katha

The moment Kylo killed Han in TFA, the only possible redemption for him would be death. I mean, I know this is not what fans/shippers want to hear, but in a conventional storytelling set-up, this is just how it goes. And at the end of the day, Star Wars is deeply conventional and follows rather simple hero/villain tropes. Nothing wrong with that, but that's just the reality of it. Having said that: I...still don't get fandom sometimes, I guess. Because Kylo Ren/Ben Solo? Duuuuude, he got as much of a happy ending as was possible. He's a mass murderer...had he lived, he'd have to face the consequences of that. There'd have been no happily ever after for him. I think Driver's performance was stellar, particularly how his whole phisicality as Ben showed that he'd thrown away the temper tantrums and fear of Kylo. The confidence/swagger and slight Han Solo reminders were awesome. Like, Ben died in peace, having helped Rey in her fight against Palpatine. And he died reassured of their connection and knowing that she accepted him, he died somewhat reconciled to his parents/their ghosts. That's as good as it was going to get. And Rey knows this. Which is why she is at peace with it, because she knows that this is the absolute best outcome for him. He died with that smile (again, all the kudos to Driver for that performance) on his face and at peace with himself. Then he vanished, so he's somehow connected with the force/his parents now? Rey's worst case scenario was always having to kill him, having him stay with the dark side. So...I don't get the griping with that aspect either? Everything else? Sure. That stuff? Made perfect sense IMO and Kylo's/Ben's arc was one of the strongest aspects of the trilogy IMO (no doubt elevated by Driver, who had to sell just as much nonsense as everybody else). I mean, yeah, it was an obvious rush job. Like everything in that movie was a rush job, but at least it made sense and was emotionally rewarding. You can't say that for various other elements of the trilogy.

I liked both TFA and TLJ. But it was pretty clear that they wanted to take things in different directions. And so the third movie always had a difficult job to do. Considering all that, TROS was probably as good as it was going to get. But yeah, the whole of it had an air of rushing through it, trying to reconcile all sorts of stuff, trying to keep different fan fractions happy to it. Much of it just seemed unfinished, or as if they thought about three hundred different possibilities and couldn't quite decide which one to choose. For example, IMO the Kylo Ren/Ben Solo stuff worked as a narrative throughout the three movies. His connection with Rey, his conflict and struggle, the stuff with Han (both in TFA and the mirror of that in TROS), it's sad that more couldn't be done with Leia, but that isn't the fimmakers' fault. That arc has a coherence to it that some of the other themes in the trilogy were lacking, you don't have to agree with any of the decisions that were made, but some sort of plan is recognizable. I mean, still...in TROS, Ben Solo didn't have any lines. Driver established a completely separate character from Kylo Ren out of nothing with only his physicality and facial expressions. So it was a total rush job and he barely had any material to work with, but managed to drag it over the finish line on the strength of his performance because at least the script didn't get in the way... And I think it seemed like that in a lot of instances. So much different stuff was thrown at Rey, Ridley managed to hold it together with her performance. But it didn't seem like there was always a clear idea where she needed to go as a character. Everything with Driver/Rylo/Ben worked, the camaraderie with Poe and Finn worked. But the waffling about concerning her identity never seemed to really go away. As if Palpatine was one of the 5000 ideas they had conceived and this is the one they went with because they ran out of time. Same with Finn and Poe. Many interesting ideas swarmed about them, but it seemed as if the movie just didn't have time to dwell on any of it and properly explore. And again, Boyega and Isaac elevated everything they were given. No one can fault that cast, they gave it their all. It just seems as if TPTB weren't quite sure what they wanted this trilogy to be. And yeah, the moment you have different directors for different installments, you need to enforce a clear vision and storyline continuity. For whatever reason, this broke down a bit. Still, I thought the movies were great on their own terms, even if the third one had to deal with the consequences of two disparate concepts and turned into a bit of a glorious mess in the process.

Just read "Slightly Dangerous" by Mary Balogh. It's the last in a series of historical romances focused on the Bedwyn family, a wild and fierce aristocratic family clan (of course, what else? 😉). The last part focuses on the imperious oldest brother Wulfric (I know...), the head of the family. The series was wildly uneven IMO. Wulfric was a super interesting character throughout the other novels and I was kinda dreading his installment, because oftentimes this happens in Romancelandia: Once interesting characters are the focus, they get flattened to make them more palatable as heroes. So I feared he'd either turn into a secret big ole softie with a heart of gold, or there'd be some reveal about his Tragic!Past! that would turn him into a misunderstood woobie. Miraculously, nothing of the sort happened. He stayed the imperious, rather chilly character he'd always been. He fell in love and opened up somewhat, but didn't have a personality transplant. He also wasn't fundamentally changed by Twue! Wuv! Yay for sensible writing! As for the heroine, at the beginning I was scared she'd turn into the sort of Disney heroine that sometimes pops up in romance novels: The hero gets to be flawed, difficult and complex while the heroine is hyper competent, the most generous, selfless, kindest person ever who never does anything wrong and never even thinks anything slightly questionable and is there to show the hero THE TRUE MEANING OF LOVE. I sometimes really think that authors get so scared of negative reactions to any perceived flaw in their heroines that they produce these cardboard cutouts in reaction. And Christine didn't start out well IMO. There was really heavy-handed effort by the text to signal she is a Spunky!Heroine! (tm). And it was so unnecessary, since it was perfectly obvious in the quieter moments that she's a warm and open character. She didn't need to roll down hills, climb trees and be incredibly clumsy (Bella Swann alert!) to prove that. It was just ridiculous and way too try-hard. But then a wonderful thing happened: She became just as stubborn and deluded and irritating as Wulfric and half the time I wanted both of them to step on a lego because they frustrated me so much. But I was riveted by their story. Because both of them were allowed to be flawed human beings who made mistakes and then learned from them. Funny how that works out, isn’t it? I also really liked that it started out with the classic "vivacious heroine thaws closed up hero", but then in the second half Wulf was actually the more self-aware character and he helped Christine deal with her low self-esteem, insecurities and exposed a malicious relative of hers who was gaslighting and manipulating her (really well written that part, the quiet destruction of her life that person's actions wrought). So it wasn't just the heroine having to do all the emotional work in the relationship. So yeah, I thought that was romance and opposites attract done really well by Balogh. Very pleasantly surprised.

Well, that played out in unfortunate ways....🥴 But I gotta say, this is the fault of TBTB and the show in how they set up this nonsense. I'm fine with all the five contestants and none of that is their fault. IMO these results also show that there's probably not that much voting going on...barring Hannah, everyone has landed in the bottom two at least once. And it's a pity that the outcome has marred a pretty solid night of dancing. I would also agree that James was (understandably) not at his best tonight...but the way to deal with that is say: All right, it's the semi-finals now, viewers decide we stop with the judges meddling in the outcome. Because what might happen now is this: Despite having the highest scores, it's entirely possible that Ally ends up in fourth anyway. And is that truly something they want? Dragging a contestant through the show even though she's not resonating with voters? Idk. Hannah's contemporary was the best dance of the night IMO. And she's absolutely right to say that the judges' critique of her has been weirdly unpleasant and personal. As if they somehow know her and judge her deficient as a human being. So yeah...I don't blame her for resenting that. Shades of Nastia Liukin, the way they treat her. Kel is most improved. And kudos to Witney for producing such a good dance to "I will always love you". That had the potential to be massive cringe, but wasn't. And IMO Lauren had her two strongest dances this week. She's not the most talented, but that paso was very interesting, if perhaps too busy.... massive improvement over week two. The VW was very nice and well danced, but the costume department decided to sabotage them with the atrocity Gleb had to wear. Not that Lauren's pink monstrosity was much better.... So yeah, the producers exerting so much control isn't always for the best. I thought Hannah was really hampered with music and costume for the rumba as well...again. Same thing happend with her first rumba...

Yay! Spicer is gone. 😎 He was the worst dancer left by some distance and IMO it's good for the show that he didn't make it into the semifinals/finals. I could live with any of the remaining contestants winning this thing, though obviously some are better than others. But they've all produced some good performances and have reached at least a decent level of dance competence. Can't be said about Spicer. It's my impression as well that they're overscoring Ally (in a bid to keep her on the show?), and I'm not sure something like that is actually helping with votes. The judges can't "save" her to a DWTS title, can they? I don't think James and Hannah have trouble with votes at all, which is why the judges are tougher on them. But it does start to look strange IMO, when the two of them are routinely better than Ally but don't get higher scores. Also, the tone towards Hannah has veered towards unpleasant at times IMO. And I really don't think it's necessary. She's too preppy/smiley, it's not a crime and it also doesn't warrant amateur psychoanalysis. Kel has been improving a lot and I really like to watch him now! 🙂 I think the partnership with Witney has also strengthened in the last few weeks, which is nice. And I actually thought both of Lauren's dances were nice. Not the most spectacular ever, but entertaining to watch. The jive last week had good choreo as well, though she did make mistakes. And her rumba was impressive because that dance has such high potential to be cringeworthy for candidates. But she was fluent and had good connection with Gleb. 🙂 Which...he will never be my fave pro, his style/aesthetic isn't for me. And he's been inconsistent this season, but also produced a few nice dances for Lauren. And in the last few weeks it also seems like he's been teaching her quite well. Getting a confident rumba with decent technique from a contestant isn't so easy, but Lauren was pretty solid. So...I guess if we're stuck with him, I want him to stop flailing around so much. Obviously he's capable of solid choreo/teaching, now do it all the time.

Yeah, this will keep happening now. Neither Kate nor Kamaro should have gone, but it will be difficult to get Spicer into that bottom two. I'm not sure it's impossible, but he'd probably need to be against people who get a lot of votes (James? Hannah? Lauren?) and get realistic scores. Because he is so much weaker than everybody else. And I was glad the judges finally didn't give him "Oh, you were there and breathing" pity scores, but at least somewhat appropriate ones compared to everyone else. They need to keep that going. I actually thought Kate's rumba had very nice choreo, the costumes and setting was nice, she had a lot of content and her footwork was good. But yeah, it's out of her comfort zone and she was tentative. Still, I think she's doing much better at latin now than at the beginning of the season (look at her cha cha) and it was a good effort. It's just the kind of dance that doesn't play to her strengths. I also think that Pasha is very smart in the way he just works to his strengths, teaches her and doesn't try to camouflage too much etc. In the hands of a lesser pro, rumba had the potential to be cringeworthy for Kate. But he didn't play it for laughs or concentrate too much on showmanship (always a temptation at Halloween), therefore making it possible for her to put in a solid effort. Not her best, but a good dance. This could have been a real trainwreck if done wrong. James was super awesome. And I take back what I said about Emma's choreography; the last two weeks she has been brilliant. Lauren's dance was actually really good too, I thought. Which leaves us with the Gleb conumdrum: If he's perfectly capable of producing decent dances like this week and last, why does he chose to go the sleazy and/or nonsense route so often? It's frustrating. Kel was really good as well, just hampered by the stupid set the producers gave him. You could barely see the two of them. I'm sad to see Karamo go, he wasn't the best technical dancer or anything, but he had fun being there and was entertaining to watch.

I agree that he's way overscored. But IMO the judges know that they are in a tight place here. If they get too mean and score him low, that'll just really fire up the grudge voters because they think he's a "victim" (LOL) and is being "bullied" by the evil show. So the plan is probably to say vaguely nice things to him, give him low (but not too low) scores and hope for the best. So as not to fire up the fanbase. But yeah, even with that, and even if it probably won't make a difference...his dancing is not worth a 7. If you're scared to give a 5, at least go down to 6. That's more realistic in how he stacks up against everyone else.

Yeah. This is why having Spicer on is such crap. He has rabid voters that will carry him much too far on pure spite, in the process eliminating stronger dancers. To be fair, this has been always going on to some extent on the show. The problem with Spicer, like with Bristol, is the purely political motivation many of his votes have. Which is why it was a horrible idea for the producers to bring him on. The show can't afford another toxic/controversial season. Not to that extent. Oh well. I thought Sailor was improving each week and Val did well with her, so that was a shame. And I felt sad for her and how crushed she was. OTOH, apart from her mom she's probably very little known. So she's brought barely any fanbase of her own into the show. Her package and dance this week also wasn't very emotional, so the insta-voting format probably also worked against her. Ah well. I will miss her, she'd become entertaining to watch. Kate was lovely and looked lovely. Pasha's choreo was also lovely. It was immediately apparent that he was back on solid ground with a ballroom dance. They make a super team as well. Really the surprise of the season, the two of them IMO. And it seems like Kate is getting votes to some degree. So this is also a situation where social media/youtube views etc. mean nothing, Kate isn't at the forefront there. She probably appeals to an older demo that isn't as visible on social media as much, which makes it a bit difficult to predict how many votes she's getting. James was very good as well. So was Kel. And I didn't hate Lauren's dance, at least for a contemporary, soGleb better not backslide into terrible nonsense next week. 😉

Well, Disney night is always a bit too sugary for me, this time as well. And the no-elimination thing was blah as well. Who cares if it's Mickey Mouse time... Tbh, I was scared when I saw that Kate had jazz since it's likely that Pasha with his pretty hardcore ballroom/latin credentials isn't cross-trained. And boy, that lift in the middle of the routine went on wayyyyy too long, LOL. We're not fooled, dude. 😉 Saying that, I thought he did a decent enough con job and the routine held more or less together as a piece of performance. Had to laugh that he threw in Quickstep and Polka, since he's more familiar with that. Song/movie suited Kate. And it would have been better as a Quickstep or Polka. Saying that, she got decent scores. Now she's at least in with a fighting chance if she manages another good-scoring dance next week. The longer it goes on, the more it becomes obvious how hampered Lauren is by her partner. I thought she was totally overscored for that mess. Not that any of that is her fault, she did the best she could with it. Val is doing well with Sailor. She's not the most talented, not the most versatile, but she keeps improving and he gives her suitable dances. I thought Kel was really good, though HSM is such a weird group number... With James, though I like Emma, I sometimes wonder what someone like Karina or Anna might have done with him. It often seems, like his movements need to be sharpened and cleaned up a bit. Emma seems a bit too lenient in that aspect.

In general, the inconsistency we're seeing with most celebs this season is what happens if you don't have ringers IMO. Yeah, everybody likes to be grumpy about their participation, but they deliver good dancing every week. If you're starting with beginners, or people with little dance experience, they're gonna be unpredictable like that. Even Hannah and James struggle with some dances and aren't guaranteed to do great every week.

Yeah, Val has done a lot of cringeworthy and downright questionable nonsense and I've been side-eyeing his social media antics in particular (also that book? Not a good idea.), but he knows how to teach and when he's on, he's giving his partners nice material. And then they look better than they are, because he gives them decent material. Emma fell down a bit, both in her choreo and in her teaching this week and perhaps that is a bit of a weakness with her. IMO Rashad was also never quite as clean as he could have been. And I know he's popular, but Alan's programs are always...fine to me. Okay, but bland. Seems like a good teacher, though.

With all the (deserved) criticism he got, from me as well, I have to give props to Gleb. 😉 That was a nice dance and Lauren had clearly improved. Yeah, the style suited her, but still. Honestly, now that I've seen he's done decent work on other versions of the show, I'm probably gonna end up being even harsher on him, since I know he can do better... Kel and Kamaro were improved, so that was nice. Ally seemed overscored to me. Hannah was better than last week. Sailor did fine, but was a bit posey? And this is probably the last week where Kate could afford a weaker dance like that. I agreed with her marks, but now she'll need to deliver if she wants to last for a few more weeks, since I fear that it won't be so easy to get rid of Spicer... The choreo was nice and she was doing okay with the steps, I thought. But performance wasn't there, she was clearly struggling with that on top of doing the footwork.

Yeah, for whatever reason, nothing he's done on other versions of the show really translates on DWTS. He's done well with Jana mostly, I'll give him that. But IMO after that it's been lost opportunity after lost opportunity. If you can only produce decent results with ringers or near ringers, that doesn't speak for you as a pro. Hell, even Maks has a Kristie Alley season under his belt, where he vastly overperformed with a challenging partner...😁 And it's like both teaching and choreo doesn't work, so it's not like with someone like Tony, for example, who wasn't some master choreographer, but had a skill set in teaching older and more tentative contestants. And even he did usually pretty good and went far into the season when he had strong partners. Lindsay seems to do well with everyone. Mark and Derek often had partners with potential. But OTOH, Mark IMO really showed his mettle with Bristol Palin, one of the most difficult candidates to ever do the show. And Derek and Mark also made people like Rickie Lake, Lil Kim, Candace Cameron Bure or Sadie Robertson into contenders.

It's basically the same thing Cheryl said, and I don't like it. I mean, some form of this nonsense was always present. In certain weeks the pros were stuck with unsuitable songs and ridiculous "concepts" that didn't work for the assigned dances, but it didn't seem like it was all the time. But as I already said, the (unintended?) consequence of this is that good teaching and choreography become even more important. So if you've got a pro that can somehow make the most of the situation and create good choreo and teach you well even when given absurd parameters, you're set. If your pro is weak in those areas, you become even more vulnerable. Not to be mean about it...but perhaps that's why Jenna and Gleb seem to be struggling even more than usual?

I understand the urge to get the show "back on track" to some degree, but they need to realize that this will hamper the quality of the dances and the entertainment value if they go too far. Also: The celebs with weaker pros will be at even more of a disadvantage, because if you have someone who can't work around the nonsense they're given, you'll look even worse... OTOH, this was always done on the show. Pros and celebs had perhaps some music input, but throughout the years there's been tons of inappropriate song assignment and wacky "themes" that made the pros want to run away. A lot of them have publicly complained about it. Mark once said that they basically ordered him to put Bristol in that gorilla costume. And I tend to believe him

So...I did some research. 😁 Since Gleb came highly recommended from other versions of the show, I looked through some of his dances there. A samba on Strictly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pZ23eShemY AT on the Russian version with Adelina Sotnikova (IMO the whole water theme is here much better used than later with Jana): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq3ojTRvfQA And tbh, it's all a bit of a headscratcher.... I mean, it's the same aesthetic he uses on DWTS, heavy on theatricality, for my taste too much filler and too much reliance on "sexy". But...those are substantial dances with plenty of content. Vastly superior to anything he's produced on DWTS so far. And it's not like he hasn't been given partners with potential. So what is the problem? Does he somehow just not click with this version of the show? Thinks he has to dumb it down for the format? Since TPTB seem to like him, I'd prefer it if the version of Gleb that was around on SCD showed up.

Yeah, I think you can't fault Jenna's work ethic, commitment or dance skills at all. And for all that it was a joke of a season, she produced mostly nice dances for Adam Rippon. It's just that teaching beginners, or teaching people who don't have that much natural talent is a skill set. And that's where she needs to learn IMO. Question is if they give her the time to do so, if the show is around long enough for it etc. DWTS is also usually harder on female pros if they don't deliver what they're expecting, so who knows... Mark was also a classic overdancer for many seasons. Though, at least when his season with Shawn rolled around, you also started seeing that he's a good teacher and choreographer who can cater to a partner's strengths. You also see what goods someone like Peta brings to the proceedings IMO. She's super patient with Lamar and you do actually see some sort of improvement with him, even though he's at such a low level. Not everyone would know how to deal with such a situation. Or Pasha, who is teaching a women over fifty without great dance experience proper technique and getting her to perform beyond all expectations. But it takes a lot of experience as a dancer, teacher and choreographer to achieve that. And he might not have that experience on DWTS, it's obvious he's gained plenty of it elsewhere.

I thought this was pretty entertaining tbh. What it IMO also showed is what a difference a good pro can make. This is the first time Sailor has made an impression. They got a goofy as hell song, but Val tailored it to her strengths and created a fun, pretty memorable routine for her. I'm sure that it was a tango and he could lead her more in the movements because they were in hold helped, but still. At the same time, Gleb IMO squandered the opportunity to create a good dance for a partner who has a lot of potential. The much better choreos Derek and Artem produced to the same music also don't really speak in his favour... Too many rumbas that early on for me. Ally did well with hers, best dance so far. James was great for a third week and looked really comfortable and into the performance. Rumba is very unforgiving for male contestants, so that was awesome. Hannah was a bit hampered by the song, it seemed more like a foxtrot or something? But it wasn't her strongest outing IMO. Kate and Pasha were super. Again. She's a great performer and obviously willing and able to learn pretty substantial dance content. And Pasha seems like magic. 😉 I mean, the teaching is there, the rapport with his celeb is there, he's choreographing fun, entertaining dances that play to his partner's strengths. Bringing in young new pros who learn on the job is cool, but when you have a seasoned dancer, teacher and choreographer who can hit the ground running, that's really impressive as well.

Wow, I mean Sailor's rhumba was okay, but not great. As rhumbas in week two tend to be...IMO much too early to assign that dance. Mostly it will just end up awkward. But boy, did the band sabotage her. That was a horrific rendition of the song. There was absolutely no way to make that performance work with the butcher's job that they were commiting, music is an important component of the dances. 🥴 James was good, not as good as last week, but entertaining. And yeah, even if he's wobbly in technique or stuff, he is just gonna sell the performances and it will carry him. Hannah was very good. Kamaro was a mess technically, but fun! 😎 Kate was adorable. And Pasha is a real find for them, it seems. He taught her the technique. He gave her great choreo. And I thought the space alien framework was really funny. Yeah, it's not what the song is really about. Pasha knows it's not what the song is really about. But taking it literally made for a really fun set-up for the dance IMO. And it was very memorable! 🙂

So...Pasha looks like he knows what he's doing. Frankly, this is how they should have been handling bringing in new pros. When you have a newbie without teaching experience, start them in the troupe or whatever passes for that now. You saw the difference with Keo; He was much better in his second stint (why they sideline him now that he's produced his best result ever...). Or bring in someone like Pasha, who clearly has dance accolades and teaching experience. He isn't overwhelmed and knows how to deal with the whole machinery.

Coming late to this... It wasn't as bad as expected, so yay? 🤨 James was very good for a non-dancer in his first week. The legs were wonky, but that's to be expected. He looks like someone who knows how to perform and that will carry him, even if the technique isn't always 100 percent. Also, he's really funny IMO. That might endear him to the audience as well. Emma is the perfect pro for him. Hannah, Lauren, Sailor and Karamo all delivered comparably solid performances IMO. The difference in marks was mainly building of narratives, seems to me. Sailor did fine for three days of rehearsal. And yeah, Jenna may have overdanced a bit again, but it seemed to me that there was a clear effort on her part not to overwhelm her partner with choreo that is too difficult for him. So at least she's trying to tone it down. Pasha looks like a promising new pro. I approve. I don't agree about cutting Artem and to some degree Keo, but IMO the weakest link among the male pros is clearly Gleb and since he is not going anywhere...whatcha gonna do?

Eh, I have no doubt that most of the things on this trainwreck show are edited to death to fit a certain narrative. 😁 Coming in from figure skating/ice dancing, it was also totally ridiculous how they turned Davis/White into these aw shucks Disney figures. Ice dance is political as hell, and Meryl and Charlie have always been able to play that game and be as calculated as necessary. Not that this is a great crime or anything, it's what you have to do to survive and win in that world, but the image they presented/that was curated for them on DWTS was...curious, to say the least. 😉 Like, in the figure skating world it was known that Meryl is dating Fedor Andreev, the son of her then coach Marina Zueva. Since this looked dicey because Marina was also training their main rivals Virtue/Moir, they kept that quiet. And then they conveniently kept it quiet some more on DWTS...😎

What did actually work IMO, once you shoved aside the showmance, is tied to the fact that Meryl is rather serious and quiet. And since Maks is, when he puts his mind to it, a pro at this celeb/DWTS/how to play the show thing, he adapted. He provided contrast und did the entertainment/diva stuff, since Meryl might have come across as a bit rehearsed/dull on her own. But he could also match her tone. Because when he can be bothered, he's capable of being eloquent and thoughtful. So moments when he just honestly talked about how he works as a dancer/choreographer, how he didn't want this career but it was something his parents wanted, how Val is better at it etc.... That was cool, I thought. He's good on the show when he manages to get beyond the caricature. That's why it worked with Laila Ali, Mel B, Erin, Kristie to some degree. Also: IMO he did great work with Meryl and didn't implode, as he is wont to do. That tango is still one of the best things anyone has ever done on that show IMO.

Yeah...the figure skating world is not for the faint of heart. And the ice dance world is arguably even more brutal. D/W are Olympic champions and knew exactly what to do to sell themselves to the judges. So it's not like they were in any way surprised by the DWTS antics. The ice dance world operates in exactly the same way. Yes, Meryl and Charlie preferred an "aw, we're just wholesome kids next door" approach to PR that's been dominating US figure skating since always, but that doesn't mean that they haven't seen it all and participated in plenty...😉

Hm... I think this might have potential? But yeah, the trailer makes it come across as too modern and chopped up. And it's really, really heavy-handed about Jo being an unconventional protagonist not interested in the typical romance plot that's been prescribed to female characters since forever. Which...I agree that this is a strong motif in the book, but IMO the trailer was really awkward and used all the sledgehammers to try and bring this across. Perhaps it's better done in the movie? And yes, IMO Laurie looks too young. The story works if Jo and Laurie are peers, here they don't look the same age. Anyway, I'm willing to give it a chance. Every modern adaptation of the book has to change one aspect completely anyway: Marmee. IMO the character in the book comes across as really of her time and all the pronouncements she makes to the girls about how they should behave are adhering to very, very restrictive gender norms (and that one time she let that bird starve to death to teach them a lesson....jeez, sadist much?). The 1994 version did away with that (and rightly so) and the new one will have to do the same, I'd guess.