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multimetaverse · 4 years

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Jamie Johnson 5x08 Review

Tonight was one of the best, if not the best, Jamie Johnson eps so far. Dillon faced some of his toughest obstacles yet in his coming out journey and we got some sweet Delliot moments. Let’s dig in!

This British kids soccer show continues to make history. We saw some very nuanced and mature discussions between Dillon and Elliot about being gay and coming out; how often on tv do two gay kids actually discuss their sexualities? Elliot gave Dillon some great advice and perhaps more importantly told Dillon that he was in fact brave and a winner on and off the pitch

You’d have to be daft to deny that Dillon and Elliot have crushes on each other after this ep. Seeing both Dillon and Elliot trying their best to look nice before meeting up with each other was cute and their handhold at the pitch was very sweet. Lots of soft smiles and longing glances and we even got a hug before Elliot left

Laquarn has confirmed that he’s not in any more S5 eps and doesn’t know if he’s back for the yet to be filmed S6. I can only hope he’ll come back. It would be a waste of great chemistry and an engaging character if Elliot was just meant to help Dillon with his sexuality before passing the torch to Ruby. He clearly left the door open for a future reunion when he told Dillon to call him when he was ready. Patrick confirmed in an interview today that he’ll be back for S6 and presumably Dillon will be playing for Foxborough or some other pro team. Being in a relationship would certainly be a good spur for Dillon to come out more publicly. And Elliot’s love of astronomy is a perfect set up for a date under the staahs

It’s true that the show has not really focused on ships in a big way; the most we’ve gotten was Boggy and Nancy and the low key Jack, Jamie, and Michelle triangle. But at the same time if Dillon can take Indira out and kiss Sienna then he should be able to date a boy he likes. It would be tragic if the closest Dillon gets to having a boyfriend or kissing a boy is Liam outing Dillon and claiming that Elliot was Dillon’s boyfriend and that he thought they were gonna kiss

And it’s a bit shady that Eric of all people is suddenly getting a female love interest out of nowhere. I just hope when the show eventually ends that it doesn’t turn out to be another Andi Mack where Cyrus was able to kiss a girl twice and go on dates with a girl and use the word girlfriend when none of that happened with a boy

Jamie Johnson really covered a lot tonight with Dillon. We had a very helpful run down of Dillon’s past with girls and the show carefully explains that Dillon never liked Sienna like that, he never wanted to kiss her, he never had a crush on anyone else like she thought, and he never liked Ruby as more than a friend (at least Duby shippers still have Alba and Liam for an Osborne-Simmonds ship). It wasn’t subtle but I think it was necessary to really drive home that Dillon is really gay and there’s no going back. And we got confirmation that Elliot was Dillon’s first crush, he’s obviously never beaten anyone up on this show and the way he phrases it makes clear that he’s never really thought about liking boys that way until very recently

And boy did this ep ever tackle homophobia. Graham Simmonds was seriously out of order this ep. He clearly didn’t want to believe Liam but Dillon using his aftershave already primed him to believe he was trying to impress someone, he just assumed it had been a girl. He really ran through the homophobe’s greatest hits collection: blaming Ruby’s gay parents, saying being gay was a choice, saying that being gay would end Dillon’s career, and disowning and kicking Dillon out for being gay. I suspect that quite a few of the parents watching JJ with their kids hold some of the same views or act the same way and this ep really holds up a mirror and reflects how ugly that kind of behaviour is. We also see Graham praising Dillon’s accomplishments and character right before Liam outs him which just exposes his hypocrisy even more. I do give the show credit for not shying away from Graham’s awfulness, it’s not going to be a quick change for him to suddenly accept Dillon and I’m excited to see his journey to atoning for his mistakes

Thankfully Mrs. Simmonds returned from her banishment to the shadow realm to tell Dillon she loved him and to tell him to return home. Shaun Duggan said he hoped this ep would be a lifeline for kids watching who may be living in homophobic homes (he also mentioned that CBBC rules don’t allow eps to allow on cliffhangers so he has to end an ep showing that the characters are at least physically okay)

It also challenges the audience, most of whom are probably young boys and men, as to whether they will suddenly stop liking Dillon just because he’s gay. It was a real gamble on the show’s part to have their fan favourite character and the effective second lead of the show come out as gay but it has the tremendous pay off of really making the audience question their assumptions and hopefully for some of them it will change their world views

Dillon and Elliot also discussed homophobia in sports. Dillon correctly notes that there aren’t any out players in the top professional teams. Shaun Duggan mentioned in a BBC interview that they like to bring on professional soccer players when they’re having the kids going through things but this time he wasn’t able to have anyone come on to help Dillon because there are no out players. So it falls to Jamie Johnson to basically create that reality themselves by telling Dillon’s story

Patrick Ward did a phenomenal job tonight and he really is the best of the kid actors. He’s mentioned in interviews that he did a lot of research by watching shows and movies with similar gay story lines. In particular his breakdown set to Behind Blue Eyes by the Who was very well done (and once again the show has great taste in music). And of course, Shaun Duggan did an amazing job writing this ep. He’s openly gay himself and that makes all the difference in bringing an authenticity and depth to this story line. On Andi Mack of the 5 textual gay eps only one, 3x11, was written by a gay man and not surprisingly that was the best written by far of those eps

We were 19 minutes into the ep before Jamie himself briefly showed up. And he was 5th in the credits tonight with Dillon and Elliot taking the number 1 and 2 spots. Actually this whole ep had a very small cast and only a few locations, it really helped focus this ep on Dillon. Having Dillon seek out Jamie is interesting in that they’ve been foils for each from the start. But also because it sends a message to have Jamie Johnson himself praise Dillon, it’s a way for the writers to speak directly to the audience through the title character

We’ll doubtless get some more development on Dillon’s story line in the rest of the season but they’ve done historic work so far. A lot of what we’ve seen so far: the depiction of homophobia, coming out to parents, and two gay kids discussing their sexualities has yet to happen anywhere on Disney. Hell this ep alone had more uses of the word gay than Disney has yet to have

I loved how extra the black and white boxing match cold open was. Not surprising that Dillon sees Mike as the supportive (and non homophobic) father figure he wishes Graham was

This was a big step backwards for Liam’s redemption arc tonight but at least at the end he didn’t seem to buying into his dad’s bullshit about them being the only men left in the house. Liam is by no means blameless but he’s also a victim of his dad’s emotional abuse and his pitting his sons against each other. That little meet up with Eric was interesting because they’re foils for each other in some ways and I’m curious to see what lies ahead for Liam and the U13 crew and for how Liam makes this up to Dillon

Looking Ahead:

Finally we get back to the real meat and potatoes of this show; online gaming! Looks like Mike is bored of gardening at the allotment and wants Jamie to get back into real soccer. We’ll see if Jamie makes into the online tournament

Again, not really sure why Eric suddenly needs Ayesha but we’re getting some Freddie anger over Eric choosing lasses over lads

Until next week Jamie Johnsoners

#Jamie Johnson #Delliot #Dillon Simmonds #Elliot #Ruby Osborne #Graham Simmonds #Liam Simmonds #Jamie Johnson Reviews

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sisislair · 3 years

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Just saw Macbeth for the first time tonight. To clarify, I have never read it or seen it in any fashion before this, my only knowledge of it comes from on here.

The version I saw tonight was done by my local collage. It's an adaption set sort of post apocalyptic involving biochemical warfare, but it doesn't impact the script much beyond setting, some props, and the costume design. Was definitely expecting to not like that part, but it ended up fitting in very well.

So, my reaction to this play:

The person who adapted this was very devoted to bringing Scottish culture to the forefront of this I place of the very English perspective of Shakespeare. It showed. The bits of tartan that everyone had in their costumes being specially coordinated to family. The choice bits of when they did very well done Scottish accents or did some lines in scottish-gaelic. Especially at the end with Alba gu Brath, Scotland forever!

They switched out the weird sisters for the three faces of the Morrigan, and the Morrigan herself replaces Hecate. (The Morrigan is one of the Tuath de Danann, and a three way faceted goddess of death and prophecy.) The Morrigna where doing a fantastic job of selling themselves as very deranged and animilistic. Things like very unsettling bird like movements, and some of the best wicked laughter I have ever heard. They featured in every scene in some way, and not always as themselves. Sometimes other characters acted in a way that let you know it was actually them, which was very cool and probably took a lot of coordination. And the Morrigan herself is watching in the corners of every scene, and it really adds to the unease of the whole thing. She never really does anything personally, its always the three faces fucking with everybody. You could tell that they where really enjoying themselves too, which helped to sell it even more actually.

Warning, I shall be continuously praising everybody's acting, because I have never been more convinced or drawn in except when I saw Le Miserable 2 years ago.

The lighting and sound design where phenomal, and probably the most impressive part. How they cut in and out with the sound, the drums, the lighting, it was incredibly atmospheric. They had some really deep thrumming during the prophecy scene, and threw some voices around at times, and then had all of the sound and lights cut out to leave Macbeth a lonely shriveling mess on the floor. Very well done.

They had Duncan's murder take place on a screen on the side to show what was happening in his chamber, kind of like a security camera, and it was pretty well done. Interesting too.

I have never, ever, ever, seen more convincing fake fighting and dying than while watching this. There where a couple of times I gasped because something looked like it actually really hurt, and the fight coregraphy was very well done, equal parts badassery + realism. They did a really good job a giving the weapons weight with their movements. The deaths where very well done, and though it took Macbeth like two minutes to die, he was doing such a good job at fake blood gargling sounds that I didn't really care. The death screams, screams of anguish, etc. Those where real. Nothing faked about those. I felt a lot of them in my soul, and a couple of them got me to jump out of my seat a bit because I wasn't prepared for the ferocity.

Macbeth really sold his downward spiral into paranoia and the bouts of rage. The other actors all help with this, including some wonderful effects and positioning and acting to sell the unease and the spooky stuff happening, but it was really sold by Macbeth. Strong powerful vocals, every line is delivered with increasing unhingedness. He growls at people when they talk towards the end to silence them. Macbeth dragged the tip of his sword on the ground when going to fight Macduff, and it was incredibly menacing.

Speaking of Macduff, actor was a girl, and I'm pretty sure they changed the lines to reflect this. So lesbian Macduff for the win!

The cauldron the Morrigna use is an oil drum. There are tv screens scattered everywhere that go static at strategic moments, and everybody wears gas masks when outside. That was all they really had for the biochemical warfare setting, along with everybody's sick costume designs! Don't know if y'all will know what I'm talking about, but something like these combined:

Lady Macbeth is apparently every single braincell in the relationship. Macbeth being like, oh, maybe I shouldn't kill him, then does it anyway. Waffles and freaks out about it later. Lady Macbeth having to wipe thee blood everywhere and plant the dagger herself like, god, she really does do everything. She was having her hot girl summer too. Each outfit was more extravagant than the last. Also they really sold the almost basically sex scene when Macbeth tells her they are going to plot murder together. Man straight up lifted her into the air and held her against the wall.

One of the Morrigna was incredibley acrobat if and would do these very unsettling exits and entrances on and off stage.

The throne had unicorn skulls on it!!!!

The Macbeth's really are girlboss and malewife aren't they?

The Morrigna where running around in the background raising people from the dead? Carrying their souls away? Not sure, but very menacing way to clear the stage.

Banquo did a very, very good job at haunting Macbeth. Also played by a girl, and lines changed as well to reflect that.

Not sure if I caught or understood everything, because I just could not keep track of who was and wasn't dead towards the end.

Over all loved it!!! Congrats to those collage students, because they did an amazing job!

#Macbeth #an original post #wow!#play reaction #review?#anyway #my thoughts #ill probably try to go see it again #because ot was that good and the tickets weren't super expensive #i really enjoyed it overall!

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