(with the intention of fully kicking a hornets’ nest) -> my thoughts on tslocg s2 because it’s bad take after bad take in the tag:
- the pacing works. sure, the case can be made that the pacing would work better for a 22-episode season (i’m especially wounded by the fact that we couldn’t draw out the battle between the foxy and the catullan for two or three episodes At Least), but i don’t think that negates the fact that the writers are keeping a consistent rhythm. long-term story beats are balanced against one- or two-episode arc moments and, though it’s bracing at times, the show largely pulls off the breakneck energy thanks to its well-written humor.
- a lot of you are making your dissatisfaction weirdly personal with mindy kaling considering she only wrote one episode in the season and, in terms of the show’s co-creators, seems to be the more hands-off partner. i think we could all bring it down a couple notches, but if that’s not on the table, at least direct your ire in the appropriate direction damn
- i don’t think we’ve breezed past the s2e6 cliffhanger as everyone seems to fear we have, i absolutely think the other shoe will fall at some point. what makes me confident? mostly the choice to highlight jorja’s comment that bela hates herself when bela finds out about her ‘cancellation’ in conjunction with bela’s reaction to eric’s “you spend all your time trying to get people to like you, but then when someone like me actually does, i’m not enough. you immediately focus on winning over someone else”. the show seems to be delicately threading this needle of exploring the emotional ramifications of all the impulsive sex bela’s had without going too far and condemning the fact that she wanted those experiences in the first place. and that’s a long-term story i’m happy to be patient for to see it done right and done thoughtfully. because, i mean, in a lot of ways, it’s a storyline that embodies the thesis of the show. young women have a complex relationship with their own sexuality and get the best chance to define what it means to them under the newfound independence college life affords.
- kimberly/canaan compels me, the actors definitely have a sweet, off-beat chemistry. back to what i said, re: pacing, though, i don’t expect us to dwell on the storyline for more than three to five episodes into the next season. they might leave the possibility for a reprise like i suspect they’re doing with eric/bela but, if they get together at all, kimberly/canaan will be dissolved pretty quickly i think - particularly because i don’t see kimberly dealing with the way wanting canaan muddled her judgement and made her turn on a dear friend.
- speaking of whitney, i loved her journey with biochem it’s, like, a really cute look for her
- and speaking of her place in the love triangle, i definitely dig the wistfulness that comes with canaan being the collateral damage in whitney’s flailing sense of self this season, but her pivot back to her feelings for him at the end has such a whiff of ‘put in my self-discovery hours, that means i get to collect my canaan-shaped prize now’. which is not a judgement on whitney - i completely empathize with her wanting a do-over now that she’s a more evolved and self-assured person - but i do think canaan’s characterization is such that he’s not going to want to be involved with her romantically a second time. so whitney’s place in the triangle will likely be reckoning with and then accepting the boundaries he sets regardless of how things play out between her and kimberly.
- every scene in the common room of the dorm or the dining hall where the girlies take turns presenting their emotional conundrum to the group for a greek chorus of feedback in return made my heart swell and as long as this relationship is the one the show cares most about, i stay winning
- tatum being presented as leighton literally dating herself now that she’s authentically herself for the first time ending in leighton dumping her own ass then immediately embracing the self she’d started cultivating at the women’s center but couldn’t fully explore for being in the closet at the time even when it’s uncomfortable and she’d normally cow to her impulse to conform was galaxy-brained shit sorry if you’re mourning the loss of the carbon-copy white lesbian guess i’m built different
- anyway so so excited for the women’s center to once again be one of our regular on-campus hangs, so so excited to see leighton continue to blossom there
- lila was perfect literally every scene she was in but if i was going to complain about one thing it’d be that she ended up kissing whitney and not bela despite their insane chemistry. hello???
theartofmadeline
vaporwave
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romaincrisis
