Jan 20
dan domenech as jason dean (u/s) (2014)
@stilldylenlutzzz @prom-is-slavery take them
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dan domenech as jason dean (u/s) (2014)
@stilldylenlutzzz @prom-is-slavery take them
i have been asked by multiple people to drop the essay so here i am <3
so about 90% of my obsession with this hug can be chalked up to me being just jdronica trash, but also when i was rewatching the full oobc boot about 1.5 years ago (wow that’s a long time) i saw ryan’s version, went a bit crazy, and ended up with a long rant about how this one ten-second hug completely sums up dan and ryan’s jds and the difference between their portrayals. because leave it to me to overanalyze a tiny jdronica interaction in the background of a scene.
to start off, i believe there are two potential motives for jd killing kurt and ram, and which one is used entirely depends on the actor and the way he plays jd. the first is (obviously) completely out of love for veronica; he wants to protect her and make those assholes pay for hurting her (this is most jds). and then there are the ones who do it largely to avenge their own egos, because how dare they spread a rumor that they slept with his girlfriend. (i still think these jds are also doing it for her because well… it’s written like that, but it’s kind of like an afterthought)
the first thing i noticed when comparing the videos was veronica’s body language as she goes over to him. with ryan’s jd, she’s way quicker with it (she practically runs over to him), and she looks genuinely afraid that he believes the rumor. she kind of puts her arm like she’s trying to say “wait please listen to me,” and jd looks pissedddd before she makes it over to him. the screenshot i’m giving doesn’t really do either of them justice but it definitely makes sense that she would think his anger is directed towards her. i wouldn’t be surprised if it actually was.
(fyi, it is really hard to do some of the things i’m describing justice with just screenshots but idk how to make gifs properly, so i’ll link the videos at the end of this)
with dan’s jd she’s way more upset about the fact that she’s being called a slut than she is worried that he believes them. there isn’t the same urgency to tell him they’re lying when she goes over to him, she just wants comfort.
and that’s exactly what she gets from him the second she gets over there … he definitely did not believe that rumor for a second because he does not look mad at all. he’s definitely internally fuming at kram and duke and everyone else, but he holds that off for a minute to make sure she’s okay first.
like look at them, he’s so worried about her :(
because of the angle of the video you can’t really see ryan!jd’s face but from what is visible he doesn’t do anything like dan does to comfort her, he kinda just stands there. this bit also is part of what has me thinking that there’s a good chance ryan!jd did actually believe the rumor for a second; this is all just speculation because again you can’t see jd’s face or hear what they’re saying so i’m just guessing off of veronica’s body language. but my personal interpretation is that veronica sees that jd is pissed, assumes that it’s at her, starts frantically explaining what happened—you can see her gesturing towards kurt + ram + duke + everyone participating in the rumor which i think is a part of it. eventually she drops her arm which is just seconds before he hugs her, so i assume that’s the moment when she can clearly tell jd believes her and lets her guard down; and now that she’s less focused on making sure he knows she didn’t cheat on him, she’s more visibly defeated which is why he hugs her
now the actual hug …
first of all can ryan!jd’s even be classified as a hug? he takes her shoulder and weakly pulls her against him, his other arm even stays at his side. veronica brings up her arm herself but jd doesn’t do anything further. i think he is far too focused on plotting his revenge to really think about veronica in that moment. his anger is drowning out everything else, including her (i also kind of think this is why he loses the fight just before olig—he is too overwhelmed by anger, whether for veronica or himself, that he can’t make the same calculated moves that he usually can to win).
this is also the first time we get a good look at his face and i mean just look. that is murder in his eyes.
(also sorry about glasses guy, dude is ruining my screenshots smh)
dan!jd though? he pulls her against him and HOLDS her. so tight. he’s obviously pissed given that he runs over and tries to beat up kram again shortly after, but unlike ryan!jd he holds back for a minute so he can comfort her and make sure she’s okay first.
oh my god look at them. they make me crazy.
those are pretty much my thoughts, tl;dr ryan’s jd was less focused on + comforting to veronica, was more focused on plotting his revenge, and thus it would make sense if his motive for killing kram was more for himself than it was for her. dan!jd was 100% doing it for her though. she’s all he cares about.
i find ryan’s jd fascinating on its own, particularly because i think his is somewhere in between movie!jd and the jd we have now (and the closest musicalverse jd we’ve had to christan’s at all IMO) and i think that it is not just his personal interpretation, but also the writing itself. maybe one day i will write about jd getting further removed from the movie the further along the musical got into development and the jump from ryan!jd to jamie!jd (and jamie muscato in general, because he is king and IMO one of, if not straight up just the best, jds ever).
and here’s a link to both versions of this moment if you want more context
I realise I haven't yet posted about Jdronica Nightmare Island where I'm making every jd and veronica actor living in clone hell together
So I already did a ‘Who’s the best JD?’ poll a while back, now get ready for:
Who’s the prettiest/hottest JD?
Christian Slater (OG movie)
Ryan McCartan (Original Off Broadway)
Dan Domenech (Ryan’s understudy who took over after he left)
Jamie Muscato (West End)
Casey Likes (Off Broadway Revival)
Grant Sturm (Paper Wing Production)
Jacob Fowler (UK Tour)
Jordan Luke Gage (West End Revival)
Stephen Madsen (Australia Tour)
Simon Gordon (Off-West End and UK tour)
James Scully (The god forbidden show we do not speak of)
OTHER! (Comment pls :3 (I desperately need to know of other JDs))
PHOTOS OF ALL OF THEM BELOW CUT!
Dan Domenech is so chill. I joined his tiktok live earlier and there were only like 25 of us on there and he was just yapping and then he got super excited when someone mentioned their school was doing heathers in Puerto Rico next year and he literally said he would travel to go see it and give the cast advice. Like this dude is so nice. Oh and someone asked him if he liked chansaw (the heathers ship) and he was so confused and started talking about chainsaws 😭
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD THERE WAS DAN'S LIVE ON TIK TOK AND I GOT NOTICED 7 FUCKING TIMES.
I TOLD HIM IM ITALIAN SINCE HE WANTS TO LEARN IT AND I ASKED HIM TO SAY "CIAO" (Hi)
Also I asked his opinion on jdronica nd he said he likes it🥺🥺🥺
new inside joke:seagull dan
me when when me w hen me me when dan domenech version dead girl walking