What Do You Do With a Master’s Degree?- Nothing, I Guess

Stock photo.

Hi! It’s Annie!

This is a different type of post than what I usually do, but it’s certainly been something on my mind more than usual lately. I think I have mentioned in some previous posts that I am a professional book lover! I have a Master’s degree in Library Science and have worked as a librarian for three years at this point. But what I haven’t said, partially because of my absence, is that I lost my job in April of this year and have been looking for employment since. This is probably one of the main reasons why I haven’t been writing or posting; my life has been consumed with grief over a job that I loved and anxiety in attempting to get a new job in this horrible economy. A little fun fact about me; I’m the type that is averse to ruffling feathers. I never had a rebellious phase when I was younger and I’ve always considered academics to be one of the most important parts of my life. I was the kid who just wanted her parents to be proud of her and did everything the way you were “supposed” to do it in order to accomplish that. Having said that, I’m going to go through all of the things I did that you’re “supposed” to do and how much they’ve helped me thus far.

As a disclaimer beforehand, I want to note that I think education is incredibly important and at no point in this post will I even hint that I regret the education that I have. I strongly believe that knowledge is power and I feel incredibly privileged to have the education that I do. This will be more of a comment on the world we live in right now.

“Everything Right” in School:

I was always a straight ‘A’ student. The type of student who you would find crying outside on the curb if I got anything below a ninety percent on my last exam. And it wasn’t because I had parents who would be angry when I got home. I always had the coolest parents around (although they would highly encourage me to re-take tests if I got anything below an ‘A’ while other people around me had parents who were relieved when their child got a ‘B’). But to be fair, school wasn’t hard for me. I think you can already guess that I was one of those “gifted kids” who adults frequently praised for their academic work. That’s where the entirety of my value was because I had no idea who I was or even the slightest idea what I wanted to do, I was bullied and had very few friends if any at all, and I was incredibly introverted. I went forward into college holding my success in academics as proof that I was a worthy human being.

Here’s where I went a little off the beaten path. Not knowing what I wanted to do, but knowing I had a deep love for fandoms and performing arts, I went into Theatre. This was despite several adults around me telling me that this was an incredibly bad idea and this was likely the first taste I had of doing something that might disappoint someone. (That’s important and will come back later.) However, I still went into it with the mentality that I had to make up for the fact that I chose an unconventional degree. So I didn’t go out with friends, I didn’t even go out on the weekends; I stayed home and studied and made sure that I aced each and every class. I graduated with top honors…right at the start of an international pandemic. Very quickly I realized that this undergrad degree set me up for nothing that I could put into actual work experience for anything that would be hiring anytime soon. So I did what every other “gifted kid” was doing. I looked into higher education.

“Everything Right’ in Grad School:

Coming up to grad school I worked for several years within a school district because I thought that this was the most rational field for me to go in. It had stability and I wanted to get back into my love of books; where better than a High School English class, right? Entirely, horrifically, wrong. I had completely and conveniently forgotten that schools were a constant source of stress for me growing up and that my depression when I was younger had partially come from the form of entrapment that I felt within those walls despite assigning all of my value to them. Or perhaps because of it. I quickly decided to divert into something parallel that actually was a stop on the book/publishing train and where I knew people who had a career in it. Librarianship. This was a shot in the dark for me, because while I had volunteered at a library a few times as a kid, I had no other experience. I blindly started my Master’s program and miraculously got a job within the field all at once and I, luckily, loved it with my entire heart. I loved getting to do story time and interacting with people. I loved being around all the books and recommending new ones to patrons. I loved my classes and learning about the archival processes of old materials. Despite the floundering that I was frequently beating myself up for; I had somehow stumbled into my dream job. So the beating myself up payed off right? I had beaten myself back into shape… and I was happy. Paying way too much money on another degree, sure; but happy and also getting academic validation again. I finished my degree as quickly as I could have possibly done it.

“Everything Right” at Work:

I’ve always been a hard worker despite the fact that I was good at school. My anxiety wouldn’t allow for anything else. I couldn’t take the idea of not putting the effort in and disappointing someone somehow. This was the mentality I went into my work with. If anybody ever slacked off on something I knew needed to be done; I’d put the entire thing on my shoulders. I would make it entirely my responsibility. I wanted the validation of being able to do everything I possibly could on my own. I volunteered to pick up the slack when people stopped showing up to my managers, which created an environment where that became my standard. Sure, I was doing more than everyone else and at times I was doing other people’s jobs for them; but that didn’t matter to a management team who didn’t care about their employees. All they cared about was that I continued to pick up that slack. Suddenly, my expectations were so much higher than anyone else’s on my team. I could never bring myself to say “no” and if I did say “no”, suddenly I was getting a talking to.

Moving up at this particular library made everything so much worse. Now I was expected to do the exact same things because nobody but me would do them anymore, but I was also expected to blindly follow whatever management said. Even when I was the person operating most of our day-to-day and I knew what they asked wasn’t right. If I spoke up against it I was punished. If I stopped doing my work I was punished. I had been a hard-worker right into a no-win scenario. What made it worse was that my hard-work endeared other employees to me who my manager felt should be more endeared to her, despite the fact that I was frequently doing duties in her stead. She quickly grew to dislike me and began to try and undermine my work without offering other employees helpful alternatives and would become increasingly angry when they returned to my first suggestions. Now I was being targeted by my management team for being good at my job. This all came to a head when I found out that my library was participating in illegal censorship and reported it to the proper channels. I knew this was the right thing to do, but I also knew that this on top of everything else would cost me my job.

As I said before, I loved my job with my entire heart. While my job had become a toxic workplace environment that I did end up reporting as well; I loved story time, talking with my co-workers, and helping out patrons. I had just finished reading an entire book series so that I could talk about it with a teenager who frequented the library. Losing all of this broke my heart. At the end of the month I was presented with paperwork which I knew was the beginning of my management driving me out and I resigned, heartbroken. I didn’t have the funds to do anything legal and I didn’t want to have to write on future applications that I had been fired. Months of anxiety quieted, but it was replaced by a new anxiety of what getting back out there would look like.

“Everything Right” in the Job Market:

I was warned a little bit about what having a Master’s in this job market would look like. It would be difficult to get hired for entry level positions because people aren’t looking for people with Master’s Degrees. If you are considering getting a Master’s Degree, you NEED to know this. Some employers will see a grad degree and will immediately feel that this person will have to be payed more and will be more resistant to training. And so, they will look for someone who has less experience than you do. So, good luck trying to find an entry level position. “But what about your three years of experience?” I hear you ask. “Surely that must have gotten your foot in the door somewhere!” I wish. This was my exact thought when I resigned. So far, it hasn’t meant much of anything. I’ve gotten nothing. Places that I thought would reach out to me because I had experience have remained silent. I thought I would be ok because I had a Master’s degree and experience. I thought that it would maybe take a couple months and then I’d get right back in there. But as the months have gone on, I’ve felt more hopeless. I’m aware that the gap between my last employment and now is only getting wider and that this gap doesn’t look good on a resume. I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs and have only gotten a couple of interviews. That’s just what the job market is now; but in my despair I’ve wondered what the point of my Masters’ was and even what the point of my loyalty to academics was. What was the point of doing “everything right”, when it got me nothing?

What is “everything right”?:

I don’t know anymore. I used to think it was perfect grades, a grad degree, years of experience, and not saying “no” to your employer. I used to think that it was living your life in a way where you couldn’t possibly let anyone down. But now I’m here. I never thought that what I should have been worrying about this whole time was the society I was so desperately trying to fit myself into the confines of, letting me down anyways after I followed all the rules. I love my Master’s degree. There was a point in time as a kid where I dreamed of having one and I’m so proud of myself for having it. I’m kind of bad about celebrating my accomplishments and I’m trying to get better about that. There’s always a voice in the back of my head telling me that my accomplishments are just things that I should have accomplished anyways with the standards I had set for myself and that there’s no reason to celebrate. But my Master’s I’m proud of. In my darkest moments though, I still struggle to see a point despite the fact that I loved my education. But my view of what is the right thing is different now.

While I think it’s important to listen to advice from people close to you, it’s so much more important to listen to yourself. You can’t please everyone and trying to play by the rules of a society that’s only ever served incredibly rich cis white men doesn’t get you much. But don’t give up anyways. If something inside of you is telling you to get that education; please go for it! But don’t do it for a job. As cheesy as it sounds, if you don’t do it for you it will have been worthless. Right now I don’t know if I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I’ve come to accept that everyone experiences this in their twenties. Keep looking for that hope, even if you don’t see it. And don’t spend your life ascribing to something that was never built for you. I’m not saying to throw everything to the wind and never make a practical decision ever again; but I am telling you to trust your instincts and that sometimes you’ve got to do whatever the best thing for yourself is. Even if that disappoints other people. Especially if it disappoints that voice in your head that’s been setting perfectionistic standards for you your whole life. If no one else is there to remind you of this, let me be the first one. You are a person and you are so much more valuable than your career. Let’s all work on that self talk together, huh?

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: You Ruined It!

Screenshot of ‘The Amazing Digital Circus’ created by Gooseworx. All copyright goes to them.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’m back again very quickly after my last post! And “why” you ask? Because I just finished watching the finale of ‘The Amazing Digital Circus’ in movie theaters and, like everyone, I had a lot of thoughts. So naturally I turned to the internet to see what everyone else thought and to nobody’s surprise I stumbled onto a MESS. Let’s just say, a lot of people did not take the finale well, to the point where many many fans have been claiming that this last episode ruined the entirety of ‘Digital Circus’ for them. And while I understand this, it really did make me think about my own experiences with a piece of media “ruining” a thing for me and what I believe constitutes a “ruining” of an entire thing due to one piece of media within a series of media. In the past, I’ve stated on this blog that something cannot be fully “ruined” when media that you still enjoy featuring that franchise still exists. However, after some time I’ve begun to feel a teensy bit differently. So in this post I’m going to explore some criteria for how a piece of media could be fully ruined for a person and some examples of media that has been personally ruined for me.

DISCLAIMER: While this post will have SPOILERS for some other media (such as the Disney+ series ‘Ahsoka’); there will not be DIRECT spoilers about ‘Digital Circus’. There have been enough leaks already. I might talk lightly about certain things, but there will be no large spoilers of any kind.

Criteria:

Upon further thinking about this, I have come up with three criteria I feel makes sense for a piece of media to be “ruined” for a person:

  1. The piece of media completely undoes previous work. To the point where previous work feels unwatchable because it no longer feels canonical.
  2. The piece of media completely changes the characterization of a character or event in the past as well as the present. Morphing past things into a strange new thing, where everything was leading up to this new and horrible reality. This makes watching of previous work a struggle still.
  3. A personal feeling. A feeling like your “comfort watch” or “comfort character” is no longer comforting for you due to where it all ended up.

Of course I feel as though you don’t have to hit all of these things for something to be “ruined” for you. Especially when it comes to having a personal feeling about it, which is more than enough. However, I do feel that most media that feels like it’s “ruined” manages to hit all three. So, I’m going to go into some of my biggest most recent examples of this.

‘Ahsoka’:

Not long before the ‘Ahsoka’ series was released, I put out a piece on this blog entitled “Sabine Wren Was Always Great”, with the intention of then reviewing the series afterwards. Obviously, I never did that. I couldn’t bring myself to. Because the ‘Ahsoka’ series not only wasn’t very good in my mind, but it tampered with the character of Ahsoka and it completely ruined the character of Sabine Wren for me. How? Why? How could one series destroy a character that has a complete other series of material to watch? Well, through all three criteria I listed above. The series continues my original complaints about the characterization of Ahsoka Tano from her appearance in ‘The Mandalorian’. She isn’t acting like the fun slightly sarcastic Ahsoka we know and love. Instead she just comes across as a generic Jedi master spewing Jedi ideals that she never believed in and even left the Jedi Order over. But I don’t think that in itself ruins her character. Luke Skywalker has been used in similar ways before and I don’t feel like it touches the original legacy of the character. For one, the legacy for both of these characters is much too strong; but for another, it doesn’t overshadow or seek to rewrite parts of the past of the character. While it is certainly annoying, it doesn’t really “ruin” the character for me.

Now Sabine Wren is completely another story and one that hit personally for me. Sabine Wren was the character who initially got me into Star Wars and she was really dragged low here. For one, they made her a force user. This doesn’t make sense at all. It completely seems to negate Sabine’s training with Kanan and the Dark Saber and it doesn’t make sense with her character. Now instead of the badass Mandalorian fight scenes we got with her before, we are reduced to action scenes almost exclusively with a Light Saber. It undoes all of her prior training while also undoing all the leadership qualities she learned through that training. That’s all gone here. She’s not in charge of anyone, she’s no longer affiliated with Mandalorians at all. So much character development; all thrown out the window. That’s the first criteria. They also completely skew Sabine’s attitude throughout her time in ‘Rebels’ to mean something else. Sabine does have an attitude in Rebels where she can take things too far and push people away. This in Rebels is meant to be because of a mix of teenage rebellion and not having the wisdom that comes with age yet as well as her past experiences making weapons for the Empire. Instead, in ‘Ahsoka’ this is made out to be her entire personality. It’s not as if she learned to open up through her chosen family in Rebels. Instead, that character development is undone and now she acted the way she did in Rebels because Sabine was always selfish. It wasn’t because she was young and traumatized, instead ‘Ahsoka’ takes the view that it’s because Sabine has always been focused on her own survival and she will take the selfish choice if it means she gets what she feels she needs. There’s the second criteria.

Then we cut to my personal feelings on the matter. It’s really hard to watch one of your favorite characters get gutted and then character assassinated. I wrote a whole post about how Sabine Wren has always been amazing, just to watch my social media feed fill with hatred for Sabine after every subsequent episode. And I couldn’t blame the people who hated her because I hated her too. I started out feeling like the Sabine Wren I knew would never do those things, but then the show began to purposefully draw comparisons to the way she was acting now to the way she acted in Rebels. It was the direct creator of Sabine Wren who originally made her saying, “No, this is why she was doing all that.” I watched Sabine leave Ahsoka Tano to die and had to take the explanation that this was apparently always who she was. This twisting of her entire story made it very difficult to return to her character for me. I’m not going to say I hate the ‘Ahsoka’ show overall. As I’ve gotten older I’ve found that my favorite Star Wars character has naturally changed from Sabine to Hera Syndulla. She’s a character I can relate to more now that I’m older and she was actually done pretty well in the ‘Ahsoka’ series. But I will never forget how I felt watching a favorite character of mine get torn apart on screen and online and that experience very powerfully removed her from being a comfort character for me.

‘Multiverse of Madness’:

I just did a full post about Wanda Maximoff, so I’m not going to deep dive too much into this right now. If you want to see more of a deep dive into where her character went wrong, feel free to go back to my last post where I go into it in detail! However, I do think that Wanda got pretty ruined by this movie. While I definitely think her past content is still watchable, specifically ‘WandaVision’, I do think that this undid so much from ‘WandaVision’. It completely erased her past grief storyline and all her character development from that. It also did twist her storyline pretty horribly in general. I don’t think her being evil was the problem; it was entirely the mischaracterization of her grief. She was definitely ruined for quite a lot of people and I would say, reasonably so.

‘Digital Circus’:

Now I kind of want to use the criteria from before and ask myself the question; did the finale ruin ‘Digital Circus’ for me? Because while I didn’t like the finale, it wasn’t for the reasons a lot of people didn’t like it. Major things happened to major characters; but none of those major characters were characters that I felt any personal attachment to. That was one of my major issues. This finale focused about seventy percent on one specific character and basically info dumping about them while thirty percent of the very last episode was left for literally every other character. Which means that almost every other character was kind of given nothing for the last episode where we’re supposed to feel satisfied about the ending for them all. Including characters that have been seemingly pushed to the background for almost every episode getting to this point. I felt like the ending made sense for them all; but I really didn’t like how we got there with some pretty bad pacing and with most of the characters getting the shaft. I also felt like quite a lot of the “answers” we were supposed to get in this episode were hinted at rather than given to us. It felt as though nobody wanted to commit to any one decision. Anything could be interpreted in any way. You could even imagine that it ended differently. In that way, I felt like it avoided taking any risks. It has also been clear from the beginning that the ‘Digital Circus’ has been a metaphor for mental health and I felt as though the finale didn’t even commit to that. There was this feeling of “Appreciate what you have even if you’re stuck!” and that was a message I loved. But I didn’t even think there was enough of that.

So does it cross off my criteria? Maybe. I do feel that the finale undid a lot of the mystery that made the show so intriguing before by not committing to or focusing on answers. That checks off the first box. I also feel that the finale completely changes characterization almost by not completing it for many characters. I feel like we were promised more than we were given, which does, to me, twist the story. There was so much I watched of this show where I felt like I was running towards some sort of finish line. Like, “I like this character but not quite yet because they need more character development,” or “I like this plot line but not quite yet because it needs more time”. And I felt like a lot of that ended in nothing. So that checks off the second box for me. Does it personally completely “ruin” it for me. I would say…kind of. I think the ending solidifies that I don’t think I would go back and watch this again. So maybe not necessarily in a dramatic way like my experience with Sabine Wren, but maybe in a more subtle way of me not thinking I’ll have enough motivation to return to the series in the future.

I want to reiterate that the most important factor of something being “ruined” is simply where you feel like it isn’t personally for you anymore. It’s lost that comfort. That you feel it was “ruined”. This is why I still feel like it’s ridiculous to say that something was “ruined” for everyone, because that’s such a personal feeling. You can’t say that a specific piece of media ruined something for everyone because for someone it didn’t. Someone out there loved it and thought that it was a natural continuation of the media that came before it. This idea of someone or something “ruining” a franchise can make sense in some scenarios; but far too often it is used to bully creatives and I absolutely still disagree with this. However, it is ok to say that a change that happened in a franchise didn’t work for you to the degree that it removed it for you from among your comfort media or your favorite media. But overall, that’s a personal decision. It doesn’t mean that the people who don’t feel that way aren’t valid. But it does mean that your feelings are incredibly valid. Everyone has had some sort of media “ruined” for them before. And it’s ok. Something else always comes along! And often the media that’s most important to you will never be ruined for you, no matter what happens or what the creators decide.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Superheroes: The Mothers are Mothering?

Screenshots of (left) Elizabeth Olsen and (right) Vanessa Kirby in their respective Marvel movies. Copyright goes to Marvel and Disney.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I’m back again after another while because I, once again, felt the strong urge to talk about some of my favorite characters in fiction. But specifically, the representation of women and why some character representation is better than others. This post, in particular, will be the battle of the Mothers and the portrayal of women as Mothers or having motherly qualities in media but more specifically in superhero media. This has been a topic of conversation for quite a while, specifically since ‘Multiverse of Madness’ came out and this has only been exacerbated by the release of the ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’. We now have two major characters in Marvel who are both superheroes and Mothers, those two being Wanda Maximoff and Sue Storm. And while I also hesitate to compare the only two featured superhero Mothers in big Marvel media because it honestly feels like a miracle that they were on screen at all; I definitely feel like people have seen these two interpretations and felt strongly one way or the other about them both. (There was a specific movie in this mix that hit very wrong.) But I kind of want to also use this as a lens to talk about Motherhood in media. Because that has also hit very wrong for a very long time. So I’m just going to jump into it!

SPOILERS FOR FANTASTIC FOUR, WANDAVISION, AND MoM AHEAD!!!

Wanda Maximoff (The Scarlet Witch):

Wanda Maximoff began her journey into being a Mother in the very popular and amazing Disney+ series ‘WandaVision’ in which Wanda kind of creates kids for herself by bending the reality around her. However, despite the fact that Billy and Tommy are essentially her own creations; the family still kind of functions like a regular family (with the exception of the ultra-fast growth spurts). Wanda still views herself as a Mother from here on out and the series and movies treat her as such. Which is a good thing! I don’t think it much matters where Wanda’s kids came from, they’re still her kids. In ‘WandaVision’, Wanda is incredibly great representation of a woman as a Mother. When she has kids, they don’t become Wanda’s entire personality or her only focus for the rest of the series. Even though Wanda now has kids, the story remains connected to Wanda’s feelings of loss, grief, and her own mental turmoil. The story doesn’t pivot suddenly to “Wanda is a Mother and that’s all she is”. That tune changes drastically in ‘Multiverse of Madness’.

When ‘Multiverse of Madness’ first came out, a specific interview of Elizabeth Olsen went viral. This interview involved her being candid that writers of MoM had never even watched ‘WandaVision’ and that she felt like they were treading the same ground and expressed this fear, which was automatically brushed off. And she’s right. This movie once again covered Wanda’s grief in a very similar way but as if Wanda never learned anything. You saw none of that character growth from the series and the way the movie expands on her grief has nothing to do with focusing on Wanda or even the character study of her grief. It’s all about her kids. In ‘WandaVision’, Wanda will talk about her kids and the plot features her kids often, but this isn’t all she talks about or thinks about. She’s constantly fixated on her own grief, mental turmoil, the new features of her powers that she doesn’t understand, and even Vision. Now in the movie, she only talks about her kids. The plot doesn’t stop to examine her own backstory, deep dive into her feelings, or even talk about Vision which is a huge part of her feeling seen to begin with and where her grief initially stems from. There is no deep dive into Wanda as a character. She is just a Mother who will do anything to get her kids back. Every decision falls back on that. Not on her, on her kids. Not even on what her kids would mean to her as a person if she did have them back.

This is the way Mothers have been portrayed for ages. Once they have kids, all they can talk about is their kids. They exist for their kids. Their reason for living is their kids. Their entire personality is their kids. Wanda is more complicated than that because women are more complicated than that. Society has sought to push women into the roles of Mothers for ages and it is absolutely ok for a woman to be a Mother. Women can be whatever they want to be. But being a Mother will never be the entire heart of who a woman is. So to take the strongest superhero in Marvel and to strip her of everything except being a Mother was directly playing into that ages-long societal stereotype and it really didn’t help that a man wrote it. And not only that, a man wrote it after being told by the woman who has been playing this character for years that the storyline no longer felt relevant to her character after he refused to watch the biggest piece of media ever created about that character. (By the way ‘WandaVision’ was written by a woman. So technically he ignored two women in his process to ruin this character. Go figure.) This is one of the many reasons why women say they hate men.

Sue Storm (Invisible Woman):

I’m not going to pretend that this movie was written by women because it wasn’t. However, this is probably some of the most diversity we’ve gotten out of Marvel for a long time. And a lot of that successful diversity came out of the depiction of Sue Storm. (Though also a hispanic Reed Richards is nothing short of a triumph.) Sue Storm can easily be slated as the head of this iteration of the Fantastic Four. She runs the Future Foundation, is the member that is in charge of speaking with the UN, and she is also a very decorated scientist in her own right. She brings the team together and her personality traits that are very nurturing do not come at the cost of any of her other strengths. She is the leader. She makes the speeches and takes control of the team often and these “masculine” traits are shown directly alongside her more stereotypically feminine ones. She never gives up one for the other. Even pregnancy in this movie is treated differently. Pregnancy lasts nine moths and yet, I feel like most media treats it as though a woman is deathly ill and cannot be moved for those nine months. Not here; Sue goes to space!!

After she gives birth in the movie she still remains an equally complex character. None of the things she was doing before that happened stop or diminish. And Franklin isn’t the only thing she’s worried about. In fact, she makes an entire speech about how she would not give up the Earth for her son or her son for the Earth. Her motivations of keeping people safe, continuing her scientific work, and her love for her family remain the same. The addition to her family just strengthens all of them more. Not just the family love part. Sue remains a character who is complex and has a personality alongside also being a Mother. And they managed to do that without having to make the movie only focus on Sue. I wanted all of the characters in this movie to have more character moments, but I was absolutely astounded that they managed to make Sue a badass woman and a Mother at the same time within a cast of superhero characters. Not because I didn’t believe that a woman could be that, but because Hollywood has been gaslighting us into believing that this can’t exist in an action movie for as long as I can remember.

These, obviously, are not the only examples of Motherhood when it comes to superheroes. I, personally, think of Pamela Isley who very much thinks of her plants as her babies. And damn is she one badass Mom if that’s the case. But we just haven’t gotten a whole lot of big time media exploration of women as superheroes and Mothers. ‘The Incredibles’ has done an excellent job of this too, but it’s still not very often. And, obviously, we’re still seeing very poor work when it comes to this topic. Wanda could have been great if a man had listened to the women around him about a character who is also a woman. Instead, he ruined that character for many people. It’s painful to think about how recent that was and I honestly feel like Sue Storm’s storyline purposefully took Wanda’s complete fumble into account. I just hope we keep getting characters like Sue, but I also want to continue to have deep dive media like ‘WandaVision’ that go more into this as well. I would just prefer to not have some dude come in and character assassinate said badass woman afterwards. All in all, it’s easy to look into Marvel now and see that Sue is going in the right direction. But I do fear that this will be a lost cause if we are not aware of the mistakes that made Marvel more conscientious of writing a superhero Mom to begin with. Media needs to keep growing and examining the failures of Wanda Maximoff is important to keep progressing powerful superheroes like Sue Storm.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: Ranking the Hashira

Still of the Hashira in ‘Demon Slayer’. Copyright goes to Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I feel like I’ve been in the habit of talking about my unpopular opinions on here lately so I figured I’d might as well continue that trend! I am very opinionated about the Hashira in Demon Slayer. Like VERY opinionated. Though a big part of that is because the Hashira may just be my favorite characters in Demon Slayer (with a few exceptions). One of my favorite things about Demon Slayer is the art style and how different and unique each character looks. I feel like this is demonstrated best with the Hashira and the different styles that they fight with and emulate. Their fight scenes are also always the most interesting to me because of the different styles as well. I’m seriously in love with majority of the Hashira anyways. So I think it was inevitable that I was eventually going to rank them on this blog. Also, controversially as well, this ranking was actually pretty easy for me to come up with. I think it’s actually definitive for me. So let’s get into it!

This will have MINIMAL spoilers. I’m not going to reveal any big plot twists here! I also want to note that this is not my ranking of them strength wise or who would win in a fight. This is entirely my personal ranking of the characters themselves!

9. Sanemi Shinazugawa (Wind Hashira)

I feel like this is an unpopular opinion to some and very much not to others. Sanemi is easily one of the most hated characters in Demon Slayer and for good reason. He’s kind of an asshole. From the beginning he seems to be determined to hate most everyone. He’s not a Hashira that specializes in empathy of any kind and this often includes towards his own family members. If there’s a reason to kill something, he will absolutely kill that something. He’s not interested in hearing anyone’s explanation about anything or listening to any kind of reason. Sanemi is driven solely and completely by anger. And while this is understandable for someone who has a reasonable grudge, it doesn’t excuse how horrible he treats everyone from civilians to other Hashira. He’s a straight up bully. I understand why people think that the dichotomy between his sense of justice and his bullying personality is interesting, but I can’t get past the fact that he’s a bully. If a character treats everyone else like shit, that tells me all I need to know about them. I also think his character design is one of the more boring ones of the Hashira. The scars are cool, but he doesn’t have much more to define him.

8. Obanai Iguro (Serpent Hashira)

Now I know this one is going to be VERY controversial and I would like to apologize. But yeah, I’m not an Obanai fan. It really doesn’t help that he’s basically the Gretchen Weiners to Sanemi’s Regina George. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts of him that are very cool! For one, his design is awesome. I definitely feel that he has one of the more unique looks in Demon Slayer between his covered mouth and his differently colored eyes. I love that he has a snake hanging around him at all times. He’s one of the cooler Hashira to look at certainly. He also has one of those more cool and aloof personalities that can be fun in anime characters sometimes. But he’s also a bully and an ass. A lot of people feel that his relationship with Mitsuri softens him and makes him more likable, but I don’t like how controlling he is. For me, it’s a big ick that he’s telling other people to stay away from Mitsuri without her knowledge or consent. I’ve also never been a big fan of the whole “He’s mean to everyone except for me” trope. Again, the way a character (or a person) treats a majority of people tells me everything I need to know. Obanai may have a cool fighting style (it’s definitely cool to watch) and a great design, but that doesn’t make him a nice person. I know he has a complicated backstory too, but I don’t feel that it absolves him of his behavior.

7. Tengen Uzui (Sound Hashira)

Tengen is a character that I’m a little divided on. I don’t love the fact that he has three wives. I understand that there is history there, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that in the time period Demon Slayer is set in, this was actually a common and very messed up practice. It also demonstrates a very odd power dynamic that I’m not a fan of. I mean, even Rengoku expresses that he’s not comfortable with this aspect of Tengen. Tengen also has been shown to be pretty disrespectful of women, his multiple wives aside. The way he treats the women at the Hashira training camp is pretty despicable and I think this man needs to learn the meaning of consent. However, Tengen can be cool and really nice when he wants to be. He definitely has this protective big brother feel about him when it comes to the trainees and he’s really cool to watch fight. I like how carefree and funny he is at times, but I’m not able to get over the way he treats women. I’m not his biggest fan, but he has his moments. His design is cool too, though it isn’t among my favorites of the Hashira designs.

6. Gyomei Himejima (Stone Hashira)

Now we’re getting to the Hashira that I really love! Gyomei is blind which is awesome as well, I love this representation! He is easily also the strongest and most intimidating of the Hashira. There are very few people who could survive a full on battle with Gyomei. Despite this, he’s the most gentle of all of the Hashira. He easily cries and feels a great amount of empathy for those around him. Unlike most of the other Hashira except for probably Mitsuri and Rengoku, he’s driven more by his sense of empathy that he is by any sense of revenge or justice though that drives him as well. He just wants to keep people safe. I would have placed him higher, but he is one of the least focused on Hashira within the plot. I do really like his design as well though, once again, I don’t feel this is one of the most interesting designs among the Hashira.

5. Giyu Tomioka (Water Hashira)

This is really where it starts to become a tight race within the Hashira. These five characters are my five favorite characters in Demon Slayer partly because I am so obsessed with the Hashira. Giyu has a massive inferiority complex and often sees himself as lesser and less capable than the other Hashira. He’s also one of the most skilled despite what he thinks about himself and is one of the Hashira with the most empathy. Giyu may seem to be very stoic towards the beginning, but all this man really wants is friends. He’s secretly such a softy and he has such a giant capacity for care. I truly love how much he genuinely cares about every other Hashira and trainee (even when certain ones show needless outright hostility towards him). Though he can often be very self-punishing, he pulls through for people where and when it counts. He’s one of my favorite Hashira to watch fighting-wise because I have always loved seeing water used in battle. However, his design while really cool, doesn’t exactly scream “Water Hashira” to me.

4. Muichiro Tokito (Mist Hashira)

Muichiro is a badass. There are very few other Hashira who are as strong as Muichiro is and Muchiro is younger than all of them. Also, between him having one of the most interesting looks of all the Hashira and having an incredible fighting style, he’s one of the coolest Hashira just to look at in any given scene. I love his character arc as well! There aren’t many Hashira who connect with Tanjiro as quickly or as deeply as Muchiro does and it’s such an interesting dynamic to watch! While Muichiro initially comes off as very intimidating, he has this childishness and naivety to him that is incredibly endearing. He’s eerie on the battlefield but downright adorable off of it. This juxtaposition creates such a dynamic character that outshines many other characters that are perhaps given a little more screen time. He makes every moment on screen between his fights and his personal conversations matter. I honestly think he may be one of the most dynamic characters in Demon Slayer because of how many sides to him that we get to see.

3. Shinobu Kocho (Insect Hashira)

While Shinobu is most certainly not a physically strong Hashira, she is absolutely the most intellectually strong. Most of the other Hashira have trained themselves on how to win combat with brute strength, but Shinobu focuses on the intricacies of strategy and the use of poison. This also makes her an incredible healer. As someone who plays healers in RPG games, I love seeing a healer depicted in any sort of battle based shows. Often times healers are just sort of left out of the equation, so I love to see her in this lineup. I also absolutely adore her design between the purple and the gorgeous outfit that she wears. It may be my favorite outfit design and it’s certainly one of the most iconic from the show. The only character in Demon Slayer who I think has an even more dynamic personality than Muichiro is certainly Shinobu. She comes off almost eerily sweet. There’s something not quite right to it and eventually Tanjiro figures out that there is this underlying layer of anger that is constantly simmering under the surface. Her empathy is certainly present still, but her righteous anger is so much fun to see from such a simultaneously sweet character. There’s a fun danger to her!

2. Kyojuro Rengoku (Flame Hashira)

There are very few Hashira as outwardly positive and kind as Rengoku is. He is the character in Demon Slayer who sort of brings comfort when he comes on screen. When Rengoku is there you get this distinct feeling that everything will be ok, even if that isn’t the case. He’s the main big brother of the show in the way that he takes the main characters under his wing and protects them. No other character demonstrates empathy in the way Rengoku does and you really get the feeling that he’s a Hashira because he’s such a kind person. While there are a few Hashira who dislike each other, everyone loves and respects Rengoku because he’s put in the effort to validate and connect with them all. Just look at how much he encourages Mitsuri to be herself! He also has one of the most iconic designs along with Shinobu and I would even say it’s become one of the most iconic anime character designs of all time. (Though I also think this about Shinobu.) Rengoku’s battles are my favorite in Demon Slayer so far between the use of his fire powers contrasted with the darkness and the amazing battle themes that Rengoku gets. He’s just an icon.

  1. Misturi Kanroji (Love Hashira)

And…..nobody is surprised. As soon as I saw that there was an adorable pink haired character in this anime I knew she was going to be my favorite. I didn’t necessarily realize that she was going to become one of my favorite anime characters of all time, if not my favorite. Mitsuri is so relatable in that she falls head over heels a smidge too easily and she absolutely adores food. She is also incredibly empathetic almost to a fault and is the only Hashira to have joined the Demon Slayer core because it was basically just a job path that she wanted to pursue despite having a very excellent home life. Mitsuri is encouraging to everyone and incredibly kind, despite having her own history. She’s also one of the Hashira with the most relatable backstories. Mitsuri has had to learn over the years how to love herself because parts of herself were deemed weird or unacceptable by societal standards. Her being the love Hashira is not only about romantic love but also encapsulates her journey of self love which is so incredibly important. I often feel that she has one of the most teachable episodes of all of the Hashira because of this. On top of that she has my favorite character design with all the pink and hearts! The figures I have of her are some of my favorites in my room!

I absolutely know that a lot of people will disagree with my ranking and I have no problem with that! I very obviously prefer my super sweet and nice characters and that’s absolutely an opinion. Feel free to share your opinions as well! I’m always open to hearing them!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: Femininity in Fantasy

Stock photo from Dreamtime.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I was originally planning on doing a completely different post this week; but every once in a while I stumble back into this unfortunate conversation. And while this conversation has taken many different forms and attacked many different women for different things, a lot of it has stemmed from the question; does pink belong in fantasy? I’ve seen this conversation take place in all types of media and fandom from books to LARPs (Live Action Role Play events) and it honestly drives me crazy. If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might know that I have particular affinity for the color pink. I’m pretty sure I wrote an entire post about it a few years back and it is the color of basically my entire appearance, so you can probably gather that I’m a little biased. The thing is, I can stand to listen to a few men talk about how pink isn’t a natural fantasy color (which is bullshit and I’ll get into why in a little bit), but I will absolutely not stand for it especially when there is bullying of any kind. So we’re just going to jump into why pink absolutely deserves to be in fantasy media and also why the attack on the color pink is actually just a very sexist attack in general. Yes, even in your LARPs.

“But pink wasn’t used in medieval times!”:

I’ve seen this argument all the time and rage just fills my body every time I hear it. Pink is a natural color in nature! Just think about what they might have used from nature to dye clothing at the time. We know that flowers were sometime ground up for things like beauty and skin products, but we also know that berries and other objects with a lot of juice were used for dye. And you might be thinking; “but those are red!” If you’ve ever dyed anything you know that it doesn’t take much to dilute red into pink especially if you’re putting it on something white. We also have tons of medieval paintings that depict the color pink. So we can get rid of this odd notion right away that pink somehow didn’t exist in those times in clothing or in art. Yes, it very much did!

“It removes my immersion!”:

This was an argument specifically used in a particularly popular situation involving a popular LARP Youtube personality. Yes, I am a fan of Mo Mo O’ Brien and we are going to talk about this because this was a catastrophic move made by a specific LARP and players of said LARP that scared many women, myself included, from booking games that they had planned to book for several reasons. The first being what happened and the second being the way the LARP community reacted to what happened. At a LARP styled after the Witcher series, Mo Mo went to the LARP dressed in armor that had the color pink in it. She was reportedly bullied all weekend for the color and when she decided to talk about it on the internet, many people came out to bash her choice of wardrobe. First off, a natural color in nature should not be removing your immersion. Secondly, it did not escape my notice that this LARP is attended by mostly men and the intense backlash also came from mostly men. A ton of people from this LARP also came out and said that she had been acting like a diva all weekend in response to this and that the wardrobe rules were clear. When it was found that wearing the color pink was not specifically stated in the rules, the story changed to them saying that nobody had ever said anything about her wearing pink. This started a chain of discomfort when it came to all LARP. Mo Mo and other content creators like her became uncomfortable going to LARP which also meant that their followers, mostly women, stopped booking tickets or changed their minds about attending. If someone so well known in the community could get bullied at a campaign simply for being feminine at a LARP, then what would happen to all of the pink girlies who wanted to engage in something like this?

“LARP is mostly for men.”:

When I was a kid, my favorite television show was Power Rangers. I was the type of kid who loved a good action and adventure type show, but I also loved Power Rangers because there was a pink Power Ranger who was a girl. It was one of the only action shows for kids at the time that actually also had women in them in a prominent role. I know that people look at LARP games and think that it’s mostly hitting each other with foam which is a guy thing. Firstly, not all LARP is like that, in fact role-play LARP has shot up in popularity. Secondly, women like those things too! Feminine colors or characters are not the antithesis of action or fantasy games nor have they ever been. Some of the most fantasy right now is coming from women who are romantacy authors. And dis-including women from those spaces only make them worse. The two most popular LARP creators we’ve had are both women. It was them who introduced enough people to LARP that created the huge boom that we saw for a while there that now seems to have disappeared, partly because of this scenario. Even if the people defending the Witcher LARP were genuine about the behavior of Mo Mo and her friends, they still did not defend her or any of the other women who have been attacked for being “too feminine” in an environment that historically actually did have the color pink. And even if it didn’t, they didn’t defend a woman trying to be comfortably herself in a geeky space.

So what does this have to do with fantasy media?:

Femininity has always been looked down on in geek culture if it’s there for any other reason than to be sexualized. We all know how difficult it has been for women to enter geeky spaces before. It’s a creepy place out there where we’re treated with very little respect. Either your knowledge is questioned or you’re way too sexualized far too much of the time. This also shows up so much in fantasy media in the way that women are portrayed. And it also shows up in conversations about what kinds of fantasy media deserve praise or recognition. One of my favorite fantasy series of all time is ‘Once Upon a Broken Heart’ by Stephanie Garber which has a main character who’s very hyper feminine and has pink hair. Even for a fantasy series like that, you don’t see a lot of hyper-feminine presenting main characters. If romance and fantasy stories written by female authors are already put down by most geek and media communities and seen as less than or not real fantasy when they have main characters who don’t present hyper-feminine; where does that leave those of us who present hyper-feminine and want to continue to enjoy our geeky fandoms and our community in the way we want? All aspects of women deserve to be celebrated in all kinds of fandom spaces and things that are perceived to be feminine should be given the same respect as anything else.

Our communities are so much better with women and when you tell women that certain aspects they may have are not acceptable in your community, it no longer matters whether or not that is an aspect they personally identify with. If a geek community said that they had an issue with goth women in their community, I would also feel uncomfortable in that community. Not because I’m goth, but because I am uncomfortable supporting or participating in a community that tells women how it is or is not acceptable for them to be or dress or even act. We need to practice supporting women in geek communities more actively and that means every geek community. We also need to practice standing up for women presenting the way that they want to, because if it’s a no to one of us then all of us should be saying no in return.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Book Adaptations: Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1

Screenshot of Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson. Copyright goes to Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

The first half of the newest season of Bridgerton dropped and I definitely have a lot of thoughts. But seriously, I’ve been waiting for this one for so long! Benedict is my favorite of the Bridgerton men and he has been since the first season, so I’m honestly so happy to finally see him as the main love interest in a season. But of course, with looking forward to this season as much as I was, I also had high hopes that I was absolutely worried would not be met. Last season of Bridgerton definitely could have been better in a lot of ways and this season seemed to be sort of a test for a lot of people of whether or not Bridgerton as a show can be trusted going forward. That’s not to say that my opinion won’t change, because it is just the first half of the season, but I do believe that this first half will be a really good informant of how the rest of the season will go. So, how is it so far?

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4 SO FAR!!

Main Romance:

This is my favorite romance we’ve seen in Bridgerton so far, nobody come for me. I mean, I get that people love enemies to lovers and I don’t blame them. However, this is the trope that I like. I love a good golden retriever man and, to be frank, this should have been Colin last season. Penelope deserved a golden retriever man. But I also think we all knew that Benedict would be this in the end and I’m so happy to see it. I was just reading a post about how every other Bridgerton man has had so many moments where they brood and make things more complicated. Benedict has been nothing but calm and understanding this entire season thus far. Sophie is such an amazing main character to follow as well, I already love how adorable and sassy she is. Seriously, she may be my favorite of the main female characters we’ve gotten so far as well, though her staying my favorite will likely not continue (‘cough’ Eloise ‘cough’), but it would be through no fault of her own. I’m also loving how much the Bridgerton family loves her as well, it’s adorable to see her so appreciated. Together, these two are so incredibly cute and almost childlike together. They have this very adorable quality of bringing out the whimsy in each other that I absolutely love. We’ll have to see how the end of this season changes their dynamic because it could absolutely affect how I feel specifically about Benedict. If he remains as understanding as he has been then we shouldn’t have a problem, but I do know in the book his quest to make her his mistress becomes more manipulative as it goes on. Benedict is fairly different personality wise in the show compared to the book (much less broody), so we may have some luck here! I also loved the dreamy quality of the masquerade and this has been a wonderfully fresh Cinderella take so far.

Francesca:

It is very clear that this series is setting up Francesca figuring out that she’s not actually attracted to men. While Benedict is absolutely a bisexual, a fact that this season has only confirmed, it seems as though Francesca will be depicted as being lesbian. I actually like this so much! As someone who is pansexual and also identifies with the bi community, I often find that characters are passed off as bisexual so that the audience will find them more palatable as a queer person. It’s almost this idea that a character having the ability to like the opposite sex as well as their own gender identity means that they are kind of straight to the audience so that way everyone’s happy. This mentality is used way too often and actually makes nobody happy. It cheapens the bi representation that you already have while also being a disservice to other forms of queer representation. Francesca being a lesbian actually introduces a wider variety of queer identities within the Bridgerton family which I’m super excited about. I’m so excited to see how Michaela is written into the latter half of the season; but I do have some concerns. Francesca discovering her sexuality has been great so far, but I do still think there’s an issue with Francesca falling for Michaela first. It changes the whole dynamic of the book and I still strongly feel that Michaela should have fallen first. I also am hoping that they hold off on Francesca’s season because I do think we need to see Francesca mourn for a little while after her husband dies. I fear they are moving a little too fast with this before letting us get used to the characters and I’m hoping they will give this a little bit more time to develop.

Eloise:

I know I’m biased when I say this, but I want her season next. Yes, she’s my favorite character and I’m antsy to know what they’re going to do with her. But I also feel like she needs her season to be next as a character. This season Eloise has decided that she’s going to be a spinster and is dealing with the repercussions of what that actually looks like in society. This is super interesting to me, but I don’t think we can have another season of this storyline. We need a more active Eloise and I think that means having her season next. I feel like she’s reached the point where her character could grow stagnant in the storyline if they don’t focus up. Deciding that she’s a spinster is sort of an end of the line decision until something can come in and change her mind about it. I’m still hoping that her season is good to her. I would honestly prefer an entire season where she returns to politics and finds Theo Sharpe again; that would be my dream Eloise season. I have a feeling they’re going to try and make it book adjacent though and I’m very scared about that. Either way, I want to see her back with radicals! I do also love how much she’s been helping Benedict this season though. They’ve always had my favorite Bridgerton sibling relationship.

Violet:

I love that we’re getting a Violet romance storyline here. I do feel like it takes up a bit too much screen time, but I would remiss if I didn’t say that it’s super cute. It’s important that we see romance between people of all ages on our screens in media and I love that they’re doing that here. Also, do you see the way he looks at her????? I’m dead. But seriously, this is the side story with the most screen time and I feel like it’s taking up half the show. Just give Violet her own season! I’d watch it!

Hyacinth:

I know that they’re trying to make her more of a familiar character, but I’m just not loving her this season so far. I felt like they wanted me to side with her over Eloise when she calls Eloise selfish for talking down about typical women’s duties of the time period, but I couldn’t. Firstly, Eloise is completely correct for saying that this being all that a woman is allowed to do is kind of horrific. I’m not finding many flaws in Eloise treating something that is sexist with sarcasm. Especially because it is very well tied to her own insecurities. Secondly, Hyacinth has been coming off a little spoiled this season. All she seems to talk about is her own rich person privilege and wanting a husband. It feels like she’s trying to be the second Daphne, which feels a little tired since we’ve already had a whole season of Daphne. Hyacinth this season is only adding fuel to my opinion that maybe Bridgerton will have to stop after Eloise and Francesca, but we’ll see what happens there. I just don’t feel that Hyacinth or Gregory are being written with the same pull that the other Bridgerton siblings had. To be fair though, Francesca only became interesting in the last season and she’s become one of my favorite characters so we’ll have to see.

Lady Danbury:

I’m a little confused with what they’re doing here. I could have sworn that they were looking to replace Lady Danbury, but they’ve recently come out and said that she isn’t going anywhere. I understand covering a storyline where her and the Queen are having some sort of falling out, but I feel like there needs to be a better point to it as the season goes on considering that they aren’t actually writing out Lady Danbury.

Penelope:

I love her this season and I love seeing how confident she is as Whistledown. I also love her team ups with Eloise again, I seriously missed those moments. I still think she deserves way better than Colin, but I love where they’ve gone with her character. It’s really cool to see her with the Queen and Lady Danbury so much this season! It feels like she’s joined the table of badass women and I love that for her.

These are my thoughts so far, but who knows what might happen! I’m really excited for the next half of the season to come out so I can refine some of these opinions and/or double down. I am also excited because they did announce that the next season of Bridgerton will be filming in March of this year, which also likely means there will be a shorter wait between this season of Bridgerton and the next one. We also had it confirmed that Eloise and Francesca will be the next two seasons, though we don’t know in what order. This likely means that we’ll get an announcement of the two leads in the next season very quickly after this season ends! I can’t tell you how much I’m anticipating that announcement! I still hope that it’s Eloise, but I also love Francesca so I’ll be happy with either. I just really want to know what will happen with Eloise and I want Francesca to have a little more character padding before we get to her. I’ll be happy with whatever announcement they make though! I mean, c’mon, it’s Bridgerton!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Book Adaptations: Bridgerton Couples

Trailer screenshot of (left) Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson from ‘Bridgerton’ season four. Copyright goes to Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

Like many people right now, a lot of my only joy from this month has been looking forward to the next season of Bridgerton that’s coming out next week. This month has only been getting worse and worse and if you have not seen what’s currently going on in the US, I highly encourage you to look it up. I know that when uncomfortable things start to happen, it becomes second nature for people to just want to look away. It’s more important than ever that we don’t. Hope is coming from all around, from our communities protecting others, even from other countries lending their support. This doesn’t mean you have to doom-scroll, please don’t. But at least keep yourself in the know. That aside, the next season of Bridgerton seems to be a small light for all of us that enjoy it as a fandom and hyper-fixation and for good reason. This season could shape up to be the best season of Bridgerton yet. Not only is Benedict a fan favorite, (I mean, he’s the best Bridgerton brother don’t come for me) but this season is a Cinderella re-telling complete with a masquerade ball. I’m already head over heels for Eloise and her Joan of Arc look. However, most people are also hoping that this season of Bridgerton will also make up for the last season which, understandably, didn’t go over very well. As it’s gotten closer to this new season I have also seen people talk more about the Bridgerton books as well as the couples we will be seeing in the future and the problems that may arise from that, even if this season ends up being the best season yet. With all of this in mind, I want to talk about the past couples in Bridgerton as well as the ones we have yet to see and delve into the negatives and positives of what we have seen and what we have yet to see.

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BRIDGERTON SEASONS AND BOOKS!!!

Daphne and Simon:

This is quite possibly the most controversial couple from the seasons and books and that is saying something. Because almost all of the couples, in the books at least, are controversial for one reason or another. Daphne and Simon start out very nicely as a pretty fun fake-dating trope. Their chemistry is off the charts and their banter is even better; they honestly could be one of the couples that is the most fun to watch at first. And then we get to the latter half of their season. Their married life is horrendous with the entirely of it being them either having sex or fighting. There is no tenderness to their married life and there is certainly no romance here. It becomes even worse when you look at all the consent problems in their marriage. Yes, the glaring one here is that Daphne does seriously SA Simon in their relationship; however I really do question the people who put Daphne entirely at fault here. Daphne was failed by her mother in that she was told nothing about sex or how it worked and Simon knew this. Before they were even married they had a previous conversation where Daphne made it clear to Simon what she did know and what she did not and Simon deliberately kept that information from her for his own devices. Let’s repeat that again; he stole knowledge, consent, and autonomy from her for his own comfort. This is not to say that what Daphne did wasn’t reprehensible, but I don’t understand the people who think Simon is completely innocent. I would argue that what he did was just as bad and violated her consent just as much. Keep in mind the power he had over her as her husband because of the lack of rights for women at the time. So while the first half of the season is fun to watch, the second half most certainly sours it. While I understand why this season took off, I also understand why people aren’t re-watching it much and are glad to have moved on.

Anthony and Kate:

This is the season that most people will say is the peak of Bridgerton so far and I understand why that’s being said. This season was by far the most fun and had some of the best side-stories without taking too much from the main plot. We got a little more side characters this time without their storylines feeling pointless like the last season (Anthony) and a good amount of the main couple. However, I am not as big of a fan of Anthony and Kate as many are. Don’t get me wrong, they were one of the best parts of season three. Like seriously adorable and I wish we would have gotten more of that in this one. I just couldn’t help but feel like they were both being so horrible to Edwina and I mostly just felt bad for her the entire time. Also, Anthony can get on my nerves at times and I feel like he only softened towards the end of the season. However, the colors are even more vibrant this time, the sex scenes are not as frequent but far more meaningful, and the characters have far more personality in this season. While I could have done with a less harmful enemies to lovers, they are kind of perfect together. Kate also annoyed me with her treatment of Edwina but I loved the very feminist conversations she has with Lady Danbury and Eloise this season as well. I also absolutely ADORED Eloise’s whole storyline that centered around her activism. LOVED that. Anthony and Kate also have proven themselves over the seasons to be the most healthy couple of the couples that have formed so far, even if they were a mess getting there. So yeah, I agree that this is the best season we’ve gotten so far. But there’s room for improvement.

Colin and Penelope:

This last season was a whole mess for so many reasons. Firstly, this was one of the worst balances we’ve ever seen between side storylines and the main story. We were almost getting just as much Benedict galavanting and Penelope’s sisters trying to get pregnant as we were getting the main couple. But also, I don’t like Colin. This was the major issue with the season and the reason why most people didn’t click with it. Penelope is a badass who deserves the world and yes, she absolutely makes mistakes. Eloise has every right to be angry at her. But even Eloise forgives and supports Penelope at important intervals where Colin doesn’t. We can all agree, Penelope deserves so much better. There’s even a point in this season where Colin almost punishes Penelope by deciding to take her ability of choice away. Think of how devastating that would be for a woman at this time! I think part of his had to do with the writers not being very willing to change things about the books that needed to change. Colin in the books is even worse to Penelope, granted, but this season could have gone about his pain at her deceit in a different way. This makes me wonder if they’ll be more careful with the other controversial books going forward. The Penelope and Colin book is one of the least liked in the Bridgerton collection because of the way Colin acts and there’s another book specifically that’s even worse (we’ll get to that in a second). I just really hope that they’ve learned their lesson here and are willing to change things that should be changed going forward. In the very least, I love the mother-daughter relationship switch between Penelope and Lady Featherington.

Benedict and Sophie:

This is one of the most liked Bridgerton books and the whole concept of it feels rich and decadent. I mean, who isn’t excited by a Masquerade ball? The book is also liked very much because of the whole Cinderella effect. However, I worry about Benedict a little bit. From what I have heard people say about the book, Benedict gets very manipulative and at times uses Sophie’s status as a maid to take her ability of choice out of the equation. In particular, he does this to move her around to whichever Bridgerton house he likes when she starts working for them. There’s also a whole thing in the book where he really tries to force her to be his mistress. I’m sure a lot of the plot points will still be there, so I’m hoping they will be very careful about how Benedict comes off as these things happen. Benedict is my favorite of all the men in the series and if they mess him up, I am going to be so incredibly upset. I feel like they’ve made Benedict good natured enough that I can see a lot of his motivations for things changing from the book, but still I worry after last season. I have full hopes that this could be the best season we’ve gotten. I just hope that I haven’t gotten my hopes up too high. But I mean, Benedict is the best and I love a good Cinderella re-telling. I have a good feeling about this one! This is also generally the best reviewed book of the seasons we’ve gotten so far.

Francesca and Mikayla:

I know people were angry about the gender change and thought that Benedict or Eloise should the queer ones; partly because this is the most liked Bridgerton book. I heavily disagree with this. Not only could we possibly get other queer storylines, but we need queer representation like Francesca. Hyper-feminine women can be queer too! I also think that they can still do some of the plot points here. I think the only misstep I see so far was Francesca’s reaction to meeting Mikayla. As per the novel, Mikayla should have been the one to fall in love at first sight and I think it messes up the dynamic a bit to give that reaction to Francesca instead. A lot of people also say they don’t like this because Francesca really wants kids in the novel and that’s a whole thing. Firstly, we already got that with Daphne and Julia Quinn wrote all of her female protagonists to really want kids which I don’t feel is very modern. (Although I do very much like Julia Quinn.) Secondly, queer people have been finding alternative ways to have children for a very very long time. I think they will absolutely still be able to stay true to the heart of this novel with it being a WLW storyline and I am personally very excited to see it. Especially because this is the couple that is widely believed to be the healthiest and best of all of the novels and I love that this was given to a queer couple.

Eloise and Phillip?:

This is the least liked novel of them all and this is saying something. I can tell you right now, I am terrified about this season. Especially because, like many, Eloise is my favorite Bridgerton character. If you are unfamiliar with the current conversations circulating about this; Eloise’s book involves her writing letters to a man many years older than her who has a whole host of kids. She eventually marries him and is forced to make motherhood her entire life…and that’s the book. Seriously. Now I will say, one of the things that gives me hope is that Eloise is almost a completely different character in the series than she is in the novels. The writers really seem like they’re going in a direction with Eloise that is already against what the novels portray and I can’t see that character fitting into this plot. I almost wonder if they’ll change it altogether and I feel like this is given even more sway when you think about the fact that Sir Phillip has already shown up. You very briefly see him in the first season and it did not seem like they were really expecting anyone to have much of an impression of him from the way they kind of shoehorned him in. (Although the actor is very handsome.) If they do decide they are going to keep Eloise with Sir Phillip, they are going to have to change at least sixty percent of the novel. This is literally the season I am most afraid of and I will never forgive them if they mess up Eloise. Considering she’s one of the most popular characters, I’m sure they’re feeling the pressure, as they should. Hopefully it will boost them to make necessary changes.

The Last Two:

The last two Bridgertons are Hyacinth and Gregory and I will tell you right now that I have not heard much about their books. This is partly because they are the two least read books in the series. Most people stop reading the books before they get to the last ones, which makes me wonder if we’ll ever get them. At least for now, these characters are very side-lined and not too many people have an interest in them yet. They are getting to the age where they could possibly do their own seasons if you’re considering the two year gap between each season that we’re getting and the knowledge that we’ll still have at least two seasons before them. The actress who plays Hyacinth will be twenty-four or twenty-six by the time we get to her season if that puts it into perspective. But I do think whether or not we get their seasons will be highly dependent on how well Bridgerton is doing by that point. I will leave it at that for now. Who knows! Maybe this new season will flesh out the characters enough for me to believe we’ll get seasons for them in the future. They will definitely be younger filming them than any of the rest of the cast has been though, which also makes me wonder.

I’m so excited for this next season but also very nervous! But you can still count on the fact that I will be watching the first four episodes on the day they come out. Apparently Thursdays are now both Critical Role and Bridgerton days!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: Critical Role Campaign 4

Photo copyright of ‘Critical Role’. Cast pictured (from top left) Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, Sam Reigel Liam O’Brien, Alexander Ward, Aabria Iyengar, Ashely Johnson, Robbie Daymond, (bottom left) Taliesin Jaffe, Laura Bailey, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Luis Carazo, Matthew Mercer, and Whitney Moore.

Hi! It’s Annie!

It’s been a while since I’ve made a full post about ‘Critical Role’ but it’s honestly about time. Especially because the most recent campaign of this amazing Dungeons and Dragons show has made so many major changes that we just absolutely have to talk about it. After Campaign 3, it was absolutely inevitable that ‘Critical Role’ was going to have to completely pivot. For one, the campaign wrapped up the entire world that Matthew Mercer has made so far including going back to and wrapping up the stories of past campaigns. So we knew from the get-go that this would have to be an entirely new world. However, if you also take into consideration how many people at the end of the campaign were kind of disappointed with it overall and were calling for the permanent addition of Robbie Daymond, it really felt like more than the world was going to have to change when it came to Critical Role. People absolutely loved the first campaign, they seemed to hit their stride in the second, and the third fell much flatter in comparison to that. The formula needed an update. Enter Campaign 4 complete with several new cast members, a completely new formula, and even (to everyone’s shock) a new Dungeon Master. Now that we’ve gotten a fair few episodes, I’m going to go into the individual characters, my thoughts so far, and what changes really stand out this time around.

WARNING: SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Brennan Lee Mulligan-DM:

This has to be the biggest change and announcement that has come from this campaign. Matthew Mercer has been a forever DM by his own admission for longer than ‘Critical Role’ has been a show. He’s become the standard of what a DM should be in a lot of D&D playing households. But if there’s one person people would be ok with taking over the role, it was going to be Brennan Lee Mulligan. Brennan is known for his brand of comedy and his world building, but he’s also known for just being a hell of an engaging DM in the D&D sphere. Brennan had gotten to a point where he absolutely was rivaling Matt in who was the more revered DM amongst fans of the game. Brennan is also just known for being an incredibly intelligent and genuine person. When I initially heard he was going to be the DM, I was incredibly happy. I knew immediately that I would miss Matt’s DM style, but I completely trusted Brennan to shake things up in the way that they needed to be. I will say that his style is absolutely different. Not only have we separated into several tables because of the amount of players, but we’re certainly a little more combat-centric so far. I’ve always been more of a role-play gal myself, but Brennan makes things fun even if I do miss more role-play heavy sessions. There have been a lot of people accusing Brennan of making things too easy for the players, but I have really not found this to be the case. While he does make allowances and adds some convenient home-brew rules; he’s also been known to throw in a very deadly twist or two and he already has in this game. I only anticipate that getting worse. Brennan is less afraid of character deaths, so I’m anticipating some of those here. I think people who say that Brennan is making things too easy are speaking WAY too soon.

The Soldiers Table (So far)

(I say this because at this point we don’t know if tables will be switching as it goes on. I feel like it probably will because it only makes sense to have chances for all the characters to interact and so different things, but we’ll have to see.)

Thimble:

Thimble is Laura’s character and I would safely say she is the leader of the Soldiers table, which I don’t think anyone was expecting…especially not Laura. I love that Laura finally got her rogue here and I love even more that she’s this adorable and badass little fairy. Thimble has also become the scariest member of the Soldiers table because this character just seems to roll so damn well. Thimble has taken out entire rooms of people by herself at this point, which is hilarious considering she’s a tiny fairy who fights with a toy sword. Thimble has lost possibly the most coming into this campaign, so it’s really interesting to see Laura play a character who you can tell used to be so much more carefree and optimistic and has now been hardened by the world. Because of this, Thimble is very much the driving force of this table. People were speculating this would be more of a Jester type for her, but it’s honestly not. I think that Laura has actually been pretty adamant about making her characters just completely different from each other. I will say, Thimble might be my favorite character she’s played other than Jester.

Teor Pridesire:

Moving on with Travis, we do have a bit of a switch up for him again character wise. Teor falls more along the lines of Fjord where we have Travis playing a bit more of a serious and strategic character. Now, with this being the fourth campaign, it feels like he switches pretty evenly between comedic characters and strategic leader types. Teor is basically a very noble giant lion man who is a paladin. (More specifically he is a Nama.) So far Teor has been the protector of the group for the most part. He has quite literally pledged to protect other members of his party and he’s one of the heaviest hitters at the table. His large stature certainly helps his more intimidating look. But Teor does come off as a huge softy too. So far I’ve really liked how sweet he is with Thimble and Wick specifically but Teor isn’t necessarily the most outspoken member of the group. It is interesting to see Travis basically take the observant strategist role at the table. I certainly like Teor more than Chetney so far, but I think I’ll need to see a little more before I determine anything about Grog and Fjord.

Kattigan Vale:

Kattigan is Robbie Daymond’s very very attractive new character. I mean, if you weren’t sold on the art (you were), all you have to do is hear how Robbie voices him. Kattigan is a human ranger with a wolf companion and a chip on his shoulder. At first he appears very carefree, maybe even Captain Jack Sparrow-like, but through several Robbie hints we’ve found out that he’s much more complicated and scarred than he lets on. I also love his relationship so far with Thimble as he seems to soften up the most around her and his relationship with Tyranny is so interesting. He seems to have a strict moral code that makes Tyranny kind of a conundrum to him, but one that he’s intrigued by. But I’m just going to say, I’m so ready for more backstory here. Robbie has put so much into that mystery already. One thing is for sure though, he’s basically the exact opposite of Dorian and you can’t make me choose between them.

Wicander Halovar:

I have no idea what goes on in Sam Reigel’s head, but I feel like his characters just keep getting better and better. And all of his characters are amazing! Wicander Halovar is a human cleric who is basically the face of a very prevalent and controversial church and Sam basically wrote the bible of this church as lore for his character. What the hell, Sam. I have to say, this backstory is the most interesting to me so far and it’s clear that Sam put all of his creativity into it. He’s also a character who very much tries to stick to moral good and finds that more difficult as he realizes the morals he was taught were not good. Still, this character is much like FCG in that he’s the most pure-hearted of them all. You can tell that FCG really stuck with Sam and I can’t blame him; I love FCG. One of the best parts of campaign three right there. I am just continuously astounded by Wick and he’s been one of the most interesting parts of the whole campaign so far as well as just being funny as hell.

Tyranny:

This teifling warlock seems to be so many people’s favorites already. She’s the chaotic wildcard of this campaign, but in such a different way than how you would think. She basically works as a duo with Wick and she’s a demon who Wick is trying to teach to be good. Tyranny is actively very much trying to be a good person, which is just so cute. Tyranny is not played as being naive but is just trying to do the right thing while protecting Wick who is basically her master but also her best friend. She’s often smarter than him, but she really sees the good in him and she believes in that more than anything else. She also has the best design of any character in this campaign; I mean, c’mon, she’s pink. She has this childlike wonder to her that absolutely comes from Whitney Moore being so new to playing D&D in this way and it’s such a joy to see. I feel like that’s where she became more of a wild card and she’s the perfect balance to Sam’s character. This duo is one of my favorite things about the campaign so far.

The Schemers Table (So far)

(From here on out I’m writing a little less because we haven’t gotten so much from these characters yet.)

Azune Nayar:

Luis Carazo has crafted a human paladin/sorcerer for this campaign and so far, I just need to see more. I don’t think I’ve seen enough of him and I so far think what we have seen is a little generic freedom fighter. I don’t want to judge him too early on, but whenever a human comes into the mix, I need something else to make me really interested. There are a lot of humans at the table this time, but this one is the least interesting to me so far. I’m just hoping we see more personality as we start getting into the Schemers table.

Murray Mag’nesson:

Marisha ray was hilarious for making this character. A dwarven wizard who’s tough as nails but is so exasperated by everything going on that she’s losing hope and her marbles very quickly. Murray already feels like such a fun character with such an immediately striking personality. I already want more of her and she’s one of the ones I’m looking forward to seeing more of most. I can’t say where I’d rank her yet among Marisha’s characters, but I will say that it’s giving Laudna levels of camp. Which I love! I mean, Laudna could be argued to be the best character of the last campaign.

Bolaire Lothalia:

Only Taliesin, man. Only Taliesin could come up with a character this quirky who is a sentient mask that wears other people. Bolaire, a warlock, was automatically one of the most charismatic and intriguing characters in the first episode and I have eaten up every moment that we’ve gotten since. He’s so observant, flamboyant, and exacting that it’s hard to not want to know everything that’s going on in his head. I want more backstory immediately. This is the character I’m most excited to see more of when we switch tables and I would certainly say that this may end up ranking among Percy and Caduceus at the top of my list for him; certainly better than Ashton.

Halandil Fang:

Hal is an orc bard who also is a very good father and runs all the major theatrical productions in the city. That in itself is pretty damn cool and really what sets this character apart. Towards the beginning I was worried he’d be another more generic freedom fighter, but so far he’s kind of giving me the vibes of Chris Pine’s character in the newest D&D movie. But sort of like that character after the movie has ended. His character is so soft-spoken and sweet yet strong and I’m excited to see where that will go. I don’t know that I’ll like him more than Vax or Caleb, but probably more than Orym. This character is a bit more wholesome like Orym is, but in a completely different way and it’s fun to see him lean into that fatherly side.

The Seekers table (So far):

Occtis Tachonis:

I think everyone can agree that Alexander Ward’s Necromancer human is one of the most interesting additions so far. Especially because he’s the walking dead and Brennan, in one of the most shocking moments I’ve ever seen on ‘Critical Role’, killed him during an episode. It was the most traumatic episode I’ve ever seen, but it was also so cool. Occtis is slightly awkward, very dorky, but also incredibly likable from the off. He may be introverted, but damn is he interesting. This is one of the main characters to watch in this campaign. I’m seriously impressed by the game the new players are bringing.

Thaisha Lloy:

I love that Aabria Iyengar gave us a gorgeous orc druid who is a mother who is going out there doing stuff. The father stays at home, the mother is the one who’s following her calling. I love how beautiful her powers are described to be so far. Like almost decadent. I also love how much of a badass she is and how badass of representation of women and mothers she is. Seriously, how can you not love her from the off? She’s already the great protector of the campaign. She will throw hands for any of her loved ones. I would want Thaisha to have my back more than any other character thus far. Except for maybe…

Valeus:

Ashely Johnson’s drow paladin is a force to be reckoned with. As in, you could feel it from the minute Ashely introduced her character. You do not mess with her, she will kick your ass. She gives big assassin vibes, honestly calling back to Yasha just a bit. But this character also has a whimsy and a grace to her that you don’t expect. She’s easily one of the biggest presences at the table and another character I can’t wait to get to. Seriously, I just want to get to this table already. I want to know more!! I already think this is one of my favorites she’s played and she seems so confident playing her too! I just want more of this badass lady!!

Sir Julien Davanos:

I was expecting Matt to come out swinging with his first full campaign PC and boy did he. Julien is an asshole who immediately gets on everyone’s bad side, but that only makes him more intriguing. He’s no hero, but he’s on their side. Serious Boromir vibes here. But he’s just so interesting as is his relationship to his family and how I feel like he is slowly starting to care about things. I want to see this man thaw damn it!!! A human fighter with so much personality already, Matt is already proving himself on the PC side. This table is looking so promising already!

That’s my run down so far. I might do an update as we get more, but this cast is already so stacked. I wonder how Brennan will balance everything but at the same time, it’s clear this world he’s made is so rich. I want a little more hopeful whimsy and RP than we’re getting, but we’ve also only been at the table specifically made for more combat so far, so we’ll see how things go. Also, I just know my takes on characters will change as it goes and I’m curious to see if my initial impressions will remain. I’m excited to get to know more characters! Although I’m really going to miss Wick and Tyranny for a while.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Unpopular Opinion: ‘People We Meet on Vacation’ and the Movie

All copyright goes to Netflix and Emily Henry. Photo is from Netflix.

Hi! It’s Annie!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve written that and I apologize for the radio silence over what has now been years. Life changes, a lot, and life certainly also gets very busy. For example; full time jobs, Master’s degrees, and even a fiancee. And while my life only seems to get busier, I do feel a disconnect from myself when I’m not writing. Not having this blog has made me feel like I left a part of myself behind. Sooooo….I’m really excited to get back to it! That was my long and very rambly way of saying that I really missed this. And my shiny new Master’s degree also means that there’s a specific topic I am even more qualified to talk about: Books!!!! I have read a lot, in fact I have only been reading more as the years go on. I totaled at seventy books last year, so really that’s gotta go somewhere. Anyone who has read my posts on this blog also knows that I’m a HUGE fan of romance and I have read a few Emily Henry novels. Coincidentally the three that I’ve read are the three that they randomly decided to make into movies. And while I ended up falling in LOVE with ‘Happy Place’ and it is now one of my comfort reads, ‘People we Meet on Vacation’ was by far my least favorite of those books. Despite that, I was optimistic that maybe this movie would be really cute and it was? I say it like that because…well you’ll see. I’m just going to get into my thoughts on the book and how that informed my watch of the movie.

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for both the book and the movie! You have OFFICIALLY been warned.

Summary: Poppy and Alex are friends who meet once a year, every year, to go on vacation together. But don’t worry you guys they are seriously ONLY FRIENDS!! That is until they start catching feelings and things get really messed up. Now they are back together for one last vacation, but can they salvage what they had? Or will something new emerge?

The Book

As I stated before, I really didn’t like this book. Emily Henry isn’t one of my auto-buy authors and that is absolutely not to say that I don’t like her work. It’s just that my heart kind of belongs to the quirky stylings of Ali Hazelwood and Emily Henry can be a bit hit or miss for me. As in, sometimes some of her books (cough ‘Happy Place’ cough) hit me right in the feels and others just miss completely and I feel like they come across a little too normal. Like an “I’ve seen this before” type of normal. A book from her really has to have a premise that grabs me for me to want to read it. And ‘People We Meet on Vacation’ admittedly didn’t have that for me when I started it. A friend of mine actually really loved it and I wanted to know what had her so obsessed. My first issue was that the vacation story that was really supposed to take me away was set in Palm Springs of all places. As someone who has lived way too close to the California desert all her life, this wasn’t really an escape for me. I completely and fully understand that this is a me problem and has nothing to do with the enjoyable nature of the book. But that was already a red flag that I wasn’t going to enjoy it as much as I hoped. Other than this pesky setting situation, the book is not bad. The plot isn’t bad at all. I have two major issues with this book and that is the characters and (please don’t kill me) the romance.

Now I know this is absolutely going to drive some people away. Poppy is a character who many people absolutely adore and I don’t want to say that those people are wrong. It is always a magical feeling when you read a book and so closely identify with a character, but there were a few things that really made it difficult for me to get behind her. Firstly, she comes off as really selfish several times in the book. Maybe I felt this way somewhat because I am an introvert like Alex, but there were times during their vacations where I felt as though she was pushing his boundaries. Like trying to make him do things that he didn’t necessarily think was fun, such as the whole tent scenario. She also kind of shames him for deciding to be a High School teacher at one point and she keeps him at arms length except for when they are on vacation, until he starts dating someone else and then she sort of goes behind his new girlfriend’s back because she suddenly decides she wants him. I do really like that the book has a scene where Poppy apologizes to Sarah, but I don’t think it truly makes up for what Poppy did in that scenario to completely undermine her relationship. On the other side of things, I’m also not a huge Alex fan. He can come off as pretentious at times and it feels like he’s constantly undermining Poppy’s job and lifestyle. I understand that the point of the book is that it’s important to have a life of your own rather than just constant vacations. But while I think that Poppy was running away from having a life, I don’t think her job or her lifestyle have anything to do with that. You can travel constantly and that can still be a life. The problem here was her unwillingness to let herself be emotionally vulnerable with anyone and putting herself on the back-burner because of that. I would argue that her having an absolute dream job that is travel journalism is a life. Alex’s pushback against that felt like he was misunderstanding and disrespecting the life that she had already built for herself. I didn’t completely buy the relationship because of this. They felt like they had two very different ideas of what life was and both were valid to a degree. And because of this and their inability to empathize with each other, I just didn’t buy their relationship.

The Movie

I will say this about the movie, it is a very faithful adaptation of the book. I don’t say that in the way that they didn’t change anything at all, but in the way that it pretty much faithfully covers the meat of the book and the way it portrays the characters. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I quite remembered what I didn’t really enjoy about the book until I watched the movie. It was a great refresher because it was so close to the book! There’s a reason why fans of the book are loving this movie and if you are one of those fans, I think you are going to adore this movie! As book adaptations go, it’s a great book adaptation and as rom-coms go, it’s an objectively good rom-com. But I do wish that the characters might have strayed at least a little because I really wanted to get behind the couple in this movie. I will at least say that I enjoyed the setting a lot more! I will take a change from Palm Springs to Barcelona any day; that’s just leagues better. I will also admit, Poppy and Alex have a couple more cute romantic gestures in this movie that they don’t have in the book. However, the relationship problems that I observed in the book are still going strong here. These two characters seem to have an inability to fully understand how the other person views life. I felt Poppy was slightly more likable in the movie than I found her in the book (just slightly, she still does what she does to Sarah), but that just meant that the ending felt even more strange to me. I just couldn’t help but feel like she was settling for the typical view of what “settled down” looks like when she had already built herself a life that she did like. I continue to believe that Poppy’s lifestyle was not the problem, she obviously enjoyed it, I just think that the way she treated it was an issue.

I think that there’s a change in the way younger people are viewing the work industry. While we’ve had this very generational view that settling down means having a 9-5 job with occasional holidays off, a family, and maybe a week of vacation every year, we’re beginning to see young people in particular push against that. And for good reason. When housing prices skyrocket and now everyone is working 8-6 for what feels like less money, people are going to start questioning whether all of this is even worth it. The search for making money in more unconventional ways has never been higher as has the idea that people should be able to live their lives in the way that they want. And that means valuing what you want to do just as much as you value where your money comes from. Watching this movie reminded me of how book Alex and Poppy very much reminded me of the opposite sides of this spectrum. Poppy represents the pushback of the younger generation while Alex clings onto this settling down idea. And I don’t necessarily think that the happy ending here should be that Poppy eventually caves and quits her dream job. I don’t think that an unconventional lifestyle means that Poppy is living her life wrong. I just think that if your job is vacation then you’re going to need a vacation from vacation and that means a home life. To me, that should have been the ending here. She keeps her job and she learns the advantages of having a life outside of work. I don’t feel that the ending should be a person with a more conservative view of what life looks like making the person who loves her job settle for something else. And I think that speaks to the fact that these characters are just not meant for each other. Now being in a long-term relationship I can tell you honestly, you don’t have to settle in your relationship. A good partner will understand your views on life and will support them even if they don’t fully ascribe to them one hundred percent of the time. Although, it is still important to find a person who wants to live the lifestyle that you also want to live. That will quite literally be the way that both of you are living your lives.

Now this is definitely not to say that I don’t think Emily Henry can write compatible characters because she can. Harriet and Wyn in ‘Happy Place’ are characters who beat all the odds to prove that they are compatible and those characters have boat loads of empathy for each other and their friends. I personally feel like that couple is the exact opposite of this one. I’m just of the general opinion that any relationship that begins with cheating or even the hint of cheating is doomed to fail. So while there were cute moments throughout the movie and the book, I just can’t get behind these characters and especially not them as a couple. But if you watch this movie just for Emily Bader as Poppy, I would understand. As much as I am very unsure about Poppy as a character; Emily Bader was so incredibly charming and I would love to see her in more rom-coms going forward! All that aside, if you take one unpopular opinion away from this review let it be this; I feel like ‘People We Meet on Vacation’ is about a woman who settles for a guy who doesn’t understand her (even though I also think she doesn’t make much of an effort to understand him either, but at least she didn’t make him settle), and I think that young people have every right to push for a lifestyle that looks very different from what the classic example of “settling down” is.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Comfort Entertainment: ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Season 2

Promotional screenshot of Con O’Neill as Izzy Hands in season two of ‘Our Flag Means Death’ on HBO Max.

Hey! Hallie here!

It’s been a long time! Between the actors and writers strikes, as well as our busy schedules, we’ve been really spotty about posting and have mostly decided not to post at all to ensure we were supporting the WGA and SAG as best we could. But now the strikes have ended and we can talk about all of the many, many, things we’ve been dying to talk about that were released the last few months. To be perfectly honest, my initial plan was to immediately start on a ‘Good Omens’ season two review the minute the whole thing ended. But, somehow, ‘Our Flag Means Death’ came out of nowhere and took me completely by surprise with its second season. On top of that, I feel like the fandom is in a really interesting post-season discussion phase that I very much want to hop in on, where as with ‘Good Omens’ fans the ship has kind of sailed (Yes, that was a pun). That’s not to say I won’t get back to ‘Good Omens’, but that is to say I have a lot of opinions about Izzy Hands and they take precedent at the moment. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Good:

Izzy Hands: Ok, let’s start with the biggest topic of discussion right out the gate. We all loved Izzy Hands this season. Izzy did have quite a few fans last season as well, but the group was a lot smaller and they were well aware that he wasn’t a very likable character. They even went so far as to refer to him as “rat man” in fandom spaces. And who can really blame all of us who didn’t like Izzy first season? He’s a dick to everyone, shows an almost-blatantly homophobic disgust at Stede and Ed’s relationship, and becomes so jealous of Stede’s relationship with Ed that he frequently attempts to manipulate Ed into turning into the worst version of himself. All of that culminates at the end of the season in Izzy deciding to turn in the entire crew to the British in the hopes of arranging Stede’s execution. But fans of Izzy could see how complicated this character was under the surface. His jealousy of Stede clearly went beyond just Ed making a new friend, and his moments of apparent homophobia were paired with subtle discomfort and teary eyes that implied he was dealing with some self-hatred he wasn’t properly addressing. (Not to mention the “Oh daddy” scene.) This season, however, made subtext text. Izzy’s taking hits for the crew, losing toes when they don’t do what Ed wants, and his care for Ed and attempts to calm him are met with brutal push-back. We even see Izzy break down in the crew’s arms when they try to gently confront him about his toxic relationship with Ed. Then Izzy makes a mistake. He tries to talk to Ed about what he’s been doing to the crew, confesses he loves him, and accidentally brings up Stede. This leads to an altercation where Ed shoots Izzy in the leg and orders that he be killed.

After the crew amputates Izzy’s leg (and Ed attempts to get Izzy to either kill him or commit suicide in a very dark scene,) Izzy finally leads the crew in a takeover of the ship. Izzy at this point is extremely traumatized, but he, fascinatingly, continues to protect the crew. Upon reuniting with Stede his main priority is to plea with him on behalf of the crew, telling him they shouldn’t suffer for what he and Stede made Ed into. And then he descends into a drunk and depressed state, fueled by self hatred over what happened with Ed. But like the crew saved him from his gunshot wound, they make him a sturdy wooden leg and save him from his downward spiral. We see Izzy get out of bed, practice with his sword again, teach Stede how to be a better captain, and let go of his obsession with Ed. He fully embraces his sexuality, putting on a drag performance where he sings for the entire crew. He opens up, makes friends, earns the ship’s undying loyalty, and acts as the crew’s main defender in the stand-off against the season’s villain. It’s a complete joy to see Izzy Hands develop the way we do, and it’s mixed with just the right amount of hope and openness ‘Our Flag’ gives each of its characters. Some seem to think that Izzy’s character development was too tonally serious for such a light show, but I don’t think it is. I think it demonstrates an understanding of how horrible it can be to not understand who you are and to experience so much self hatred for yourself. Izzy’s development is just as much a queer coming out story as anything, and it allows for Izzy to embrace himself and find a queer community to belong to. That is all very in character for a show made to celebrate queer joy.

New Female Characters: The fandom is all in agreement about Izzy, and we are also all in agreement about newcomer Zheng Yi Sao. Zheng is the perfect addition to the show. She answers the call for more female representation with by far the most skilled pirate we’ve seen in the entire series, carrying a personality that is just as adorable as it is badass. She kicks ass and runs circles around all of our main characters. She’s the captain in the series you would want to work under most, and that alone makes her interactions with a bumbling captain like Stede hilarious. But her soft spot for her crew and Oluwande make her surprisingly relatable. All the quiet moments between herself and Oluwande stole my heart for the genuine joy between them, and I can’t wait to see more in the future. Amongst Zheng’s crew we also have Auntie, a first mate who follows the show’s first mate tradition of being mostly disgruntled and far too reasonable for her own good. All except for her belief that Buttons is a sea witch, which on its own provides the perfect amount of humor to the stoic character. Lastly, we have another new character in the form of Archie, Jim’s new love interest. I wanted to have more time with this character, but all things considered she fit in seamlessly with the crew. Her high energy and genuine support of everyone in the crew made her easily likable. And her adorable feelings for Jim and willingness to put their needs above her own made their relationship easy to get behind.

Stede and Ed: Naturally, these two need to be mentioned for their stand-out relationship. I appreciated that the two of them had to work up to where they were before their separation. Despite the fact that mermaid Stede wakes Ed up from his perceived death, Ed still hasn’t completely forgiven Stede for abandoning him. And Stede, likewise, is wary of Ed after everything he did to the crew. Once they get to a place where they decide they want to work on their relationship again, Ed requests they take it slow and Stede agrees. He very aptly identifies that they’re both “whim prone” and need to take some time to create normalcy between them. When they do get back to kissing, and then more, it feels like they’ve actually made an effort to get to that point. I also really love that their brief breakup in the show only serves to make them stronger characters as well as a stronger couple. Ed learns that he’s capable of change without attempting to abandon everything he knows, and Stede quickly has to learn how to balance self-confidence with the ability to look beyond himself. When they get back together Ed apologizes for “being a dick”, but Stede responds that “life’s a dick”, demonstrating better than anything else in the season how understanding and supportive they are as a couple. These two carry the show and their relationship remains strong enough to keep me engaged.

‘Calypso’s Birthday’: The best episode of the season. This is pirate Pride. Quiet literally. If there was ever a doubt that this show is about a crew of queer people who set out to celebrate their identities, this episode confirms it. From Wee John in a gorgeous dress under the drag persona of Calypso, to Izzy donning a full face of makeup to sing “La Vie en Rose” in both English and French, to the drag king look we get from Jim, to Stede and Ed finally sleeping together at the end of the episode. Everything about this episode is complete perfection. And Con O’Neill’s voice. Beautiful. Gorgeous. He has a musical theatre background and you can tell. This episode made me proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, and reminded me why shows like ‘Our Flag Means Death’, that are made as safe spaces for the queer community, are so important. I could watch this episode over and over again.

The Neutral:

Izzy’s Death: And here’s the biggest complaint about the season. After Izzy spends a season discovering who he is and finding a place where he can feel accepted, he is promptly killed. Now, I’m not completely angry with this death. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. I don’t find it nearly as tonally off as other people make it out to be. It is, after all, a show about pirates that doesn’t shy away from gore and dark humor. Eventually someone has to die just to keep in line with the way the show embraces pirate-accurate violence. I also don’t think that ending his storyline feels random to the narrative. By all accounts, Izzy is the hero of the season. He’s the one who gets the final confrontation with Ricky, a natural progression after Izzy defending the crew during the rest of the season. So Ricky killing Izzy makes this a classic tragic hero scenario. The problem here is that it sends the wrong message. Having Izzy embrace who he is only to declare his happiness fleeting is a bit, well…unfortunate. Especially in a show that prides itself on celebrating queer joy. And to add insult to injury, his story arc ends with Ed. The person he’s been taking great lengths to distance himself from all season. That isn’t to say he didn’t need closure with Ed. He needed a moment to confess to Ed why he had relied on the Blackbeard persona, and likewise he needed Ed’s apology. But it’s the crew he found a family in, and the crew he died for. The fact his death occurred while they all stood as far as they could to the side of the ship felt wrong. Still, this isn’t the worst death and David Jenkins says that there is no ‘Our Flag Means Death’ without Izzy, so we’ll see what that means for the character.

The Bad:

Stede and Ed: Admittedly, their relationship is one of the more rushed parts of the season. Despite the fact that Ed wants to take it slow, the show only allows for a small amount of character development before the two are sleeping together. Almost as quickly, the two break up when Ed decides that sleeping with Stede was a mistake. I believe that these quick changes to their relationship can be blamed on the short season. Still, the fast pace of their relationship leans, almost accidentally, too heavily into the idea that both characters are “whim prone”. They’re constantly breaking up and getting back together, meanwhile Ed goes off to be a fisherman on a whim while Stede gets so easily swept up in fame that he altogether nearly forgets about Ed. Even their decision to run an inn at the end of the season feels really sudden. Can they really be happy if Ed couldn’t even find happiness fishing and Stede has never dreamed of anything more than he’s dreamed of pirating? It almost feels like these two will never be happy, constantly becoming distracted by their separate sudden interests. And sticking them in an inn at the end of the season sounds like a recipe for disaster. Did we learn nothing from Anne Bonny and Mary Read? Ed and Stede are likely to need adventure in order to fight off their short attention spans, and I can only see the inn eventually driving them both insane.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read: Speaking of. Despite the fact that this season was full of excellent female characters, I really disliked this adaptation of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Of course I wanted them to be a queer couple. Who wouldn’t want to see them as a queer couple after hearing about their real-life closeness? But why did they have to be complete psychopaths? I wanted to see Anne and Mary as a badass queer couple, outsmarting their male counterparts like they did in real life. Not stabbing each other and setting their house on fire.

That’s all I have to say on the season, but clearly it’s a lot. I didn’t even get to how cute Lucius and Black Pete were this season, or how epic the fight scenes were. Regardless of my problems, ‘Our Flag’ completely stole my heart with season two. I really liked this series last season, but this season has sealed my fate as a die-hard fan of the show. I really hope we get a season three, but in the meantime, I would ask ‘Our Flag’ fans to be kinder to the show runners and actors about Izzy’s death. The reaction to his death was somewhat volatile, and while I clearly wasn’t 100% happy with it, I do think it wasn’t nearly as bad as most people made it out to be. And the people involved with the show don’t deserve constant hate in the hopes of getting Izzy confirmed for season three. If we want a season three at all we need to support this show as much as possible, especially as a show that exists on one of the platforms that frequently cancels its queer shows.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie