Have now watched FOUR SKAM remakes over the past couple of weeks and sorry to all the "some remakes fixed what didn't work in S2" people, but OG Noorhelm stands undefeated for me. When it comes to chemistry, physicality, angst, and that overall sense of teen obsession, they still take it.
SKAM Italia - The only William (that I know of) that gets the benefit of his girlfriend confiding in him about her sexual assault and his reaction is...exactly the same as the Williams who are told by their brothers that their gfs cheated on them? Uh...okay.
SKAM Germany - So, instead of just ghosting Vilde and texting her invites to try to get Noora to come to parties, this William decides to keep having sex with her until Noora snaps and agrees to go out with him if he dumps Vilde and stops encouraging her to get a boob job. Lovely.
SKAM Austin - It's...fine, but forgettable. In large part because the Noora and William are absolutely bodied by how much more entertaining the Chris/Vilde/Sana are. A few casting changes might've gotten them a S3, tbh.
SKAM Netherlands - Okay, these two are sweet and lovely. But BARELY a Noora or William. Which is probably why they're my faves after the OGs. But it's also kind of hard to buy this artsy weirdo as the school's #1 fuckboy, and sticking to the OG plots starts to feel very perfunctory, because they simply do not fit who these characters are. And omg, it took me a solid 30 minutes to get through that wedding dress scene because I kept having to walk away out of embarrassment.
Okay, France up next.
3 notes
·
View notes
In depth wtFOCK Season Three Thoughts (Part 2 Through the Seasons Review)
The other girl (Noor) storyline was questionable. (Having it take 3 episodes before Sander is introduced was a choice).
-and it's not like I'm closed off to changes, but I feel like they still could've introduced Sander in a different way without taking a 3rd of the season to do so (but I do like the little Where's Waldo of Sander in background scenes)
-I really thought there would be more significance/fallout to the Robbe-Noor graffiti. (I get it shows she's artistic like Sander, but) I thought that scene would contribute more to the entire storyline rather than just Robbe/Sander (first sighting).
I get the intended Robbe internalized homophobia. I don't hate it; should be interesting what changes it brings in the story. This is a much darker feel than the other evaks where "Isak" is concerned.
-the little things like the music he listens to as he walks up to his friends gives me the perception that he's always performing;
-and how his voice changes from when he's talking with the boys to when he answers a call from his mom
I'm a bit upset we didn't see more Robbe-Yasmina moments (he didn't leave the weed with her in this version, which is fine). [I know they spent some time during summer doing retakes, but I needed to see the friendship development or some bigger moments between them].
A change I like is that the season doesn't start off with "Isak" automatically living with "Eskild" (Milan).
Forgot to say this with the other seasons-this Skam might have the best cinematography and clear direction-but this season it's heightened
Love, love the apartment crew with Milan, Zoe, Senne, and Robbe!
Top tier first meet scene
-also grocery shopping was a nice change (plus music choices are great this version)
This "Isak" has some guilt immediately after during what would be the morning after the pool kiss scene; also it's kind of a change I like due to the obvious direction with the music suddenly coming to a halt as he blocks Sander.
Actually the use of Bowie in scenes is chilling (and RUDE-the Robbe-Noor sex scene); it's a good storytelling choice.
I like the changes, but the pacing and lack of a resolution with talking things out/really addressing things make them generally unimpactful so far [Robbe internalized homophobia (& projected homophobia)]
-I actually feel like Noor could've been used more strategically to display the intensified shutting out of his sexuality had they taken the time to properly flesh them out (it definitely showed), but again the pacing, because in some ways I think they needed deeper scenes to develop them, but I wouldn't want too much time dedicated to them that would ultimately take away from the actual love story of the season.
The reimagined convo with Milan worked, because their relationship is different here and it would've been unrealistic had they copied the og dialogue verbatim; also I'm glad they didn't have a copy and paste of "Isak" talking about how he couldn't be "gay" in the world while offending "Eskild"-the advice was a nice change and good the convo didn't end on a bad note.
-edit: I spoke too soon on the offending part. hurts (every time). [also: Milan's "maybe you should look at yourself" and then the clip ends with Robbe looking in the mirror. ok wtFOCK direction]
Glad Robbe broke up with Noor before things got even more complicated and it was actually a pretty well received exchange [up until her obvious shouting in the club scene] compared to other versions in which she gets immediately angry and the "Isaks" don't really break up with her properly face-to-face.
Again with the lack of resolution-srry, but there was no point to the attack in the street on Robbe & Sander. On one hand, it could be useful to be informative, having a purpose in the plot of the season, but it was barely talked about in the aftermath or hinted at being deeper addressed later. I kind of feel like they are just trying to tackle too much with this and there's just not enough time to really address it in an already storyline heavy season. The only good thing that came from it was how caring the apartment crew showed to be w/Zoe, Senne, & Milan (but that's not a shock).
(Skam season with the most trigger warnings award goes to).
I do think the coming out scene to Jens was cute. Very different version with the best friend having a non-reaction that just makes sense with him
May I shove Robbe's friends (minus Jens) into the pool that Robbe & Sander made out in. (God, they are painful to watch)
I like how Sander's manic episode was filmed. It was very pov heavy from Robbe's perspective with flashes of Sander and I feel like the characteristics were a bit different to what you normally see in tv all the time, even by Skam standards, which I found refreshing.
I really don't get why the change of Sander and his gf only dating 6 months if they were still going to have her overstep and be so controlling. It feels unbelievable that his mom and Robbe's friends (Zoe, Jana..) are so receptive to her knowledge on Sander and his illness. And I hate that they're all being so dramatic about Sander's abilities.
They actually resolved things pretty nicely in the last ep-his friends, Sander, Noor (and the additions with his dad the whole season were really sweet; minor note: his poor dad tho when Robbe suddenly left the restaurant with no explanation).
All in all: this season is great in terms of acting, chemistry, production, and direction. However the writing is pretty awful; aside from the obvious missteps, the season messes up when they make changes and fail to follow through (almost undoing the change in the first place) by rerouting back to the original and doing the same just at a different timestamp (It's frustrating to watch and I do really wish they would just commit to those choices, while handling topics with care; I think I would have a very different opinion on the overall season and how it fares next to other remakes in the long run). I suppose, overall that wtFOCK is fun, even with some wrong choices, though the story suffers with a lack of cohesiveness, development sometimes, or focus on what's important (that sounds like everything that matters, lol, but it was enjoyable).
3 notes
·
View notes