THE L WORD GENERATION Q MASTERPOST

Back when The L Word Generation Q Seasons 1 and 2 aired, I was inspired to write about it and in particular about Dani Nunez and Gigi Ghorbani. But season 3 was such an unmitigated dumpster fire and the awful way some of the characters were handled (cough-Gigi-cough) that I refuse to waste any of my time writing about it. But seeing as so much work (and thought) already went into it, I’m posting this master-list for any who might want to go through them. I posted all of these on my Tumblr blog and it is way too much work to publish these posts here individually, so I’m not going to do that.

Gigi Ghorbani on The L Word Generation Q

The L Word Generation Q – Is Dani into Gigi – Part 1 of 2

The L Word Generation Q – Is Dani into Gigi – Part 2 of 2

The L Word Generation Q – Bette and Gigi

Can you please do an analysis comparison of Dani’s growth as a person in her relationship with Gigi compared to how she was in her relationship with Sophie?: Link

Question cause I wanna know your thoughts. On the night where Dani, Gigi & Micah went out, Gigi runs into Bette and I think this is the scene where Bette tells Gigi she isn’t enough (correct me if I’m wrong tho) Do you think that’s why she confesses to Dani afterwards? As a sort-of rebound?( I dunno… i always found that kinda off, how she moved so quickly from one to the other): Link

how would you deconstruct the “Are you hitting on me?” statement by Dani. Gigi clearly wasn’t seeing this coming and was slightly taken back by the upfront question from Dani and when Gigi says no, it seems like Dani is slightly taken aback and confirms by asking “but you are not sure” as if she wanted her to say yes and for things to move in other direction: Link

Have you done the comparison of Gigi and Bette’s date and Gigi and Dani’s non date? If not can you?: Link

The L Word Generation Q – The Bette and Dani Fight

About Dani’s feelings for Gigi and Finley showing up at her house: Link

What did you think of the scene where Dani shows up at Gigi’s office & Gigi gives her an excuse but Dani straight up calls her out on it by saying “maybe you just didn’t want to see me” Do you think Gigi was surprised by that?: Link

Dani’s scene with Nat and Alice.

I hate Rodolfo for the way he treats his daughter. But I can’t help but keep going back to him saying to Dani that he thought she’d end up with someone like Gigi. Do you think it influenced the way Dani viewed Gigi ? Was it something that nudged her in Gigi’s direction?: Link

the scene in Dani’s apartment where she says to Gigi “you sound like Sophie”. With Gigi’s reaction, I felt like she was a little upset for being compared with Sophie. I think it is because she already had feelings about Dani but and the “ex comparison” thing was something she didn’t like a bit. What do you think?: Link

in the scene where Dani tells Gigi she’s easy to talk to and Gigi responds by saying “not everyone would agree with you.” The look on Gigi’s face after Dani says “fuck ‘em” has always struck me as odd. It’s almost like Gigi is surprised by Dani’s response, or wasn’t expecting that reaction?: Link

I want to say that your analysis of GINI scenes are amazing. I’m curious to know if you analyzed the GINI hottest scene from episode 8 of season 2. If you did please send me a link. If you didn’t I really want to know you thoughts about it (the bode language and the other). Also what do you expect from season 3?: Link (Really clowned myself in this one, didn’t I?)

I wanted to ask you why Finley seems to be obsessed with Dani. Link

Thinking about how Marja said GINI came to be cause they couldn’t bring in a lot of actors because of Covid and how Dani was supposed to date around…had that happened do you think Gigi would’ve still been interested in Dani? Link

What did you think of the scene where Dani shows up at Gigi’s office & Gigi gives her an excuse but Dani straight up calls her out on it by saying “maybe you just didn’t want to see me” Do you think Gigi was surprised by that? Cause I personally think she wasn’t expecting Dani to come and apologize but she loved every minute of it when she did: Link

How would you deconstruct the scene where Sophie said to Dani “Because I know you” after consoling Dani in Ojai and Dani’s response was a deadpan “Do you?” to that? Link

The other day on YouTube I read something along the lines of “Gigi mentors/mother’s Dani too much and she’ll eventually get tired of her, what Gigi needs is an equal as her partner not someone that’s emotionally immature” What do you think? Do you think Gigi will ultimately get tired of Dani? I’m actually kinda curious cause Gigi herself said that she eventually tires of her partners. Link

I also think one of the main differences between Bette and Dani is that Dani is willing to learn from her mistakes and actively tries to change for the better. I think this was shown in how she went about in starting a relationship with Gigi. We know that her relationship with Sophie started with Sophie cheating on her then girlfriend with Dani and them “fucking in a bathroom stall” the first night they met. Before starting anything with Gigi, Dani actively made sure Bette was okay with it because she knew they were dating/had just broken up at the time. Link

Hey, thank you for all the analysis. Can you do a deeper analysis on the scenes from the time Gigi tells Dani that her feelings have changed to the time Dani ends up at Gigi’s doorsteps just before their first kiss. I am particularly interested in the park bench scene. I feel there is a lot of subtext in their conversation. Also, curious on what made Gigi tell Dani about her feelings after Dana’s. Curious if you think the events at Dana’s influenced her to just go for it. Link

Thanks so much for keeping us alive post end of season 2. Would love your take on the epic kiss in the rain scene in 207! Link

Hey, Thank you so much for every post you have written about Dani and Gigi. Your posts make me appreciate them more and also grateful to have found this corner of Internet where I can obsess over these two. That being said, I have one more question. I am not surprised that Dani is into Gigi. Gigi is super awesome and there to support her in Dani’s toughest moments and common who wouldn’t love Gigi back. I am curious about why Gigi is into Dani? Link

There’s this look on Bette face when she sees Gi and Dani at the bar in the love shack episode (episode 6 I think). I’m curious what you thought of it. Was it – huh, Gigi moved on too soon look? Or something else entirely? Thanks. Link

What do you make about the scene with Bette’s reaction towards Gigi/Dani being close at the bar during the karaoke scene of episode 6 if she didn’t “give a shit about Gigi” and was pretty much done with her by then? Link

Hi, thank you for your analysis they’re good :). What so you think about the it’s LA I’m sure there was traffic scene? Because for me GIGI kind of let her of the hook easy. That was inconsiderate of Dani. I was curious about your opinion for that scene. Thank you 🙂 Link

My Journey To You – Thoughts and Impressions Part 2 of 2 – The Characters

Part 1 is here.

The format of the post will be as follows:

• 1) Yun Wei Shan
• 2) Gong Zi Yu
• 3) Their Relationship
• 4) Shangguan Qian
• 5) Gong Shang Jue
• 6) Their relationship

Spoilers below, beware all who enter.

Yun Wei Shan:

On paper, Yun Wei Shan seems like a perfectly fine character, she’s empathetic, kind in an unkind world and willing to go to extremes (even putting her life on the line) to protect those she loves and cares about. The problem is just that though. In a book, we would have access to her thoughts and her perspective which would make for interesting reading. But when viewed visually, it’s not as compelling. Visually, you have a character who seems to have the range of 2 expressions and there’s no sense of internal conflict. Take her ‘allegiance’ to Wufeng for instance. From the very beginning, we, the audience, can tell that she’s not truly aligned with them or their ideology. She doesn’t agree with their methods and if not for her foster sister, Yun Que she would have quit long ago. Not even the poison that Wufeng uses to keep all their assassins in check, would stop her.

What I will commend her characters for is her innate kindness. She is kind in a world that should have snuffed that light out a long time ago and yet, it persisted. This was in no small part due to her bond with Yun Que. She wasn’t simply a dorm-mate, a fellow assassin. She was a sister in every sense of the word. She had someone to care for and protect. Even her mentor, Han Ya Si, is not like the cold and unfeeling mentors we meet later. You can tell that he genuinely cares about those under him. For all intents and purposes, he raised these women since they were children and unlike the others, he doesn’t view them as tools to be used and then discarded when no longer useful.

When she goes to the Gong Family as a prospective bride, we also know that Yun Que is dead, her one tangible tie to Wufeng is gone. She’s now thrust into this family that Wufeng claims is their arch-nemesis but throughout the show, we never find out what her actual mission is, what is she after? Why was she sent? She’s clearly not supposed to kill anyone. Evade discovery, but then what? We never find out. But because she’s not particularly loyal to Wufeng, there’s never any sense of conflicting desire inside her. So in that sense, she becomes a very one-note-character.

In terms of character growth, there is very little. Throughout the series, her one desire for freedom which, in a sense she does achieve (if you ignore the last 5 minutes of the show) All her life, she’s been told what to do and that love is a weakness. At the end, she chooses to stay with Gong Zi Yu and embraces her love for him and those around her.

Gong Zi Yu:

Gong Zi Yu is perhaps the weakest link among the four main leads. If Yun Wei Shan’s growth seemed negligible, Zi Yu’s felt unearned.

I understand what the writer and director were going for, they set him up as a contrast, unlike the other clan warriors who are cold and calculative, he was warm and kind. He starts off the series as someone who doesn’t much care for the Gong family traditions, preferring instead the company of courtesans, he likes poetry and music. However, with the sudden death of his father and brother, he’s thrust back into the family and worse into the role of Sword Wielder (SW), the leader of the Gongs. To officially become the SW, he must pass 3 tests and this is where things become a little strange. He passes them with ease and it feels unearned because while others who trained their whole lives took considerably longer to pass those tests, he came in with essentially no training and aced them all.

Now, you can be special but the fact that you are “special” must be made noticeable in text, like foreshadow it, or leave subtle clues that hint at it. The show does none of this and instead just asks the audience to believe it. That is not how you write a compelling character.

He’s also probably the least mature character in the show (and I’ll get to big reveal in a bit) but his blatant disregard for the Gong family protocols more than once, illustrate his cavalier attitude. Another way of looking at this is that he breaks tradition because he wants to create a better world for the generations to follow but all of that gets negated at the end.

The big reveal at the end, where we realise that everything that happened since Yun Wei Shan’s reveal as a Wufeng assassin, was his grand plan does not make sense one bit. It comes completely left of field with little to no set-up at all. There was no foreshadowing, no little seeds left by the writer/director, little things that the audience could notice upon rewatching the show. In their effort to be ‘unexpected’, they sacrificed coherent story-telling.

Even his relationship with Yun Wei Shan is boring. I get that it was meant to be sweet but sweet will only take you so far especially in a show where the tone is anything but that. I know we’re meant to swoon because of how steadfast he is when it comes to her but there are times when it seems straight up stupid. She is an assassin who has infiltrated his family and her mission could possibly be to kill him or someone close to him. Unlike the audience, he doesn’t know that she is kind and even if he sees it, how can he know that it’s not a facade? This also makes it seem like their relationship has no stakes, like what could she possibly do to make him doubt her or vice-versa.

I know you could be thinking, “but this is a healthy relationship.” Okay but how is it healthy? It would have been if they explicitly trusted each other and communicated (like A Dream of Splendor, now that was a healthy relationship) but Zi Yu and Yun Wei Shan don’t do that either, at least she’s not always honest. If we’re meant to believe that they do indeed communicate, then we need to see it, you can’t plug it in as an extension of a previous scene and call it a day.

One of the best ways of making a compelling couple is the push and pull of the relationship and this ship had all of the ingredients; The Assassin and The Target, both suspicious of each other but inexplicably drawn together, so much sexual tension and angst. Instead, all we got was bland love at first sight and then sticking through it.

Shangguan Qian:

Shangguan Qian is the other assassin sent by the Wufeng (why send only one when you can send two and double your chances of success) and her character is infinitely more delicious than Yun Wei Shan’s.

Shangguan Qian is very hard to pin down and stays so pretty much till the end of the series. Her motives are complex and you can never tell just whose side she’s on. I also love the way she gradually warms up to the Gong brothers. I think that Wufeng feeds it’s assassins a lot of lies about the family and her being with them, i think starts to dispel some of the myths.

She is also set-up as a foil to Yun Wei Shan. Where Wei Shan is kind and straighforward, Shangguan Qian is cold and unpredictable. Her demeanour makes sense when you look at her relationship with her mentor, Han Ya Qi, who in contrast to Han Ya Si, does seem to view his pupils as expendable. He recognises, correctly, that the only person Shangguan Qian cares about her is herself and that’s because of the world she was raised in, caught in a perpetual dance between survival and death, there was little time for luxuries like love.

But even here, the show and Shangguan Qian surprise us. At the end, we learn that Han Ya Qi did take steps to protect Shangguan Qian and when he is at death’s doorstep, alone, she does come back for him and tries to save him. The Shangguan Qian we met at the beginning of the series, would have left him there to die without a backward glance. Her time with the Gongs and especially with Yun Wei Shan and Lady Wuji, gave her glimpse of what life could be like, it’s subtle but it’s there. Every time Wei Shan helps her without asking for anything in return, there’s always a beat where you can tell that Shangguan Qian is wondering what her motives could be. She never trusts the other women fully, they are after all Wufeng assassins but I do believe, by the end of the series, her opinion of them is kinder at the very least.

I also loved how unapologetic Shangguan Qian is. She’s not sitting there wringing her hands, fussing over things she has to do. To her knowledge, if she fails her mission, she dies. Her mentor doesn’t seem to care beyond training her, she has no one to fall back on. She has a job to do and she’s going to do it to the best of her abilities.

I must also talk about the actress, Lu Yu Xiao, and her performance. Her character is someone who is always on alert, always plotting her next move, carefully observing those around her for weaknesses she can exploit. She goes from seductive to hurt to unaffected in a beat and conveys it all through her eyes and the minutest of facial expressions. Her performance is so understated and it’s a pleasure to watch.

Gong Shang Jue:

Gong Shang Jue is the resident emo dude and he is easily one of the best characters in the show. He makes no bones about his opinion of Zi Yu and for the most part, his criticisms are on point. He is also an incredibly traumatised character, having lost his mother and younger brother during the previous Wufeng attack. His zeal, therefore, to find and root out any and all Wufeng assassins who could have infiltrated the family makes sense, he’s already lost the people closest to him, he doesn’t want to lose any more. He is so single-minded that he doesn’t even spare his own prospective bride when he suspects her of being from Wufeng.

Unlike Zi Yu, Shang Jue realises why the Gongs put in the protocols that they did. At the beginning of the show, he is painted in a more antagonistic light (this is to land the big reveal at the end) but you can see that Shang Jue doesn’t really care about power. His quest for the position of SW, is more about keeping his family safe and he believes that he is the best candidate for that job.

His cold exterior only ever cracks when he’s with his other brother Gong Yuan Zhi (he’s the resident psychopath) With Yuan Zhi, you can see what Shang Jue could have been like, if not for the events of the past.

The relationship between Shang Jue and Shangguan Qian is a treat to watch. There was so much sexual tension between them, so much suppressed yearning, I loved it. Theirs was such a cat and mouse game with each constantly trying to outwit the other.

Is it a healthy relationship? Not really, he literally interrogates her and threatens to torture her even more if she doesn’t talk. But he’s not someone who is demonstrative of his emotions and feelings, like I don’t think he knows how to open up. But with Shangguan Qian, his cold heart begins to thaw and you can see that in their interactions.

Every time, Shangguan Qian initiates physical intimacy or tries to, you can see the confusion on his face and the inner conflict. On the one hand, he doesn’t fully trust her and is suspicious of her motives, but on the other, there is a part of him that genuinely likes and yearns for it. There are instances where he wants to reach out to her or touch her but always holds himself back.

Shangguan Qian is also only ever honest with Shang Jue, she tells him the truth and I think a lot of their later interactions (at least on her part) are largely genuine.

They are also unnervingly similar to each other, both owe their allegiance to something larger than themselves and are shaped by their trauma (Shangguan Qian with the loss of her entire family and Shang Jue with the death of his mother and brother) They are drawn to each other despite everything because they see that they are the only people who are capable of understanding exactly what the other is going through.

What differentiates them however, is that while Shang Jue is driven by loyalty, Shangguan Qian is driven by vengeance and therein lies their greatest obstacle, the one thing that neither is willing to compromise. They are so beautifully written and executed that, even knowing that it could never work out, they still make the audience root for them.

And yet, by the end of the show, they are both fundamentally different people. Shang Jue chooses to let her go when he finds out she’s pregnant and instead of going back to Wufeng, Shangguan Qian chooses to stay in a small isolated house with azaleas planted around the house. She chooses to peace and safety for her unborn child over her thirst for revenge.

If there is to be a season 2, a Shangguan Qian and Shang Jue reunion is inevitable and I for one, would love to see how that unfolds…

GYEONGSEONG CREATURE SEASON 1 PART 2

Wow, this was such a roller-coaster. It was everything I expected it to be and then some. Let’s get into it. As always, beware of spoilers.

To start, let me congratulate myself on guessing correctly that it was indeed Nawol-daek who gave up Tae-sang’s mother’s name. The way it was shot and edited actually made it pretty clear.

I also guessed that the threat would widen but I didn’t anticipate that there would be a massive time-jump between seasons 1 and 2. That actually raises so many questions which we’ll get to later. For now, I am very happy with the way the season ended. The show actually made it very clear just how things would go and in that respect, the foreshadowing was done well.

The pacing of the show is absolutely amazing. Having seen Part 1 when it first came out and then Part 2 just a few minutes ago, I am still not complaining that they decided to split the season. I think it may actually have been a good idea because that division was like the calm before the actual storm and I think that brief respite was necessary. When your characters are in a constant state of peril, it can sometimes make the audience disconnect because it almost becomes monotonous, the stakes no longer matter. Here, they definitely did.

The writing was also super tight with no fluff and this surprised me, once it got dark, it didn’t really try to lighten the mood with levity which a lot of other shows might have done. I think that also ties in with the subject matter and the gravity of just what they were showing. The brutality is ever present and for the perpetrators it was matter of routine which made it all the more horrifying. But when you view the other person as sub-human, it becomes easy to justify your actions irrespective of how heinous they may be.

Part 1’s focus was wider in terms of the number of characters we were introduced to and once Part 2 got going, that focus shrank so it only paid attention to Tae-sang, Chae-ok, her father, General Kato and Yukiko Maeda. The others were still there but they were no longer central to the plot and that was okay.

I admire Tae-sang’s drive to protect the people he cares about. His character went through perhaps most growth, starting from indifference to putting his life on the line multiple times to save Chae-ok. He didn’t have to do that considering he met her not too long ago but he does it anyway. He also doesn’t try to hold her back (as he tried in Part 1) and I liked that he keeps telling her that they both have to live, he gives her hope when there really didn’t seem to be any.

Chae-ok was still an absolute badass. There is a problem that a lot of dramas have where they start off with a kick-ass female character but as you get closer to the climax, she gets de-powered to prop up the male lead. I was so happy that they didn’t do that here. Chae-ok is nothing if not persistent, no matter how many times she gets knocked down, she still gets back up. There is a fire within her that nothing could put out, you could try to intimidate her but it wouldn’t get you very far.

Chae-ok and her father were always going to go back to the hospital, there was no way they would leave Seishin there at the mercy of those psychopaths. It was also always clear that her father would be the one who wouldn’t make it out. I think that when he realised just what they had done to her, he lost something within him. Death would have been better than what she had been subjected to.

The primary focus in the show was always Chae-ok and her mother and the bond between them and it wasn’t random, it all paid off in the end. It was the memories of Chae-ok that reawakened Seishin’s humanity, made her more than a mindless killer. Her final gift to her daughter was the Najin so she could live. In the end, Seishin was finally free from her tormentors, in giving up the Najin, she died but she died knowing that her baby was alive.

I had a feeling that Chae-ok would become like a hybrid form of the monster. We saw that with her mother, she was different from the other people who were infected with the Najin. She still had control of herself and if not for the anthrax, I think she would have managed to retain her humanity. Considering how Seishin reacted, it would make sense that Chae-ok would also be more in control than say Myeong-ja for instance. It’s also why Kato was so curious about her and tried to infect her.

Kato took Myeong-ja’s baby and that child is definitely a hybrid. If they have any hope of defeating it, they would a hybrid of their own. But with the time-jump, I don’t know how Maeda and Kato will figure in Season 2 since it seems to take place with a considerable time jump (in the 80s perhaps?). Unless they’ve been experimenting and have figured out a way to live longer. Especially Maeda, considering her burn injuries, I’m curious to see what form she will take in Season 2.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions like

• How does the time-jump make sense?
• What is the history between Maeda and Seishin? They hinted at it in Part 2 but didn’t give any definitive answers. Did Seishin cause the death of someone close to Maeda, who was it, how did they know each other?
• How is Ho-jae related to the Tae-sang?
• What is the meaning of the scar on Ho-jae’s back?
• What did Chae-ok do all these years?
• How do her powers differ from Seishin or even Myeong-ja?

I may get into some of these questions because there are answers we can glean from the show. But I’ll make a separate post about that so that this one doesn’t become obnoxiously long.

This show was an epic ride from start to finish and while it didn’t give us the conventional happy ending some expected, the ending it did give us is excellent. It sets up the next season perfectly while still giving a good closure to season 1. I can’t wait to what season 2 brings us.

GYEONGSEONG CREATURE PART 1 – THE CHARACTERS (PART 2 OF 2)

Part 1 is here

The Characters:

The cast is uniformly awesome. Park Seo-joon’s character, Jang Tae-sang starts off as someone who is only concerned about saving his own hide but he infuses his character with so much heart that even in the initial episodes, you end up rooting for him. The show is, very much, his hero’s journey, going from someone who only cared about his own survival to one who’s willing to risk his own life to protect others.

Han So-hee’s character, Yoon Chae-ok was an absolute badass. She was more than capable of handling the shit that came her way. I loved that she was so confident of her abilities, she was excellent at her job. So-hee imbues her character with such deep emotion that you can tell that it’s always on the simmer, her desperation warring with the bone-deep dread that her mother is dead. And then the final straw is the soul crushing horror they’re confronted with when they infiltrate the hospital and find out what’s been going on.

I also liked how the relationship between Tae-sang and Chae-ok developed. They start off at loggerheads with Tae-sang mocking the loss of her mother and Chae-ok seeing him as a profiteer, an opportunist. In a desperate fight for their survival against both the monster and the Japanese forces, they’re forced to put aside their differences and work together and this is where they truly shine.

Their conflicting approach, where one is willing to die instead of surrendering and the other is willing to surrender to fight another day is what saves them. Chae-ok’s drive to fight and keep fighting even in the face or insurmountable odds is what keeps them going when lesser people would have turned back. Tae-sang’s drive to survive, to live is what keeps them alive when faced with near certain death. They fight for each other, taking the lead when the other falters.

I love that for people who seem so fundamentally different, they work so well together, perfectly complementing each other. I also love that when Tae-sang tries to save Chae-ok by asking her to leave, she refuses, she makes it clear that she doesn’t need a knight in shining armour but a partner who treats her as their equal.

The other cast members are equally good, especially Kim Hae-sook as Nawol-deak, Tae-sang’s 2nd in command. She’s his pillar, the only person he can trust to take over the reins in his absence and she more than rises to the occasion. Unlike the others, she’s unflappable, capable of thinking on her feet, weighing alternatives and wheeling and dealing the way Tae-sang does. She, like Tae-sang doesn’t trust anyone (except Tae-sang.) She knows, only too well, how little it takes to break people, having gone through it herself.

Did anyone else wonder if it was Nawol-deak who gave up information that led to Tae-sang’s mother getting arrested? Nawol implies that faced with relentless pain, people are willing to do anything to make it stop. That entire conversation and the flashback that followed, made me think if it was Nawol who finally broke and gave up information about her comrades.

Then there was Choi Young-joon playing Lieutenant General Kato, the most hateful character on the show, followed very closely by Hyun Bong-sik’s Ichiro. The absolute lack of humanity they exhibit is far more monstrous than any other monster they could create. I’m pretty sure Kato is a psychopath. His quest to make a monster has nothing to do with patriotism. His military rank is a means to an end, it gives him the power and authority he needs to conduct his experiments with little to no oversight. He doesn’t see other people as human beings, they are all, both the soldiers and locals alike, test subjects. The locals are used as lab-rats and monster bait while the soldiers serve to test just how much damage the monster can withstand, it’s killing power and finally whether it can think and solve problems. The only thing Gato sees as worthwhile is the monster itself.

I would not be surprised if, in part 2, there was increased tension between Kato and Ichiro. Ichiro sees the monster as a mindless killing machine while to Kato, it’s a like piece of art, it’s an extension of his own genius and he would not take kindly to another scientist taking over. We saw it in Part 1 when Ichiro tried to train the monster, taking a page out of Ivan Pavlov’s experiment, Kato’s displeasure at Ichiro inserting himself into his work. This is not a man who shares or tolerates interference of any kind. I see conflict brewing between them that will perhaps be the source of their own downfall.

The other person who was absolutely spellbinding was Kim Soo-hyun as Lady Yukiko Maeda. Her portrayal is just… so intimidating. She’s the perfect blend of gentility and menace. She has an ice cold demeanor that unsettles you even as her beauty disarms you and draws you in. By the time the show ends, there is no doubt who has the actual power in the Ishikawa home. This is a woman who will slit your throat and calmly drink tea and watch as you slowly drown in your own blood. it’s a chilling portrayal and I can’t wait to see more of her in Part 2.

I am excited for Part 2 to see how they close season 1 since season 2 is already in production. We do know that Chae-ok, her father and the rest from The House of Golden Treasure will launch a rescue mission for Tae-sang. I don’t think Chae-ok will be content to leave Tae-sang behind, not to mention her mother’s monster form is still inside.

Add to that, Myeong-ja is now infected and she will wreak havoc once she transforms (assuming she survives,) she is outside and she’s pregnant. With Chae-ok’s mother, we can see just how much the Najin caused her to mutate. I have a feeling that Myeong-ja’s baby will be a hybrid, even more dangerous than the monster inside the hospital. It’s also safe to assume that almost all of the antagonists will survive.

If you’re hoping for a clean resolution in the season finale, you’re in for disappointment. I have a feeling that the season will end with a broadening of the threat and our heroes will have to contend with not just those despicable scientists, Gato and Ichiro, they will also have the Japanese army after them after Kwon Joon-taek ratted them out.

I’ll be happy as long as the season doesn’t end with a cliffhanger. Season 2 is scheduled to stream in 2024, so on the plus side, at the very least, it’s not a long wait. For now, I shall patiently wait for Part 2 and hope for the best…

GYEONGSEONG CREATURE PART 1 – THE OVERVIEW (PART 1 OF 2)

Good news: I finished Gyeongseong Creature Part 1 last night, in one sitting.

Bad news: Now I have to wait till the 5th of January for the remaining episodes.

Plot: Based in Korea in the 1940s while it struggles under the Japanese occupation, a group of people enter a hospital to look for someone only to discover that a missing person is the least of their concerns with a literal monster on the rampage.

Cast: Park Seo-joon, Han So-hee, Wi Ha-joon, Kim Soo-hyun (Claudia Kim), Jo Han-chul, Kim Hae-sook, Ji Woo, Im Chul-soo, Choi Young-joon

The Overview

I went into this show pretty blind outside of the basic gist of the plot, I expected a run-of-the-mill creature feature and the show definitely delivers in that respect but it also gives us characters worth rooting for even if they don’t always agree with each other and strong and complex women across the spectrum.

I know there are some who are a little annoyed about the shorter season (10 episodes instead of the usual 16-episode season) and while I understand the frustration, I think the shorter season was the only way to handle a story like this.

Another thing that is a little frustrating is the decision to split the season into 2 parts, so part 1 dropped with 7 episodes and the remaining 3 episodes will drop on the 5th of January. I knew about the split going into part 1 and…. I don’t hate it. The way part 1 ends makes it bearable. It’s not quite a cliffhanger (on the cliffhanger scale, this was positively kind) And that way I can do a full rewatch and then watch part 2, making it a more complete experience.

There is no respite in this show, once the story gets going and it gets going pretty quickly, there is no break in the tension. There are no filler episodes. The pace is also consistent throughout the 7 episodes, so it feels more like a very long, stressful film instead of a 7-episode show and I think that works in its favour.

The narrative is also very streamlined, we have very clear narrative arcs that we’re following. The first episode opening voice over can be a little tedious but this is an original show (as in not based on a webcomic), so I could deal with that. The writer has done a great job balancing the time they spend with the people inside the hospital and those outside, coupled with competing motives even when people are seemingly on the same side. And the fact, that all of this easy to follow is no small feat. This is one of the tightest, most cohesive shows I’ve seen in a while.

Gyeongseong Creature has one of the most visually striking opening credits and it’s worth paying attention to. Outside of the visual appeal, there are a lot of clues/foreshadowing to be found there. The credits also add to the unsettling atmosphere of the show. 10/10.

The show takes place in Korea under the brutal Japanese occupation. I suggest paying attention to the language the characters use (Korean vs Japanese) because it can really give you insight about the character or the context of the conversation. When you’re watching the show, there are conversations, where if you’re not paying attention, you won’t understand why the atmosphere is so charged. To live in a place, where the mere act of speaking in your own language could mean getting brutally beaten became an act of rebellion. It adds a whole other level of nuance and I loved that.

The show also doesn’t shy away from the cruelty of the Japanese occupation, the sheer callous way that the local population was treated. It also brings in the medical experiments that the Japanese scientists conducted on the local people (both in China and Korea) Their attitude is perhaps the most chilling (I was cheering when the monster got loose)

It also makes you question who the monster actually is, the literal monster (the person who was turned without their consent) or the people facilitating this, the ones conducting these ‘experiments’. Everyone from children to old people were fair game in their twisted quest for progress.

More in Part 2.

Fear Street Trilogy Review

Beware, spoilers ahead.

I love horror movies but good horror movies are so hard to come by. Fear Street grabbed my attention as soon as they released the first trailer, it looked like a call-back to the slasher films of old, back when they were still good. And the best part was the apparent presence of lesbians, count me in!

Fear Street is based on the books by the same name by R. L. Stine, a lot of us remember Stine for another horror classic, Goosebumps. The Fear Street novels were aimed at older audiences and were way more bloody than Goosebumps, lots of teenagers dying. The films don’t adapt any particular book but rather the tone and rough setting and I think that works to its advantage.

The Setting: Fear Street is based in the fictional town of Shadyside, the poorer and more unfortunate twin of its sister-town Sunnyside. Sunnyside is sunny, wealthy and where nothing bad ever happens. Shadyside in contrast is poorer, the homes more run-down and where, every few years, some resident snaps and goes on a murderous rampage, killing their own friends, family or whoever they can get their hands on. There are those who believe that Shadyside is cursed by Sarah Fier, a witch who was hanged in the 1600s when she cut off her hand and used it to curse the town.

FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994 (L to R) FRED HECHINGER AS SIMON, BENJAMIN FLORES JR. AS JOSH and JULIA REHWALD as KATE. NETFLIX © 2021

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 functions like the introduction and set-up for the trilogy. It introduces us to the characters, Deena (Kiana Madeira), Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger). They unwittingly trigger the curse when they stumble across the bones of Sarah Fiers, soon killers are chasing them, killing-machines powered by the curse and who can’t be killed. Deena, Sam, Josh, Kate and Simon have to put aside their differences and work together to survive the night.

FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978 (L to R) SADIE SINK as ZIGGY BERMAN, EMILY RUDD as CINDY BERMAN. NETFLIX © 2021

Fear Street Part 2: 1978 opens with the survivors of 1994 going to C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), the lone survivor of the Camp Nightwing massacre. It provides insight into the massacre that saw dozens of Shadyside kids being killed. 1978 takes us back to the day leading up to the bloody night. We meet the Berman sisters, Ziggy and Cindy (Sadie Sink and Emily Rudd respectively), Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and Tommy (McCabe Syle) When an axe-wielding murderer starts butchering the camp residents, Cindy and Alice, while trying to escape stumble into the cave system that runs under the camp and discover Sarah’s hand and that the only way to break the curse it to reunite the hand with her body. However, they are unable to break the curse when they realise that the body is not buried where they though it would be. Alice, Cindy and Ziggy are killed by the cursed murderers with only Ziggy being revived thus being labeled the lone survivor. In the present day. Deena and Josh dig out the hand from where Ziggy and Cindy left it, when Deena reunites the hand with the body, she sees visions of Sarah Fiers, leading us into the third and final film.

FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666 (L to R) JULIA REHWALD as LIZZIE, OLIVIA SCOTT WELCH AS HANNAH MILLER, and KIANA MADEIRA as SARAH FIER. NETFLIX © 2021

Fear Street Part 3: 1666, the year it all started. We see the events play out leading up the hanging. Deena is inside Sarah’s body, seeing and experiencing her life as if it were own. We learn that it was never Sarah’s curse, but in fact it was the Goodes who had made a deal with the devil, securing power for themselves (their descendants are the mayor and sheriff in 1994) Sarah Fiers was just the scapegoat. Every time someone saw a vision of Sarah, she was trying to show them the truth and un-dead killers hunted them to keep them from exposing it.

The films work individually but their impact really hits home once you’ve watched all 3. Leigh Janiak crafts such an intricate story and links 3 time periods, weaving them through each other seamlessly. With 3 films, she also has the time to invest in these different time periods and the characters that inhabit them.

The story, both in terms of individual films as well as the trilogy as a whole, is engaging and engrossing. It keeps the audience on their toes and the edge of their seats, waiting and dreading as the bodies pile up. Janiak also grounds the story so that it feels real even as the characters are fighting off un-dead killers, adding to the nail-biting tension.

FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978 (L to R) SADIE SINK as ZIGGY BERMAN and TED SUTHERLAND as NICK GOODE. NETFLIX © 2021

There’s plenty to admire for a horror film buff, from the Scream reference in 1994, to Friday the 13th in 1978 and The Witch (or VVitch) in 1666. There’s also a good amount of gore to be found along with some really inventive ways of killing, who knew bread cutters/slicers could be so menacing.

There’s so much attention to detail in terms of costume and production design that you really feel like you’re in 1994, 1978 or even 1666. All of these work to draw you in as the viewer, adding to the authenticity on screen. The clothes and places feel lived-in. The song choices are amazing with popular hits from 1994 and 1978, the soundtrack definitely elevates the visuals. The original score in 1666 was absolutely gorgeous, especially Deena and Sam’s theme.

The sequence of the films with 1994 being the first, followed by 1978 and finally 1666 was a great choice with each film revealing a little more of the puzzle till all the pieces are revealed in 1666. It keeps the tension alive and keeps the characters and the audience constantly guessing. It also allows Janiak to sprinkle just enough subtle clues that become apparent when rewatching the films.

The characters are one of the best things in the trilogy, they are so well written, and I mean that for almost all of the main cast which is rare. One of the best things that Janiak does is repeat actors, especially the principle cast, for instance, a lot of actors we see in 1994 and 1978 appear in 1666 playing different roles but with a similar dynamic. It helps tell the story without worrying about too many new faces and worrying about whether or not the audience will be able to keep track of them. The return of old faces also ensures that the audience is already a little invested in them and their well-being.

Small side-note: I really appreciated that there was no sexual violence. It always worries me when I start a horror show/film and it was such a relief that they did not go that route. There is a lot of violence and a lot of people and kids die but it’s always just slightly campy enough that keeps it from being genuinely disturbing.

FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994 (L to R) JULIA REHWALD as KATE, OLIVIA SCOTT WELCH AS SAMANTHA FRASER, and KIANA MADEIRA as DEENA. NETFLIX © 2021

One of the things that always irk me with slasher films (especially the old ones) are how white they were, no characters of colour and if there were any, they always died. There were also no queer characters. Fear Street undoes that beautifully, all of our main characters are outsiders, they are people of colour, they are queer. In another film, they would have been nameless characters, among the first to die. Here they are the heroes. I loved all of them and I hated that Alice, Kate and Simon died, to be honest, I expected the core group to survive, Kate especially.

Fear Street is also unapologetically feminist and Janiak does this without it being too obvious. The central conflicts in the story are between women (sister/ friends/ ex-girlfriends) but they also band together and fight for each other. It’s worth noting that most of the core relationships are between women (Deena-Sam, Ziggy-Cindy-Alice, Sarah-Hannah) and those are not coincidences.

FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666 (L to R) KIANA MADEIRA as SARAH FIER and OLIVIA SCOTT WELCH AS HANNAH MILLER. NETFLIX © 2021

I loved how gay this trilogy was, Deena and Sam’s love for each other was the driving force and was at the heart of the story. Even in 1666, Sarah’s crime was not so much witchcraft as it was daring to love someone you’re not supposed to and fighting back against the proprietary nature of the men who sought to control them. Sarah and Hannah loved each other fiercely and we see that same love reflected hundreds of years later in Deena and Sam who fight for each other relentlessly. I also appreciated that Deena and Sam were exes instead of a new relationship. It meant that they already had history, they shared a familiarity and comfort with each other that a new relationship would have had to build onscreen.

The Fear Street Trilogy is one of the best horror trilogies I’ve seen in a while, each film is consistently great and delivers gore and violence coupled with immense heart. It has one of the best queer relationships I’ve seen on screen and spoiler alert, they get a happy ending. I’m sick and tired of lesbian women dying or separating because of realism. Damn realism, give me happy women loving women and who live through their traumatic ordeal. Watch Fear Street for them if for nothing else. Now excuse me as I prepare to rewatch the trilogy.

The Haunting of Bly Manor – Ramblings

All ye who enter, here be spoilers, beware!

The Haunting of Hill House was an exceptional piece of television, both in terms of writing as well as execution. Any follow-up, regardless of its actual merit will be judged unfairly especially because the show is conceived as an anthology- each season is independent, a new story, a new house. In that regard, the key to enjoying Bly Manor is to watch it with no ties to Hill House. A tough thing to do but a must. If you watch Bly Manor, expecting the story and scares from Hill House, you will find it sorely lacking.

Bly Manor and Hill House could not be more different from each other. Other than a few repeated cast members and some behind the scenes crew, it’s a completely new concept. Like its predecessor, the season resembles its source material only in the broadest of strokes. There are a bulk of characters, story arcs that don’t exist in The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Instead, Mike Flanagan and his team of writers have woven in other, more obscure stories by James into this television adaptation and the season is richer for it.

The beauty of a show like Bly Manor and indeed even Hill House are its characters. The story is engaging and keeps the audience glued to their seats, the characters though elevate it to a whole new level. I am perhaps waxing poetic but as I sit here having just finished the last episode, I find myself going back to the characters. There is such abundant richness to them, so many layers, even to the ones that we would mostly dismiss as the “villain”. The show infuses such heartache into their stories that to label any of them as villainous would be to completely miss the point. Which is not to say that there aren’t characters who do absolutely despicable things, like a certain Peter Quint, nor does the show offer them a redemption, merely understanding, a look into their lives.

Unlike Hill House, where a majority of the ghosts retained their menacing and malicious edge, the last 2 episodes of Bly Manor completely rid the ghosts of the house of all that makes them frightening, revealing them to be nothing but unwitting bystanders who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The heartache is a running theme especially among 4 principle characters- Hannah, Owen, Dani and Jamie. Hannah who constantly finds herself in different times, who hasn’t yet realised that she’s no longer among the living, existing like an echo, repeating the actions in death as she did in life. Filled with regret at the life unlived, the regret of being in love with Owen and never telling him. For Owen to be in love with Hannah but also held back, whether due to his mother’s illness or just never being sure of how Hannah felt about him.

I tip my hat to Mike Flanagan. In Hill House he gave us Theo Crain, the only complaint being that perhaps Trish only existed in the story to serve Theo’s character. He does a much a better job in Bly Manor with Dani and Jamie. You can see the yearning in Dani’s eyes almost as soon as she meets Jamie, there is an instant pull. And then through her flashback, you can see that it was her guilt that was holding her back. And once she let that go of it, you could see her embracing the happiness that came from being with Jamie. Their love for each other was one of the high-points of the show. The way the show concludes, leaves a bittersweet taste, in that, at the end, Dani does come back for Jamie and they can finally be together. And that was just beautiful.

Bly Manor is also beautifully made show, though if I were being honest, I missed some of those brilliant single takes shots from Hill House which were so superbly executed. The structure of the season bares some similarities to that of Hill House, in that almost each episode focuses on a particular character but it’s not necessarily from their point of view. With each passing episode, the story slowly unfolds, until the last episode brings everything together like a tapestry unfurling, finally presenting the whole image in its entirety. That’s the other thing to watch out for in the show, it is slow, it takes its time, the first episode especially. We have become so used to fast-paced storytelling that there is something soothing about one that takes its time, that also occasionally pauses and lets its inhabitants breathe and simply exist instead of pushing along one story arc or another. I almost miss it which is why shows like this are a treat.

The acting is also top-notch, though some of the accents take some getting used to, most notably Henry Thomas as Henry Wingrave. All of the others, especially the kids Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Amelie Bea Smith as Miles and Flora respectively were amazing. Special mention also to T’nia Miller who played Hannah Grose with such depth and sincerity. I’m going to mention all of the main cast members because of how amazing they all were- Victoria Pedretti as Dani Clayton, Amelia Eve as Jamie, Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Peter Quint, Tahirah Sharif as Rebecca Jessel, Rahul Kohli as Owen, Carla Gugino as The Narrator. Special mention also to Kate Siegel who only appeared in one episode but owned every frame she was in.

Mike Flanagan was being honest when he said that Bly Manor is gothic romance. It is not the horror-fest that was Hill House. Bly Manor, like Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak, is a love story with ghosts in it. At its core, its about people deeply in love. Some of it, transcendent like Hannah-Owen and Dani-Jamie and some of it toxic like Rebecca-Peter. The Haunting of Bly Manor is a beautiful show and to watch it in the shadow of Hill House is a gross disservice to it’s beauty and nuance.

P.S. – Petition to have Victoria Pedretti in the next season of The Haunting and to get a happy ending and if we get a wlw ship, that’s just an added bonus.

P.P.S – Netflix better not cancel this show! Seriously, keep your cancel-happy hands away from this.

Captain Marvel Review

NON-SPOILER Review

I saw the movie last night and I can safely tell you that it is amazing! Marvel did a great job introducing Carol Danvers and setting her up for Avengers – Endgame.

The Marvel films, when they first released, worked brilliantly because people weren’t used to their way of story-telling, it was new and fresh. But over time, those same refreshing ideas started feeling stale because they also tended to stick to a formula. Which is why while films like Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 make for perfectly enjoyable viewing, their rewatch value isn’t great. It’s safe to say that Marvel execs and Kevin Feige realised this. The diversity in directors for their next few projects seems to have breathed new life into the MCU, we had Taika Watiti (Thor Ragnarok), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) and most recently, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for Captain Marvel. That diversity helped telling stories better and also gave us dynamic characters, both primary and secondary.

Also note, the writing credit for Captain Marvel also includes women in addition to the directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve and it shows.

Is Captain Marvel is perfect film? No. Will you care while watching it? Also No! Because once the film starts, you will be completely immersed and in it and invested in Carol, beginning to end. The best part about the film is that it is about Carol Danvers, she is the protagonist of this story and she doesn’t have to share it anyone else (case in point, Antman and the Wasp) The team behind the film were tasked with making an origin film that immediately tied in with Avengers and they did a great job.

I’ve had a problem with Marvel’s brand of humour in their last few films where they insert a joke just when they’re building up an emotional scene, the joke immediately dispels the tension and that’s not always a good thing. It felt jarring and jerked me out of the film. The humour here was natural and organic, it stemmed from who Carol is. Most importantly, the humorous moments didn’t feel contrived.

What I loved about Carol was her spirit, she was cheeky, spunky and irreverent. There was something that was refreshing about her character, she seemed normal in a way her other MCU colleagues didn’t. She wasn’t a playboy billionaire, a god of Thunder nor a super soldier. I suppose, what I’m trying to say that she looked and sounded like women we know and not an idea of what women should look like and how they should behave. And that felt like a breath of fresh air.

The casting of the film is top notch and after watching the film, I can’t imagine anyone else playing this character. Brie Larson became her character and she made it look effortless. Samuel L. Jackson was amazing as a less cynical and paranoid Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, the main Skrull bad guy was great, Lashana Lynch was amazing as Maria Rambeau. Larson’s scenes with Jackson and Lynch were some of the best and were at the very heart of the film. Annette Benning looked like she was a great time. Goose the cat was absolutely adorable and I wanted to take him home!

Larson trained for 9 months prior to filming and it shows. She physically looks strong, like she could do everything that was happening on screen, she looked capable. I also loved that Larson/Danvers wasn’t sexualised AT ALL! That is exceedingly rare and I can’t begin to tell you how good that felt. When she fought, her hair got messed up, she didn’t always look ‘pretty’, when she fought, she went all in and didn’t worry if her expression would look nice in high-speed. Danvers also drove her story forward, she actively participated instead of reacting to things that were happening to her.

Danvers, in the film, is unapologetic about who she is and she doesn’t try to change herself to suit those around her so that they don’t feel threatened.

It was amazing to watch the men in the film tell Carol that she wasn’t strong enough or that she needed to get her emotions in check or she wouldn’t be able to control her powers and she proved them wrong every time! Or when she told her mentor that she didn’t have to prove anything to him. Those scenes have power and they resonate beyond what you see on screen because this is how women are portrayed, as weak and emotionally unstable. It is empowering to see a character like Captain Marvel go toe to toe with her enemies and always get back to her feet despite her falls.

I loved that the film-makers did not give Carol a love interest and instead we saw her friendship with Maria, her best friend and her daughter, Monica. Their friendship formed the heart of film, the emotional center and it was beautiful to see. Her interaction with Fury, on the other hand, was downright hilarious. Someone please cast Brie Larson and Sam Jackson in a buddy road-trip comedy, do it NOW!

Captain Marvel is a great film and deserves all the love. It’s a film that everyone can enjoy, but I can safely tell you that it’s different for the female audience, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel is empowering and it’s not her super-powers but her unbreakable spirit that make her so.

I saw it once already but I think a second viewing is warranted because I’m certain I missed things since I was so caught up in everything on screen.

P.S. – I feel like the Star Force was under-utilised and I hope we see more of them in the future. I love Gemma Chan and would love to see her in a future Captain Marvel film.

The Man in the High Castle – Season 3 Impressions

So, I finished season 3 (finally) I kept pushing it off because I wanted to get as close to the season 4 premier as I could. The only silver lining? I got the Season 4 trailer shortly after finished the season.

Now, onto impressions:

First off, Juliana (Alexa Davalos). Full disclosure, I am Joeliana shipper. I loved the Joe (Luke Kleintank) we saw in seasons 1 and 2. His character in season 3 made sense. At the time, for the first time, we saw that Juliana does care for him and possibly loves him. And he loves her too, even in the fucked-up state, a part of him does love her. But he’s so traumatized that he pushes all his soft emotions under lest they pull him under their weight. There is a reason why he only Juliana what he actually had to do to get out. Juliana has to kill him, thinking that that’s the only way to escape him. And she doesn’t immediately deal with it. We see her flashback to him after that, letting us know that he’s still on her mind.

She ends the season by successfully traveling to another universe. I think she was only able to do it because she had nothing holding her back in her own. She killed Joe and left Frank (Rupert Evans) (and I think they both realized that they wouldn’t meet again, which is why he refuses to walk her out, telling her that if he doesn’t then he can pretend she never left) She was finally and that was finally let her travel.

I can’t help but want to see Joe again. I know, at this point, we don’t know whether he’s coming back. I keep feeling that Joe and Juliana need closure and they understood each other in a way that she and Frank never did.

Next up, Nicole Becker (Bella Heathcote). Let me begin by stating that I will forever be grateful that Season 3 gave us quite a few queer characters and at least 1 healthy queer relationship. I liked Nicole and her take charge attitude. She was sure of her capabilities and didn’t underplay them. Her time and relationship with Thelma (Laura Mennell) was always going to be limited. For starters Nicole works for the Reich which disapproves of homosexuality and Thelma is married (albeit to a gay man) She is most certainly outed by the guy she takes over from at the advertising agency, the same guy who gets Thelma out of prison. I am curious to see if we see her again in season 4. Himmler got shot shortly after ordering her re-education, so I don’t know if was sent back to Germany or if she’s still in America.

Finally, on to John Smith (Rufus Sewell)I think the John Smith we see is getting more and more distanced from his family. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still committed to keeping them safe. But he also stops communicating with his wife, Helen (Chelah Horsdal) It is clear from the earlier seasons that they work best when they work together, but the actions of their son, Thomas, puts them at odds. And now John is keeping things from her deliberately, leaving her more and more isolated.

He discovers Thomas in some of the other films, alternate versions of their family, where they’re happy and together. His own pain is assuaged, somewhat, knowing that there are versions of the universe where Thomas is alive and happy. But he doesn’t share this with Helen. Part of it could be that he doesn’t want to cause her more pain but it doesn’t matter because he never gives her that choice. He can sense that Helen is feeling lonely and isolated and realizes that she reaches out to him, multiple times, and he refuses her every time.

He can see that she’s barely pulling through and doesn’t really do much to help her, save to tell her repeatedly that they must be very careful of how they present themselves because now they’ve been thrust into a position where any misstep might put them all in danger. Except, he dumps all this squarely on her shoulders. Growing increasingly distant to an extent where Helen is no longer sure of who her husband truly serves.

There is discontent in him, his face when the Statue of Liberty is torn down, is telling, he is far from happy. But he has also become the perfect soldier, there’s no fight in him. Helen’s decision to leave him with her daughters makes perfect sense because she’s no longer if he would choose his children’s well-being over that of the party.

Season 4 is going to see him get only more committed to the party and the Reich. He is becoming increasingly darker and season 4 being the final season, we will things come to a head for him. I think he will have to make a choice, between his family and daughters and a party that would kill children for a something that they have no control over. At this point, I have no idea what he would choose.

The trailer also gave us a glimpse of John in another universe, someone vastly different from the John Smith that Juliana is familiar with. It’s a good nod to the audience, but I don’t see that relationship going anywhere because a) it’s not her world and b) she needs to come back to her own world because she wants to save it. She also meets him almost immediately, you can tell because her injuries are exactly the same as they did when the Nazis were holding her prisoner.

Season 4 has a lot of loose ends to tie up and I hope they do a good job. I love and enjoy the show and would love for it to end on a note that is earned and feels right. Here’s hoping.

A Jon and Sansa Marriage

I’ve seen countless posts talking about a Jonsa marriage. I’m not opposed to it, I think it makes sense especially after the Parental Reveal and the fact the Northern Lords do NOT trust Targs.

I’m more concerned by how it happens and specifically who suggests it. Sansa has been through hell, growing up in KL where she had no agency. She was told she was to marry Tyrion and that was that, her consent was inconsequential. Her betrothal to Ramsay was even worse, and once again, she had no real say in the matter. I want the Jonsa marriage to be her idea. I need it to be something she wants.

I’ve seen posts speculating that it could be Tyrion or even Varys who suggests the marriage between Jon and Sansa, and while both of those candidates are more than capable of coming up with the suggestion, it doesn’t make it any different from her earlier betrothals, with a bunch of men making decisions about her life, still treating less as a human being and more like a pawn.

I don’t hold Tyrion in high regard and I think he’s going more grey and morally ambiguous in the final season (more so than what we’ve seen in the past) Varys may be smart but he’s not familiar with the North, Sansa or Jon, he doesn’t know this particular political landscape.

Sansa is finally in a position of power, she’s home, she’s with her people, and for the first time, she has agency, over her life, her body and I’ll be damned if it’s yet another guy who thinks he knows best about what she should do next. Sansa is the Lady of Winterfell, and while she may not be the Queen in the North (debatable) she most certainly holds some amount of power. The Northern Lords are already teetering where support to Jon is concerned and I’m guessing that the knowledge that he bent the knee to D will come as an additional blow. The parental reveal will likely be the last straw. Sansa is an astute political player and she knows that the lords are fickle with their display of loyalty. The only way to hold power and keep the armies loyal to the North is to proclaim Jon a Stark and the only way of doing that is by marriage.

Also, once Jon learns that he’s a Targ, it will put throw a wrench in his carefully executed plans. He knows that D is paranoid and convinced that she’s the only surviving Targ and realising that she has competition for the IT will not endear Jon to her. However, it will cause even more turmoil for him internally, everything he thought he was will turn out to be a lie. He will share this knowledge with Sansa and Arya.

It would also kind of mirror Ned and Cat where they got married first then slowly fell in love, for Jon and Sansa, it will be inverted, they’re already in love, the parental reveal finally let’s them acknowledge their feelings and gives them the freedom to get married.

Now, I did wonder if it could be Jon who suggests a marriage but I immediately rejected that notion. Jon would never suggest it even he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Sansa was in love with him for precisely the reasons I outlined earlier in the post, he’d be the last person to suggest such a thing. He would also reject similar ideas from Davos and pretty much anyone else. The only person who could convince him is Sansa, with certainty that she suggests it not because she feels bullied or coerced but because she genuinely wants to marry him.