angora
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Posts posted by angora
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I agree with what everyone is saying--the consequences of leaking their original tracks were a little unrealistic and basically takes the band back to reset mode, but I still liked the episode a lot.
*Loved* "Glass Ceiling Feeling," especially how much of the first verse was taken directly from their argument about the album. I loved seeing Momtaz find a way to bring her vision to life, and regardless of my opinion on how things went down with the label, I was glad to see the whole gang back together. Amina's serenade was really cute! I appreciated Ayesha realizing that coming out to her parents wasn't the right choice for her right now, and I'm so happy that Dirty Mahmood was such a real one--out of all of Saira's dreams and goals, he was the only person that fully lived up to her expectations, both as a music producer and as an all-around good guy.
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On 5/31/2024 at 1:03 AM, Brn2bwild said:
I know the veteran singer was supposed to serve as a sort of Bob Dylan to the Beatles/Lady Parts, but I found her attitude irritating and dismissive. Lady Parts' songs were "Funny Muslim songs"? Yes, they are fun and witty, but they do address real things - cultural appropriation, colonialism, social pressures, etc. It was too bad she got into Saira's head and made her feel Lady Parts has to have a political song on the album.
100% agree. Satirists can have fantastic, biting political commentary, and I certainly wouldn't categorize Lady Parts' songs as inconsequential or non-political. I hate it when people automatically equate humor with "not having anything 'real' to say." I liked Bisma pointing out that the very fact of being themselves was political, and I appreciated her standing up for the type of music they write. I also liked the point that they write about their own lives, and "picking an atrocity" from a list felt like capitalizing off of other people's suffering for their own cred.
I understand why Sister Squire's words made Saira spin out, though. Apart from having her art dismissed by her *idol*, she's been very concerned about not selling out, and like @RachelKM said, she's most likely still reeling from what went down with Taz.
When they were posing for a photo with the record label, I loved the moment where Ayesha swatted down Amina's double thumbs-up and then Amina slowly brought one of them back up again. So cute!
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I thought Bisma's plot was really good, and that cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was gorgeous. Although, yikes to her husband's "Believe Black Women" T-shirt while he was asking if she just wanted to remove her headscarf to be "sexier."
The thing about Ahsan's insecurities/jealousy about Amina and Billy is that he feels like it's Amina choosing Billy *over* him, when in truth she's very clearly buried any hopes she had of getting with Ahsan. She doesn't know she's been in a love triangle this whole time, because after everything that went down with Ahsan last season, she's internalized that he wasn't/isn't/will never be into her. She has no idea that Ahsan inviting her to the folk night was supposed to be him making an overture, so of course it's going to feel to her like Ahsan "suddenly" wants her after she went out with Billy.
Oh, Momtaz broke my heart at the end! She let Lady Parts go so they could fly, but it hurt her so much! If this Clarice thing doesn't blow up in the band's face, I hope there's some way that Clarice could mentor Taz or something, make some introductions for her.
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Amina dramatically declaring it her "villain era," by which she means she's establishing boundaries and not letting people talk her out of things she wants, is the most Amina shit ever. I love her!
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Okay, they all looked so ridiculously hot in their wedding suits!
The implosion during the photo shoot was kind of over-the-top, but given what everyone was dealing with personally, I completely get why it happened. Poor Bisma, that's two episodes in a row now that a Gen Z-er put her in the "people pleaser"/"non-threatening" box. It's interesting how Second Wife, a band that from an influencer background, views Lady Parts from the perspective of branding and cultivated identities: Bisma's lower follower count is an image problem, Amina is ditching the "girl next door" vibe to go "full Sith," is Saira "queerbaiting" because she wears flannel?
But Lady Parts isn't about any of that. They each have their own style and their own vibe, but it's based on who they are/want to be and not about what image they're trying to perform. In that way, it makes sense why Second Wife is gaining quicker success, despite not having original songs and besides Taifa's built-in following. They're crafted for people to like them, while Lady Parts just is who they are, and their thing doesn't really work when they're trying to fit someone else's idea of them.
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I remember Amina's fantasy sequences from last season, but the fantasy elements didn't bleed into other characters, did they? Interesting to see little bits of that this season, like Bisma "pausing" her daughter with the remote.
I liked Momtaz doing her best to make things happen, for both the band and herself, and not apologizing for her choices. And I laughed out loud when Bisma worried that she was a people pleaser and Amina instantly exclaimed, "You're a queen!" with that super intense look on her face.
Loved the Malala song!
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I could be misremembering--and I'm hesitant to Google anything CtM-related before the season is over--but when Cyril was first telling his church lady friend about his plan to get into social work, hadn't he seen a newspaper ad about a special program to get qualified in a short amount of time? I feel like there was some sort of scheme about getting new people qualified quickly.
These "one half of a fictional married couple wants to leave the show" scenarios never seem to work out well. Killing them off forces the surviving spouse into a grief storyline that might disrupt any other arc they had going on, but dramatically sending them away and then leaving loose ends doesn't really work either. I wish the show would normalize the spouse just being offscreen--Lucille could have stopped working after her marriage, or maybe gotten a different job in another part of the city. They could have phased the actress out more gradually while keeping the character in the background through references, one-sided phone calls, etc. It'd be really great, if an actor want to leave but the show didn't want to kill off the character or anything, to come to an arrangement where they come back for a few days of work each year, filming a handful of small scenes that they could spread throughout the season.
I can buy that Rosalind is more assertive/talkative personally than professionally, especially under exam conditions. I work as a sign language interpreter, and a few years ago, I had a really difficult time passing the screening to move to a new company. I can interpret just fine, but when I'm being observed/evaluated, it's hard for me to access my natural professional instincts. I get so focused on trying to make sure that I'm doing everything *perfectly* that I second-guess everything and it kind of falls apart.
I don't really mind there being four pupil midwives when only Joyce and Rosalind get storylines. For the training program that Nonnatus is doing, it makes sense to have a small group of them but only focus on those who are actually going to be characters. It was the same when they had the trainee doctors staying at Nonnatus--I think that was a group of four too, but we didn't really get to know more than a couple of them. And didn't Nancy originally come with a small group of trainees as well? I think the biggest difference here is that it's so *blatant* that the other two aren't characters. In previous instances where they did this, I remember the minor trainees getting at least a few lines.
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I suppose that, without the long hiatus, we wouldn't have gotten Nida Manzoor's Polite Society, which was hands down one of my favorite movies last year. But I'm sooooo glad the show's coming back! Looks like it'll be time to get Peacock again for a while.
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In the interview with Lina Khan, when they were talking about product shortages, I thought it was disappointing that they kind of laughed off the Adderall shortage. Khan laughed when Jon brought it up, and he made a joke about the audience's reaction, noting they seemed to have an "interesting predilection" for Adderall. But ADHDers have been beating the drum on this for a while, emphasizing how hard it can be to function when they can't get access to their prescribed meds, and highlighting that federal agencies don't seem motivated to try and solve it. In articles I've read, they've mainly mentioned the DEA and the FDA, not the FTC, but it still wasn't a great look for the chair of a federal agency to make light of it.
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On 3/28/2024 at 10:43 AM, possibilities said:
I wonder why Jordan s hosting solo when Desi and Michael shared the desk.
I think he's doing a great job, though. Both Tues and Wednes shows were really strong.
Jordan, Desi, Michael, and Ronny all got solo weeks before Desi and Michael did their tag-team week. If they're keeping this format through the election, I imagine all four of them will have multiple solo weeks and different duo configurations. Maybe we'll get a round of solos for each of them, followed by a new duo, then repeat.
ETA I really liked Leslie's piece! She always does a great job, and I continue to like the idea of former guest hosts or other comedians popping in occasionally to shake things up a little. I thought the main theme of the piece was smart, viewing Trump as yet another of the things Americans do even though we know it's bad for us. Also, I'm going to choose that the "I'm probably dying of scurvy" joke was an Our Flag Means Death reference!
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Since the show came back after the strike, Dulce has only gotten one more full night to host, during the "news team takeover" week.
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I keep waiting to hear when it's coming back. I wonder if we're gonna keep going with the guest hosts a while longer, or if they're holding off on more new episodes until they have the new permanent host in place?
I could picture the show just kind of bowing out too, but I bet they'd be reluctant to pull the plug during an election year. If they decide to end the show, I could see them marketing this as the "final season" and bring in guest hosts to get us through the election--if the show was ending, they might be able to draw some guest hosts they haven't been able to bring in so far.
I really enjoyed the guest hosts at first, especially the opportunity to see so many different perspectives, but I thought the show was a lot more uneven with it came back from the strike (though I thought all the correspondents did a great job with their hosting gigs.) Whatever they plan on doing with the show, I hope we hear something soon.
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Fuck.
I'm so grateful to the show for giving us a season 2 finale that could function as a series finale in the event that this happened. They had more story to tell, and I'm gutted that, barring some kind of extraordinary intervention, they won't get a chance to tell it--but I'm thankful that most of the characters were left in a good place for us to imagine their continuing adventures.
Pouring one out for the cast and crew who put their all into this beautiful, hilarious, sad, weird, hopeful little show. Each one of them left it all on the mat, and I'm glad we got a chance to meet fantastic new characters this season like Zheng Yi Sao and Auntie.
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I saw the special when it dropped on Disney+, but I didn't get a change to post about it earlier. Some stray thoughts:
- When it comes down to it, the Toymaker is *so weird.* He's canonically one of the most powerful entities in all of Who, and he spends the millennia forcing mortals to play twisted children's games? I like that the show delved into him a bit, with the whole, "Your good and bad mean nothing to me. There is only to win and to lose." NPH did a nice job--I liked his showdown with the Doctor in his realm, and between the hammy accents and the strong mix of absurdity and menace, I feel like NPH was flexing his Count Olaf muscles.
- I really liked that we saw Shirley crossing her legs in "The Star Beast," so it was great to see her transferring from her wheelchair to a workstation here. Fantastic casual representation of an ambulatory wheelchair user! And then they referenced it when Kate was affected by the Giggle, with her ableist remarks!
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I thought Mel's return was, pound for pound, one of the single *nicest* reunions we've gotten with a classic companion. Both she and the Doctor were so delighted to see each other, and even though they were both busy with the task at hand, I like that they found time to catch up a little, and that Mel was with the Doctor alongside Donna for the
rebigeneration. - The Fourteen-Donna scenes were spectacular, as usual. I loved Donna first trying to brush off the Doctor's fears that he wouldn't be able to save her and then saying, "Well, maybe I'll save you." I don't mind the bigeneration, and I'm so glad that 1) Fourteen didn't have to die after having only lived for a few days and 2) he's taking some time to rest and heal with his chosen family. That lunch scene near the end was so beautiful!
- Speaking of the bigeneration, I am so hyped for Fifteen! Ncuti was spectacular. He just *was* the Doctor straight out of the gate, even in his undies. At first, I was a bit confused that he felt so decidedly older than Fourteen, but after the "we're doing rehab out of order" line, I understood that he's coming from the *end* of Fourteen's life rather than just branching off from that moment on the rooftop. He was so tender and kind with Fourteen, and he had such a brilliant mix of joy and warmth. Can't wait to see more of him!
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I loved it! Others have already brought up the comparisons to "Midnight," and I was also reminded of "The Impossible Planet" / "The Satan Pit" (somewhere with a language not even the Doctor knows, out further than the Doctor has ever gone before and he feels the pull of the unknown.) The Not-Doctor and Not-Donna were both supremely creepy--I loved the moment when I realized the two conversations in the control rooms were happening at the same time, and the Not-Doctor's, "Oh, we get hungry, don't we?" gave me chills.
Both David Tennant and Catherine Tate were just incandescently good. They really felt soulless as the Not-Doctor and Not-Donna, and it was especially eerie as they copied more, how they could imitate the real thing almost perfectly, but then they'd get caught out and they'd just turn empty inside. And they were amazing as the actual Doctor and Donna too. This was an episode that got to the heart of who both characters are, what they mean to one another, and how well they know each other, and both rose to the occasion magnificently. Tennant played the Doctor's pain over the Timeless Child revelations and the Flux sooooo well, and Tate killed me stone dead when Donna got left behind. Their scene together in the TARDIS after escaping was beautiful.
Wow, putting the Doctor in a situation where he has to try *not* to think, lol. I loved the switch from him coaching Donna to let her mind slow, to Donna trying to warn him off when the copies started tempting him with questions.
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Seriously, why are Dulce and Ronny not getting their own weeks? Roy, Jordan, Desi, and Michael all did. It feels really shitty at this point.
I loved John Leguizamo's week--he's one of my top picks too, @Sarah 103--so I was happy to see him pop up for another segment. I'd really enjoy that as a recurring bit, past guest hosts/"friends of the show" occasionally coming on to do a piece about something important to them. It would be a good way to maintain the wide range of perspectives from the guest-host era once we have a permanent host again.
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I loved it. Ten and Donna are my all-time favorite Doctor-companion team for new Who, and David Tennant and Catherine Tate were spectacular together. They slipped back into these roles so seamlessly, it was like no time had passed, and yet both of them also played their parts conscious of how the Doctor and Donna have changed and grown since they last saw each other.
Fourteen mostly seems like Ten, albeit older and wiser. I absolutely loved his reaction to the new TARDIS console room, and everything between him and Donna on the Meep’s ship was beautiful.
I enjoyed Rose Noble, even if she felt a little underwritten, and loved that Mum Donna was equal parts “I will destroy anyone who hurts my daughter” and “how many flipping times have I told you to take out the bins?” So interesting to see how Sylvia has changed since season 4 and what her relationship with Donna is like now. I like that we got the chance to get to know Shaun a little and that he seems like such a solid guy. Lovely mention of Wilf.
I haven’t decided how I feel about the new sonic yet. Besides feeling overpowered, the projected screens/force fields have a Tony Stark-tech look to them that, to me, doesn’t look right for Doctor Who. And more than anything, if the new sonic can do all this stuff, I would’ve at least wanted the Doctor to go, “Whoa, since when can you do that?!?”
I knew that we were getting the Meep from the old Fourth Doctor comic “Doctor Who and the Star Beast,” but I hadn’t realized we were getting pretty much the exact same story! While it was amusing to watch it in live action, it felt a little flimsy compared to the much stronger personal storyline with the Doctor, Donna, and her family.
So glad to have fresh Who content with these old faces. Really excited for the next two specials, and nobody let RTD do anything terrible to Donna!
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I liked seeing Sarah Silverman and Leslie Jones again--as an Our Flag Means Death fan, it was especially fun that Leslie got to be the one to interview Taika Waititi--but this week is reaffirming that I really wish we could've gotten a full week for each of the correspondents. Dulce and Ronny were both great, and I'm bummed that only having one night for each means we won't get their Long Story Shot topics. I loved Ronny's interview last night with John Oliver and their discussion about what it's like to be immigrant comedians.
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Whoa. I’m still processing, and I definitely need to watch it again, but I was happy with the season finale. Considering all there was to get done in half an hour, I think the show brought it home well. Spoilers ahead!
Ed reading Stede’s letter was so sweet, and I loved their reunion amidst fighting all those British soldiers–cut short, of course, to help Zheng! I also liked the interactions of the whole Stede-Zheng-Ed trio and thought they worked well together.
I liked seeing everyone holding their own against the British, whether it was the imprisoned crew’s determination to escape, Roach dropping cigar ashes in people’s food, Izzy showing his open contempt for Ricky, and then Spanish Jackie poisoning everybody! I loved her reassuring the Swede, “Everyone’s poison trained in this house,” and I laughed *so* hard at Stede saying, “Oh shit, is that us doing that?” when all the British started keeling over. And everyone looked exquisitely good in their stolen British naval uniforms. Can we get this cast in a gender- and racebent adaptation of a Jane Austen romance or something? Gorgeous!
I’m glad Auntie survived. I liked Oluwande helping her, and seeing how his encouragement paid off–Zheng’s reaction to Auntie saying she was proud of her was really lovely. I’m still trying to decide what I think about Izzy’s death, but I liked that they used his unicorn leg to make the cross for his grave.
Lucius and Black Pete’s wedding was both funny and sweet. I love that the crew tag-teamed officiating the ceremony, and I laughed out loud when Roach begrudgingly admitted that they could kiss instead of slashing each other’s faces. That final tracking shot of the crew–plus Zheng, Auntie, Jackie, and the Swede–setting off in the Revenge was gorgeous.
Now we’ll see how long we’ll have to cross our fingers as we wait to hear any news about renewal. Stede and Ed opening an inn together has lots of potential, although I’ll hope the show would still find plenty of reasons for them to interact with the crew. The cast chemistry is too good to keep them apart!
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On 10/20/2023 at 1:40 PM, ofmd said:
Indeed. And also, maybe make them a tad conflicted to leave Stede, who had just saved Jim and Archie's lives. That was a bit rushed, too.
Definitely. How quickly Jim seems to have forgotten their comment about, "I guess you never know when you're in the good old days." Leaving Stede and joining up with a captain who'd previously planned to execute Jim and Archie is quite the choice for these three to make. Not to mention, Zheng has been creating her own fleet. Instead of leaving the Revenge, why not at least try to broach the idea with her and/or Stede about teaming up?
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4 hours ago, ofmd said:
Secondly, my one complaint of this season is that it feels rushed. They are cramming a LOT into these half-hour episodes. I suspect they want to make sure they can tell most of the story in case they don't get the third season for their planned-out arc. Which is good, but I do wish for a better pacing.
I wonder if they initially planned for another ten-episode season and then felt like they had to cram when they only got eight. I think even another two episodes would give the plot quite a bit more room to breathe.
My thoughts on the new episodes:
Episode 6
Such a great episode! I like that the big party from the trailer wasn’t specifically a drag night, a wedding/engagement party, or anything like that. It was simply the crew “Calypsoing” Stede to throw a big party just because. But within that, I love that Ed explained the con to Stede and he still went along with it, and that everyone got super into the spirit of it, making up fake Calypsan traditions–culminating, of course, in Wee John dressing as Calypso! The quick shot of Jim, Oluwande, and Archie dancing together was sweet, and I loved Izzy singing! And using the treasure from Ed’s “guilt room” to pay for the party was a lovely idea on Stede’s part–I really liked the theme of “turning poison into positivity.” Oh, and their strings of pirate-themed bunting were so cute! I can easily see those popping up on Etsy.
I’m glad we’re seeing that Ed is still troubled by his guilt and the things he’s done. It was good to finally get a scene between him and Izzy, and while we certainly didn’t get a heart-to-heart between them, I think Ed’s apology to Izzy, as small as it was, was important. And Ed’s own feelings of regret turning into concern for Stede was really well done.
I love that, for the most part, Stede handled Ned Low *his* way. The seeds were already there with Ned Low’s crew, as we saw the crew of the Revenge picking up on their boredom/discontentment and trying to turn that to their advantage. But Stede did a marvelous job of it–love that Hellkat Maggie took over the ship and was ready to discuss profit-sharing with the crew! Like Ed, though, I’m worried about the turn things took at the end, and I’m not sure what it says that Stede and Ed’s first time is going to coincide with Stede’s first intentional kill (the quick flashbacks to young Stede after throwing Ned Low overboard were nicely done.)
We see a lot of “artistic” killers/torturers in pop culture–hello, Hannibal! But I kind of love that, for all of Ned Low’s pretension, his art was pretty lame and his crew was just grumpily going through the motions of it all. He repeatedly sneered at Ed for being generic and “lowborn,” but his great “symphony” was just his shallow attempt to find purpose in a bunch of people screaming.
I noticed during the Calypso party that we hadn’t seen Lucius and Black Pete yet, so I was glad to see them show up below deck. I laughed so hard at Lucius saying, “What if we just tell their stories? Isn’t that the best revenge?” They were so funny running around collecting every single knife they could find, and I liked that, when they finally emerged, Ed just told them not to get in the way of Stede doing his thing.
Episode 7
Yep, I figured post-kill sex wasn’t going to be the right move. The morning-after breakfast scene was cute, and you could tell Ed was starting to broach the subject of getting out of piracy–I wonder if he might have explained himself better if they hadn’t been interrupted, or if that conversation would’ve gone badly no matter what. I completely understand why Ed wants to put all that behind him. He was disillusioned with piracy before he ever met Stede, and feeling trapped in his “monstrous” Blackbeard persona was what fueled his downward spiral at the start of the season. At the same time, though, he’s being super impulsive here. It took him every ounce of willpower he had to be quiet long enough to catch a single fish, and now he thinks he’s going to be a fisherman? Girl, please.
It’s realistic that Stede’s newfound fame would go to his head. So many people have regarded him as a joke for so long, and he’s managed to work within that space, but now that he suddenly *is* like one of the notorious pirates he’s read about, it makes sense that he’d play the peacock here, to the point that he’d get himself in way over his head against Zheng Yi Sao. To that end, I can buy that he lasted as long as he did in their duel. She was clearly toying with him throughout, both to impress upon him how wrong he’d been and because she didn’t see him as a real threat.
Frenchie and Black Pete grifting off of Stede’s fame was fun–I loved Frenchie selling “genuine planks” from the Revenge, and I laughed out loud at Black Pete urging Lucius to hurry up with the counterfeit autographs. And I loved the post-credits scene! Again, after noticing that Roach and Fang hadn’t been around, it was great to see them at the very end. I love that they had a spa day!
I don’t mind Oluwande still being hung up on Zheng Yi Sao–apparently his type is “ruthlessly capable badass”–but I wish we could have seen any of that between episodes 3 and 7. If he was “always” talking about her back on the Revenge, where was it? We could’ve gotten a quick bit of him trying to tell a story about her and Jim or Archie going, “You do remember she was gonna kill us, right?”, or lamenting that he might never see her again when they were being tortured by Ned Low’s crew. Just something. If they weren’t going to bring it up at all, they could’ve gone with him not realizing how he felt until he saw her again.
Still loving Zheng Yi Sao and Auntie, and so excited for the season finale! That last scene was a banger.
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I liked both Leslie Jones and Sarah Silverman as guest hosts, but I'd rather get a full week for Dulce and a week for Ronny instead of second weeks for them.
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Thoughts on the new episodes:
Episode 4
OMG, I loved it! After everything Ed went through in the first three episodes, and everything he put his crew through, I figured we were going to have to deal with that before we could get to the Stede/Ed stuff, but this episode did an excellent job of covering both in a way that made sense. I completely understand the crew voting to banish him, and I can buy Ed not fighting them on that but feeling further betrayed by Stede as a result. “You’re no fucking mermaid,” was perfect.
I thought everything between Stede and Ed was good. As fun and silly as the bit with the rabbit was, Ed broke my heart a little when he told the rabbit how rare it was to find someone who truly understands you. And throwing him and Stede into contact with the hilariously chaotic Anne and Mary was a good way to get all the baggage out in the open: old wounds poked at and secrets revealed before they were ready, which then allowed them to talk honestly as they waded through everything that had just come up. Stede was absolutely lovely, owning up to the hurt he caused Ed while also trying to explain *and* pointing out that he’s forgiven Ed for things too. I loved that he made Ed listen to his “I love you” speech while also assuring him he didn’t have to say it back. By the end of the episode, I could believe where they’d ended up; Ed softly admitting that he’d like Stede to talk to the crew again was sweet, and I laughed when Stede needed Ed to come with him because he couldn’t find his way back to the ship.
Minnie Driver and Rachel House were terrific, a fun mix of sappy and murderous. I liked the scenes between Anne-Stede and Mary-Ed, and I loved that, for those two, the sweetest gesture Anne could make was to set their house on fire. And it killed me that people kept forgetting about Buttons and he’d just pop up randomly and freak people out.
I loved the storyline back on the ship. So sweet that Roach, Black Pete, Wee John, and Oluwande wanted to try and help the others, even though it was completely believable that all of them were too jumpy and traumatized to recognize the loving gestures for what they were. The scene of everyone pointing their weapons at each other was fun, and I liked the resolution that they all banded together once they realized that Izzy was more messed up than any of them. I think this episode ultimately offered a lot of healing for Ed’s crew and Lucius, but I hope we continue to see evidence of how they’ve been affected by their experiences (much like how opening up to Stede and then Black Pete in episode 2 didn’t “fix” Lucius’s trauma.) Oh, and Oluwande calling Jim “babe” was too cute!
Episode 5
This felt like a needed episode, a nice blend of growth and silliness. Some good stuff in the “curse” storyline, from Stede’s excited little twirls in the suit to Roach inventing peanut butter. I liked that Stede eventually acknowledged that the crew’s superstitious fears weren’t worth keeping the suit and asked for their input in ridding the ship of the curse. And I loved he *did* do well “in the field,” like he told Izzy–punching the guy who tried to stab him on the first ship and firing his well-timed warning shot on the second.
I liked the mix we got with Ed here, that he genuinely was sorry and wanted to make things right with the crew but also didn’t know how and just kind of wanted to get it over with. The cat collar made me smile. Sending him fishing with Fang was a good choice; Fang was able to be honest with him while still being sweet and nonjudgmental. But while it makes sense that there’s a lot of focus at this stage on how Ed hurt people, I do hope that at some point he’s able to talk about what he was going through and get some support.
With the crew, I appreciated that we got to see several different mindsets after the events of episode 5. You had Izzy determined to move on while also denying what he’d been through, Lucius trying to deal but feeling rushed by those who were pushing him to get over things, and the others mostly in a good place, integrated back with their friends. The scenes between Lucius and Black Pete were so sweet.
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15 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:
Good first three episodes. What really sells this show for me is that while a lot of it is so wonderfully absurd, it also absolutely understands despondency and alienation and how much they can drive people. It makes it so much more than just a silly pirate comedy. I think because Taika Waititi's work is so varied and he's probably best known for some of his seemingly oddball roles, it's easy to miss what a tremendous actor he can be. Ed's self loathing and hopelessness across these three episodes just saturated every scene he was in.
So much this! The show has always blended comedy and drama *so* well, but it really takes things up a notch with Ed's arc across these three episodes. How empty he feels through much of episode 1. The way we get this brief upswing from him once he makes his decision in episode 2, then how he plays the "madman"/monster until he can push the crew into killing him. The journey he goes through in the gravy basket. Not to mention, we also get Stede's overly optimistic letter to Ed in episode 1 giving way to, "I think I'm afraid to see you." Him stepping up to try and be there for Lucius, encouraging Lucius not to make his mistakes. The way he believes Ed has been killed but works to save the people who killed him. On a show where the writing and the acting never wastes a moment, Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby were absolutely going for broke.
15 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:Just because I think it needs to be said, I'm loving the additions of the women pirates. Pirate queen Zheng is bringing something new to the table I'm really enjoying.
I love them too! I laughed at Archie telling Jim to take “the fucked-up one” as they prepared to amputate Izzy’s infected leg. And I found her nihilistic response to being forced to fight to the death haunting, especially when Jim had her on the ropes and she essentially gave them permission to kill her, saying, “It’s just life." With Zheng Yi Sao, I'm reminded a little of Ed in season 1, the way she's a legendary pirate who has the people around her in awe, but she often acts like just a regular person. She was so sweet and awkward flirting with Oluwande, and when she dealt with the "Soul Reaper," I loved the way she just winced and said, "I *know*, it's been a day!" And Auntie is great! I liked her take-no-prisoners attitude, her meticulous planning, and her filing system that’s “ahead of its time.” Each of them brings their own new flavor to the show while also fitting in beautifully with what’s already there.
I'm obsessed with the behind-the-scenes details about the ending of episode 3. Rhys's mermaid tail wasn't CGI--it was an actual costume, and he had to practice swimming while wearing it! Entertainment Weekly has a good article about it, including lots of pictures:
QuoteOriginally, the plan was to use a green screen to give Darby a CGI tail. But it was costume designer Gypsy Taylor who pushed back, arguing that she and her team could build a practical tail that looked gorgeous and functioned underwater. "I was like, 'Please make my dreams come true!'" she tells EW with a laugh. "'I want to make Rhys Darby a mermaid!'" It helped that Darby himself was game: The actor served in the New Zealand army, so he's a more than capable swimmer. He volunteered to film as much of the scene as he could, even if that meant learning to swim with a monofin.
As she started to sketch, Taylor immersed herself in mermaid imagery, finding inspiration in all sorts of aquatic creatures. Ultimately, she decided on a subtle golden look, one that fit Stede's personality but still brought plenty of drama.
"I delved deep into the mermaid world, and I could have gone all rainbow and big and luscious," she explains. "But instead I thought, look, if Stede turns into a fish, and it's Blackbeard's dream sequence of what he knows of Stede, then he'd probably just turn into a really sweet goldfish. So, that's where I started. He's just this sweet, loving little goldfish."
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Taylor worked closely with stunt coordinator Jacob Tomuri to make sure the tail not only looked beautiful but functioned underwater, too. (She also knew that they'd have to film quickly, since the chlorine in the tank could corrode the tail over time.) She carefully monitored the tail's weight — but it still wound up heavier than she anticipated.
"We added a whole lot of weight accidentally by putting five kilograms of glitter in," Taylor admits. "I had to warn the stunt team. I was like, 'I didn't think glitter would be that heavy! But we needed a lot of it. And it's so pretty!'"
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Once the tail was fitted to Darby's body, the makeup and prosthetics team came in to seamlessly blend it to his bare skin, adding even more scales and glitter. But although Darby moved gracefully underwater, navigating dry land proved to be a bigger challenge. Once the actor was encased in his tail, he couldn't move around set, so the crew borrowed a wheelchair from a local New Zealand hospital to transport him to the tank. (See the video below.)
"We'd all go up this ramp together, with him in his little wheelchair, and we'd just sort of dump him in," Taylor explains. "Everyone was trying very hard not to laugh."
And cinematographer Andy Rydzewski posted this on Instagram, including several behind-the-scenes clips of Taika in the water tank. Because the tank was really big but not very deep, they actually shot him sideways for the sinking scene, then flipped the image to make it look like he was being dragged down:
QuotePerformances. Both @taikawaititi and @rhysiedarby do a surprising and impressive amount of work in this piece. It’s hard not to drown with your legs wrapped together, let alone swim across a pool, land on a mark, then deliver an adorable, love-filled smile. Yet Rhys did exactly that, over and over. Taika, conversely, had to be pulled downward, expelling air on the way, then pause, mid-water tank, and start acting. He gave options, hit every beat and also didn’t drown. Both of them blew me away.
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We Are Lady Parts - General Discussion
in We Are Lady Parts
I liked getting to see more from all the characters in season 2, but one issue I had was that their storylines felt so siloed from one another. In most episodes, it was like, "Now let's check in on Bisma's story with her identity and her family, now let's check in on Ayesha's storyline with Laura and her feelings about coming out, now let's check in on Amina's storyline with Billy and Ahsan." I'd have liked to see them in one another's plots more. Maybe they could've spread it out more so that they were supporting a just few characters' plots in each episode instead of needing to advance a snippet of everyone's individual storyline every time. Like, this episode is mainly Amina and Ayesha's stories, this one is mainly Saira and Taz, etc.
I still loved it, though. I love all these characters! This season had so many great songs, and I liked the different themes we explored here.