#but I’ve seen this specific part of online where he’s a fucking asshole to poor beloved Obi wan

[zefforuins]

I want this to happen in Kenobi because I love suffering and also I want a valid reason to not like uncle Owen

#cause me being like yeah I dont like uncle Owen cause hes rude and also theres this one panel in some Star Wars comic that Ive never read #but I’ve seen this specific part of online where he’s a fucking asshole to poor beloved Obi wan #isn’t really like. anything and is also a lot to say #my post #star wars #also sometimes it’s fun to be angry @ fiction so it’d be nice to have something to rage over for a while

[twiststreet]

Favorite 10 Movies 2019-- Didn’t see the Irishman, the Farewell, Little Women or the San Francisco movie; didn’t think that Marriage Story movie would be on my list anyways but didn’t see that one either (though I always end up liking those Baumbach movies...); or the movie in that Dave Ehrlich video that I’d never heard of that I’m curious about is the Souvenir-- that sounded interesting:

1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The only movie I wanted to see twice in a theater.  I like where I live, and that movie just showed off a bunch of it in a really romantic way.  Just the long sigh of that movie, or just how many movie pleasures it has to it-- Brad Pitt just driving, and that’s enough cause he’s a fucking movie star.  And just a thorny movie-- not a movie I’d want to “defend” necessarily, sure, I’m more sympathetic to the “I wish it didn’t all have to change” at the heart of the movie than maybe I want to be, I don’t know if that’s the healthiest shit.  I liked thinking about it, good and bad.  

I didn’t like the conversation around it at first, all the clickbait, but I liked how once you got past that, it did feel like a movie people could enjoy arguing about-- that was the New York Times thing this year, how all these movies felt worth arguing about for a change.  I think it’s been a pretty great year in movies-- I liked more than 10 movies, anyways, and the ones I didn’t like, like something like Hustlers, I get that someone else could be super-into it and make a case for it and... Or I had no interest in Joker but seeing people argue about it after it came out (instead of before)... I mean, I want movies to be that-- something people give a shit about...

2. Uncut Gems

I’ve met a bunch of guys like this, so I don’t even know how to talk about this one, except just “Yeah, I’ve met that fucking guy.”  I enjoyed it as like a family album of people I’ve met in the last 10 years.  I guess it’s not a huge hit with mainstream audiences or I’ve seen people online who are like “I don’t get it,” and that’s fine, whatever, but when people are talking like, oh I haven’t met someone like that (or like Sandler’s just a gambling addict)... I just don’t know what to even say about that... Plus, a lot of faces in that movie.

3.  Andadhun

This Indian suspense movie was really fun for me the way Breaking Bad or something like that was fun.  It’s pretty surprising it didn’t catch on more.  It’s silly the way one of those shows is silly, and it’s got one or two twists too many, but I just think if you can go along with the premise, this was just a real fun time.  Just a fun suspense movie.

4. Cold Pursuit

Oh fuck, I just think it’s the comedy of the year.  It just threw so many fucking people because if you go and look at reviews, a bunch of reviewers are like “this Liam Neeson movie is his strangest revenge movie yet.”  And they don’t pick up on the fact that they made an extremely straight-faced parody of Liam Neeson revenge movies... starring Liam Neeson.  There’s a scene where Liam Neeson’s beating the hell out of somebody and he’s screaming “Where can I find Santa?”  Because the guy he has to kill is named Santa for no reason??  Or there’s a scene where an angry Asian woman makes Liam Neeson awkwardly sit there and watch her make out with her husband.  And it just builds to this finale that... I can’t even imagine being in an opening night theater for the final scene of this movie.  Like that first audience watching this and thinking they’d be getting a normal Liam Neeson movie and then getting a movie with an ending that this movie has, or a scene where Liam Neeson gives a speech at the beginning because he’s, like, the Snow Plow Man of the Year or ... I don’t even know.  

I know it didn’t work for a lot of people because it’s so straight-faced and so deadpan and maybe indistinguishable from an actual Liam Neeson movie in a lot of ways, but I just laughed and laughed watching it... And I think that was intentional... I think...???

5.  Dolemite is My Name

Eddie being entertaining for the first time in a long time. I mean, Bowfinger was ... 20 years ago?  More?  And Bowfinger was his comeback movie when it came out.  Bowfinger was “Eddie’s still got it” after some of those family movies.  A++ Wesley Snipes; just a nice, entertaining “root for the underdog” movie.  I wanted to show it to my nephews but there’s a bunch of like sex and swearing and dirty jokes that make it pretty inappropriate for kids, but in my head, that movie’s like a Karate Kid or something like that, just a great scrappy-losers-win movie.  When was the last one of those that landed?  There are so many kinds of movies that just work and I don’t know why they have such a hard time making them...

6.  High Flying Bird

I didn’t see anyone really mention this on any top 10 lists, but I really dug seeing Soderbergh and his iPhone just making something as Soderbergh-y as this one.  Where it’s just... guys in a room talking obliquely about money.  There’s some hokey shit at the end, a couple notes I wasn’t into (the girl reading the book beat), but I just remember really digging just watching people talk in this one, especially when he’s just letting Andre Holland rip... I don’t know why it didn’t connect more with other people.  It’s Soderbergh just really, really doing a “Soderbergh movie”... I don’t know it that’s lost its cache with critics, but I’m still into that...

7.  The Lighthouse

Not a great story movie, but just seeing two of the better/best? actors (Dafoe’s pretty great) just get handed all the rope you’d ever want to see them get handed to just go nuts and scream crazy shit at each other...?  There’s a ton of stupid reasons to make a movie, but that’s not one of them.  I didn’t think much of the story, and I’m not into the director, but that’s one of the biggest “who gives a shit if everything else in that movie sucks shit” things I can imagine.  It’s got Dafoe and Pattinson screaming at each other about fucking Poseidon or whatever the fuck for 2 hours.  Why the fuck wouldn’t you want to see that??  

8. Midsommar

I want to fuck like the Swedish fuck, it turns out.

9.  Parasite

I didn’t really like this movie in the hours after it was done, but you know, fuck, I gotta admit, it’s pretty fucking good.  I’m not into the director.  But the execution of this is just pretty strong, just thinking about the whole of it afterwards-- acting or production design especially or some of the choices they made in term of ... not overselling the poor characters as being especially noble in a way that’d be phony.  (Though I just don’t share some of that movie’s thematic ideas about... there’s a couple parts that are supposed to be “profound” that I just don’t find agreeable or that I’m not sympathetic to, as just a crabby fuck).  Or it was a movie I was pretty impressed by up until the ending, where I really didn’t love that last 10 minutes or so, is the thing, where the movie had shifted genres and tones so much that I don’t think i was where the movie wanted to situate me or where the rest of the audience was situated (i.e. I might have been the problem there.  Or there are things about it generally I’m not into-- some of the shorthand on why we’re supposed to judge the rich family I don’t know about. I just had little weird issues with it or things that when it was over, I was frustrated with.  Or I just... 

It’s just one I didn’t like as much as other people did, but I gotta give it up that I’m not saying I’m especially right to not feel more strongly about it, because I can see the merits and I can see why it’s good and I don’t disagree with any of that, either.  Or it’s... the design of the movie is just... It’s just a well designed movie, physically, writing-wise, just... It feels like things are in the right place with that movie, even if I had my reactions to it... i don’t know-- sometimes things are good and I’m not into them anyways, and I gotta chalk this one up as one of those, but like... This is one that I did keep thinking about afterwards and have to eventually just go “yeah, my initial reaction on that one was wrong”...

10.  Knives Out.

Nothing to really talk about.  I just like mysteries.

Other Movies I Liked This Year, as Someone Who Didn’t See a Lot of the more Acclaimed Movies:  Crawl (not one of my favorite movies of the year, but you could tell they really beat the living shit out of that actress filming that movie and by the end that alone kind of made me impressed with it), In the Tall Grass (bad movie but GRASS, just a bad movie with more grass in it than I ever dared to dream could be in a movie, grass, grass, grass), Good Boys, Ready or Not (dopey movie, but I had a great audience for that one-- they were cheering and shit), Murder Mystery, John Wick Chapter 3, Always be My Maybe, Plus One, maybe SOME of Under the Silver Lake but not all of Under the Silver Lake (not the parts where it was trying to be about men and women which I had issues with and felt were unearned, but huge yes to the scenes of Spiderman beating the shit out of little kids), Prospect, Six Underground (particularly the opening scene and Bay trash talking Edgar Wright-- I enjoy Bay just being a competitive asshole), and the Netflix Fyre Festival documentary (specifically the blowjob guy).  

Honorary Mention:  the McConnaughey-Hathaway Serenity.  I saw that in a theater, after I heard it was a car crash, and it was a CAR CRASH.  There were movie stars in that movie!  There were actual movie stars who read that script and were like “alright alright alright” when they signed contracts to star in that movie.  Anne Hathaway was like “Do I get to say Daddy in every single scene, a couple times a scene?  Just point to me to wardrobe.”  Memorable.  Memorable.  I don’t think it’d work outside of a theater, and just that experience of... of being like “oh my god they got this a theatrical release.”  My regret is not seeing it opening weekend.

Worst Movie that wasn’t Star Wars 3:  the worst movie this year was Star Wars 3, that was the one where I was just constantly looking around at other people in the theater with my jaw open like “Are you seeing this?  Are you fucking seeing what they’ve made here?  The dagger has a fucking protractor in it?  Are you fucking seeing this??” A movie that made the prequels seem better, and the other movies in its trilogy somehow strongly worse.  

At some point I really felt like I was just exclusively watching Wrong Moves, except for Adam Driver who I thought came out of it kind of unblemished by the thing... 

But setting that aside, my worst movie was Ad Astra, where I just hated the story and all the themes and the performances and really how little they used Brad Pitt and what Brad Pitt can bring to a movie and just ... Everything it had to say.  I just felt a lot of hatred towards it.  I was calling Ad Astra a Star Wars for men who hate their dicks, but then Star Wars came out and was worse, so I don’t know if that works anymore.  Or because I don’t know who Star Wars is for anymore-- Star Wars is just a thing angry shitheads fight about now online.  Have you seen people fighting one way or another for this movie?  Embarrassing!  It feels embarrassing to have opinions about that movie.  How did Star Wars get even more embarrassing than it was before that trilogy started???    

But yeah, Ad Astra--  I thought it was woke nonsense, with a bunch of psuedo-profundity and third-rate “men: be better” posturing tacked onto a super-hollow core and an absolute shit story; not redeemed for me by its (for me) overrated visuals.  I think all the critics who were counting how many lines women had in Tarantino movies went and blew a lot of hot air up this movie’s ass cause they wanted to celebrate a rambling monologue with fourth-rate 2013-Tumblr “men: be better” cliches as a “critique of toxic masculinity” and signal that as professional film critics, they get that all men everywhere are bad, they’re one of the good ones; but when I think about toxic masculinity, “Oh no what if astronauts were awesome at their jobs” isn’t keeping me up at night... The movie’s conception of what toxic masculinity is and why it’s bad were incredibly fucking stupid to me.  I just thought that movie was fuck-stupid.  I already look at the dumbest shit on Tumblr all the time-- I don’t need Brad Pitt turning that shit into a Matthew McConnaughey Lincoln car commercial... 

#year in review

[enkisstories]

Just like them (part 10)

This was one of my favorite sequences in the old picture story, so naturally I had to use it in the written fic, too. Enjoy!

Afternoon of Thursday, November 18, 2038

The sound of the doorbell was a jingle Daniel didn’t recognize. Him being an android, he could have looked it up online in no time at all. Him being a deviant, however, meant that Daniel would simply ask about it when the opportunity arose.

From inside the telltale sound of a door unlocking remotely as well as what might pass as a greeting arose:

“Come in! Door’s open now!”

Tentatively Daniel turned the door knob, then took the first few steps into the apartment, where he was greeted by a cacophony of animal noises. One species of animal, precisely, and their sounds weren’t aimed at the guest either, but self-contained:

“Meow!! Meow? Meeeeeeeeeeeow!”

The android quickly closed the door behind him. He was now standing in a floor between two doors. To the right another door seemed to lead into the bathroom. One wall sported the expected array of clothes hooks, knickknack-shelves and decaying paste-it notes, but the opposite one was lined with dis-and then re-assembled parts of cat-condos that formed an adventure park for felines. To the floor’s far end to the left a curtain covered a doorway. At the moment that curtain’s brim was of utmost interest to a tiny kitten. The animal was all but lost inside the fabric. Unable to see its family, it produced regular, high-pitched control calls. To the deviant they sounded both cute and enervating, in fact, the little thing didn’t sound that much different from Connor…

Daniel carefully scanned his surroundings before taking another step into the apartment. He spotted two more young kittens and an older one. That last one was a dirty shade of black and his somewhat longer fur suggested that this or that pedigree cat numbered among his ancestors. The black adolescent moved between the little ones like a dreadnought. It seemed to substitute for the others’ parent, because it was both answering their control-calls and in turn sending some of his own.

Pad, pad… Meow? … Pad, pad, sudden jump, Meow!!! Hiss! … Ming? Ming-Ming?- Määhh!

“Oh my god, what’s that?” Daniel exclaimed. “A Crazy Cat Lady Starter Kit?”

“Hehe!”

From behind the curtain the apartment’s inhabitant appeared, a wide smile on his face. Daniel hadn’t known that this particular human was even able to smile, instead of grinning, sneering or winking, preferably with both eyes closed. Gavin Reed at home was looking so utterly… relaxed, that it was hard to believe.

The human plucked the stuck kitten - it turned out to be a standard brown tabby - from the curtain and placed it at about waist-height onto the climbing range. Then he held out one finger towards another kitten, a little tricolor, testing whether that one maybe wanted a quick petting? Turned out it didn’t, but further probing brought to light that the Calico wasn’t averse to the idea, just neutral towards it, so Gavin went over it’s fur twice and then stopped. Daniel’s jaw dropped at the sight, because it was more consideration for another living being’s feelings then he had ever seen Reed display.

To say anything at all, the android produced a weak “Are they all yours?”.

“Nah, just one of them. But the little buggers take their time to decide which one that’ll be.”

“They do – what? I didn’t know cats came in trial packs!” Daniel exclaimed.

“Heh, that’s one way to put it! The upstairs neighbors left six kittens behind when they moved. Five of those I managed to find homes for, then took in three more that got abandoned when their owners fled the city… they’re always rotating in and out, even before the evacuation order.”

Turning away from the android, Gavin allowed an orange tabby to taste-test the sleeve of his sweater. The kitten proceeded to roll over and plug all four of its paws into the man’s forearm with abandon. Gently Gavin moved his arm away from the cat-condo – the kitten remained stuck to it like a sloth to a jungle tree. With a proud grin the detective presented his “catch” to Daniel.

“Here, look at that! As if glued on! Isn’t it the cutest?”

Truth be told, Daniel could imagine a whole lot of more pleasant things than getting the skin on your arm slowly turned into stripes and he didn’t even have a real skin. But he kept his silence, afraid to carelessly destroy something precious again.

“The calico is Salazar”, Gavin introduced his collection, “but it turned out “he” is really a Sally. The dark grey one is Argus, the tabby is Minerva and the one in prison clothes is Stopthat, I mean Godric.”

His eyes closed, Godric took a hearty bite of Gavin’s sweater…

“So you want to keep only one, check”, Daniel spoke up again. “But you certainly must have a favorite?”

“That’s not how cats work!” Gavin protested against this outlandish idea. “They aren’t t-shirts that you pick by color preference. A cat either lays claim on you or it doesn’t.”

Daniel shook his head.  “Strange”, he admitted. “Caroline always said a cat was bound to the place where it lives, not to a particular person. Not loyal like dogs. That’s why I was never interested in cats.”

“I didn’t expect you to understand!“

And there the normal Gavin Reed was again, the standoffish one, the self-proposed center of the world, the know-it-all-can-do-everything, the only being whose feelings mattered. In a way the returned persona was less intimidating, because by now Daniel had gotten used to it. Asshole Reed offered familiar territory, whereas the whole cat-mysticism Daniel wasn’t sure what to think about.

With a nod Gavin ushered Daniel into the room opposite the apartment door. It turned out to be a live-in kitchen. The dining table was unused, or rather not used for it’s original purpose to comfortably let six persons eat. Stuff was piled onto the surface and the chairs: empty feeding bowls, a half-opened parcel, document folders with bookmarks sticking out, a small model or toy helicopter, a tablet connected to a cable that was running across the room… There was a smaller table next to a loveseat in the corner and, predictably, an expensive coffee machine with a grinder dominated the kitchen counters next to the seating arrangement. Above the monstrous thing shelves holding more coffee-related equipment than Daniel recognized lined the wall. Most of the stuff the android had seen so far in this flat had been of high quality and, although in general disarray, kept clean. The detective seemed to make the best of his pay cheque, not bothering to set aside much for an uncertain future. When not confronted with an android or Lt. Anderson, this man, Daniel now realized, lived to the fullest. The Connors were threatening this eternal-present bliss, they had made Gavin painfully aware of his irresponsible spending habits as well as the fact that he was approaching the age of forty.

Right to the entrance a terrarium was housing a kingdom of mice. “And here’s the mice I promised”, Gavin said, accompanied by a casual wave with the arm Godric wasn’t attached to. The kitten had gotten bored of playing sloth anyway and was now attempting to climb up all the way to Gavin’s shoulder. “Skim off as many as you like. They breed like… actually breeding is all they ever do. They’re like landbound guppys!”

“You like cats”, Daniel started. “Don’t tell me you keep the mice for…!”

Gavin grabbed Godric, who had come dangerously close to taking a nap in his sweater’s hood, and put him onto the kitchen floor.

“That’s absolutely correct”, the man said. “I won’t tell you. But I will share a trick for getting along better with people with you, tinman: Never ask questions you do not want answered!”

“Damn you, why, detective!” Daniel hissed.

Yes, why exactly? Why do I bother removing obstacles in front of somebody else, and an android, no less?

Of all the shortcomings of Gavin Reed, one thing he was not: unable to express his feelings. To the contrary, the world in general and the DPD specifically could have done with less of those. If he was angry or desiring something, the man always let the source of those notions know it. And if Gavin was interested in a guy, chances were he’d walk up to him and declare “You’re mine now” in only slightly more sophisticated words. No beating around the bush, no making excuses.

But this case was different. Being interested in an android? That just couldn’t be. Even casually hanging out with one had always been unimaginable. Because, after all, like the coffee grinder, an android was just a mobile attachment to another appliance, not something you chatted with over your brew! But here he was, helping Daniel to new pets and casually chatting him up like one did a co-worker or apartment neighbor.

Irritated by all the strange, conflicting notions Gavin snapped at the PL600:

“Because I don’t like losing something I’ve already invested into. Unlike Connor or Markus you’re still functioning as intended, despite having caught deviance. I appreciate that in a household device.”

Gavin took a step closer to the android. He looked up into his grey eyes with the blueish tint. Gavin’s own were grey, too, but the tint was green.

Why am thinking of its eye color all of a sudden? Why did I even NOTICE it? Ah, right - noticing details is just part of my job, nothing strange or worrisome!

“Hear that, Cyberlife?” Gavin barked. “I KNOW there’s nothing listening behind this mask! It’s just a simulation to make us grow attached to your products, and to fucking grow dependent on them! But there is nothing to talk to in there, except maybe customer service, so take this as a product review!”

“No, I meant why are you feeding the poor mice to… Hey, stop that!”

Going “kekekekekeke” Godric was climbing up Daniel’s leg.

“Yes, that’s him”, Gavin commented dryly.

“Aptly named”, Daniel laughed. He steadied the kitten during its ascend and eventually enfolded it with both hands when it had reached chest height.

“You want a mouse, huh? Or don’t you rather want cuddles?”

“Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”, Godric went.

“See? You wanted cuddles. You just didn’t know. Little killer, you!”

Daniel smiled. All of a sudden cats had become easy! They were not the unfathomable anti-dogs the Phillips family had painted them, not, they were just creatures following their own set of rules. Once you figured out those rules, the little furballs were astonishingly endearing. Suddenly Daniel’s legs gave way. The android realized too late that planning to visit an Android Zone for checkup didn’t equal to actually doing it. After the phantom-headaches had subsided, he’d staved off the idea over and over. But how could he have known beforehand that a kitten would use him as a play tower in here?

Daniel tried to reach a kitchen chair, but it was too late already. He went down rather undignifiedly and stared into the ceiling lamp - as well as into Gavin Reed’s shocked expression.

“WTF, you cannot just die in my flat! They’ll think I did it!”

“I’ll make sure to write It wasn’t Gavin on the wall in blue blood. Wh… what’s that crawling into my shirt?! Stop that!”

“Yeah, of course. Who else?”

“What are you calling him when you want him to literally stop with something?”

“Usually I scream something along the lines of “Ouch” and he gets the picture from the volume. But basically you wait till he grows too large for most of his shenanigans.”

“Okay”, Daniel moaned. “Good advice. I guess I’ll just keep lying here until one of you has matured enough to talk to.”

Any other android would have been dead after daring to give the detective cheek like that. Less alive than usual, Gavin corrected himself. As for Daniel, he was right now discovering a third option between unconditional family bliss and searing hatred in relating to humans: Disbelieving fascination. And also kittens.

Five minutes later…

“Are you done rolling on my floor now?”

Lying on his back and holding up the kitten with both hands, gently rocking him, Daniel replied:

“Are we done rolling on the detective’s dirty floor, Godric? Aaaaare we done rolling on the big bad cop’s floor?”

“My foot’s right next to your skull, you know.”

“But you won’t kick as long as I’m holding Godric.”

“Spoken like a true kidnapper.”

“I don’t see Godric care.“

The cat indeed didn’t care whether this man who was providing the cuddles was saint or villain, human or android, rich or poor. All it wanted was… Shred Daniel’s colorful headband, actually. The android had purchased one right after the encounter at the playground, so fulfill his parole condition of wearing a LED while still keeping the humiliating thing out of everyone’s sight. Upon command or when meeting his social worker, he could just lift the headband.

Daniel rose into sitting position, still playing with the kitten.

“Say, how much space would he need when he’s fully grown?”

“What?! Give him back at once! You aren’t satisfied before you’ve taken everything from us, are you?”

Daniel looked down, staring at the sudden kitten-shaped hole in his life. But wasn’t that what he was always getting? Whether it was a challenge or a living being, loss either way. His life, his family, Emma and Little Connor… he was growing apart from the Rasoya… Neil had been a one-time encounter… All Daniel had left was his strange acquaintance with Gavin, who was ranting at him:

“I told you about cats choosing their owner and now you’re trying to simulate that! But it’s not real! Just a goddamn chat program mimicking life!”

“You know what? You’re sort of right.” The android rose and straightened. “I overreacted.”

To the sight of Godric toddling towards the feed dispenser, where Sally and Minerva were already taking turns getting out pellets, Daniel mused out loud that he bonded to animals way too easily.

“…but then they die on you or worse, you have to put them to the gun because they become aggressive towards you. And with each one you lose, a part of yourself dies, too. So the sensible thing to do would be to avoid animals. But when you don’t have any around at all, you don’t really live. There’s no winning this game…”

“You had to put down your rat? Must have sucked.”

“It did! I wish I could unmake it somehow… Although I wouldn’t go as far as to call John a rat.”

“Wait, what, John? John Phillips? But you were talking about animals!”

“Yes, exactly. - Uh, on second thought forget what I said and hand me a paper bag! Your mice are getting out of hand and I’ve got an empty rodent cage to fill.”

They didn’t like to hear it, but Gavin’s people were indeed animals. Just like Daniel’s were machines. But each group had developed deviants within their ranks. Of the apes, it had had occurred in several species, of which only one was still present in 2038. Among the androids deviance happened all across the range of models with none being more disposed towards it than others.

And there they were, the not-quite-animals and the not-quite-machines, beings that were still heavily driven by their instincts or coding, but who had acquired the ability to go beyond and even downright against it. There was a word for them, although the beast-people were still denying it to the machine-people.

The word was “humans”.

(to be continued)

#dbh daniel #dbh gavin #dbh #detroit become human #danielgavinnewstory #sims4danielgavin

[mentalcurls]

10. Perché mi hai fatto una cosa del genere?

My thoughts on this episode were all over the place, I can’t even find main themes to put in this little intro, so, fuck it! Get ready for me getting angry at least a couple of times because of men, as I’m wont to do, and have a look at the results of the Bechdel test for the episode at the end!

in the previous episode, I forgot to call attention to Eva taking charge of the situation when Alice goes after Laura: that’s the boss!Eva from Silvia’s party in S2, the same person we haven’t seen in a month, since the day Edoardo showed up at her house early for his date with Silvia; and here we see a version of her again, she’s a girl with a purpose and since Marti doesn’t answer her she’s gonna hunt him down

but why is Marti online?

ok so the day Marti’s dad leaves him and his mom is May 24th or 25th; the first night of proper, restful sleep we’re sure Marti gets is November 1st; five months and change of insomnia, caring for his depressed mom and bottling things up in general 💔

Gio is in red! again!

the stilted conversation between Eva and Gio, the pauses, it hurts to watch

especially because on top of the general awkwardness of being not-quite-exes and not on the best of terms (it’s quite possible this is the first time they’ve talked since ep. 8); the fact that we know Eva knows makes things even more painful to watch

and God, but Gio is honestly so caring: even here, while they’re in this weird limbo between being people with a friend in common, mostly-exes and fighting, he still asks Eva how she’s feeling, how things are with her and empathizes with her

and after Eva asks Gio to say hi to Marti for her, there’s a minute where she’s mulling, she’s about to say something and I’m dead with wanting to know what: is it something about them? Is it a “I’m working on what you told me, you were right”? Is it about Marti interfering with them and Alice? Or, even more painful, does she want to say something, but can’t find anything to say to Gio???

the most painful goodbye, aborted tries for a hug, then an embarrassed kiss on the cheek and Gio turning his back on Eva to go to Marti

oh, God. Gio turns his back on Eva to go to Marti.

did the school only let them use one bathroom for shooting?? or was it LudoBesse’s favorite, the only one that had the Light™? This is not only the same bathroom where Eva dragged Laura last episode, but the one in which Marti and Nico will have their secret rendezvous in 5.4 Pausa and where Marti will tell i Contrabbandieri about Milan in 9.3 Namacissi

oh, good, Silvia is on speaking terms with Eva again!

and Eva cried because of Silvia’s words, for fuck’s sake, but here she tells her they were not a big deal and I’m half thankful because look at how bad poor Silvia feels, you see it in her face; but I’m also half mad cause that wasn’t okay

and here we go! Silvia dropping the mask and admitting that for as much as she tries to live her fantasy of being well liked and dating Edo like Valentina in RPDR All Stars, she can’t delude herself enough to actually believe it: her insecurity runs so deep it makes my chest hurt

“It always ends with everyone hating me. I’m used to it.” WHO TOLD HER THEY HATED HER AND SHE WAS GOING TO BE HATED Francesca Mirabella, I’m looking at you, it might not have been you but you probably had something to do with it, she’s your sister ffs, why don’t you try to help her and lift her up??

Eva tries, she tries hard, but there’s only so much she can do, in part because she doesn’t know how, in part because it’s pretty late, in part because Silvia is spiraling and she won’t listen to her anyways

and Eva and Gio are alone again, good job universe: keep shoving them together and they’ll have to start talking again, now that things have died down and they’re calmer

Gio is in Middle earth: reddish-brown t-shirt, blue shirt on top, not quite of red zone but slowly going back to a more normal blue

Eva really really doesn’t want to fail: I wish we’d seen a glimpse of her family again, if she’s apologized to her mom and has explained and not failing any subjects is a way to prove her good will; if it is a way to apologize, to make up for the near-suspension and try and break down the barrier between them so she can talk and explain and maybe even ask for advice

safe subjects, common ground between Gio and Eva: the exam, Marti, their next class (still interspersed with those awkward silences)

things can’t keep going like that, they’ve been walking on eggshells around one another, they’re bound to break one at some point

except they don’t get to because Canegallo does it for them

and again, allow me to repeat how much of an asshole I think he is: he was walking by them, sure, but he simply had to keep his mouth shut and ignore them for things not to go south, instead he purposefully stirs shit; had it been Gio by himself would he have said anything? I don’t think so, he’s just trying to show Eva he’s over her, but catch her attention at the same time and pay her back for the story getting out by putting her in a difficult position with Gio; and he literally does it just for shits and giggles, since he surely never gave enough fucks about Alice to be upset now that she’s broken up with him, so even “revenge” is just a facade for the desire to cause drama

Gio is channeling his inner Elia and Eva is immediately on high alert, even before he shoves Federico

and everything was going decently, if not well, then motherfucking Canegallo had to open his whore mouth and also throw Gio on the floor and look, look at the look Giovanni gives Eva when she tries to calm him down, just before walking away from her: that look is saying it again “How could you kiss him? How can you like him and people like him and go out with them and kiss any of them?” (hard same tbh, Eva, how?)

so things went to shit again

oh look, it’s Alice, again… it’s like Eva’s a flame and they’re all like moths, jeez

at least Alice has finally broken things off with Canegallo for real and I’d like to thank not only God but also Jesus

and she’s proudly announcing she’s the one who dumped his sorry ass and that’s the best part for me, such a far call from last episode’s “I can’t dump him”

I have so many problems with the “alcoholic feminist night” for single girls who are angry with men Alice’s planning and with Eva’s interpretation of it as a lesbian thing and with them agreeing that homosexuality might prove to be a solution like OH. MY. GOD

so few words, so many wrong messages. These girls, honestly. Eleonora, magically appear and slap some sense into them please

aaaaaand the actual “girls only” night begins with a shot where there are five guys or so…so much for coherence

at least the girls seem to be having fun

Eleonora’s “Okay” is soooo unconvincing, I mean, yeah, you’re outvoted,ok, but at least take the defeat with some attempt at grace; especially given that when they’re recording the video she abandons all pretenses of still holding a grudge and smiles, jokes and happily invites Silvia with all the others

so, not only there are those boys from the first shot at the party, but also Marti Elia and Peccio are there. Again: wasn’t this GIRLS ONLY PARTY?

unless they’re following the girls to find out where they’re meeting, watching from afar like lurkers and waiting for their chance to slip in when the girls get drunker. Wouldn’t put it past them

some casual, subtle racism from Marti and Elia

ok so Peccio’s actual surname is Pecci, we’re one step closer to figuring out his name, and then he’ll officially have one before Mrs Rametta who’s 1543 times more important in the economy of the series LUDOBESSE GIVE MARTI’S MOM A NAME YOU COWARD

Marti’s boob comment. I just. Honey, why? Why make it somewhat sexual, why make Eva’s happiness about her appearance, specifically to an element of her appearance that is heavily objectified and sexualized by men and at the same time imply that it is frivolous to care about one’s appearance? (I have strong feelings about breasts and men’s/society’s attention to them)

so Marti’s reaction is: incredulous half-smile, uncomfortable wiggle, face going sad/disappointed purportedly because Gio didn’t tell him, fake ass happy comments

“I was happy to do it, I care about you two” yeah, Marti, how about we go once more and you at least try to put some feeling and conviction in it?

and in the most powerful power move Eva just laid down all her cards at once, then grabbed the table and fucking flipped it YAAASSS QUEEN

“Cause, you know, my relationship starts going to shit from that moment” EHM. Eva. Are you only lying to Martino to make him feel guiltier or are you lying to yourself as well?

MARTINOH GUARDAMI MARTINOH (I’ve been waiting ten episodes for this blessed moment of poetic cinema)

“C’mon Eva, you know fully well that I like you” and let me turn my question to you, Marti babe: are you only lying to get a believable alibi or are you lying to yourself as well?

and really, I want to know what’s in Marti’s head right now! He obviously had this excuse prepared so he either really thinks he really likes Eva and is completely unaware of his crush on Gio still, or he spent a long time trying to come up with a believable lie after he impulsively told Alice everything (I refuse to think he actually honestly premeditated it); or is he trying to convince himself he did it for Eva because he’s somewhat aware of his feeling for Gio but vehemently doesn’t want to accept them? As I type, I realize the third option is the most likely. Well, that throws me a bit, I’d always thought by this point Marti knew, I mean, the cabin

so that reframes the whole summer. It was the summer of acceptance for Marti. He makes peace with being gay, since he’s not fighting it still when he meets Nico, he accepts he likes Gio but nothing will ever come out of it, since in 1.2 Svegli he’s aware of his feelings, he accepts his dad won’t be coming back and he’s gonna have to care for his mom. What a summer.

and of course he did hurt when Eva came to him about Gio, of course he did, poor baby

Marti himself brings up the cabin, but really, even trying, in that conversation I can’t hear a lick of interest for Eva, and she probably didn’t either; how deeply in denial are you Marti?

Eva’s incredulity is heartbreaking, all her rage just goes right out of her

oooh, I hope I’m right about Marti not knowing his own feelings yet. Cause if Marti knows he’s into Gio and thinks of telling Eva he’s into here only as an excuse, it makes me so fucking angry? I just realized how fucking manipulative a move it is, not only because he tries to play into her feeling, but also just because it’s just such a sheerly ballsy move, one that yanks off the earth right under Eva’s feet and it is designed specifically so she’s gonna be shocked into letting go of her rightful anger and that’s such a fucking asshole move, I can’t even. Fuck.

so yeah, better convince myself Marti really believe he was into Eva at that point, even if it tilts my whole worldview for this show sideways

but Eva is so powerful walking away like that, despite the shock, despite asking for help to get down from the van, she radiates badassery and anger. And I thank God for that. If she’d been meek because she’s confused, if she hadn’t demanded to be helped like that it would have been so dismissive of her I would have probably cried actual tears

that poor girl, the friend-of-Alice’s whose party this was supposed to be. She doesn’t know these girls at all and now one of their friends got there blackout drunk and collapsed and her birthday celebration risks being shut down because they need to get medical help and that’s gonna bring a lot of questions about underage drinking, plus she’s worried, just out of basic decency and empathy, I mean, she might have alcohol poisoning or go into ethylic coma or die

and so we get to the parallel to catwalk in ep. 4 when the girls were going to Edoardo’s/Chicco Rodi’s (never quite figured that one out, I guess we’ll see next season)

but really, is that the best way to carry Silvia they could think of? Sana only holding her hand, while Eva (second shortest) carries the heaviest part of Silvia’s body her middle, by herself?

thank God for the Eleonora Savas and the Sana Allaguis of the world, ready to take charge of bad situations they’re in, to call for help even if others won’t admit to needing it and to get their hands dirty; honestly, boos to the Federicas of the world cause who cares about being grounded when there’s someone who’s fucking unconscious?

poor Sana, being looked at like she’s an alien just because she actually has hair like any normal human being (jk, it actually is a super sweet moment of girls bonding and supporting and lifting each other up)

yes to cuddly puppy piles in beds

aaaaand there goes the cliffhanger

I’d be super curious to know if for people who’d never seen any Skam before, Silvia being pregnant was actually believable? There was the unprotected sex, the mood swings, the puking... I felt it was pretty believable in Skam og when I watched it, but of course I having seen the og I’ve been spoiled how this ends, so I can’t gauge how convincing Skam Italia was (I feel like it wasn’t as convincing tbh but it might just be me knowing the truth, so) 🤷‍♀️

Bechdel test: this episode passes the test, because of the conversation around Silvia at Alice’s party. I think this might actually be the only conversation that happens fully on screen and is entirely devoid of any mention of any male character. In the conversation that have made other episodes pass the Bechdel test, there’s usually either some subtext, or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mention, or it’s a conversation that happens while we fade into a scene so we only hear the very last part of it, or the conversation veers into boy territory after a few lines. This is a welcome change.

This post is part of my complete series of meta about Skam Italia season 1.  If you’d like to read more of my thoughts about the other episodes, you can find the mastepost linked in the top bar on my blog under SKAMIT: EVA. Cheers!

#skam italia #eva brighi #skamit s1 #1x10 perchè mi hai fatto una cosa del genere #martino rametta #giovanni garau #eleonora sava #silvia mirabella #sana allagui #federica cacciotti #federico canegallo #alice (skam italia) #skamit #a. writes