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259.
Oh, man. I'm about to show my ass and embarrass myself with what I've been watching.
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reading
I'm currently reading The Witcher: Baptism of Fire. I'm currently finding it a lot easier to read than Time of Contempt (I found that too slow and filled with too many characters I didn't care about), but so far Baptism seems okay. Yennefer is my favourite character and she hasn't appeared in the first 100 pages. I'm not usually a fantasy reader, so I struggle through all the fantasy-like stuff, but the characters are really enjoyable so I persevere.
My Goodreads updates literally consist of "Where is Yennefer?" because WHERE IS SHE?
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I did buy The Viscount Who Loved Me since I have been enjoying all the trailers for the new season of Bridgerton. (I may have rewatched that trailer around 50 times.) Totally suspect that I will be annoyed by it since I've read excerpts and I dislike some of the more, uh… misogynistic value systems that exists in this world. More on this below.
NGL, I started reading this last night. It's easy to read. I already know I prefer the show.
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watching
For Friday night movie night, I picked 10 Things I Hate About You. Still a classic. Still so much fun. I have found that the late 1990s and early 2000s movies contain words and plot tropes that we wouldn't necessarily accept in 2020+. Aside from one slur, I did find that the movie still holds up 20+ years later.
I do wish that we got more fallout of the big reveal, though. Does Kat not know Bianca knew about the plot to pay someone to take her out so Bianca could go out? I felt the resolution was a bit rushed. We went from Kat being rightfully pissed to her reading out her beautiful poem, but we didn't really get to see her talk about how she felt at all. Patrick got to be mad at her for doubting his intentions (which she ended up being bloody right about) but we didn't get to see Kat be mad for more than a scene. How does that work?
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I'm watching Killing Eve and did not expect to enjoy it so much. Somehow I'm in season 3. Villanelle is so much fun to watch and is so unhinged (I love it when she randomly yells and does things to stir people up), and Sandra Oh is amazing as always. Every time I start watching an episode, I immediately see Cristina Yang, but Sandra disappears into Eve. Eve is so, so different to Cristina—she's not so self-assured and she's a little more swayable than Queen Yang. (For one, I think Cristina would be dragging Villanelle's ass for fifth.)
I also did not expect for the show to actually go down the F/F route and have Eve and Villanelle obsess over one another to a romantic degree! Their chemistry sells it so it's been so much fun to watch this fucked up and twisted and convoluted dynamic.
I'm a bit sad Niko didn't die. Surely the blood loss would've gotten him? A pitchfork to the neck is not something I'd want to survive, in all honesty. I get that Eve was very forgetful and didn't tend to him and their relationship, but… I was okay with him dying. Less men.
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I binged Bridgerton season 2 and I fucking LOVE IT. I'm going to be rewatching this over and over and over (and already am rewatching it). I love the inclusion of a desi woman as the lead. I loved the enemies to lovers plotline. I loved the development and chemistry of the characters. This season was so much more fun—characters got to be funny and some actors got to lean into comedy which really livened their characters up for me. (Anthony got rid of his hideous sideburns.) This was so much better than season 1 imo.
AND IT HIT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TROPES.
I know a lot of people didn't like the pacing, but I fucking loved it. I'm a big fan of seeing the courtship of two characters more than seeing them established. I didn't enjoy Simon and Daphne as much because they got together so quickly and I didn't like the fact we didn't get the angst, the miscommunication and yearning that we get with Anthony and Kate. (I also didn't like Daphne in season 1. I just found her to be a bit try-hard despite her best intentions. Simon is also highly overrated imo.)
With Anthony and Kate, I loved the pining and the yearning and I felt it worked perfectly. I feel like where Simon and Daphne miscommunicated wherein Simon didn't explicitly state why he didn't want kids and Daphne didn't state she had no idea how sex worked (and asked "Hey… why the fuck do you pull out?"), Anthony and Kate's miscommunication is more like "You act like you hate me but really you're picturing me naked and I can't think that you're not sincere in loving me because of that" (which I loooooove).
This is a really good article about the pacing and plot for this season. (It is spoilery.) Apparently it's very reminiscent of Bollywood… and I just love that. (Maybe I should actually watch Bollywood movies? Slowburn yearning seems to be my thing and it seems like I'm missing out.) I honestly don't think the love triangle is reminiscent of Hollywood's love triangles. I feel like it's a triangle between Kate's need to be dutiful and self-sacrificing, Anthony's need to be dutiful and then struggling to allow himself to believe that loving Kate and letting her in won't lead to death like Violet/Edmund, and Edwina stepping out from Kate's wing to say "You prepared me; I can look after myself now while you look after you".
I know some people are mad about Edwina liking Anthony, but I honestly don't think she genuinely loved him… I think she believed she did because she knew she had to marry. (This is where knowing her backstory with her father would've been good. When did he die? Did she get to see a loving relationship between him and Mary? Was she telling herself she could have that with Anthony? Was she hoping for it? Did she expect all marriages to be like that? Where does her context come from?) Their whole purpose of being in England was for her to marry. I think Edwina, who we're told has been taught to be skilled and adaptable enough to win over people's hearts, knew this despite her naïveté. She thinks Anthony is a good and kind man—something she says to Daphne—and so she wants to marry him because she thinks he'll treat her right and give her the life she wants. In turn, he'll give her family the stability that they need, hence their return to England and the Ton. Viewers are paying Edwina disrespect when they say she genuinely loved Anthony. Edwina broke down in Aubrey Hall to Kate saying she didn't "say the right things, I didn't study enough, I should've known their hobbies". Edwina is a perfectionist putting a lot of pressure on herself because she knows she is her family's security ticket. It's right there in the text. If the writing handled itself better and cut half the subplots, we could've deep-dived into that.
I did expect that one scene in the trailer was of Kate and Anthony's wedding (it's their last dance which is just so chef's kiss), but we don't see that… and I wish we did. I would've loved to have seen Kate in a sari. I would've loved for Kate to get an Indian wedding in contrast to the very English and white wedding Edwina was set to have. I also would've loved to see Anthony eat Indian food as well. (Look, I just want to see him eat curry, okay?)
I do have a gripe that despite the pacing (which, again, I loved), I found the subplots to be extremely annoying. I feel like season 1 let Simon and Daphne be the central focus, but this season felt slightly off-balance. As much as I love Lady Portia Featherington, I didn't want to see her plot take up what felt like 20 minutes every episode. As much as I enjoy Penelope, I didn't want to see her plot take up the majority of the final episode when we should've been focused on Kate and Anthony. I also found that Colin/Penelope took up a lot more time than I felt they should've. (I also… don't really like them. Penelope's actress can sell that Penelope's into Colin, but I don't feel much from the Colin actor and I think I have trouble believing them as a couple.) Considering Anthony/Sienna was another prominent ship in season 1, I felt that they didn't take up so much time that you felt yourself wondering if the season's focus wasn't actually meant to be on them instead of Simon/Daphne. Season 2 needed to cut a lot of the fat.
If they had cut the fat, we would've been able to see more of Anthony and Kate having conversations to thicken up their romance. I still believe it and I still love them, but I wish we got more than just Kate understanding Anthony's trauma. I'd love to have seen him pry her to know what she likes, them talking about being older siblings, them discussing anything. We missed out on good Kathony content because of the inclusion of the Featheringtons' obnoxious plots.
The subplots meant we didn't get to explore Kate, Mary and Edwina. I wanted flashbacks on Mary's time in the Ton. I wanted to know more about Kate's father and mother. (I wanted to see more focus on Kate and how her maternal grandparents via Mary refuse to acknowledge her. I can relate to this a lot with extended family and it was so good to see it in here, but it wasn't explored. Once again, her trauma was brushed under the rug.) I wanted more than us to focus on all these other plots and histories that noticeably belong to white characters. It was just a missed opportunity for us to see Lady Danbury, Mary and the queen's backstories and previous friendships. I was so intrigued by the tension between these three women. (Also, uh… they're three WOC, so I wanted to see MORE.)
I do want to read the book to see what the book has in it and see if I can fill in any of the gaps that I found intriguing. A lot of book fans are hating the season, but I feel like they forget that the book is the book and the television show isn't going to follow the book to the letter. (I personally feel the show improves on the book based on what I've read. Agency and choice are prominent in this season whereas in the book it seems more like Anthony and Kate are forced to get married against their wishes. I've had a quick skim of some pages and at one point Anthony says Kate's denying him "my rights" by not wanting to have sex on the wedding night. Not once does show!Anthony state this or act as though Kate's body is his to have access to whenever he wants. I think this is a pretty poignant change and one that sets them on an equal footing.)
I also suspect I'll like book!Edwina a lot more than show!Edwina. I did like the show's version of her, but I felt like we never got to experience closure with Edwina's episode-long hate of Kate. I wish we got to see Edwina do some soul-searching rather than blaming Kate for her naïveté. (Kate isn't completely blameless, but I wish they had a proper conversation of "You've protected me from so much and stifled my growth" and "I did that because I didn't want you to struggle as I did".) Edwina never sought to understand why Kate shielded her from everything. She never listened to Kate or pried into why Kate happened to say that she wanted Edwina to avoid experiencing the hardships Kate did growing up. Edwina also threw Kate being her half-sister at her and never apologised. I feel like Kate got shat on and no one really checked in on her until she had her accident. (We never got to see Edwina with Kate while Kate was dealing with the ramifications of her accident, either. Why were we on other subplots when we could've seen the Sharmas fret about Kate?)
I also have to say the close-ups of the horse riding scenes annoyed me because it was so clearly CGI. But that's my only gripe for Anthony/Kate content (other than we deserved more).
I also wish we got more on Kate and her family. She's lost her biological mother and father, we never hear anything about her mother, and while Mary is absolutely a dream step-mother who accepts Kate as her own, I wanted more because when they got to be together in a scene, it was so good. We lacked Mary and Kate scenes which would've been a fantastic juxtaposition to Violet and Anthony. I feel like Mary and Kate have this mutual understanding and respect, and I feel that they are close while Violet and Anthony have struggled to relate to one another since Edmund's death. I did like Lady Danbury being a mentor and mother figure to Kate, but I'd have loved to see Mary play a role, too.
And I love Kate. I love her so much. IT IS SO FUCKING FANTASTIC TO SEE MYSELF ON SCREEN. I loved hearing the Sharma's accents. (I do not sound Indian at all, but it's so great to hear the accent be appreciated and not hidden nor said in the text "We must hide our accent to blend in and be palatable with these people". But then… Kate was never introduced as "Kathani Sharma" so I'd like to know WHY.) They sound like my paternal family! I loved seeing who I am on screen and be celebrated. I love reading comments from other fans who have expressed the same thing. I would have died as a kid to have seen this. (I do wish that people would allow minorities to have these moments of representation—and I wish minorities would allow other minorities this opportunity to enjoy it without being shat on for it, too. South Asians receiving this does not take away from other minorities. The first time I saw myself on west tv was in Bend It Like Beckham. The second was The Witcher and the third was Never Have I Ever. Never came out in 2020. Bend It came out in 2002.)
She was such a fun character to watch and follow, and I only wish we got to deep dive into her past. I know Anthony is the titular character, but she's his leading lady and we got a whole plot focused on Simon and his refusal to bear an heir last season. Why couldn't our desi lead have trauma alongside the white lead?
I came out of this as a hardcore Anthony/Kate shipper. It was super enjoyable and season 2 is going on my "rewatch until I die" list. I'm honestly counting down the minutes until I start writing fic for them lmfao. I, like Anthony, recognise that I am a clown for Kate Sharma.
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reading
I'm currently reading The Witcher: Baptism of Fire. I'm currently finding it a lot easier to read than Time of Contempt (I found that too slow and filled with too many characters I didn't care about), but so far Baptism seems okay. Yennefer is my favourite character and she hasn't appeared in the first 100 pages. I'm not usually a fantasy reader, so I struggle through all the fantasy-like stuff, but the characters are really enjoyable so I persevere.
My Goodreads updates literally consist of "Where is Yennefer?" because WHERE IS SHE?
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I did buy The Viscount Who Loved Me since I have been enjoying all the trailers for the new season of Bridgerton. (I may have rewatched that trailer around 50 times.) Totally suspect that I will be annoyed by it since I've read excerpts and I dislike some of the more, uh… misogynistic value systems that exists in this world. More on this below.
NGL, I started reading this last night. It's easy to read. I already know I prefer the show.
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watching
For Friday night movie night, I picked 10 Things I Hate About You. Still a classic. Still so much fun. I have found that the late 1990s and early 2000s movies contain words and plot tropes that we wouldn't necessarily accept in 2020+. Aside from one slur, I did find that the movie still holds up 20+ years later.
I do wish that we got more fallout of the big reveal, though. Does Kat not know Bianca knew about the plot to pay someone to take her out so Bianca could go out? I felt the resolution was a bit rushed. We went from Kat being rightfully pissed to her reading out her beautiful poem, but we didn't really get to see her talk about how she felt at all. Patrick got to be mad at her for doubting his intentions (which she ended up being bloody right about) but we didn't get to see Kat be mad for more than a scene. How does that work?
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I'm watching Killing Eve and did not expect to enjoy it so much. Somehow I'm in season 3. Villanelle is so much fun to watch and is so unhinged (I love it when she randomly yells and does things to stir people up), and Sandra Oh is amazing as always. Every time I start watching an episode, I immediately see Cristina Yang, but Sandra disappears into Eve. Eve is so, so different to Cristina—she's not so self-assured and she's a little more swayable than Queen Yang. (For one, I think Cristina would be dragging Villanelle's ass for fifth.)
I also did not expect for the show to actually go down the F/F route and have Eve and Villanelle obsess over one another to a romantic degree! Their chemistry sells it so it's been so much fun to watch this fucked up and twisted and convoluted dynamic.
I'm a bit sad Niko didn't die. Surely the blood loss would've gotten him? A pitchfork to the neck is not something I'd want to survive, in all honesty. I get that Eve was very forgetful and didn't tend to him and their relationship, but… I was okay with him dying. Less men.
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I binged Bridgerton season 2 and I fucking LOVE IT. I'm going to be rewatching this over and over and over (and already am rewatching it). I love the inclusion of a desi woman as the lead. I loved the enemies to lovers plotline. I loved the development and chemistry of the characters. This season was so much more fun—characters got to be funny and some actors got to lean into comedy which really livened their characters up for me. (Anthony got rid of his hideous sideburns.) This was so much better than season 1 imo.
AND IT HIT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TROPES.
I know a lot of people didn't like the pacing, but I fucking loved it. I'm a big fan of seeing the courtship of two characters more than seeing them established. I didn't enjoy Simon and Daphne as much because they got together so quickly and I didn't like the fact we didn't get the angst, the miscommunication and yearning that we get with Anthony and Kate. (I also didn't like Daphne in season 1. I just found her to be a bit try-hard despite her best intentions. Simon is also highly overrated imo.)
With Anthony and Kate, I loved the pining and the yearning and I felt it worked perfectly. I feel like where Simon and Daphne miscommunicated wherein Simon didn't explicitly state why he didn't want kids and Daphne didn't state she had no idea how sex worked (and asked "Hey… why the fuck do you pull out?"), Anthony and Kate's miscommunication is more like "You act like you hate me but really you're picturing me naked and I can't think that you're not sincere in loving me because of that" (which I loooooove).
This is a really good article about the pacing and plot for this season. (It is spoilery.) Apparently it's very reminiscent of Bollywood… and I just love that. (Maybe I should actually watch Bollywood movies? Slowburn yearning seems to be my thing and it seems like I'm missing out.) I honestly don't think the love triangle is reminiscent of Hollywood's love triangles. I feel like it's a triangle between Kate's need to be dutiful and self-sacrificing, Anthony's need to be dutiful and then struggling to allow himself to believe that loving Kate and letting her in won't lead to death like Violet/Edmund, and Edwina stepping out from Kate's wing to say "You prepared me; I can look after myself now while you look after you".
I know some people are mad about Edwina liking Anthony, but I honestly don't think she genuinely loved him… I think she believed she did because she knew she had to marry. (This is where knowing her backstory with her father would've been good. When did he die? Did she get to see a loving relationship between him and Mary? Was she telling herself she could have that with Anthony? Was she hoping for it? Did she expect all marriages to be like that? Where does her context come from?) Their whole purpose of being in England was for her to marry. I think Edwina, who we're told has been taught to be skilled and adaptable enough to win over people's hearts, knew this despite her naïveté. She thinks Anthony is a good and kind man—something she says to Daphne—and so she wants to marry him because she thinks he'll treat her right and give her the life she wants. In turn, he'll give her family the stability that they need, hence their return to England and the Ton. Viewers are paying Edwina disrespect when they say she genuinely loved Anthony. Edwina broke down in Aubrey Hall to Kate saying she didn't "say the right things, I didn't study enough, I should've known their hobbies". Edwina is a perfectionist putting a lot of pressure on herself because she knows she is her family's security ticket. It's right there in the text. If the writing handled itself better and cut half the subplots, we could've deep-dived into that.
I did expect that one scene in the trailer was of Kate and Anthony's wedding (it's their last dance which is just so chef's kiss), but we don't see that… and I wish we did. I would've loved to have seen Kate in a sari. I would've loved for Kate to get an Indian wedding in contrast to the very English and white wedding Edwina was set to have. I also would've loved to see Anthony eat Indian food as well. (Look, I just want to see him eat curry, okay?)
I do have a gripe that despite the pacing (which, again, I loved), I found the subplots to be extremely annoying. I feel like season 1 let Simon and Daphne be the central focus, but this season felt slightly off-balance. As much as I love Lady Portia Featherington, I didn't want to see her plot take up what felt like 20 minutes every episode. As much as I enjoy Penelope, I didn't want to see her plot take up the majority of the final episode when we should've been focused on Kate and Anthony. I also found that Colin/Penelope took up a lot more time than I felt they should've. (I also… don't really like them. Penelope's actress can sell that Penelope's into Colin, but I don't feel much from the Colin actor and I think I have trouble believing them as a couple.) Considering Anthony/Sienna was another prominent ship in season 1, I felt that they didn't take up so much time that you felt yourself wondering if the season's focus wasn't actually meant to be on them instead of Simon/Daphne. Season 2 needed to cut a lot of the fat.
If they had cut the fat, we would've been able to see more of Anthony and Kate having conversations to thicken up their romance. I still believe it and I still love them, but I wish we got more than just Kate understanding Anthony's trauma. I'd love to have seen him pry her to know what she likes, them talking about being older siblings, them discussing anything. We missed out on good Kathony content because of the inclusion of the Featheringtons' obnoxious plots.
The subplots meant we didn't get to explore Kate, Mary and Edwina. I wanted flashbacks on Mary's time in the Ton. I wanted to know more about Kate's father and mother. (I wanted to see more focus on Kate and how her maternal grandparents via Mary refuse to acknowledge her. I can relate to this a lot with extended family and it was so good to see it in here, but it wasn't explored. Once again, her trauma was brushed under the rug.) I wanted more than us to focus on all these other plots and histories that noticeably belong to white characters. It was just a missed opportunity for us to see Lady Danbury, Mary and the queen's backstories and previous friendships. I was so intrigued by the tension between these three women. (Also, uh… they're three WOC, so I wanted to see MORE.)
I do want to read the book to see what the book has in it and see if I can fill in any of the gaps that I found intriguing. A lot of book fans are hating the season, but I feel like they forget that the book is the book and the television show isn't going to follow the book to the letter. (I personally feel the show improves on the book based on what I've read. Agency and choice are prominent in this season whereas in the book it seems more like Anthony and Kate are forced to get married against their wishes. I've had a quick skim of some pages and at one point Anthony says Kate's denying him "my rights" by not wanting to have sex on the wedding night. Not once does show!Anthony state this or act as though Kate's body is his to have access to whenever he wants. I think this is a pretty poignant change and one that sets them on an equal footing.)
I also suspect I'll like book!Edwina a lot more than show!Edwina. I did like the show's version of her, but I felt like we never got to experience closure with Edwina's episode-long hate of Kate. I wish we got to see Edwina do some soul-searching rather than blaming Kate for her naïveté. (Kate isn't completely blameless, but I wish they had a proper conversation of "You've protected me from so much and stifled my growth" and "I did that because I didn't want you to struggle as I did".) Edwina never sought to understand why Kate shielded her from everything. She never listened to Kate or pried into why Kate happened to say that she wanted Edwina to avoid experiencing the hardships Kate did growing up. Edwina also threw Kate being her half-sister at her and never apologised. I feel like Kate got shat on and no one really checked in on her until she had her accident. (We never got to see Edwina with Kate while Kate was dealing with the ramifications of her accident, either. Why were we on other subplots when we could've seen the Sharmas fret about Kate?)
I also have to say the close-ups of the horse riding scenes annoyed me because it was so clearly CGI. But that's my only gripe for Anthony/Kate content (other than we deserved more).
I also wish we got more on Kate and her family. She's lost her biological mother and father, we never hear anything about her mother, and while Mary is absolutely a dream step-mother who accepts Kate as her own, I wanted more because when they got to be together in a scene, it was so good. We lacked Mary and Kate scenes which would've been a fantastic juxtaposition to Violet and Anthony. I feel like Mary and Kate have this mutual understanding and respect, and I feel that they are close while Violet and Anthony have struggled to relate to one another since Edmund's death. I did like Lady Danbury being a mentor and mother figure to Kate, but I'd have loved to see Mary play a role, too.
And I love Kate. I love her so much. IT IS SO FUCKING FANTASTIC TO SEE MYSELF ON SCREEN. I loved hearing the Sharma's accents. (I do not sound Indian at all, but it's so great to hear the accent be appreciated and not hidden nor said in the text "We must hide our accent to blend in and be palatable with these people". But then… Kate was never introduced as "Kathani Sharma" so I'd like to know WHY.) They sound like my paternal family! I loved seeing who I am on screen and be celebrated. I love reading comments from other fans who have expressed the same thing. I would have died as a kid to have seen this. (I do wish that people would allow minorities to have these moments of representation—and I wish minorities would allow other minorities this opportunity to enjoy it without being shat on for it, too. South Asians receiving this does not take away from other minorities. The first time I saw myself on west tv was in Bend It Like Beckham. The second was The Witcher and the third was Never Have I Ever. Never came out in 2020. Bend It came out in 2002.)
She was such a fun character to watch and follow, and I only wish we got to deep dive into her past. I know Anthony is the titular character, but she's his leading lady and we got a whole plot focused on Simon and his refusal to bear an heir last season. Why couldn't our desi lead have trauma alongside the white lead?
I came out of this as a hardcore Anthony/Kate shipper. It was super enjoyable and season 2 is going on my "rewatch until I die" list. I'm honestly counting down the minutes until I start writing fic for them lmfao. I, like Anthony, recognise that I am a clown for Kate Sharma.
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Re Viscount/Bridgerton 2: the book does have its Really Not Good elements like the one you pointed out with the "my rights" line and other sorts of behaviors like that from Anthony, but it can be a fun read if you're willing to accept some historical romance novels are (unfortunately) just Like That.
I'm one of the people who didn't enjoy season 2 as much because I expected there to be waaaaay more focus on Kate and Anthony WHO HAD SO MUCH CHEMISTRY BTW OH MY GODDDD. Also, Kate's entire wardrobe this season--perfection.
I did love the changes the show made in regard to agency and consent, but I hated! with a burning passion! the Edwina situation. It went on for way too long and I very much agree with this bit you wrote: I felt like we never got to experience closure with Edwina's episode-long hate of Kate. That was my impression as well and it made me so maaaaad. It would have been so lovely to see more scenes of the two of them and Mary just interacting as a family and having genuine conversations since they're presented as being so close and... nope. I would have died for more of Kate's backstory as well! That would have been amazing!
I also agree with everything you said about the subplots. Penelope's entire arc and what happened with her and Eloise were such odd choices from the writers and I cannot wrap my head around them. That also makes me a tiny bit afraid for the next few seasons since the Pen reveal and its aftermath did not happen like that at all in the books and that's taking up so much time in the show. We could have had so much more Kate or Kathony content :(
Sorry for the long comment omg but apparently I have a lot of feelings about Bridgerton sldkflsf
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I honestly love season two, but I hate it for the reason you stated. How the hell was this the Kanthony season and we spent the whole fucking finale on Penelope? Couldn't that have waited for the Polin season? (The season I won't watch unless Kanthony is in it *cough*.)
When Mary told Kate she never had to earn her love... I loved it so much! But I wish we got to see Mary and Kate interact more and for Mary to possibly clue in that Kate's pressuring herself a lot. (The actress was phenomenal and significantly underused.) Danbury was a great mentor in that way, but I do wish Kate had roped Mary in. (I actually thought Mary knew about the Sheffield plot until episode 5 revealed otherwise!)
I'm reading the book now (I'm up to chapter 9) and I have to say I am so, so grateful for the changes. I really prefer Kate's origins in the show to in the book, but even then... some of the character choices is a huge #yikes in the book. Kate Sheffield is a great character, but there is something about Kate Sharma that resonates with me a lot more.
I'm curious to see how they deal with the Penelope aftermath, but I... honestly don't think what they chose to do was smart. Penelope came off as a massive jerk to me. What she did really could put Eloise in danger and I don't know how they're even going to bring those two back together. (How the hell will Polin happen now!?)
I will never say no to talking more Bridgerton. Kanthony has me in a chokehold and I never want it to let go!
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I wasn't going to say anything in case you were in love with the books or something but: SAME LOL I think it's a combination of the writing style/translation and chapters being really long. It takes so much time to get through all of it.
(The season I won't watch unless Kanthony is in it *cough*.)
Apparently! They're already confirmed to come back for next season as Kathony! And show people have stated that season 2 was not the end for them so 👀 I do hope they'll give us substantial scenes of them together because I felt a bit robbed.
Danbury was a great mentor in that way, but I do wish Kate had roped Mary in.
Someone who read the book more recently than me commented that a lot of Lady Danbury's scenes this season worked in the same way a lot of Mary scenes did in the novel, so I think they decided to change some things around in regard to Mary and Kate's relationship so they could use Lady Danbury's character more :/
100% agree that Kate Sharma is a better character than Kate Sheffield. And the way Simone Ashley portrayed her was fantastic.
I'm so sad about show!Polin because those two were almost character assassinated this season for the sake of Drama and Conflict. Their book was so much fun due to certain reveals and Colin basically being Colin "My Wife" Bridgerton all the damn time. Guess will see what happens >.>
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We're halfway through the fourth and last season.
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I love 10 Things I Hate About You and I agree there could have been more on Bianca and Kat's relationship at the the end. I think Kat was just thrilled to see her not following her friends and standing up for herself with Joey. She'd done a few thoughtless and hurtful things over the movie, but she had her own character growth going on so we know she's more aware of that now. I think overall it left their relationship on a positive note. I feel like I have to defend one of my first canon ships though. Kat and Patrick!
Kat starts the movie angry at the world and with her guard up when it comes to people. Patrick also shows signs of this. Then as they get to know each other, they both soften. He's willing to be silly with her, and she's willing to laugh with him. She opens up more with her sister, and he starts giving genuine advice to Cameron. By the time we get to prom, they're both willing to be seen doing something that makes them feel vulnerable and the only thing unresolved between them is the lie.
I agree that the resolution is rushed, but I think the poem is Kat telling him that for once she can't be angry. She really let him in, and what she feels is hurt. She doesn't want to go back to pretending she hates him. She's not going to withdraw emotionally because she's in pain (character growth!). It's only brief, but we get a reaction shot of the moment she cries and she couldn't have made him feel that knife in the gut more if she'd actually stabbed him. I wanted more to follow it, but I think that moment works so well.
Then we find out he's already used the money to buy her the guitar. I think that part could have worked better if they delved into his situation more, because the feeling for me is that he's not as well off as the other characters and just happens to go to this pretty nice school? He seemed to be reluctant to take the deal in the first place and he didn't like Joey or what he was doing. I think it would have been better for Patrick to have had a clear goal that the money would have helped him achieve. Without something tangible to give up the gesture falls flat. It's a thoughtful gift for her, but what does it mean for him? Patrick putting his dream on hold to help her achieve hers would have had a stronger impact. /blah blah, writing thoughts :P
I love your enthusiasm about Bridgerton! I didn't get through season 1. I assumed they were going to make it less sexist too if they were modernising their take? but nope. I thought it was going to be a lot more fun than it was! I do like a slow burn, though, so I may check out season 2 at some point. The sisters in the trailer look great, but I wasn't sold on Anthony last season. We'll see.
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Don't get me wrong, I love Patrick/Kat, but I just felt like there was no resolution at all for his betrayal. I felt like there was a scene missing between the poem and the guitar in the car. Perhaps if we had spent more time with Patrick in the way you said—learned more about him as a person outside of the rumours that followed him and his motivations other than "Okay, money from a douchebag"—then I think the guitar would've landed better for me. (Is he the type to buy things for people to show his remorse? It was clear he's not financially well off, but what was he going to do with Joey's money? That's a character bit that would've been good to know.) We spent a lot of time with the Stratfords that it would've been good to see the Verona family as a nice parallel.
Season 1 is a bit of a drag imo. Daphne not knowing about sex really irritated me even if it was reminiscent of the culture of that time period. But you don't need to watch season 1 to watch season 2. Season 2 is infinitely better imo (it lacks in areas because the writing prioritised B plots over the A plot) and Anthony is actually a super likeable dude with no hideous sideburns, but I'm also extremely biased.
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I've been disappointed in The Replacements (the Keanu Reeves football movie) and National Treasure. I loved both of them when they came out but the last time I tried to watch either, I thought there was too much sexist garbage and had to turn them off.
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Dad and I watched Without A Paddle and Dude, Where's My Car? two stupid movies I used to kill myself laughing over... and I watched them this year and did not laugh at all. (I know Dude? is a stupid movie overall, but Without A Paddle is the one I hoped would still be enjoyable to watch.) I'm very glad we've moved away from those shitty jokes.
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I used to watch a lot of Bollywood movies in the mid 2000s. I think the genres are a little more diverse now, but the popular ones back then were definitely the 3 hour rom-com movies that yes, relied on a lot of pining, misunderstandings and overall slowburn. Like the Hollywood ones, there are a lot of tropes that don't age well, especially with the guy pursuing a girl who doesn't seem initially interested and can get kind of stalkery, but the songs are usually fun, if you like pretty dresses and them dancing and singing in Switzerland or some random European country lol I haven't seen anything in the last decade though so I'm definitely out of date, though there are a lot of good ones.
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I'm usually not one for musicals (the only two I can stand are Grease and Galavant) but there's pretty costumes and good dancing... Maybe I can find one and give it a go even if I'm just going to be looking at the subtitles the majority of the time. (But those tropes 😍. WHY DOES HOLLYWOOD HATE SLOWBURN?)
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we didn't get to see Kat be mad for more than a scene. How does that work?
always felt to me like one of those takes on female characters where they're not 'allowed' to be angry. Like, honestly, what was done to Kat really was despicable if you take a step back from the clear Kat/Patrick endgame. She has every right to be angry, she should be angry, but, certainly at the point the film was made and I think even now, there's a difficulty in accepting female characters who sustain that negative emotion because it doesn't fit with ideals of femininity.
Don't get me wrong, I love these characters, warts and all, but I very much feel like the resolution does kind of contradict the character Kat is established as for the entire rest of the film, which is a shame.
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I love Kat's disdain for everyone. I did appreciate how the movie didn't try and turn her fluffy in regards to that, but for someone who has relatable trauma wrt someone abandoning her and betraying her trust, I wanted to see her express herself more. (Bianca dismissed her about Joey, so it was frustrating for me to see Patrick not go "Okay, we need to talk. This is what I want to say to you and I took the money for X Y Z reason" and then give her the guitar. I personally think Patrick does have the emotional maturity to acknowledge her trauma and also apologise for his part in hurting her. That's why I love Patrick and Kat so much!)
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Funnily enough, it's not Bianca and Cameron (although yes, 100% agree) but one of my favourite moments in that film is Patrick making an idiot out of himself singing in the bleachers while the school band plays alongside. And, you know, I really like that narrative of "I'm embarassed you, so now I'll embarass myself for you to make it even"
Except. In embarassing himself, he also embarasses her. I would have been absolutely mortified if someone had done that for/to me at school. And humiliating yourself is not the same as humiliatating us - why does she need to get pulled into your self-humiliation apology, dude?
Which in turn makes this: I personally think Patrick does have the emotional maturity to acknowledge her trauma and also apologise for his part in hurting her absolutely ring true, and his inability to own his fuckups before giving her the guitar ring really accurate for the character.
So, in conclusion, I need to watch this again :)
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You've pretty much echoed my thoughts on S2 of Bridgerton! I enjoyed it but also didn't, grumped and bitched about it, and am quite happily ficcing away in the meantime.