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S01.E10: Shock & Awe


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On 3/9/2020 at 1:35 PM, HerkyJerky said:

Is there going to be a Season 2?  Who killed Will???

If you want to know, I put the answer to your question in the “Book Talk” thread.  😉

 

ETA:  not the first part of your question.  That I don’t know.

Edited by Miss Bones
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Hopefully, Dare Me turns into another You for Netflix,  Most of the acting is on point. Special shout out to the actresses who play Beth and Addy. Kelly and Herizen are great together, not only in their fight scenes, like their confrontation on the football field but also in their more gentle scenes like their first kiss. Truthfully, Beth and Addy remind me of a married couple that's been together for years. So many things are unsaid between them but are understood. The actress who plays Colette feels like the weak link to me.

That locker room scene between Colette and Addy was so horrible, and uncomfortable. I was wishing someone would walk in, Anyone, even Tacy. It was like watching a predator lure it's prey into a false sense of security before it strikes. I do think it's a perfect example that you don't need outright sexual contact between an adult and a minor to be groomed by a predator. All of those scenes between Colette and Addy were leading up to what Colette did to Addy in that locker-room. It was seduction without the sex. Herizen, in particular, was great in this scene. I love that jaw clench when Colette was kneeling in front of her.

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i was excited at the start of this but by the end of the season meh! I guess Husband and wife killed the lad but was Addy there? does she know if she was, as Beth seemed to think she was there? Maybe i missed a vital scene

(and what did Collette do to Addy in the locker room? - referred to above? - some sex thing when kneeling or just beg for forgiveness?

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On 5/6/2020 at 6:46 AM, catherinejane said:

i was excited at the start of this but by the end of the season meh! I guess Husband and wife killed the lad but was Addy there? does she know if she was, as Beth seemed to think she was there? Maybe i missed a vital scene

(and what did Collette do to Addy in the locker room? - referred to above? - some sex thing when kneeling or just beg for forgiveness?

Addy wanted to go to the cops, and Coach scared her out of it. The tension between them seemed oddly sexual, with Coach using Addy's crush on her, but I thought it was just my imagination.

Edited by childeroland
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I’ve had this book forever and I still haven’t read it yet. I recently just binged the entire show.  I don’t want to imply this isn’t good because it’s good enough for me to continue watching it and wondering what the hell is going on.  But it’s a strange show.  First all of the characters are pretty terrible. I mean all of them there’s not one redeeming character on this show.  Also I’m not sure it has a plot.  I mean the show says the plot is Beth (previous head cheerleader) and the coach of the cheerleading squad locked in a battle of wills.  But these two have very little interaction. I think their conversations total maybe three.  It’s mostly about how Beth used to control Addie and now Addie’s allegiance has now switched to the coach.  The issue is I don’t know enough about Addie to care.  We really don’t have that much background on her.  On the contrary the show flushes out Beth’s character and the coach who rarely interact.  It’s really seems like they have contrary methods of manipulation when it comes to Addie. The coach uses the build up strategy to manipulate Addie and Beth tried to break her down.  Both however are manipulating her to their own end. 
 

In addition to this there’s a bunch of weird shit going on

First Beth and her half sister are both on the squad.  Their dad essentially left Beth’s mom had an affair married her and moved in equally big house across the street.  He also still occasionally sleeps with Beth’s mom. 🤷‍♀️

Then we have the coach and her husband who kind of seems like he’s too straight laced for her.  And he’s what I like to call a nice guy dick.  Meaning he has the façade of a nice guy but while secretly being a dick in a lot of ways.  His career is kind of a stalemate and basically the only reason he got the job in this town is because of his wife’s great coaching ability. He’s pissy about it pretty much nonstop.

 

Then there are all these military guys hanging around the high school recruiting seniors.  This is definitely a real thing.  I remember when I got into college and the military recruiters kept calling me.  I must’ve told them 10 times I wasn’t interested.  They have this exact level of aggressiveness on this show. It’s shocking to me that they’re allowed to harass high school seniors like this.  It would be one thing if they asked you and you were like hey I’m pursuing college but it’s definitely like a hard sales pitch.  The two military guys in this show one I’ve definitely seen before but I can’t remember what he’s been in who are strongly recruiting this boy who goes there.  Colleges  are into this guy for scholarships.  Granted most people who are seniors are 18 I was not I was only 17 but I couldn’t have just decided to join the army like I definitely would’ve had to like discuss it with my parents first. Maybe it’s different for some teenagers they have more autonomy but I did not.  I kept thinking the entire time this boys parents probably have taken him to Little League or football game since he was a kid preparing for him to get a scholarship just for him to potentially join the military.  The main military guy is having an affair with the coach then he digresses to slightly stalkerish behavior because she’s married and supposedly commits suicide but everyone suspects it’s murder. 
 

So that I guess that is the last sort of plot that no one gives a shit about.  The cliff hanger for the last episode is literally a friendship bracelet🤷‍♀️
 

 

Edited by dmc
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On 1/4/2021 at 2:22 PM, dmc said:

there’s not one redeeming character on this show.  Also I’m not sure it has a plot.

^^^ Thank your for writing this.  It inspired me to get my angst off my chest about this telabortion.  

This is the worst show I’ve seen in a long while.  I only watched it because the Netflix show I wanted to watch—Baby—was in Italian.  

Why is everything so goddamn dark all of the time?  I can never see anyone’s face or anything that goes on.  They’re doing it on purpose to set a mood.  The mood they are setting is “bad,” because the viewer doesn’t know why it’s so dark or why they can’t see anything.

Nothing ever happens that would or could or should happen in life.  It’s just a series of destructive events which set off a series of terse responses.  Has there been one smile on this show ever?  This was like a Lifetime movie stretched out over 10 episodes—bleh!

The dialogue is horrific.  No one—no one—let alone a high school student who doesn’t seem all that academically inclined, has as many quick lines or rejoinders as Beth.  Beth is such a poorly written character.  She is not written like a human, she is written like Freud’s idea of the id.  They all are horribly written.  Addy’s mom is a cop who is always around, showing up in her police car only at the most convenient/inconvenient times, having side conversations on the clock and the taxpayer’s dime, and never does her radio go off. 

But back to Beth.  The actress is Australian.  And she’s 23.  Is this what she thinks Americans sound like?  If we were all that nasal and awful, stretching every syllable to the limit, I would have emigrated a long time ago.  The actress playing Addy is 24.  She doesn’t look a day less.  I don’t know why they can’t cast high school age girls to play...high school age girls.  What is this, the eighties?  Even Tacy—the “fetus”—is 21.  Takes me completely out of the story.  Is this all being done in the name of T&A?  Do the show runners think the natives would get restless if we had to go but one episode without a glimpse of Beth’s struggle-B-cup-at-best cleavage?  

Also, this was filmed in Canada, and once I realized that, it was plain as day.  If the show needs to film in Canada for the tax break or whatever, why didn’t they just make this a Canadian story?  Sudden Grove.  Nice name of a town.  

There is just a whole bunch of other various stuff to me that makes no sense.  Beth’s mom is a drunk who apparently has no earning power, and she can’t pay the mortgage.  So...why not put the house up for sale and buy something that isn’t apparently 5,000 square feet?  Why not move to the apartment building where the marine lived?

No one’s reactions are authentic.  If Collette French (which seventh grader came up with that name?) can’t go for several hours without nicotine, she’d either step off the property or she’d be vaping.  No staff member habitually smokes cigarettes in American public schools in 2019.  She’d be fired in a hot second, maybe even be brought up on charges.  I read on the internet that the actress who plays Colette went to Yale for theater...then why the hell can’t she smoke a cigarette convincingly?  Instead of smoking, she waves around an unlit cigarette (just in case someone was confused about her stress level), sometimes attempts to light it, sometimes succeeds in lighting it, and every so often manages to take one puff.  I haven’t gone to Yale, and I know what a high-strung smoker looks like:  They suck that thing down to the filter with enough force to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.  

Who the hell takes care of Collette’s baby on the regular?  Even though Collette is only the cheer coach, doesn’t she arrive at school at like 7 am?  And her husband has a full-time job.  And they can’t afford their lifestyle, yet when Collette bitches about how much things cost, she never mentions daycare.  When Collette’s husband was out of town, who was watching her baby?  She sure as hell wasn’t, as she was having a breakdown whilst telling Addy that she needed to stay calm.  

There is just nothing I buy about this show.  Nothing.  I’ll keep it to the last episode, because this is the thread for the last episode, but I could go on for a year:  the cheerleading uniforms that they wear to school that are up to their See You Next Tuesdays—no.  Beth grilling a Marine in the middle of the school between classes while he is seated at a desk and she is standing over him in aforementioned slutty cheerleading outfit like something out of a bad soft core porn and not one of the dozens of people walking by even looks their way, except, of course, Addy—no.  I don’t even buy that Collette would have worn heeled boots to the pep rally.  I think she would have worn an athletic shoe in case she had to assist with something. 

Another thing that bothered me about that strangely pitch dark pep rally—Beth’s dad was sitting with Collette’s husband, and mentioned something about the girl’s mom whose teeth got kicked out under his breath, and the mom, who was like 10 feet away when this was said, heard it fully and responded to it, but then two seconds later, the three of them are sitting in the same exact bleachers with the same exact acoustics and they are speaking about confidential things at the exact same volume...and, of course, no one overhears them.  Why did no one on the set say, “hey guys, we need to reshoot this scene?  It’s totally inconsistent.”?

I don’t care at all who killed that marine.  What I think is funny is how gothic, yet upscale, his apartment building was, when it was painted as a dump, given the way the people on the show treated it.  Also, the marine across the hall (the marine with all the facial hair) was squatting in the model apartment.  What was going to happen...when they showed that model apartment?  Or when the utility bill came in for that apartment?  How did Beth gain access to what was now a crime scene?  I would think there would be extra protection there just so that someone like Beth couldn’t get in and do exactly what she did—tampering with the scene and learning secrets of the investigation.  

This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but my final quibble with this episode will be the way the police spoke to Collette about the way she hit the pole.  If they thought she had done it on purpose—which happens more often than people like to think—the cops would approach this as a mental health matter and ask her privately, “Mrs French, are you on any type of medication?  How are things at home?”  There is no way in hell—other than to advance a plot—that the police would be retreating into the night, case closed, only to stop on the lawn and say, “hey Mrs. French, could have sworn you did that on purpose!  Peace out!”  Just terrible, terrible storytelling and dialogue.  And, hey now, I was under the impression that Addy’s mom was the only police officer in all of Sudden Grove, given that she’s heretofore been the only one on the scene for anything that’s ever happened. 

The oldest age I think I could have sat for this thing without losing my patience and my mind would likely be...16.  But this was clearly intended for a wider audience, so how about not insulting our intelligence at every single turn?  I wouldn’t even care if there was no sex, murder, or drugs—those were the most boring parts to me.  I would have been happy to see them cheer, sort of like that other Netflix show, Cheer.  And they did do some talented cheerleading (although there was almost no tumbling at regionals, which was strange), so why didn’t they focus more on that, and have the drama be focused on the head games that “Coach” plays with the girls, mostly at practice and at games, with a little bit of a side mystery that keeps the show moving forward?  I’ve seen a lot of mediocre shows pull that off a lot better than this.  Despite my qualms, the acting and cheerleading were decent.  The plot, the dialogue and the scenes were just so awful that I would have to be tied down to watch a season two, and even then I think I would screw my eyes shut and hum at the top of my voice, rather than have my disbelief so thoroughly suspended again.  

Netflix, I give this an F.  And that is grading it on the dreadful Netflix curve!

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17 hours ago, LibertarianSlut said:

^^^ Thank your for writing this.  It inspired me to get my angst off my chest about this telabortion.  

This is the worst show I’ve seen in a long while.  I only watched it because the Netflix show I wanted to watch—Baby—was in Italian.  

Why is everything so goddamn dark all of the time?  I can never see anyone’s face or anything that goes on.  They’re doing it on purpose to set a mood.  The mood they are setting is “bad,” because the viewer doesn’t know why it’s so dark or why they can’t see anything.

Nothing ever happens that would or could or should happen in life.  It’s just a series of destructive events which set off a series of terse responses.  Has there been one smile on this show ever?  This was like a Lifetime movie stretched out over 10 episodes—bleh!

The dialogue is horrific.  No one—no one—let alone a high school student who doesn’t seem all that academically inclined, has as many quick lines or rejoinders as Beth.  Beth is such a poorly written character.  She is not written like a human, she is written like Freud’s idea of the id.  They all are horribly written.  Addy’s mom is a cop who is always around, showing up in her police car only at the most convenient/inconvenient times, having side conversations on the clock and the taxpayer’s dime, and never does her radio go off. 

But back to Beth.  The actress is Australian.  And she’s 23.  Is this what she thinks Americans sound like?  If we were all that nasal and awful, stretching every syllable to the limit, I would have emigrated a long time ago.  The actress playing Addy is 24.  She doesn’t look a day less.  I don’t know why they can’t cast high school age girls to play...high school age girls.  What is this, the eighties?  Even Tacy—the “fetus”—is 21.  Takes me completely out of the story.  Is this all being done in the name of T&A?  Do the show runners think the natives would get restless if we had to go but one episode without a glimpse of Beth’s struggle-B-cup-at-best cleavage?  

Also, this was filmed in Canada, and once I realized that, it was plain as day.  If the show needs to film in Canada for the tax break or whatever, why didn’t they just make this a Canadian story?  Sudden Grove.  Nice name of a town.  

There is just a whole bunch of other various stuff to me that makes no sense.  Beth’s mom is a drunk who apparently has no earning power, and she can’t pay the mortgage.  So...why not put the house up for sale and buy something that isn’t apparently 5,000 square feet?  Why not move to the apartment building where the marine lived?

No one’s reactions are authentic.  If Collette French (which seventh grader came up with that name?) can’t go for several hours without nicotine, she’d either step off the property or she’d be vaping.  No staff member habitually smokes cigarettes in American public schools in 2019.  She’d be fired in a hot second, maybe even be brought up on charges.  I read on the internet that the actress who plays Colette went to Yale for theater...then why the hell can’t she smoke a cigarette convincingly?  Instead of smoking, she waves around an unlit cigarette (just in case someone was confused about her stress level), sometimes attempts to light it, sometimes succeeds in lighting it, and every so often manages to take one puff.  I haven’t gone to Yale, and I know what a high-strung smoker looks like:  They suck that thing down to the filter with enough force to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.  

Who the hell takes care of Collette’s baby on the regular?  Even though Collette is only the cheer coach, doesn’t she arrive at school at like 7 am?  And her husband has a full-time job.  And they can’t afford their lifestyle, yet when Collette bitches about how much things cost, she never mentions daycare.  When Collette’s husband was out of town, who was watching her baby?  She sure as hell wasn’t, as she was having a breakdown whilst telling Addy that she needed to stay calm.  

There is just nothing I buy about this show.  Nothing.  I’ll keep it to the last episode, because this is the thread for the last episode, but I could go on for a year:  the cheerleading uniforms that they wear to school that are up to their See You Next Tuesdays—no.  Beth grilling a Marine in the middle of the school between classes while he is seated at a desk and she is standing over him in aforementioned slutty cheerleading outfit like something out of a bad soft core porn and not one of the dozens of people walking by even looks their way, except, of course, Addy—no.  I don’t even buy that Collette would have worn heeled boots to the pep rally.  I think she would have worn an athletic shoe in case she had to assist with something. 

Another thing that bothered me about that strangely pitch dark pep rally—Beth’s dad was sitting with Collette’s husband, and mentioned something about the girl’s mom whose teeth got kicked out under his breath, and the mom, who was like 10 feet away when this was said, heard it fully and responded to it, but then two seconds later, the three of them are sitting in the same exact bleachers with the same exact acoustics and they are speaking about confidential things at the exact same volume...and, of course, no one overhears them.  Why did no one on the set say, “hey guys, we need to reshoot this scene?  It’s totally inconsistent.”?

I don’t care at all who killed that marine.  What I think is funny is how gothic, yet upscale, his apartment building was, when it was painted as a dump, given the way the people on the show treated it.  Also, the marine across the hall (the marine with all the facial hair) was squatting in the model apartment.  What was going to happen...when they showed that model apartment?  Or when the utility bill came in for that apartment?  How did Beth gain access to what was now a crime scene?  I would think there would be extra protection there just so that someone like Beth couldn’t get in and do exactly what she did—tampering with the scene and learning secrets of the investigation.  

This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but my final quibble with this episode will be the way the police spoke to Collette about the way she hit the pole.  If they thought she had done it on purpose—which happens more often than people like to think—the cops would approach this as a mental health matter and ask her privately, “Mrs French, are you on any type of medication?  How are things at home?”  There is no way in hell—other than to advance a plot—that the police would be retreating into the night, case closed, only to stop on the lawn and say, “hey Mrs. French, could have sworn you did that on purpose!  Peace out!”  Just terrible, terrible storytelling and dialogue.  And, hey now, I was under the impression that Addy’s mom was the only police officer in all of Sudden Grove, given that she’s heretofore been the only one on the scene for anything that’s ever happened. 

The oldest age I think I could have sat for this thing without losing my patience and my mind would likely be...16.  But this was clearly intended for a wider audience, so how about not insulting our intelligence at every single turn?  I wouldn’t even care if there was no sex, murder, or drugs—those were the most boring parts to me.  I would have been happy to see them cheer, sort of like that other Netflix show, Cheer.  And they did do some talented cheerleading (although there was almost no tumbling at regionals, which was strange), so why didn’t they focus more on that, and have the drama be focused on the head games that “Coach” plays with the girls, mostly at practice and at games, with a little bit of a side mystery that keeps the show moving forward?  I’ve seen a lot of mediocre shows pull that off a lot better than this.  Despite my qualms, the acting and cheerleading were decent.  The plot, the dialogue and the scenes were just so awful that I would have to be tied down to watch a season two, and even then I think I would screw my eyes shut and hum at the top of my voice, rather than have my disbelief so thoroughly suspended again.  

Netflix, I give this an F.  And that is grading it on the dreadful Netflix curve!

It’s a mess of a show.  COVID has dwindled my content reserve of good things to watch. So now I’m dealing with stuff like this🤷‍♀️

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The reliance on artsy slow-motion drove me crazy.

I still don't understand the point in getting Addy involved in the ??murder??

They set it up like a suicide. Just leave. Why call Addy to the scene at all? Wouldn't it be better for her not to know anything? Not to wonder anything? Not to be involved at all? At first, it seemed like a set up - and that's why Colette "left" the Hamsa bracelet there (although, why would anyone believe Addy and Will had anything to do with each other?) - but then at the end, they're frantically searching for the bracelet...so no?

Nothing made any kind of realistic sense on this show. What an utter disappointment.

PS Slo-mo doesn't fix it. It doesn't look artsy or creative. It's not interesting or intense; it just makes everything take longer.

Edited by marcee
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