a bit in terms of variety there.

- The thing about Han Geng is that he’s no longer as athletic, so he relies more on power and control, but he needs to make sure he does the right moves that showcase that.

- I think Yibo impressed me the most. He had a lot of variety in his arsenal and he was very entertaining. He is also quite athletic, so as long as he can imagine it, I think he can do it haha.

- As others mentioned, Henry was extremely creative. He used a lot of dance moves to show a certain action, like tugging a rope or playing pool and such.

- Anyway, big hugs.

- Baby needs a nap.

- Yibo won the most points in the four rounds of the battle. This hug with Han Geng is uwu. Anyway, Tony Gogo mentioned that Yibo interpreted the music very well.

- Of course, Tony Gogo as well as the Gogo brothers praised Yixing for his krumping energy

- Philip said that Han Geng had a really good ear, and that was how he was able to take advantage of the best moments to unleash certain dances.

- The five contestants that were saved were A-wei, Boris, George, JC Jun, and Kelo & Uwa. I definitely think the editors purposely showed us more clips of them so that we’d grow attached lol. The only one of these five that I don’t quite remember is A-wei though. Anyway, very pleased that Boris is back haha.

- Pouty boi

- Yibo, Henry, Han Geng, and Ibuki getting really into 煞科 lol.

- I think next episode is going to have some team performances, which I think will be fun. Some of these teams are STACKED.

- Previews for Hot pot!

- They were talking about songs they listened to in their childhood. Han Geng started singing a song about an Office Black Cat? XD I’m guessing it’s a cartoon haha. Yibo listened to Leehom Wang and Jay Chou. Henry mentioned that he looked up to Leehom because he was also an overseas Chinese, plus he played a lot of instruments (just like Henry). As expected, Yixing looked up to Jay Chou (after all, Jay Chou was one of the earliest artists to popularize using Chinese elements in pop songs). Yixing said he also liked Leehom Wang, JJ Lin, and Khalil Fong (I legit have not heard the name 方大同 in a long time so that took me by surprise lol).

- Yibo mentioned Li Ronghao and Yixing was like OH WAIT YEAH HIM TOO. We know from Idol Producer that Yixing and Li Ronghao are bros haha. The captain says “不榮藝組合” which pronounced the same as “不容易組合” which is something like “unlikely duo,” except the the 榮 is from Li Ronghao’s name and the 藝 is from Zhang Yixing’s name lol.

- The robot spilled all the tea! Bad bot!

- I think they later played a listening game that Henry kept losing? lol

#thinking out loud #cvariety #street dance of china #screencaps

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thehandmaidstalehulu · 6 years

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There are not many good men in Gilead. There aren’t even many men in Gilead about whom you might reasonably feel conflicted; the misgoynist dystopia at the heart of The Handmaid’s Tale is populated by sociopathic Commanders and power-crazed Guardians whose every worst impulse is fostered by the society in which they live. But Max Minghella’s Nick is the exception. Though seemingly a loyal employee to the Waterfords and an effective agent of Gilead, it becomes clear by the end of Season 1 that Nick’s stoical exterior belies a rebellious spirit, and that his love for June (Elisabeth Moss) is very, very real.

Season 2 has pushed Nick's unflappability to its limits: following the news that June is pregnant with his child, he conspires to get her out of Gilead and comes painfully close to succeeding. His effort to undermine his monstrous boss, Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), is thwarted by a bombing. Most unexpectedly of all, the regime "rewards" Nick for his service by giving him a 15-year-old bride, Eden (Sydney Sweeney), whose presence leaves him truly unsettled. And in this week's episode, "Postpartum," Nick's stilted dynamic with Eden takes a tragic turn; having tried and failed to find any love in her marriage, Eden has fallen for another man, Isaac, and when her affair is discovered, she is executed.

BAZAAR.com sat down with Minghella to discuss shooting June and Nick’s intense sex scenes, that devastating turn in Episode 12, and why Season 2 has felt so much darker to him than Season 1.

Harper's BAZAAR: I’m still not really over Nick and Luke [O. T. Fagbenle] meeting for the first time in Episode 9. Was that scene as intense to shoot as it was to watch?

Max Minghella: There was definitely a lot of anticipation about that scene on the creative side, and Lizzie [Moss] herself was really involved in how it played out. For me, it was so much fun to finally work with O. T.! This is a funny show, because we all get along so well but most of us haven’t spent much time together. We all work in these little segregated groups, and I work almost exclusively with Lizzie [Moss] and occasionally with Yvonne [Strahovski] and Joe [Fiennes]. What was thrilling about the Canada episode was finally getting to engage with these other parts of the world. O. T. and I are very different people, which is smart casting because Nick and Luke are also wildly different. It’s a smart dichotomy with these two men, which I think reflects two sides of June.

HB: So Elisabeth Moss was involved with developing that scene?

MM: Yeah, she’s very involved in everything. People obviously know that she stars in the show, but I don’t think people realize how much she really produces the show. It's far from a vanity credit, she really is our day-to-day producer, and is very, very much involved in the scripts and the edits. But she cared in particular about that scene, and I think as a fan of the show herself she wanted to make sure it really played out right.

HB: I was very suspicious of Nick throughout Season 1, and even now it’s sometimes unclear how involved he is with the resistance versus Gilead. What is his deal?

MM: What I love about playing Nick is that he’s someone who is always lying, to a degree. But I’m very defensive of him because I play him, so I’ve never had those suspicions about his moral compass. I love that he is a very romantic character—I’m a very romantic person in real life, so that's something I like tapping into and channeling. In this show, which is so often bleak and difficult, Nick’s a part of the narrative that is hopefully cathartic. When I go to set in the morning to shoot a scene with Lizzie, I always feel like it’s nice to be bringing something slightly less intense for a few hours, slightly less dark.

HB: Speaking of cathartic, June and Nick’s sex scene at the Boston Globe offices was so striking and passionate, and to me took their relationship to a different level of intimacy. How do you approach working on a scene like that?

MM: Our director on that episode, Mike Barker, is an amazing character and super charismatic, and he’s also a master of sex! He’s famous for doing sex scenes, not just on our show but on many others. He’s so good at it because he doesn’t beat around the bush—no pun intended—and he’s very straightforward, almost comically so. Nothing about it feels precious, but he’s also not a lascivious person at all, and he’s always incredibly focused on storytelling and character. He’s always the first person to try and cut a sex scene, and he has cut many of them before. He really only wants them to be there if they serve the story in some valuable way, and do something that can’t be achieved in any other way. And with that scene, the fact that Lizzie and I had already had a whole season together made it easy to be very straightforward. The scenes are not uncomfortable to shootat all, and I've done sex scenes in other things where that’s not the case.

HB: The dynamic between Nick and Eden throughout the season has been deeply awkward, and he seems to really struggle to be kind to her, when it comes so naturally to him in other situations. Why do you think that is?

MM: I think Nick’s a person who’s pretty good at clearing hurdles and dealing with obstacles, and navigating tricky situations. And I think Eden is the first time that he has not known how to navigate something. I think he’s almost dumbfounded by it, and doesn’t anticipate it, and so when it happens he’s on the back foot and he’s trying to catch up, and that’s very foreign to him. He’s just out of his depth. So it was fun for me playing this person who’s generally so proficient, as somebody who’s suddenly kind of helpless and almost petulant in this situation he can’t control.

HB: And Eden’s storyline culminates in this incredibly tragic ending, where her affair with Isaac is discovered and she’s executed for refusing to repent.

MM: Yeah, and there’s something really devastating for Nick about his inability to persuade Eden to just play the game and get out of there alive. Her piousness makes it impossible. I remember [her drowning] being a horrible scene to shoot. It’s rare that the darkness of the show envelops the set—it’s normally quite a playful set, even when we’re shooting dark shit—but that drowning scene was really devastating for all of us. There weren’t many fake tears. And the challenge with playing Nick, because he gives very little away, is always figuring out how to play someone who’s repressing emotion, without repressing his emotions from the audience.

HB: When June tries to reach out to Nick after what happens, he rebuffs her. Should we be worried about their relationship, now that they both have this guilt over what happened to Eden?

MM: I think that there's always gonna be very complicated moments between these people, and there have been throughout Season 2. There was definitely a time when I think Offred was fed up with Nick, and in these moments of tragedy, sometimes we need privacy. I think it's no more complicated than that, and I don't think this is a giant hurdle in their relationship, I think it's just a hiccup.

HB: Nick’s loyalty to the Waterfords seemed unshakable last season, but in Season 2 it’s clear he has real disdain at least for Fred. How far does his loyalty go?

MM: I think it's really tricky with those guys. I’ve always likened it in my head to family, like, even if your relative is a serial killer, they’re still your relative. I think the fact that Nick and the Waterfords have lived together for so long, and he specifically has been treated very well by them, makes it complicated, especially with Serena. Yvonne and I talk all the time about how we can insinuate a compassion between us, and a sort of gentleness, even though I obviously deep down believe that they’re horrible people. There’s a trust between Nick and Serena, and I think he’s sympathetic to her to a degree.

In general, Season 2 has been a lot more emotional for me as a viewer, and I think it’s because when we made the first season, we were just anticipating this administration. The election happened midway through shooting, and the show aired so early on in the presidency that Season 1 still played for me as a kind of hypothetical doomsday scenario. Whereas Season 2 for me plays as a reflection of an actual situation. I mean, everything with Alexis [Bledel]’s character in Episode 2—I sobbed, watching that, and found it deeply painful in the same way I found that scene with June and Hannah to be painful. It just takes on a whole new resonance when you know that this is real, as opposed to potentially real.

#the handmaid's tale #nick blaine #max minghella #elisabeth moss #article #harpersbazaar #2x12 #postpartum

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kiwi-cackles · 7 years

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Impressions: Episode 1 (TWW 2017)

This is in no particular order and not edited, so it’s likely to be complete shite, but it’s my shite opinions on the episode - which was in fact that it was brilliant and I love this new series, as I expected to.

I’ll admit I watched the first four at a go with a friend of mine so some stuff has blurred together a bit and I probably have to re-watch them all separately. I got our watching on camera so I can see if there’s anything interesting enough to edit together as a livewatch.

Whether that happens or not, here are my impressions:

Worst Witch thoughts:

- I LOVE the way we end up with Mildred introduced to the magical world, through being able to see it despite coming from a Muggle (to use HP terminology hah) family. It makes absolute sense to me that Mildred being such a creative and imaginative character is what puts her in touch with the reality of witchcraft. The way she gets brought into the school is beautiful.

- Mildred + Maud = adorable. The way they're introduced is so perfect for the two of them: these little loveable oddballs who have a lot of learning to do but also a lot of courage, heart and conscience. Perfect.

- HB: yessss. It's going to take some getting used to the long drawl since HB has always come off as such a clipped and efficient character to me, and how similar it ends up to the Alan Rickman Snape vibe, but I think I'll get used to it.

- I *adore* her relationship with Ada Cackle. I think it really illustrates that these women have lived together a long time and shared a lot of time with one another; they know each other well. They come off as very Married, whether with any romance or sexuality or simply platonically Boston-married. It's beautiful to behold.

- Incorporating Agatha as more of a complex character with a clearer agenda is brilliant. She still has that slightly 'evil' skin-crawly vibe but in more of a Rita Skeeter way and I adore it. It sets off the competition between the two sisters really well and creates the foundation for their fight.

- Love the way the fight scene was handled. It has the touch of ridiculousness to it that any magic battling is really going to have, with all the old traditions of how it's performed, yet was epic enough in its own way. The way it all played out was beautiful; I loved the way HB was able to play the double-agent there and the acting made me smile.

- THAT ETHEL HAS A SISTER, and one who's gifted but not especially snobby or ego-driven ambitious. It really sets the tone for Ethel being the way she is and the way the relationship parallels the Cackles.

- That we get to see Mildred's mother and flat. It's all so perfect for the two characters and I love getting to see the background there. Mildred's mother is *perfect*, with the question about being on the loo (I'd wondered the same thing!) and it's clear to see where Mildred gets her cleverness and quick thinking.

- Enid: brilliant. We really get a feel for why she is the way she is, that she was raised by fame (very dangerous for Muggle teens too!) and has parents who are paying her less mind, and that she has trouble fitting in or finding friends but can at least feel it when there's true friendship on the table. I can absolutely see why Mildred would be a reason for Enid to settle down enough to try to stick to one school; they had really good chemistry even through the designed conflict of the Maude/Mildred/Enid dynamic.

- The monkey business: hilarious, well done.

- The diversity: yes. It seems like they’re really trying to make an attempt at including more diversity of character. I love that Enid and Miss Drill are WOC characters with natural hair, like that is so important to see more of and I am so happy to see it. I can’t wait to see what other characters hop in and out of the series.

- HB'S PYJAMA SET: *is dead* *in love* *guhhh* *had visceral response* *doesn't know what else to say*

- The worldbuilding: I effing loved it. Seemed they put almost more worldbuilding into the one episode than the last series did into the whole show - and I don't think that makes either bad, I just really love the depth of this world and the rich history we can already see. It's very exciting and thrilling to think about, especially on the front of toying around with it all. (;

- HB/Mildred dynamic: yes, I love it. Within the first episode it's already complicated and fraught but strangely drawn-together.

- Mildred herself: Yes. Her dress-sense, her laugh, her joy and conscience, her guilt and quick-thinking, the times her quick-thinking gets her in trouble, her adeptness with things off the test but not so much within the system, the way she can still get by fine with hard work and attention. Really get the impression that she's quite fun to be around. Her immediate resolve to help Maude set a great tone for the whole story - that this act of kindness is what draws Mildred into this whole magical world. And isn't that how it can feel sometimes?

#the worst witch #worst witch #tww 2017 #mildred hubble #constance hardbroom #i don't know #i just picked what seemed like popular tags #liveblogging

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steveramsdale · 4 years

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Delayed Season 9 Opening Episode. 9.1

By popular demand!

For four years, every week, except one Saturday when I forgot (and posted the Sunday), and in the holidays, I have blogged our (now my) adventures in Tashkent. Last week, I did not blog. In December there was no ‘Family Christmas Newsletter, after about 15 years of nonsense being published in time to slightly disturb your Christmas. The reason for these omissions is similar or linked. Ennui. A bit of self-pity. Tiredness. But we’re back. It was pointed out to me that it would be a shame to break the chain. I also realized that there are a few people who enjoy reading, however dull the contents, about this experience. So, here we are.

This blog may be a bit longer than usual as I have to comment on the holidays and two weeks of mundane happenings.

Christmas was great, being with Mairi and seeing Freddie everyday. We seem to get on quite well, are on the same wavelength and level of maturity. Ben was home for most of the time I was. He also gets on well with his nephew. When we’ve gone, Freddie spends a week or two expecting us to be there when he visits our house. This makes me sad.

Of course, I had made empty promises to myself that I would show some self-control over the Christmas break and not over-indulge. However, I could not resist temptation effectively enough, and did eat too much of everything that is around at Christmas that is not normally in the house and that I don’t get in Tashkent.

Coming back was , again, very difficult. I still love working with my students and I still like Tashkent and the people (and plov). But I want to be somewhere else now more than I want to be here. For this trip, I did the direct flight to Heathrow and then got the train to Chesterfield. One good thing about this was that there were quite a few colleagues, friends and their amazing children on the same flight, so there was company at the airport. It’s also about £200 cheaper even with the train fair. The train home was painfully long but the train back was not so bad.

But I’m back and I’m blogging.

1st week, nothing happened except...

The van is off road again. The temperature of the engine was getting too high. I had noticed just before the break that there was no heat getting to the radiator that provides heat inside the van. I decided that this meant that no hot water would be getting to the main radiator either. So I am waiting until my mechanic can look at it.

As usual, lots of children were not back for the first few days but we are slowly approaching a full class.

I brought a heater for the van back with me and a couple of parts. One of these is a solar charge controller. I have set this up with the spare battery I ended up with and it is sort of working. Either there is not enough sunlight where I park or the little solar panel I have does not generate enough charge.

Before the break, the weighing scales we have, which Mairi made good use of, was saying it needed new batteries. I had been to buy some and put them in but, almost immediately, it gave the message again that the battery was low. Dodgy batteries, I thought, but just left it. Coming back after the break, I knew my weight had crept up again (note the use of the passive sentence construction there). So, I bought more new batteries. Duracell this time. However, once again, the low battery warning appeared straight away. I decided that it could not be (almost certainly) another bad pack of batteries, even in Tashkent. I decided to research the model on the internet to see if I needed to reset or do something else when replacing the batteries. I looked on the control unit for a model number. Now, perhaps I should have mentioned that these scales have a little digital unit that can either be part of the ‘thing’ you stand on to weight yourself or can be held in the hand while you weigh in. Looking for the model number I read ‘4x AAA batteries’ required. There were only two in the little ‘unit’. I should have realised that as the weight was ‘sent’ to the ‘unit’, the base must need batteries too. I found these, replaced them and the true horror could be revealed. With self-loathing weighing me down as much as the chocolate, cheese and Christmas dinner, I had to face the facts and start to do something about it. A more disciplined diet and an increase in exercise have both begun.

2nd week, this happened……….

It was last Saturday that I did not blog. I was feeling sorry for myself and felt that there was nothing to say and who would care anyway? But there was a reaction. A few people seemed to have missed the blog. I am very well aware that it is down to me to ‘get a life’ during the rest of my time in Tashkent.

(If you would like to encourage a blogger, you are very welcome to comment or ask questions under this post!)

So, this week I decided on a ‘Back to Basics’ approach. The early blogs were full of news from such things as getting on buses, walking in the morning, going to new places.

On Saturday, I needed to get a gas canister for the heater so I decided to cycle the 6km or so to the shop where I bought the gas cooker. Exercise and shopping. However, they had no gas! I bought a toy dinosaur to join in my video calls with Freddie. Freddie loves it!

I also got more anti-freeze as the water was low.

On Sunday I decided to go to another place where I might get gas. This time I went on the bus. I went back to the very modern Eco-bazaar for some fruit and veg and then walked down to the gun shop. There was no gas there, either. On the bus home, I met the former gardener from school. He now works as a gardener at the new Hilton hotel in Tashkent and was going to work. We had a bit of a chat for my bit of the journey.

Across from the bazaar, there is a very small shop selling Ikea goods. I bought a light bulb for one of my lamps where the bulb had gone.

Back at home I fitted the new bulb but the lamp still didn’t work. A repeat of scales fiasco? Shall I buy another bulb?

On Monday winter returned. I had not realized until I opened the front door to see the several inches of snow on the van. I had intended to drive as there was a possibility I would be going to Yuri, the master. However, I couldn’t open the door and didn’t really fancy driving anyway. The call to go to the mechanic never came anyway.

The rest of the week has little of note to tell. I’ve used taxis all week and been in an HB. JB can’t be far off.

There’s a little marking story. That is usually a morning job. On Thursday, I got my English books out and found that I had already marked them on Wednesday! It’s like finding and extra plain chocolate Hobnob in the packet when you thought you had eaten them all.

And I think that’s it! I’m back in the blogging groove! And the second week is over. So, goodbye for now. There’ll be more next week.

Research shows that you maybe entitled to compensation if reading this blog has disappointed, annoyed or inconvenienced you in any way. Contact our team of dedicated compensation lawyers today to see if you qualify.

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thehandmaidstalehulu · 6 years

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SSerena Joy was nobody's favorite character in Season 1 of The Handmaid's Tale. As one of the architects of the misogynist dystopia of Gilead, Serena is the epitome of complicit privilege. She is relentlessly cruel to her Handmaid and shows no guilt for enjoying the status and power (by proxy of her husband) afforded her in this new world, safe in the knowledge that she's protected.

Until she's not. Throughout Season 2, Serena has become one of the show's most nuanced and compelling characters, and Yvonne Strahovski's simmering, subtle performance is utterly mesmerizing as Serena belatedly confronts the horror of the world she helped create. In last week's season finale, she finally leaned what should have been obvious to her a long time ago—that a society built upon the dehumanization and enslavement of women will never keep her safe, and more importantly, will never keep her daughter safe.

BAZAAR.com sat down with Strahovski to discuss Serena's overdue and incomplete moral awakening, her prickly intimacy with June (Elisabeth Moss), and what to expect from Season 3.

Harper's BAZAAR: Watching Serena and June’s relationship evolve this season has been fascinating. What’s your take on how Serena sees June?

Yvonne Strahovski: Their relationship is incredibly tumultuous and it's ever-changing, sort of like the ocean. I really see it as a love-hate relationship, because there are things about Offred that [Serena] despises: the way Offred talks back to her and is cheeky and manipulative, but at the same time I think she can't help but respect that part of her. She knows Offred is smart, and capable, and in a weird way Serena needs a friend, and needs a confidante in this world. I think in a subconscious way, she does try to develop that with Offred, or maybe hope for that sometimes, but it just never really works out. There are these beautiful moments where you see them come together in Season 2, and then break apart just as quickly, which is the rollercoaster part of it. I love that we walk that line of will-they-won’t-they.

HB: I loved the evolution of their relationship, which made the rape scene in Episode 10 —in which Serena holds down June while Fred rapes her—all the more brutal and jarring. It’s a horrible scene to watch; what was it like to shoot?

YS: That was really a tough one. It was one of the more powerful scenes that we've shot, and coming into it from the beating [in Episode 8], I think Serena’s completely fed up. It’s her wanting what she wants, which is always why she acts out. She wants the baby and can’t have it, and all of these frustrations—of being infertile, not being able to have a child, having to have a Handmaid, knowing that the child is there and can we just get it out already, knowing that Offred is talking back to her again—it's a culmination of a lot of things which leads her into this moment that she perhaps hasn't thought through very well. It's always a very strange position to be in, to be the actor that is justifying these types of moves for the character—you kind of feel really dirty afterwards! As an actor, I must justify and truly understand Serena and why she does these things, while at the same time completely despising her and sharing the audience's reaction toward her.

HB: It’s interesting In the following episode that Serena brings up that incident to Fred during their fight—“You raped her yesterday”—and notably uses the word rape, which we seldom hear in Gilead.

YS: I think Serena is quite aware of the things she does and the things that happen around her. Her bringing that up [to Fred] is kind of weird, and I think it’s an attack in the moment, but I think it's also expressing a lot of self-doubt about what she participated in. She has to know that she was totally complicit in that, so it’s really loaded.

HB: When Serena first enlists June as her editor and they join forces behind Fred’s back, it felt like Serena was really getting back in touch with her working life as a writer, which she’s lost in Gilead. Is that how you read that moment?

YS: Yeah, I think it’s really exquisite for her to do that. It’s so sad for her to have given up that part of herself, even though ultimately, she does believe that it’s for the greater good. I think her belief is that her struggle will be the first-generation struggle, and the next generation won’t know any better because they never knew that America existed in the form that it did pre-Gilead. It’s that fine line of loving something from the past, but also understanding that it had to go in order for this new society to flourish. It’s a struggle for her.

HB: And ultimately In the finale, when she reads the Bible out loud to the Council, she seems to have decided that giving up words entirely is too great of a cost.

YS: I think she's quite aware that the male council is probably not going to bite on this idea [of letting children read the Bible], although obviously there is some hope because she does go through with the presentation. I think it's more about the fact that she just does it and she can live with herself knowing she really did try to do something noble, something that is genuinely for a greater good. It’s part of this whole arc of Serena learning what it is to be a good mother and a mother that sacrifices for her child. Although it does seem like it comes a little too late, and nothing really is going to be done, she still goes through with it. She makes a bold move, and she reads knowing full well that she will probably be punished for it. I think in the back of her mind she’s holding onto the hope that she can move someone on that council—maybe not her husband, but someone.

HB: Do you think it takes her aback that Fred did absolutely nothing to help her, that he just lets her be hauled off and mutilated?

YS: I think it’s a shock, but at the same time, I think she feared that he would do exactly what he ends up doing, just based on what she’s learned about him this season. The beating scene where he punishes her, that’s really the beginning of this transitional period for Serena, and the beginning of her understanding that Fred actually doesn’t keep her safe. And that if he can do that to his wife, what is he going to do to the child?

More deeply, that beating is also him turning his back on the very foundation of the society they built together. The whole reason he beat her was to punish her for going against his wishes and trying to do everything she possibly could to save the baby that was in the hospital. That’s devastating to her, the fact that their moral belief system is now so divided that Fred actually won’t do everything in his power to save a child. He will choose power and position every time.

HB: Serena letting June take the baby out of Gilead is such a stunning moment, because having a baby has been her entire purpose. What was that moment like to shoot?

YS: It was intense, and it was very moving to read that in the script to begin with. It’s the ultimate sacrifice that Serena could make, giving up the very thing she's wanted this whole entire time, but it's this very pivotal moment of having finally learned that being a mother actually means doing the best for your child. In the finale, she really comes to that final understanding that Gilead isn't best for the child, and she must act accordingly. With June also pushing her, Serena’s not able to turn her back on that truth any more. It’s devastating and beautiful at the same time.

HB: With the baby gone, what happens to Serena? What do you think will be driving her now?

YS: That was really the one thing that was holding her to Gilead in the end, was having her own child, and the hope of that. Now that that’s gone, I don’t know where Serena goes. I’ve truly enjoyed this crumbling of Serena this season, and breaking down the pieces that hold her together, and I hope in Season 3 to go down that path even further, and to keep seeing her break down in a lot of ways while continuing to struggle with her original set of moral beliefs. I mean, if she did finally come to the realization that Gilead wasn't exactly the best place for anybody, as someone who was an architect of it, you'd have so much guilt and you'd have to work through so many feelings. It’d be interesting to see her try to redeem herself, but maybe not succeed so much, and keep trying anyway.

HB: Season 2 really rips the world of Gilead wide open in a way that leaves things very open for Season 3. Where do you see the show going from her?

YS: It seems like everyone's in deep shit by the end of this season! The commander's upstairs being held up by Nick with his hand on his gun... It seems like the secret's out in a lot of ways, in terms of who's got whose back. I don't know where it goes from here, but obviously they're all still stuck in Gilead, and it's not like everyone can just walk away from one another. I imagine there is going to be quite an intense negotiation of who knows what, and who's gonna handle what which way, and who's gonna run or try to. It's such a massive can of worms now! I'm supposed to be seeing the writers in the next week or two, to visit them and find out more about Season 3. It's a really interesting place to be.

#the handmaid's tale #yvonne strahovski #elisabeth moss #serena joy #tht season two #harpersbazaar #season two #article

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