Making this post so I can pin it to the top of my blog.
In the interest of keeping my blog organized and easy to navigate when looking for certain things (both for myself and others), I'm going to link a bunch of my more prevalent tags here.
Episode commentary and reviews: BTR rewatch
Gifsets: BTR gifsets, BTR interviews
The boys in every episode gifsets: every episode gifs (these can also be found in the general gifsets tag)
Big Time Character Assassination Series: James Diamond Edition
See the post for Kendall HERE
Let's take a look back through the series so far and see how our dear Jamesy has changed from BTAudition through season 2.
When I'd made that post a while back asking for input regarding the changes the characters underwent, I'd gotten these two about James:
@cant-get-enough-btr-forever mentioned "James shifting from ambitious/loyal to borderline obnoxious" and @gleeksfreaksandwannabes said "In the pilot, James was strong willed and passionate, and maybe his dream of going from small town Minnesota straight to Hollywood fame was kind of a high bar but he always had this grounded quality to him that seemed to disappear as the show went on - I’d even go so far as Big Time Cribs when he first dressed up as Bandana Man, but it was definitely there through season 4, he became a fully fledged cartoon character"
This pretty much matched the thoughts I had. Let's jump in.
BIG TIME AUDITION
Like with Kendall, our first glimpse of James Diamond is pretty telling as to who this guy is as a character.
Just standing there, meticulously combing his hair, completely oblivious to the conversation his friends are having. Designated Pretty Boy of the group. When he does finally speak, it's to share about his recurring pop star dream. So not only a pretty boy, but also has dreams of stardom.
And I must admit that upon starting my rewatch of the series back in 2023 (how has it been THAT long??) one of my initial thoughts was, "How on Earth did this guy get talked into playing hockey?" Not that guys who are into self-care, fashion, and music can't also be into sports; it's just that James in particular didn't strike me as someone who had ever willingly played a sport in his life, let alone one that's known for being as intense as hockey is. At first glance, James seemed much more suited for musical theater—like he could be the Nickelodeon version of Ryan Evans from High School Musical.
But anyway, James is a dynamic guy, and he's not afraid to jump headfirst into some good ol' trouble and help his buds attack the girls' field hockey team via sprinklers. And when the guys are inevitably chased by an angry mob, James's friends know protecting his pretty face is top priority.
As the guys later sit around Kendall's house, nursing their various injuries, we learn just how serious James's plan for future fame is. He's got it all mapped out: famous wife, multiple houses, selling out arenas. Big plans for a boy from Minnesota, but James is clearly driven.
We know how it goes from there. James gets nervous during the audition Gustavo is running, gets his dreams crushed, and then has to later see the offer of fame he's been yearning for his whole life go to one of his best friends. But his reaction is interesting! Because you'd think (even expect) James to be bitterly jealous, but he isn't. Any jealousy is overshadowed by his frustration that Kendall doesn't want anything to do with Gustavo. He wants Kendall to go for it and take this amazing opportunity. There's a selflessness to James that really shines and makes him feel very grounded in these moments and in the episode as a whole. Even when they get to L.A. and start their boy band boot camp, James approaches it, mostly, with the seriousness it deserves. ("He is serious, but not great")
BIG TIME CRIB
I'd argue that James starts to diverge from his Audition self even faster than Kendall did, and we can see that happening a little in just the third episode.
Now, this is still very much in the realm of what I would expect from the James we met in Audition. Totally the type of guy who will latch onto some new trend or fashion statement and run with it. But there's a bit of a heightened wackiness here for sure. Not alarmingly wacky, of course, but—
Oh. Maybe a tad alarmingly wacky.
BIG TIME MANSION, PARTY, & JOBS
These episodes show more of a cartoony version of James, but I don't feel that it's a terribly egregious departure from Audition James. We're still leaning very heavily into the pretty boy thing (that won't change) but he definitely isn't as grounded as he seems in Audition. I can see Audition James throwing a fit over a bad hair day, but I can't quite see him being dumb enough to call the FBI over it.
I CAN see Audition James being extra during a party, so his Hollywood Super Party Kings of Hollywood persona doesn't feel too crazy, but it certainly is an exaggerated version of him.
Oh, hey. Remember when James had that alter ego mirror personality?
Ok, so I actually loved this, but it is very, very, deeply silly. In many ways, Audition James was also silly, but he was at least fully attached to reality. This James is not. This is somebody who needs help—a sentiment Logan will share in a season 2 episode!
Now, I know that the entire show as a whole is noticeably detached from reality (the universe they live in clearly has its own rules), but James in particular has a touch of...delusion, shall we say, that follows him during the series. I'll focus more on how this displays itself in other episodes, but this is our first big James Mentally Lives On Another Planet moment.
BIG TIME FEVER
This one is a little unfair to include because the whole point of the episode is that each of the boys (aside from Kendall) goes cuckoo bananas due to Hollywood Fever, but I think that the root of James's "fever" is important character-wise!
As the therapist Gustavo gets for James says, "James's need to cover himself with tanning spray is an attempt to counter his feelings of estrangement brought on by his new and intense Hollywood environment."
And not only is this spot on, but I think it's a critical underlying layer to who James Diamond is, and something the show really dropped the ball on in terms of exploring it further. I fully believe that James, even in his grounded, ambitious, Audition form, is terribly insecure and self-critical. He has a desperation to be important, to be liked, to be seen as "good enough." We see the way his face drops when Gustavo interrupts his audition, and we see his excitement when he thinks Gustavo has come back to give him another chance, and we see the disappointment/confusion when Mr. X tells him he isn't great.
James needs to be somebody. And so when he gets that chance to finally be somebody, it's no surprise that the pressure gets to be too much, and he spirals and ends up orange. There was a missed opportunity to take this part of James and run with it. Little moments that hinted at the insecurities he tries so hard to cover up. And it's not even like they would have needed to lean into drama or angst to do it; it could have been woven into the show in smaller ways.
BIG TIME GIRLFRIENDS
Someone help him.
BIG TIME GURU
Ok, so. The whole Logan-stealing-James's-swagger storyline. I'm honestly unsure as to if Logan was actually, legitimately draining the swag from James (because that could 100% happen in their bonkers universe) or if we're supposed to assume this was all psychosomatic because James is just Like That. Personally, I headcanon that James worked himself into such a frenzy over Logan dressing and acting cool that he caused himself to have physical symptoms. Because that's very in line with the "detatched from reality" James we've seen a decent amount of so far. Also, he just loves being dramatic.
I mean, if Logan can put on some cooler clothes and take on a cooler persona, James can absolutely convince himself that he's dying from Lack of Swag. The mind is a powerful thing, and James Diamond's mind sure is a special one.
These are two different people
Audition James was focused and driven, and had at least a handful of brain cells bouncin' around in his noggin. Like Audition Kendall, there was a sort of intensity to him, but it was a stable intensity. By Guru, we have a James who's always dialed up to 15, is intense in a chaotic, manic sort of way, and has one single brain cell that Carlos has possession of half the time.
But yeah, he's actually ridiculous, and I legitimately think a case can be made for him being prone to delusions.
BIG TIME MOMS
This one is obviously included due to the interesting glimpse into James's home life it offers. We meet James's terrifying mother, who arrives in L.A. to take James back home so she can train him as the heir to her mega-successful cosmetics company. We learn that everyone is scared of her, people don't dare ever say "no" to her, and that she and James's father had a very bitter divorce that resulted in neither of them speaking to the other since then (and also because James's dad married a much younger woman).
It's actually funny the way we get so much James Lore dumped in this single episode after knowing basically nothing about his background until now. But wow, it's a doozy. And we see the impact Brooke has on James. He goes catatonic twice, is left unable to even explain to Kelly and Gustavo what the problem is, and is horrified at the idea of defying her. She's controlling, powerful, and cold, opting to rip James away from his dream and his friends simply because she can't manage to be honest and express how much she misses him.
If Big Time Rush wasn't a real-life cartoon of a show aimed at a younger audience, this would all be incredible pieces of information that could have been used to further shape and explain why James is the way he is. Like. James had a legitimately unstable childhood and a mother that wants to control every aspect of his life.
Maybe it's not surprising that he talks to mirrors, actually.
BIG TIME CONTEST
So, not only does James become dumb and increasingly unhinged, he also becomes INSUFFERABLE. We start seeing moments of Sleazy James, who sets his sights on something and will walk all over others and disregard their feelings to get it.
Ugh. He's such a rotten friend to Carlos in this. And so horrible to those sweet girls who won the contest. Audition James was self-centered, but you don't get the sense he's manipulative about it. I don't know. Maybe he is; we don't spend all that much time with him.
It's just that early-series James felt more like a team player. Especially Audition James. Contest James is so superficial and annoying that he's flat-out unlikable in the episode. This is a version of James I look at and go, "Yeah, this is Brooke Diamond's son".
BIG TIME SUPERHEROES
I debated including this one because I don't personally consider it canon, (simply because I don't like it, and it's too ridiculous) but let's say all this nonsense played out exactly how the episode shows. Let's think back to James Diamond from BTAudition. Are you thinking about him?
Here's BTSuperheroes James
Full-fledged cartoon character himbo.
Don't get me wrong; he's delightful. I LOVE James Diamond. He is hysterical. He's just...not a real person anymore. He's like that crazy, free-spirited, in-their-own-world friend who makes you laugh but who you also genuinely worry about because something is not right. Logan says it best.
New headcanon that the main plot of this episode DID happen (Hawk stealing their songs) but that none of the superhero shenanigans happened, and nobody was in costumes, and it was all in James's head.
BIG TIME SECRET
Only briefly highlighting this episode because I actually really do like the way James is portrayed in it. He's very much the cartoonified end-of-season 2 version of himself, but I appreciate that the episode leans into that loyalty we originally saw in him in Audition by having him work so hard to try to make things up to Carlos regarding the Heather Fox thing. And the scene of them when James throws out to note from Heather is very sweet.
I would have liked to have seen more of this type of James.
IN CONCLUSION
James absolutely underwent a dramatic shift from his Audition self pretty early on, which makes sense given what the show was becoming, but I do wish they hadn't veered so hard into the cartoonishness of it all. Audition was such a perfectly done, grounded approach to the show; it would have been so interesting if that tone had been followed and given room to see what else James could have been. Like Kendall, I love James in both forms, but you really do have to kind of put a mental wall up and divide them into separate characters.
But like I mentioned in Kendall's post, I'm going to go ahead and apply it for James and say that I feel like what James Diamond becomes is more fitting to James Maslow's personality anyway. He's always been very exaggerated and heightened in his personality/mannerisms, always doing The Most, and is pretty on par with his character in terms of sass. So, I think it didn't take much to make James Diamond who he was. When it comes down to it, it works, and we end up with a character who is as frustrating at times as he is endearing.
i need whatever they put into kendall knight injected into my veins. especially big time audition kendall, he was 1 step away from beating the crap out of gustavo (lmao) that's not to say that i don't absolutely love the softer kendall we get almost literally from episode 2 and onwards, he's a sillier, softer-edged version of himself, just like bad boy kendall is his existing personality cranked up by like 20% and we do get moments later on where his bta edge comes forward, just not as strong.
i just. have a lot of feelings about him as a character
So, after putting together that post about how Kendall changed through the first 2 seasons, I started brainstorming some in-universe reasons for those changes. These are the very serious headcanons I came up with.
Theory One: Being a very bad boy had very significant consequences
This is one I've mentioned at least twice before. The existence of Kendall Knight in his BTAudition form can be roughly traced back to Big Time Bad Boy. This is because having the Bad Boy Off with WayneWayne was just too much for his system to handle.
Kendall's bad boy traits needed to come out organically. His back-talk, sass, and defiance were all things that had to happen on his terms, through the natural course of his days. Blatantly not caring about anything Gustavo said and constantly thinking up schemes took effort, and Kendall needed to pace himself.
Being forced to the level of bad behavior that was required in order to save his place in the band meant Kendall had to channel that badness and unleash it on command. Smashing some records and body-checking a guy into a wall is one thing, but he had to COMPLETELY destroy Gustavo's office with a sledgehammer. He had to go to the bathroom in a drawer. These are all very unnatural things to do, and they threw Kendall's entire brain out of whack. The whole ordeal took a big chunk out of his edge, and he never quite recovered. When all was said and done, we were left with an altered version of Kendall.
Theory Two: Love turned Kendall's brain to mush
Let's disregard theory one, shall we? Let's say that the Bad Boy Extravaganza didn't have any negative impact on Kendall at all. He still started to change personality-wise after this episode. Hmm...what episode immediately followed Big Time Bad Boy? Why, it was Big Time Love Song! With this episode came the introduction of Jo, Kendall's main love interest through the series.
Kendall goes goofy around Jo from the start. He gets hearts in his eyes and wants only to win her affections. It takes a few episodes to do it, but it eventually happens. And while they're very cute together, it could be said that meeting Jo and falling in love was the catalyst that started his noticeable personality change. Whenever Jo was around, Kendall pretty much swung between Very Silly Guy and Guy Drowning in Paranoia.
Could it be then that being in a relationship killed Audition Kendall? Is love the antidote for being a bad boy? Perhaps!!
Theory Three: Schemers don't wear cardigans
Kendall wears a lot of plaid throughout the series. You know what else he wears with increasing frequency as we move through season 1 and onto season 2? Cardigans.
I can't see Audition Kendall wearing one. In fact, I don't even think it's possible for a person to jump up onto a table in a fit of rage while wearing a cardigan.
People who wear cardigans are gentle. I picture Mr. Rogers when I think about cardigans. Or a nerd sitting by a fireplace with a good book. Or Logan, who happens to ALSO have cardigans as a clothing staple.
I don't believe this is a coincidence. Stay with me here: remember in Big Time Guru when Logan started dressing cooler, and it not only majorly upped his swag levels but also nearly killed James in the process? Well, James was clearly experiencing some psychosomatic symptoms because he loves being dramatic, but I DO think the way one dresses can impact personality and confidence levels (maybe to a heightened degree in the crazy BTR universe).
So, here's what happened. Somewhere early in season 1, Kendall was gifted a cardigan, maybe by Logan himself. He discovered he liked cardigans, except integrating them into his wardrobe had the added side effect of altering his personality. That troubled, argumentative side of him got toned down, like when Lilo put that lei on Stitch to stop him from destroying her room.
Theory Four: Kendall didn't escape Hollywood Fever after all
I feel like I may have briefly mentioned this in a past post, but I couldn't find it. You know how Kendall supposedly escaped Hollywood Fever because he didn't lose touch with his roots? Well, what if that wasn't actually the case? What if Kendall did develop the fever, but a mild enough case that nobody noticed? What if his connection to hockey kept it from turning into the full-blown cases his friends had, but wasn't enough to stave it off entirely?
I propose this: A mere handful of episodes into the series, Kendall developed a chronic case of Hollywood Fever that would not only last through the series, but intensify. It is the reason for his increasingly neurotic behavior, his exaggerated reactions to things, and at the core of his transformation.
Theory Five (the only semi-serious one): Audition Kendall was a persona molded from necessity
Let's look at Kendall Knight's pre-L.A. life. Namely, let's look at his family situation and factor in the most widely-accepted headcanon regarding it (one Challen Cates essentially verified): Kendall's father cheated on Jennifer and then walked out on the family either shortly before or after Katie was born. He then had zero contact with them and essentially vanished from their lives.
For someone like Kendall, who I believe had those leader/protector qualities in him from the start, this fracturing of his family forced him into roles before he was really ready. He had to become the Man of the House and protector of his mom and little sister. He felt he needed to be the one trying to hold things together, even though the biggest concern he should have had at such a young age was learning to tie his shoes.
It's not far fetched to say that this stress and pressure pushed Kendall into a pattern of being the protector and fixer for everything in his life. Guy taking care of his family, guy taking care of his friends. Guy controlling every situation in an effort to keep things from falling apart. With this added pressure came angst, leading to the version of Kendall we see in Audition through the first few episodes of the series: fiery, impulsive, manipulative, and defiant. His personality was a protective shell—formed out of necessity in a world that felt unstable and untrustworthy.
It remained in place as he got situated in L.A., but as things settled, the sense of security that came with the lifestyle and finding success in the music industry allowed him to finally drop his guard. The "anger management issues" side of him melted away, BUT it also meant the floodgates opened and released all the pent-up anxiety that was underneath the anger the whole time.
This, friends, is why Kendall starts out as a guy who jumps onto a table and rage-sings, talks back at everything said to him, and lives for trouble, and ends up as a flailing, anxious, ridiculously silly guy. He's finally in a situation where he can truly let loose and be himself but is also wading through years of suppressing that more anxious/overwhelmed side of himself.
Alrighty. Well, that was fun to write. Let me know which theory is your favorite or if you have any alternatives to explain what happened to Kendall.
Big Time Character Assassination Series: Kendall Knight Edition
With two seasons under my belt and two more to go, I felt this was a good point to create a series of posts ranting about each of the BTR boys and how their characters were tragically and catastrophically altered from their BTAudition/early-season-one selves.
I'm not going to be dramatic about this at all!!!
Naturally, Kendall is up first.
BTAudition will take up the bulk of this post, then other key moments and episodes will be chunked into smaller sections as we follow Kendall along the path of destruction from supposed bad boy to full-fledged goofball.
BIG TIME AUDITION
• Pilot episode, my beloved. Gold standard for establishing characters and dynamics right off the bat. We are sixteen seconds in when we're introduced to Kendall Knight, and we know who this boy is straight away.
Look at him. He's got the plaid peeking from the jacket. Beanie. Phenomenal eyebrows.
His first words are, "Opportunities like this come once in a lifetime, and when they do, you gotta grab it, and turn that thing big time."
Huh? Weird thing to say. What's he talking about? CAUSING TROUBLE. He wants his buddies to help him turn on the sprinklers and soak the girls field hockey team. Just. Just because! Because the opportunity is there, and this guy believes that if the option comes up to do something, you should do that thing.
Kendall Knight popped onto televisions that evening in 2009 and went, "Hi, I like to cause problems." Fantastic.
• A short while later, James is being annoying, singing and dancing on the couch. Kendall takes care of it by simply saying Carlos's name, which is apparently the signal for "Make him stop, and use physical violence to do it." Carlos tackles James, and they brawl behind the couch. Kendall smiles. Why? Because he has that type of command over people. Because he's in charge and he knows it.
• But don't be fooled by him having Carlos attack James! Because the moment someone dares to insult James, we get what is perhaps one of the greatest scenes in the entire history of television. Ever. It's true; ask anyone.
I mean. This is a very quick escalation. This is unhinged behavior.
This boy not only insults Gustavo's relevance, but decides in the moment to further express his fiery anger by yell-singing (complete with choreography!) on the table. He makes Gustavo fall backward. He kicks food and drinks on him. He has to be dragged away and then proceeds to fight the security guards.
Yeah, Gustavo is rude and unnecessarily harsh to James, but Kendall responds by literally committing assault. At eleven minutes into the episode, the audience is clearly being shown the type of guy Kendall is. Which is a guy who belongs in a juvenile detention center, perhaps.
• As we move our way through the episode, Kendall is just so unbothered a lot of the time. He just does not care. Doesn't care about this washed-up producer who thinks he has talent. Doesn't care about the offer to go to L.A. Doesn't care about the potential fame or money.
• And then we get to L.A., and oh, Kendall wants to be as disruptive and non-compliant as possible. He does not care about silly songs with "girl" in the title, and he does not want to take any of it seriously, and he'd much prefer to talk back and hit his friend in the head with the microphone and give smug smirks to people, thank you very much. He truly just wants to cause trouble and problems and stress for others. It's fun for him. Enrichment for Kendall Knight.
BTAudition Kendall has oppositional defiant disorder. He wants to hear directions being given and then follow none of them. He wants to strangle Gustavo Rocque with his bare hands.
The way Kendall is presented in Audition is truly as someone who has two modes primarily: 1. cool, calm, and collected & 2. angry
Yeah, we get some glimpses of him letting loose and being silly with the other guys, but you don't get the sense that it's his default. His default, as established through this entire pilot episode, is the stoic, confident leader with a hair trigger for anger. If all you have to go by is this single episode, you're left with a character who holds his friend group together with tight, calm control, who acts out because he does not like being told what to do, and is used to getting out of situations through manipulation and charisma.
He is, quite obviously, being established as the "bad boy" of this group. Not truly bad, no. More of the troubled type with a heart of gold who will commit crimes to protect the people he loves. But a show about a boy band needs a boy with an edge, and Kendall Knight is it. This guy is not rattled.
Take a good, long look at the above screenshots and kiss that version of Kendall goodbye, because he's about to begin his tragic transformation.
Big Time School of Rocque
• Kendall Knight: Schemer extraordinaire. The man with a plan. The guys get thrown into Gustavo's twisted version of school, and they immediately want out. Who better to take the reins and lead the way than our designated troublemaker?
He comes up with ideas on the fly to get rid of the many teachers who make their way through the School of Rocque. Convinces Mr. Smitty to go follow his dream of pursuing music, utilizes the corn chowder his mom packs to convince a WWE wrestler that he and his friends are a bunch of vomit-eating freaks, and gives away Gustavo's car to get an elderly teacher to leave. He GIVES AWAY a car that is not his!!
• This is very much still Audition Kendall. He's playing games of mental chess with everybody. He may have agreed to give the whole boyband thing a try, but he's going to control every situation Gustavo puts them in as much as possible. In his mind, he's in a constant battle with Gustavo, and he is going to win.
Especially fascinating to watch the way he carries himself in general. There's like...a stillness to him for the most part? Sort of neutral expressions in a lot of scenes. Nowhere near the cartoony physicality Kendall (and all the boys) will develop as the series goes on.
Big Time Crib
• Still Audition Kendall here! Some quality scheming goes on in this episode, and it's all orchestrated by Kendall, who, at this point, is still consistently waking up in the mornings with the main goal of being a menace. 2J is a dump, and he's going to trick and manipulate as many people as necessary to ensure their apartment is de-dumpified. And he's going to do it with the confidence of someone who has never not gotten their way. Because this Kendall always gets his way.
He ropes Camille into posing as someone who works for Griffin. He appoints Logan as their Griffin impersonator. He delegates different parts of their plan to each of the other guys and also recruits The Jennifers when needed. He delivers this gem of a line when Logan starts questioning their plan.
• Overall, still a confident, collected Kendall who wants to get things his way and will do whatever necessary (within reason) to achieve it. He's the ringleader, and his buddies are his monkeys who do what he says.
• Also, this is going to sound weird, but I think there's even a difference in his voice in these earlier episodes. Early-series Kendall has a deeper voice than later-series Kendall. I've noticed it enough times now over the years that I'm convinced I'm not just making it up. I don't know if it's just that Kendall (Schmidt) was delivering the lines more calmly pre-cartoonified BTR or if he was purposely lowering the register of his voice, but I recall even watching interviews of him and the guys from this period and thinking "Huh. His natural speaking voice is a little higher than the way he sounds on the show."
BIG TIME BAD BOY
• This is it, friends. This is where Audition Kendall dies. I've mentioned it before, but I'm convinced that the effort required to be so incredibly bad in the span of such a short time obliterated whatever part of Kendall's brain handled delinquency and sanded away his edge. He had a finite amount of "bad" in his tank that was supposed to carry him through the rest of his life, and his battle with WayneWayne busted a hole in it and drained it. Tragic.
I don't think I need to go into too much depth of the events of this episode because this is a fan favorite, and everyone knows how it goes. We all love Bad Boy Kendall.
None of the other guys could have pulled this off convincingly. Know why? Because these are all things well within the capabilities of Audition Kendall. He really didn't have to dig very deep to unleash this side of himself. A boy who will jump up onto a table and sing an impromptu "Giant Turd" song while kicking things off of said table and into the face of a man who's a total stranger would 100% smash and destroy that man's office if given the chance. This is Audition Kendall's dream coming true
• And it's absurd to me that BTAuditon did so well at establishing this hot-headed, impulsive, defiant main character, then had an episode where Kendall is OFFICIALLY made the "Bad Boy" of their band, and then failed to carry it through to the rest of the series.
BIG TIME MANSION, PARTY, & JOBS
• These episodes are what I consider to be the first real glimpses into anxious, neurotic Kendall. We go from a Kendall who stares down challenges with confidence and charm to one who reacts with panic.
Prior to these episodes, we've seen Kendall do a whole lot of on-the-fly scheming. He threw himself headfirst into things and handled every hurdle that came his way with an attitude that bordered on indifference. Remember how I said he couldn't be rattled?
He is very rattle-able now.
• And like, he's still taking charge of situations, particularly in Mansion and Party, but there's a noticeable level of overwhelm radiating from him. He's no longer carrying himself with that air of: nothing bad is gonna happen because I said so. Previous Kendall would bend situations by sheer force of will and make things up as he went along. This is the beginning of a Kendall who is desperately grasping for control that he can't seem to find. He just loses his cool so quickly. It's as if he no longer believes in his own ability to handle situations.
• He can still scheme. He ultimately finds a way to pull things together in the end, but it's not smooth. It's not done with that flashed smile like when he dangled Gustavo's car keys in front of their teacher and told her to get lost. It's done because he's being fueled by anxiety. THAT is what will be the primary driving force behind Kendall Knight from here on out. ✨Anxiety✨
Let's jump ahead to season 2, shall we? (If you've made it this far, I'm giving you a virtual high five)
WELCOME BACK BIG TIME
• Ahh, the boys have gone on their first little tour, BTR has been established as a band, and we're back for another season of fun.
Oh, and Kendall is going to have only three emotions now, btw: consumed by panic, jealous rage, or trapped in the depths of depression. We get all three in this episode!
• Best get used to seeing flailing, too, because that's going to be the primary way he moves his body from now on.
• No, but, for real. Watch Kendall in Big Time Audition, take in his demeanor, his body language, the way he speaks, and then watch this episode. Of course, this is due to the show becoming much more cartoony, plus the natural flanderization that happens to many characters, and you know what? I think Jo had a lot to do with this, too. Something happened to Kendall's brain when he fell in love. It rewired some stuff.
Anyway, he's a jealous, overreacting doofus in this episode.
BIG TIME SNEAKERS
• Kendall is once again being driven to the point of madness by the mere existence of Jett Stetson. I love Jett, but his introduction really did a number on Kendall's character. Of course, Jett isn't the cause of what's happening to Kendall, but he sure does exaggerate it.
And listen. I've said many times before that I absolutely love Kendall Knight at every point in the series. He is a wonderful character. But they gave us such an interesting, dynamic version of him in those early episodes and then yoinked him away and flung him to outer space. Audition Kendall does not exist anymore in his pilot episode form.
• This episode includes a scene where Jett is insulting Kendall (as per usual), and Kendall responds like this
Now, let's say we pluck Audition Kendall straight from that episode and drop him into this scene. You think that guy is gonna ask for permission to hit someone? (okay, maybe, out of respect for his gf and not wanting to cause problems for her) But also! Maybe not. Maybe Audition Kendall is flinging himself over the desk and tackling Jett to the ground. Maybe he's gonna walk over and stand nose to nose with Jett like he did with Gustavo, and just stare daggers straight into Jett's brain. Maybe he leaves the building calmly and orchestrates a master plan to get Jett written out of "New Town High" and put into another show.
THAT is the stuff Audition Kendall would do. He would be cool and calculated about everything, not giving himself jealousy-induced aneurysms and sabotaging Jett and Jo's scenes with all the tact of a five-year-old (as seen in Welcome Back Big Time).
BIG TIME GURU
• I LOVE this episode. Could part of the reason be that there are fleeting glimpses of the person Kendall used to be?
According to Gustavo, Kendall is still regularly talking back, so there must still be wisps of Audition Kendall in there somewhere.
• After sassing Gustavo (causing steam to shoot from his ears), the guys run to 2J, where Buddha Bob saves them from being hacked to pieces by their knife-wielding boss. Kendall has a moment of reflection after, where he admits he does tend to talk back and decides perhaps he should start being less difficult.
You know what would make this little scene great? If it actually reflected the way Kendall has been acting whenever we've seen him with Gustavo. Like, this could be a fantastic piece of natural character growth if he had retained his Audition personality! Imagine if he was still defiant and butting heads with Gustavo at every turn. That "I should apologize and listen" moment could have been a nice realization for him. And it wouldn't have even had to stick since Gustavo ends the episode by telling them that he doesn't want them to change.
• Anywho, this episode presents us with a much steadier version of Kendall than we've seen in a long while. It's almost like the writers were reminded of the character who originally existed and went, "Oh, right. Maybe we should, like, refer to that? A little bit?" So they gave us one episode of Kendall who is level-headed and anchored and confident, and then all the writers got amnesia again of the entire first part of the series.
BIG TIME BEACH PARTY
• The majority of Kendall's plot here revolves around his relationship with Jo nearly being destroyed because he doesn't have enough of a backbone to tell a girl to leave him alone.
I'll give him some grace on account of Sandy being a wackadoo who doesn't want to take no for an answer, but he really is so skittish and unwilling to put his foot down. He just sort of nervously flails around the beach with her until he's ultimately forced into a drag race.
Do I think Audition Kendall would never find himself in this position to begin with? Yes. If he did find himself in this situation, do I think he would have resolved it swiftly and then gone on to enjoy the rest of his beach day? Yes. Is it possible that Kendall just gets nervous around girls and would be reduced to a head under a bucket even in his Audition form? Also yes.
It just seems to me that he's at his worst characterization-wise when Jo or any other girl is involved. He loses all sense of self.
OK, LET'S WRAP THIS UP
The remainder of the season pretty much keeps in line with where Kendall is in terms of characterization. He's wonderful. He's a big, lovable goofball. He's just not the guy we met in Big Time Audition anymore.
Audition Kendall took a stressful situation and made it everyone else's problem. He managed to turn a pop song into an act of violence. He had fame and fortune dangled in front of his face and scoffed at it. He was composed under pressure.
Current Kendall doesn't death-stare anybody down. He spends a surprising amount of time flinching. He spirals easily and is motivated by anxiety, not angst. End of season 2 Kendall would pass out at the things Bad Boy Kendall was able to do.
That is someone physically incapable of peeing into Gustavo's desk drawer.
I like softer Kendall—I really do—but it was such a shame that we started the series with a blueprint that wasn't followed past a handful of episodes. It would have been so interesting to follow Audition Kendall through the series. (That's a fun AU to think about!)
I've seen a lot of fans say they wish the show would have been made for TeenNick instead so that it could have been aimed at an older audience and given them more room to add some serious elements. That would have been nice, but I don't know if it ultimately would have worked for what they needed the show to do (that is, appeal to a wide audience, a significant portion of which were young kids). Still, imagine a world where Big Time Rush was more of a typical teen show, where Audition Kendall could have been given room to thrive, and maybe even turned up a few notches! I guess that's what fanfic is for. (I personally write my BTR fanfics with Audition Kendall in mind)
For what it's worth, Kendall Schmidt is so stinkin' endearing that they could have done ANYTHING with his character, and it would have worked. It did work. And honestly? I feel like the version of Kendall we get later in season 1 and through the rest of the series is closer to Kendall Schmidt's personality/demeanor. Those of you who keep up with my posts may recall a few instances of my mentioning of "dainty Kendall". Cannot stress enough that this is not a dig, but merely an observation of Kendall Schmidt's natural way of carrying himself. His body language and many of his mannerisms are very delicate. Very loose and sort of soft? These were the gifs I had made to try to convey what I was talking about.
It's mainly in the wrists, I've concluded, but it carries over into the way he moves in general. Like, that above? That's all Kendall Schmidt.
As I mentioned, Audition through first few episodes Kendall has a stillness/control to his movements that later series Kendall doesn't. Yes, partly due to them cranking up the cartoon dial, but I also genuinely think Kendall (Schmidt) was comfortable in the role and sort of just being himself.
Thanks to anyone who read this whole thing. :) It's ultimately a silly post, but I sure did have fun writing it.
First Impression: No memory of my original first impression :(
But I've always loved Katie, so my rewatch first impression was that she was just as funny and sassy as I remembered her being. Katie is great.
Impression Now: Same as above! Katie's character fills the precocious, troublemaking younger sibling trope without making her obnoxious. It's also refreshing that she genuinely loves Kendall instead of having an antagonistic relationship with him.
Favorite Moment: You know what scene would have me crying laughing when I was younger? The one in BTLive when she's so busy playing her game during the low-speed chase that she runs over a guy. So, I might have to go with that moment. But I also really love the scene in BTBreak when she tells Kendall that Jo is lying to him about having a boyfriend. Always looking out for her big brother.
Idea for a story: I would love to write something where each chapter is focused on an aspect or moment in Katie's relationship with each of the guys. That would be fun. I'll add it to my list of potential future fanfic ideas.
Unpopular Opinion: Of all these asks, I think I've only managed an unpopular opinion for like 1 or 2 of them. I don't have any for Katie.
Favorite Relationship: Kendall! Duh.
Favorite Headcanon: I don't have any headcanons for Katie, nor can I think of any I've seen that are for her specifically. The only one I can think of that involves her is the one that her and Kendall were adopted and are not biological siblings. That one does intrigue me!
Yes I know, it's been two weeks since I last did this kind of posts and I jumped ahead to season 2, but considering it's been 15 years since this episode premiered, y'all know I had to revisit this episode.
Notes:
Side note: As I'm currently typing this, while switching back to cable after I was on Pluto TV, I briefly watched the match between New Zealand vs Belgium in the Fifa World Cup this year, and currently losing.
1. I've more than said my peace with this episode, however it goes without saying, it's well remembered and acted & impactful within this show and fandom for good reason. I actually had to look away from my phone camera while recording bc I couldn't find it within me seeing Kendall's brokenhearted expressions. Like @btr-rewatch mentioned in her recap, seeing a good and solid guy like Kendall going through something traumatic like this makes this so hard to watch. And I do credit Kendall & Katelyn's acting here specifically in this episode. They brought the emotions all on display here.
2. Mr. Nostalgia just recently did a video discussing this very episode couple weeks ago, and he brought out some great points. There's a lot of couples and romance plots in Disney/Nickelodeon shows that feel stale or cheap, but for BTR as a whole (as cartoony any wild things get), the writers surprisingly lock in when it comes to dramatic/romantic storylines. He also compared this episode to the Jonas LA finale with a similar plot of Stella leaving back to NJ after learning Joe got a movie deal in...you guessed it, New Zealand. On which, I'm glad he's mentioned that bc you would think with a kid sitcom with that big plot would have the love interest do a uno reverse card and stay at the last minute. No, Jo actually leaves (for the time being) and again, I respect the maturity.
3. I really love the line Jo saying to Kendall, "Maybe you only come once in a lifetime". It broke my heart and my brain hearing that in the episode promo, and I'm sure it did for Kendall as well. Who would respond if someone saying that to you?
4. Kendall really has W friends for supporting him at his lowest moment. The last few moments of this episode really moved me and really showed their friendship. And with no needed dialogue either.
I'll jump back to season one in the next post, especially since I still have thoughts about BT Audition & BT Crib that I promised you guys. I went out of order just once to revisit this episode.
Highlights: Things get weirder. BTR become wanted criminals, talking vans, Logan causes problems, Gustavo and Kelly undergo torture, and everyone should just shut up and listen to Carlos, okay?
When we last left the guys, they were hiding out in Chinatown and debating what to do regarding the whole anti-gravity device situation. Carlos wanted to dive straight into his dream-inspired spy fantasies, while Kendall, ever the voice of reason, wanted to hand the matter off to the police and be done with it.
Before they have a chance to try to get on the same page, this frightening fellow from earlier in the movie shows back up.
This leads us into a little chase scene while BTR's version of "Can't Buy Me Love" plays.
I absolutely love the way Kendall runs. He's so delicate.
As they emerge from the alley, the guys are stopped in their tracks by the girl who had come crashing through the window of their hotel room. She tells them to get in the van and then shoots Logan in the leg with a dart when he questions her order. Poor Logie.
Though the van leaves the hammer-hand guy in the dust, the two Swedish guys from earlier start chasing the van on a little scooter. These Swedes remind me so much of the Minions. Maybe it's their goggles in this scene, maybe it's the fact I can't understand anything they're saying, maybe it's just the general vibes they give off.
I mean. You see it too, right?
Anyway, the van can talk and also has Mario Kart weapon capabilities. It sprays the Swedish guys with oil and sends them flying off their scooter.
We learn that the girl is named Penny Lane, the daughter of Agent Simon Lane (the guy who ran through the airport with the original backpack). She wants to rescue her dad, and she wants BTR's help to do so. Absolutely bananas decision, but okay.
Kendall wants no part in it. He just wants to get to their soundcheck. Unfortunately, an article pops up on one of the van's screens, revealing that the boys are wanted criminals and are to be arrested on sight if found.
Penny says that if they help save her dad, he can then help clear their names. Kendall agrees to this if Penny then helps them get to their soundcheck on time.
The police set up a barricade of cars, officers, and agents, which Penny plans to plow through using the van's battering ram. Just as it looks like there's about to be a horrific crash with multiple casualties, Kendall presses the button on the silver device, which makes the van fly.
In such a tourist-heavy area, there had to have been, like, tons of people taking pictures and video. At least a handful of them probably caught footage of a flying van. I want to see the debates and conspiracy theories that flooded the internet after this was inevitably posted online.
We jump over to Atticus Moon next, and he's waiting for the arrival of a helicopter. Let me tell you, this scene with the wind from the helicopter got the biggest laugh from me thus far in the movie. The cat going flying, his jacket being torn from his body, and then his henchmen being blown away had me snort-laughing.
Hammer-Hand is in the copter, and Moon tells him that he needs the backpack by tonight in order to start his revolution. He also orders Big Time Rush to be destroyed.
Over at MI6, one of the agents brings information to whom I assume is the director, informing him that documents were found on Moon Industry servers detailing "Project Beetle", which involves an anti-gravity device. The director has a phenomenal reaction to this piece of information.
This is honestly my brand of humor. It's in the same category as Kendall's "Gustavo, we both know that I'm wearing a tie" line from BTStrike.
The female agent suggests that Lane might have stolen the beetle to prevent Moon from being able to go through with some evil plan. The director suggests instead that Lane sold it to BTR so that THEY can take over the world. Sounds very silly until a video clip of Gustavo from earlier in the hotel is pulled up, in which he tells the guys, "All you're gonna do is crush London tonight, conquer the rest of Europe, and then we will rule the world!'
Not a good look for our BTR gang. Also, there was a huge missed opportunity for the director to also pull up a clip of "If I Ruled the World" as additional "evidence" that this boy band has been plotting world domination right there out in the open.
We briefly go to Gustavo and Kelly, who are trying to convince the tour promoter not to cancel the concert. Gustavo promises the guys will be there in one hour. The tour promoter agrees to wait one hour, drives off, and then an MI6 agent arrives and shoots Gustavo and Kelly with darts.
There's a quick scene then with the Mrs. Knight, Katie, and Duke of Bath plotline, which is, quite frankly, boring. Not much happens aside from Katie continuing to try to convince her mother to be a gold-digger. We also learn that the Duke has over 4,000 staff working for him, owns 17 castles, and has thousands of thrones. It's funny because I don't remember the majority of the plotline involving BTR, but I do somehow remember that this guy isn't a real duke at all and just sells toilets or something.
The guys and Penny are now all wearing disguises to try to evade the multitude of people trying to capture them.
We then get the Abbey Road pose before the guys go into their version of "We Can Work It Out".
Love how alarmed and bewildered they look as they begin their involuntary performance.
I'm still maintaining that this entire movie is a dream Carlos is having. They better not bring the events of this up in the next season like they did with the whole Logan's name is Hortense thing that I briefly headcanoned wasn't real until they confirmed it in BTInterview.
By the end of the song, the guys make it to their soundcheck and impress the tour promoter, thus avoiding having their tour canceled. They sing for like, 10 seconds, btw, then are chased by a mob of fans. I guess that's enough for the promoter.
Penny then lays out the plan for getting her father back. The guys are going to exchange the anti-gravity device for Agent Lane, and Penny is going to hide and take Moon out as he leaves. Moon arrives in his fancy helicopter, and we get a cool shot of the guys as they arrive (in slow motion!) to take out the bad guy.
Unfortunately, looking tough while walking through fog is as successful as the guys are. As soon as they meet up with Moon, he surrounds them with his goons, and then the guy with the hammer-hand captures Penny.
Things are looking pretty bleak, but Carlos is still being fueled by his spy dream and takes matters into his own hands. He whacks a goon with the backpack, Lane kicks another goon (who shoots Logan with a dart for the third time in the film so far), and the scene devolves into general chaos. Lane manages to take out most of the men, and he, Penny, and the remaining guys who are still conscious grab Logan and run. They take refuge in a bathroom, where Lane then punches in a code to make the floor open up, and everyone then tumbles down a slide into a secret, underground MI6 facility.
Kendall, James, and Logan, who have been in denial about Carlos's warnings that they're in a high-stakes "save the world" scenario, learn that he is, in fact, spot-on about everything that's happening. The device is called "The Beetle", which means that the only thing from Carlos's dream that has not come true yet is needing to save a princess.
Lane assures the boys that he has everything under control, and the only thing they have to do is hide out safely in the underground lair while he takes down Moon and sets everything straight. Fantastic news! BTR can just relax until their names are cleared and then kick off their world tour without any further shenanigans.
Except, tragically, Logan picks this exact moment to play around with a pen that's secretly a dart gun.
He shoots Agent Lane. :(
Keep in mind that, at this point, he's already seen Kendall blow something up with a weapon that looked like an ordinary cell phone, and he's seen Carlos destroy things with another weapon in the room. Now is not the time to be pressing buttons on ANYTHING located in this lab. But I will excuse this impulsive, toddler-like behavior from Logan on account of he's been shot three times with darts, and his reasoning skills are being impacted from the drugs still in his system.
Agent Lane is out for the count, though, since the effects from the knockout pen last 12 hours.
We then briefly return to the main MI6 headquarters, where Gustavo and Kelly are being harshly interrogated and tortured (Gustavo is being aggressively poked in the stomach) until they reveal their plans to take over the world. When they won't break, the chief MI6 agent suggests that perhaps some "Japanese torture" will do the trick.
Immediate cut to this, which caught me so off guard that I cannot even describe my reaction.
Absolutely insane.
Back at the hotel, Mama Knight and Katie are getting ready for an evening with the Duke. Mrs. Knight goes into the bathroom to get ready, and Katie catches an interesting commercial on TV.
Yeah, the Duke of Bath sells toilets. Bummer. Now in Lancasterminsterboroughshire cracks me up. Very accurate to what places in England are really called.
But! Not to worry, because Katie formulates a quick plan to fix things, which is, "I just tell the Duke that Mom's a dude, then I tell Mom the Duke has a meeting with the Queen."
HELLO??? WHat is happening???
This movie is bananapants.
Katie exits the hotel room and is met in the hallway by Moon and Hammer-Hand Guy. Carlos had said the only thing missing from his dream was the kidnapped princess, and Katie sure does want to be a princess.
Moon explains that the problem with the world is that it's run by too many different people with different ideas. He wants to be the only one running it, and I'm gonna be honest here...I'm not sure what his anti-gravity device has to do with his world domination goals. Is he planning to turn off the Earth's gravity unless they make him King of the World?
Moon makes a video call to the secret MI6 lair that the boys, Penny, and an unconscious Agent Lane are in, revealing that he has Katie and demanding The Beetle in exchange for her freedom.
Before Kendall can spiral too much, Carlos reassures him that, in his dream, they all save the princess. Penny reminds him that Moon isn't going to do anything to Katie since they have The Beetle, and Logan chimes in to add, "Listen, we hold all the cards as long as we hold onto the backpack."
The backpack is immediately stolen out of his hand by the Swedes, who then drive their little scooter directly into one of Moon's trucks and are promptly driven away.
Logan is fumbling every single step of their spy adventure.
Meanwhile, at MI6 headquarters, Gustavo and Kelly manage to outlast the Japanese Karaoke Torture when the man collapses after 147 songs. The director speaks with them, confirms that they are not attempting to take over the world, and then puts bags over their heads and drops them off in the middle of a sheep field.
Back at Moon's evil lair, he sets up a big ol' laser on top of his castle and starts an ominous countdown clock.
We return to the guys, who go over their options, which are all terrible. The one that makes the most sense is for them to follow the events outlined in Carlos's dream and take down the bad guy themselves. As they formulate their plan, the talking van returns with all the gear they're going to need.
We then cut to them in the van, all dressed up, where a deeply baffled Logan has this exchange with the others
With ten minutes left until Moon's plan is complete, he gets the ball rolling by activating The Beetle. We swing back to MI6, where they detect a large power surge and trace it to Moon's castle. Before they can contact the Royal Air Force, their system goes down and jams. This is, of course, because Moon is repeatedly pressing a "jam" button.
We then learn about his true plans. He's going to channel The Beetle's power into the laser, shoot it at the moon, and pull it out of orbit. With oceans rising out of control and natural disasters running rampant as a result, governments all over the world would need to surrender to Moon in order to get him to set things back to normal. The MI6 director asks in a grave voice if there's anyone out there who can stop Moon. Cut to Carlos and Logan fighting about the dart pen in the van.
Seems like these two fight the most out of all four boys? I'm thinking back to Photoshoot, where they were arguing and slapping each other around, Terror, where they argued (and also smacked each other) about the ghost, and the little storyline where Logan is annoyed by Carlos's helmet.
The van picks up the countdown clock and displays it, and Penny asks Carlos for more details regarding how exactly they saved the world in his dream. Carlos tells her that he and Logan took out the henchmen, Kendall saved the princess, and James fell from the sky and took out the villain. He and Penny then have this hilarious exchange.
I love Carlos so, so much.
We're a little under 3 minutes until Moon's world domination plan goes into effect, and alarms start going off informing him of a security breach. He's confused as to who could have possibly gotten onto his castle grounds and pulls up the picture the security camera had taken.
The relief on Katie's face at seeing that her four favorite doofuses are coming to her rescue is so sweet.
This brings us into the Save the World scene, while my personal favorite of the BTR Beatles covers plays: "Revolution."
The boys start kicking butt, but can't take down Moon because he surrounds himself with a force field. The laser activates and starts pulling the moon, and chaos erupts instantly, as we see on video monitors that Moon evidently has set up around the world.
Is all hope lost?? Has Carlos's spy dream fantasy failed them all and doomed the entire world?!
NOPE! Penny kisses James, and he's so stunned that he falls over a balcony, taking out Moon.
Kendall then takes The Beetle from the station, which deactivates the laser.
Hooray!! The world is saved!!!!
Except no, it isn't because Moon is fine, actually, and he grabs Katie again and drags her outside toward his waiting helicopter. Kendall asks if Moon will release Katie if he hands The Beetle over, to which Moon replies, "Would I lie to you?" Unfortunately, Moon hasn't exactly shown himself to be a trustworthy guy, so Kendall isn't buying it. We get some tense music as he ponders what to do, and it's perhaps the best scene in this entire movie.
IT'S SO GOOD. It's so, so good. There is an entire conversation between Kendall and Katie that happens with just a few looks and only seven words exchanged in total. He just says her name with that tone, and she understands exactly what they're going to do!! I just—augghhhh!!! THEM. I LOVE THE KNIGHT SIBLINGS!!!!
Kendall tosses The Beetle, and while Moon goes to catch it, Katie stomps on his foot (a callback to the scene earlier in the hotel lobby when Kendall said her name and she stomped on James's foot!). As Moon bends over in pain, The Beetle lands on his back, and Katie runs into the waiting arms of her big brother.
Moon floats away, presumably where he will meet his inevitable death somewhere in the Earth's troposphere.
MI6 and the London police arrive soon after, where the MI6 director says, "Sorry about thinking you were bad boys. You're not bad boys. You're good boys who are not bad but good."
Kendall's and James's reactions to this apology is funny.
Ok, wait, the MI6 lady said that they're going to get Moon later, so maybe he isn't floating off to his death.
There's still one last problem to be wrapped up, though. The guys still need to get to their concert!
They make their grand entrance via helicopter and open with "A Hard Day's Night".
Gustavo and Kelly stumble from the bushes, having finally made their way back from the undisclosed sheep pasture, the boys sing "Elevate", and all is well once again in the BTR universe. Once the show is over, the boys run off to finally do some sightseeing because the day of absolute stress they've had apparently has NOT exhausted them.
Backstage, Mama Knight (who was told the Duke sells toilets) tells the Duke that she hates toilets, and he tells her their relationship isn't going to work. She's then approached by The Earl of Sandwich and his daughter, and Mr. Sandwich does some flirting with Mama Knight. She quickly shoots him down, because she's not about to get tricked again into thinking someone is royalty when they're not. After she walks away, the Earl's daughter says that he should have told her she would be third in line for the throne.
Oh, Mama Knight. Remember that post I made where I suggested a BTR au where Mrs. Knight had actually started dating Fabio and then married him? Well, here's another au where she DOESN'T reject the Earl and BTR's kickoff to their world tour results in Kendall and Katie having the Earl of Sandwich for a stepfather.
As the guys head off for sightseeing, Kendall is once again insisting they go to the ferris wheel first, and when Logan tells him they're going to Parliament, Kendall is clearly not having it.
He's so upset. Logan, just let the boy ride the ferris wheel. His sister was kidnapped twice tonight.
Their bickering over where to go first is interrupted by the Swedes, who return Kendall's backpack and also tell BTR to plan a tour date in Sweden or else they will kill them.
The talking van returns, and Agent Lane and Penny offer to take them sightseeing as long as they don't mind making a few other stops. The boys, who have just promised each other to never be secret agents again (not even at Halloween parties!!) instantly change back into their spy gear and head for the van.
End of movie.
This was a very enjoyable, deeply silly movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I still am of the belief that none of this happened, though. And if they ever mention these events in an upcoming episode, no they don't.
I love the guys' covers of The Beatles songs and think they were woven nicely into the scenes. I went through a Beatles phase in middle school, so it was cool to be familiar with the music when this premiered.
Kendall pep talks: 2
Episode MVP: Carlos for sure. What would they have done without the guidance from his unhinged dream?
I remember this movie being completely ridiculous (which says a lot considering the show as a whole is usually ridiculous), but I'm looking forward to rewatching it because it's been so long since I've seen it!
Highlights: The guys are embarking on their first world tour, where the goal is for nothing to go wrong. Too bad they live in the Everything Goes Wrong universe in which one can be pulled into life-threatening spy shenanigans merely by owning a hideous backpack.
And, we're off to an odd start straight out of the gate, as the movie opens with the stereotypical bald, eye-patch-wearing, white-suit-clad, cat-holding villain talking to a captured princess.
He's demanding that she give him "the royal nuclear mission silo nuclear missile royal launch codes" so that he can rule the world. As the princess stares at her captor and screams for help, we do an immediate, whiplash-style cut to a musical montage of BTR singing The Beatles' "Help" and rescuing the princess.
Ok, if I'm remembering correctly, Carlos is dreaming this. Which makes sense.
Over the course of the montage, the guys outrun bad guys chasing them, bust into the castle, take out the henchmen, and save the princess.
Just as Carlos is about to get a thank-you kiss from the princess, he's awoken by a flight attendant saying his name. He was dreaming! He disrupts the entire plane with his scream.
We soon learn that this is apparently a recurring dream for Carlos. He claims it feels so real, which Logan thinks is crazy-talk.
Also, y'all know I love catching moments when the guys are wearing coordinated outfits because they often end up in complementary colors or patterns, and in this scene, Kendall and Logan both have checkered patterns on their button-downs.
Kendall then counters Carlos's wacky dream with his signature sass and talks about his dream, which serves as a neat little summary for anyone who who might have stumbled upon this movie without having ever seen an episode of BTR before in their life: "We all move to L.A., somehow become a pop band, we go on a world tour where our first stop is in London."
Thank you, Kendall! Super helpful context provided.
We check in with Kelly and Gustavo briefly. Gustavo is panicking because he fears the guys are going to somehow mess up the entire world tour. Kelly assures him all will be fine. Then, we hop a row back to Mama Knight and Katie.
Katie has her sights set on becoming a princess during their trip.
As the plane lands, we catch a snippet of a news segment where the newscaster is informing viewers to be on the lookout for the "super moon" that's going to be visible that night. It's apparently the closest the moon will be to Earth in 30 years. There's also a very prominent shot of the airline the guys fly in on: "Moon Airlines."
I'm no genius, but I'm seeing a moon theme and guessing that'll be important plot-wise.
As the group makes their way out of the airport, Kendall takes his rightful role as the leader (and also grandpa of the group, honestly, given the long coat and the scarf) by attempting to dictate plan what their first stop will be. He wants to go to the London Eye, but Logan wants to go to Parliament, and James wants to meet a girl with a British accent.
Tell me Kendall shouldn't be sitting in a rocking chair and smoking a pipe in front of a fireplace with that outfit on.
Gustavo and Kelly swiftly shoot down the guys' hopes of sightseeing, informing them of their official world tour strategy: "Do nothing and nothing can go wrong." Kelly tells them, "Don't touch anything, don't look at anyone, and go straight to baggage claim."
Kelly, Gustavo, Mrs. Knight, and Katie walk ahead after that, leaving the boys behind, which is a massive mistake. You just emphasized to them the very important strategy of not doing ANYTHING, and then you leave them to their own devices? You leave Big Time Rush unsupervised?? If Kelly and Gustavo were smart and actually serious about their tour strategy, they would have had each of the guys on a child leash as they made their way through the airport.
Carlos is still set on his spy dream coming true, which the other three guys crush yet again. I'm not even sure why they try to talk Carlos out of things anymore. This is the guy who wants to be hit with a radioactive meteor and become a superhero. Let him hold onto his little spy fantasy.
A guy holding a backpack then barrels into Logan, Kendall, and James, with the police hot on his tail.
The guy gets away long enough for an incredible coincidence to occur. He spots a nearly identical backpack on the luggage carousel and swaps it with the one he has.
I say nearly identical because the one he originally has is more pink.
After switching them, he's caught by police and this rather intimidating fellow.
We return to the guys, who are on an escalator, rubbing at their various injuries from being bowled over by Backpack Guy. Carlos spots Backpack Guy being dragged, unconscious, outside. Neither the other guys nor anybody else in the airport sees this very obvious and alarming sight, though, and Logan tells Carlos he watched too many spy movies on the plane.
We go to a castle then, where Backpack Guy is tied to a chair, and meet the movie's villain. He's not bald, and he doesn't wear an eyepatch, but he does have the white suit, swivel chair, and cat, so he's def the bad guy. He's also the guy featured on the giant sign behind the guys during their airport conversation.
We learn Backpack Guy is Secret Agent Lane, and the police officers from the airport are actually Moon's henchmen. Moon takes the backpack Lane had and opens it up, but is quickly disappointed when he finds a pair of headphones and some clothes instead of whatever it is he was hoping to find. He orders his men to track the backpack down.
Hmm...I wonder who has it??
An MI6 agent spots the bag and is told to proceed with caution, since they have no idea what might be in it or what Moon wants it for.
(Also, I must point out that though this is the "switched" backpack, it isn't actually switched. If you look at the screenshots of Kendall's bag on the conveyor belt and the one Agent Lane walks over with, Kendall's has a very visible yellow stripe while Lane's doesn't. In the above scene, Kendall still has his own backpack. Someone on set wasn't paying attention!)
Now, BTR is going to get roped into shenanigans. They can kiss their fun London trip and kickoff to their tour goodbye. Kendall, if you owned a normal, boring-colored backpack, this wouldn't have happened to you!
And apparently, James and I are on the same page, because in the next scene, he refers to the bag as a "nightmare backpack." Kendall defends himself by saying it was a gift from a fan and actually very special to him. Logan hits him back with this response, and then Kendall just gives him such a look that I had to gif it.
After being told they're allowed to "linger in the lobby" while Gustavo, Kelly, and Mrs. Knight check them all in, the guys briefly disperse. Just as an MI6 agent is closing in on Kendall, the man is hit by a luggage cart pushed by James. James desperately wants Kendall to put the backpack on the cart because he's evidently too embarrassed to be seen around his good friend who owns such an unacceptable bag.
Whereas Logan merely got a look for his backpack slander, James gets some pain (which Kendall uses Katie to deliver).
Unfortunately, this little act of violence gets Kendall labeled "hostile" by the MI6 agent following him. Carlos takes out one of the MI6 men by whacking him in the face due to the fact that Carlos is wearing sunglasses he can't see out of (for some reason), and Kendall and Logan hilariously thwart two more of the men completely unintentionally and unknowingly because they're busy nerding out over the history of the hotel and its architecture. They duck to look at the details on a vase just in time for an MI6 agent performing a flying kick to go over the railing.
And then they stand up and knock into another agent, who ends up tasing himself and also going over the railing.
As the man falls, presumably to his death (he hits the lobby floor HARD) Katie overhears a hotel worker at the front desk greet a man by calling him The Duke of Bath, which gets her attention (she wants to be a princess, remember). The worker asks if someone will be joining him on his stay, to which he tells her he hasn't found that special someone yet. The wheels start spinning in Katie's head right away.
Poor Mrs. Knight is about to get set up with this man.
Gustavo calls the guys back to the main part of the lobby, and Kelly conveniently drops all their room cards just as a bunch of agents attempt to shoot everyone with darts. They shoot themselves instead. I love how absolutely nobody in this hotel is paying any mind to the chaos that's just unfolded. Two men just went over a balcony, landing within full view of the front desk, and now four men have shot each other and are strewn about all unconscious, and no one has so much as looked in their direction.
Up in the suite, the boys instantly start jumping on the beds and are scolded by Gustavo, who doesn't want the rooms trashed by the time the tour promoter comes by later. The little synchronized bounce they do to get off the beds is cute, and I like how Carlos and Logan both fix their sleeves at the same time as they walk away.
Kelly then outlines what they are allowed to do while in London. They can answer fan mail, have one (1) non-caffeinated beverage, and warm up their voices. Tons of fun!
After Kelly and Gustavo leave, the guys start unpacking their backpacks. Logan's is stuffed with books about England, Ireland, France, Norway, Portugal, etc.
EXCEPT! He has one book that is not about a place they're traveling to. Among the travel books is a copy of "The Male Brain: A Breakthrough Understanding of How Men and Boys Think" by Louann Brizendine.
The book was written by a neurobiologist and serves as a scientific deep dive into the male brain, attempting to explain male behavior. It evidently looks at the differences in brain structure between male and female brains, how hormones play a role in everything and impact thinking style/communication/relationships, the influence of competition and hierarchy in men's lives, and so on.
I can see someone like Logan wanting to read that. He probably also read the author's "Female Brain" book, too. I can see him observing everyone closely and rationalizing their behavior based on the information in the books, lol.
Anyway, James has his lucky comb in his bag. Just that. Carlos has his helmet, protected by packing peanuts, and Kendall has...an odd, beetle-shaped device. He has no clue what it is, but he picks it up anyway, which is a real dumb-dumb move, if you ask me. You never handle mysterious devices that you find in bags that aren't yours, Kendall!
Oh, and he tries to push the button on it, too! Double dumb-dumb move. I actually think it's out of character that Kendall would do that. It'd be much more in line with his personality to be wary of the device, leave it where it is, and give an emphatic speech to the other guys about not touching the strange thing in his bag because they're trying to avoid catastrophes during their tour. It would have made much more sense for either Carlos or James to grab the device and press it while Logan and Kendall tried to stop them.
BUT WHAT DO I KNOW?
Kendall presses the button, which causes gravity to turn off in their hotel room and send the guys and their stuff all floating around.
Okay, so. Is this whole movie a dream Carlos is having? Was him "waking up" on the plane a fakeout? I'm already headcanoning that that's the case because this is all so absurd.
Kendall turns the device off, they all fall to the floor, and a British Intelligence officer busts into the room and shoots Logan in the leg with a dart. He tries to take the device, but is interrupted when a girl comes crashing through the window, takes down the officer, and grabs the bag.
Before she can get away, though, two men posing as room service employees throw the door open, knocking the girl down.
It's all very chaotic and very much not in line with Kelly and Gustavo's "Do nothing, and nothing can go wrong" guidelines.
Kendall, James, and Carlos grab Logan's unconscious body and make a break for it. We then briefly go to the lobby, where Katie puts her become-a-real-princess plan into action and gets her mother to "accidentally" bump into the Duke of Bath, who agrees to show them around the city.
Over at the British Intelligence Headquarters, we learn that BTR are thought to be spies who got the strange device from a rogue MI6 agent (Lane). We also learn that the two men pretending to be room service are Swedish secret service agents.
Meanwhile, the guys are in Chinatown, trying desperately to piece together what's happening. An article Logan finds says that tech billionaire Atticus Moon was rumored to be working on an antigravity device but denied it.
Also, what is with James not understanding how the payphone works?? This show started in 2009, and their characters were 16, meaning they were born in 1993. They grew up with landlines and likely only got their first cell phones a handful of years prior to when the series starts. There should be zero confusion about how to dial that phone, Jamesy.
Anyway, Carlos is convinced all of this was predicted by his recurring dream, and it's their destiny to be spies, take down Atticus, and save the world. Kendall, Logan, and James want to just call the police and hand the whole ordeal off to them.
We'll see how that works out for them in my next post. Stay tuned.
jett stetson for the ask gameee!!!👨🏼✨ (also realizing i probly shoulda held back requestin lucy til u were done reviewing s3 my baddd)
I'll probably save your Lucy ask until I'm done with s3, then answer it :)
Btw, I was delighted to get this one for Jett!
First impression: Gonna go with my Rewatch First Impression since I once again have no memory of my original first impression. But my rewatch impression was: Jetttt! Hi, Jett!!!! Silly, ridiculous guy who lives to annoy Kendall.
Impression now: Endearing and annoying. He's become increasingly goofy, and I recall that only amplifying after s2. Love Jett dearly.
Favorite moment: I absolutely love the scene where he's all excited about making himself into a life-size doll. Tennis Fun Jett, my beloved.
Idea for a story: You know what would be a fun fanfic? A one-shot about the trip he and Kendall went on to the Capitol to share their green idea. I'm sure something very funny could be written about that.
Unpopular opinion: Are there unpopular opinions about Jett? Lol
Favorite relationship: Honestly, I want to say his relationship with himself.
Favorite headcanon: I don't have any headcanons of him :( Sorry.
Remember how I had said I've been keeping a running tally of how many plaid shirts Kendall wears? Thought I should give you all an update since I've finished season 2.
I'm lumping BTMovie into season 2, btw, since I feel it fits in there more than season 3. With that in mind, we've had 47 episodes so far in the series.
Kendall Knight has worn 45 unique plaid shirts in these two seasons. He's repeated shirts only 5 different times. I cannot imagine what the number will be at by the end of the series. Will probably put together a collage or something, since I've been collecting screenshots of every shirt and categorizing them by color. (I am very normal)
Oh, and he gives 17 pep talks in season 2. Up from 15 in season 1.
First impression: No memories of my original first impression of him :( But my first impression while starting my rewatch was that he was a delightful little guy. Sort of like a pathetic little frightened animal (affectionate).
Impression now: Too much swag. Love him dearly, but he's changed so much!
Favorite moment: Most of my favorite Logan moments (so far) are little ones, like in BTLove Song where he's doing his British accent and says, "Poor ol' chap. He's in a bit of a sticky wicket," which I found hysterical back in the day because I thought he had made up some gibberish on the spot. Turns out, it's a real saying! I also love his recurring puppet show thing in BTSingle and the slow unraveling he experiences in BTSecret.
Idea for a story: Well, there's the Kendall and Logan-centered fic I had mentioned I was working on in the last ask. Also, the part of my younger self that grew up when the OG fandom literally had a "Let's Torture Logan Club" sort of wants to explore something angsty, maybe relating to the original headcanons people had of him having a not-so-great home life and being raised largely in the Knight household.
Unpopular opinion: I don't love Logan and Camille together. They're cute sometimes, but idk. I'm not sure they really mesh. Maybe I'll feel different as the series goes on.
Favorite relationship: Really big fan of his friendship with Kendall. I love their dynamic.
Favorite headcanon: I have headcanons for him, but they're not particularly interesting, I don't think. Maybe the one about him being an insomniac? Or the one where he constantly attempts to turn Kendall into a book-lover despite Kendall having no interest in reading any of the long, boring novels Logan's so fond of.
