existentialism revisited

anonymous asked: samuel and carla or samuel and rebeka?

Overall: Regardless of everything I say, overall I really liked the season.  I feel like they did a good job of advancing individual character arcs and introducing/putting new character pairings together. Now for my brain dump of thoughts:

•Opening with Mike and Eleven making out made me uncomfy cause regardless of how long they’ve been dating they’re still just kids (young teens?)

•Discounting this, I hated the direction they took with Hopper on this. I think he was a total prick. Before when he was overprotective it was because he cared about El and that’s was clear but this time around they made him seem more like a typical washed up 80′s dad (à la Ted Wheeler) 

•I’m not entirely mad about Hopper’s attempt to throw Mike off El because it brought the El and Max (elmax) friendship sequence

•I absolutely LOVED everything about El and Max in this season. What Max taught El about being her own person was so so important. One of the main reasons some people have a problem with Mileven is because they’re so co-dependent it’s unhealthy for kids and for El’s personal development (I agree!!). This storyline continued through the season of El realizing her worth on her own and how she should be her own person was probably one of my favorites

•Ima say it, Mike was a dick in a lot of moments this season, especially in the beginning with Hopper, sue me. However he is a teen boy and he still has a lot of growing up to do so it’s excusable

•I really hate how little Will was used this season (I may be biased, this blog is called “will-byers-appreciation” for a reason!). I feel like he was only there to feel left behind by his friends but come on the boy has been through enough 

•I really don’t like how in season two Mike was the number 1 Will supporter and he always was there for him even when Dustin and Lucas had no idea was was going on and this season he basically blatantly didn’t care about Will. I know months have gone by but still, Mike shouldn’t have let himself have gotten so distracted by his girlfriend that he forgot his friends, regardless or not of if he loves her. 

•Mike saying something along the lines of “you do don’t like girls Will” (more gaycoding?? who knows if we’ll ever get what we want)

•I feel like the Duffer brothers tried so hard to kill Byler this season and I’m :/

•Everything including Karen and Billy was disgusting, which goes without saying, but was filmed and edited in a really compelling way in that we really didn’t know what was gonna go down so the duffers did a good job working out how to portray that storyline 

•Speaking of Karen, I loved her pep talk to Nancy. Karen stepping up like that was one of the highlights of the show for sure 

•Nancy: every single scene in the Hawkins Post made me want to punch all those middle aged white men god they were such Assholes. The show did a good job of showing Nancy’s frustration and building the misunderstanding conflict between Jonathan and Nancy

•Jancy shippers don’t come for me cause maybe I didn’t notice anything but I feel like there were no real chemistry filled Jancy scenes? They just kept saving the other from getting beat up tbh

•I feel like a lot of the season was taken up but really long fight scenes which made some parts drag a lil

•Time for my absolute favorite part of the season: Steve, Dustin, Robin and Erica- the Scoop Squad

•I absolutely loved this whole dynamic and I found myself waiting for these scenes. Dustin really shone this season and I loved every minute of it. Erica was an amazing addition!! Dustin and Erica is the winning nerd friendship pairing to be honest

•Steve and Dustin!!! Incredible, beautiful, I love them. I feel like they reverted Steve back to a dumbass at the beginning of the season compared to him being kind of emotionally deep after the Nancy breakup in season two. It makes sense given he had his heart shattered and he built a wall back up in hopes to protect himself and find someone new. Dustin pushing this whole Steve and Robin thing is deliciously ironic now which is great. 

•Steve and Robin: Best new dynamic. The entire bathroom scene as they’re coming down from being drugged was absolutely beautiful. I started tearing up. Steve being emotionally vulnerable and explaining his heartbreak and bearing his feelings for Robin just wrecked me. Then when he slid under the stall and looked at Robin and she explained how she never liked him and how she likes girls was so perfect. Dumbass Steve said “But Tammy Thompson’s a girl” and then realizing and being fine with it. You can see how scared Robin is and then how relieved she is when Steve is accepting. This is what’s coming out is like. The moment of panic is portrayed really well. 

•Steve! Having! A! Badass! Smart! Lesbian! Best friend! Who! Is! Cooler! Than! Him! Instead! Of! Getting! Another! Half-Assed Love Interest Story Line!

•I am worried though that’s the duffer brother’s are giving us an openly gay character hoping to “satisfy” us so they can keep queerbaiting Will rather than making him gay

•The whole Murray x Alexie storyline wasn’t amazing and I loved every second of it. I was genuinely heartbroken when they killed Alexie he was shaping up to be one of much favorites

•Billy’s “redemption” at the end where El breaks through to him while retelling the childhood scenes he showed her and then he goes against the Mindflayer was expected but the way they did it was so heartwrenching I’ll give the obvious turn of events a pass. Hi, seeing Max cry over Billy Killed Me, that poor girl

•Finally, Hoppers death. Fuck you stranger things team. No matter how annoying Hopper was this season, how could you guys do that’s to El?? To us?? That letter just about killed me, I started loudly sobbing halfway through and I didn’t finish till twenty minutes later. I’m also not 100% sure he’s actually dead just saying…

•There’s more but this is already So Much so I’ma leave it at this as I literally just started typing and I haven’t even proof read it. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for this to be so long but

•PLEASE! If anyone wants to discuss anything I said here or just the season in general please message me 

So I’ve been re-watching To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before about zillion times, and thought maybe I should do analysis (more like fangirling) of relationship between Lara Jean and Peter K simply because

they are adorable

I just like going over how the relationship of OTP develops (for those of you who don’t know, I did some Sense 8′s Kalagang posts. #kalagang history)

I may use quotes from the book but mostly gonna focus on what happens in the movie between Lara Jean and Peter K. I don’t know why I keep saying ‘Peter K’ instead of just ‘Peter’; maybe because I like the sound of it. Anyway here we go.

Seventh Grade, My First Real Boy/Girl Party

This scene is technically not the very first scene of Lara Jean and Peter, but I put it as first scene because it does come first in chronological order.

Lara Jean: everyone knew that Peter and Gen, who at the time was still my BFF, only wanted to kiss each other.

Interestingly, when Lara Jean spins a bottle and it points Peter she actually smiles a bit right before Gen glares at her. Peter K in both book and movie are described as a handsome boy since seventh grade, so the idea of being kissed by the one might not be that bad for little Lara Jean. Also, Lara Jean loves living in her fantasy. She likes romance, drama and everything that comes along.

[Party] was so anticlimactic after all that planning and anticipation. It was disappointing for me, not because I liked anyone, but because I liked romance and drama and I was hoping something exciting would happen to someone (p.74)

So it’s not solely about Peter that made her smile. The fact she’s going to kiss a boy who happens to be Peter Kavinsky – something exciting is about to happen to her – is what made Lara Jean all nervous and excited.

As soon as she reminds herself Peter K is Gen’s Peter, Lara Jean says she can spin the bottle again. But then Peter K who supposedly wanted to kiss Gen – according to Lara Jean – says this.

Peter: You can’t cheat the bottle.

Source [x] @jonberhthal

They kiss! And right before little Peter approaches Lara Jean, he also seems nervous and excited. When I noticed little Peter’s facial expression, I thought ‘maybe Peter did have a crush on Lara Jean way before this whole fake relationship started…way before everyone thought he was Gen’s Peter.’

I’d never thought of him any kind of way before that kiss. He was too pretty, too smooth. Not my type of boy at all. But after he kissed me, he was all I could think about for months after (p. 75)

Peter and Lara Jean’s kiss in that party is different in the book from the movie, but both versions show clearly Lara Jean didn’t like Peter; at least not like she loved Josh. So in a way, I don’t think Lara Jean would have ever expected herself writing a love letter to Peter Kavinsky. Because when I read the letter, I kinda felt Lara Jean’s frustration like ‘ugh, I can’t believe I’m writing a love letter to you. YOU out of all people! Because of that one kiss’. You know what I mean?

Government Issued Vintage Boots

Before we go into analysis, I’m sorry the quality of my screencaps are shitty. Again, if anyone has gifs just let me know. Thanks :)

We see present version of Peter Kavinsky for the first time…with Gen (who’s going to dump him for a college guy). What I like about this moment is that when Gen makes fun of Lara Jean’s boots, Peter’s smile disappears immediately. He loves his girlfriend but her being mean to Lara Jean makes him uncomfortable. Peter watches Lara Jean’s reaction checking if she’s offended.

When Gen leaves Lara Jean and Chris, Peter looks at her but doesn’t go after her. Instead, he says things about Gen not drinking caffeine anymore because of some diet. Of course he’s defending his girlfriend, but for me it seemed like Peter’s worried about Lara Jean – making all these excuses and reasons so that hopefully Lara Jean would forget about Gen’s mean words.

source [x] @livelovecaliforniadreams​

And before he leaves, Peter glanced at Lara Jean’s boots. You can tell by the look on his face he’s thinking her boots are hot lol.

Whatever You Say, Covey

Well we all know Lara Jean’s driving skill. It made her almost kill Peter K. At first, Peter is like ‘wtf?’ but then as he finds out it’s Lara Jean in driving seat his face softens.

Source [x] @machusalas

This is where we notice Peter K looks at Lara Jean with heart eyes before this whole fake relationship happens. I already mentioned this on other post that he’s looking at her as if she’s the cutest thing on this planet. You can see him smiling even when you can’t see his face. We finally get to hear Peter K calling Lara Jean ‘Covey’. And it was perrrrrrrrrrrrfect.

This is definitely not their first meet, I mean they’ve known each other for ever, but from rom-com’s perspective I would consider this scene as their semi meet cute. Just my opinion. If you guys want more gifs to see Peter’s reaction, here’s the link [x] – but I recommend re-watching it. Also, this is where Kitty sees Peter K for the first time. And she notices him right away which sort of becomes a push for Kitty to send Lara Jean’s letters.

- peter and lara jean’s first kiss being spin the bottle instead of the spur of the moment kiss as they waited for their parents to pick them up from the middle school party. this change made the movie a little weird because it was a game of spin the botttle that gen was mad about for years but in the book their kiss was a secret moment that gen accidentally peeked at, then launching her hatred for lara jean.

- lara jean wearing the heart necklace with the gem in the middle throughout the whole movie as a staple of her wardrobe instead of peter saving up his money to buy it for her from his mom’s store (not to mention I would love to see the angsty “give me the necklace back” scene after they break up and him giving back for her birthday)

- um Kitty never getting her fucking dog! she asks once in the beginning but they never get Jamie Fox-Pickle, a true tragedy

- no dog = no mrs. rothschild/kitty friendship which rip, I love Trina. She’s an icon.

- also a lot less kitty/peter friendship! a HUGE part of the novel is how much peter cares for kitty! there is a specific part in the book where it’s her birthday and he shows up in his two seater to take her to school while lara jean drives herself because he knows how much it means to her. he starts driving his moms mini van on most days so that he can take her to school on top of taking lara jean.

- John Ambrose just fuckin showing up at her house from California when they live in Oregon (which also the relocation of the movie made me sad as a Virginia girl but I get it) because the whole thing is that they become pen pals after he gets her letter and they still live within reason from each other

- the peter kavinsky n john ambrose bromance from their youth! Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid! I wanna see that played out!

- Peter’s flaws and life complications were downplayed which isn’t a bad thing but I think it skewed the story a little bit. Because peter was not a perfect person in the novel and his relationship with Gen was WAY downplayed compared to the book where he continues to sneakily help her while claiming he can’t tell lara jean why (she eventually finds out but still) they also barely touch on the josh/peter feud which is also a key part of the ending of the first book

- the hot tub situation was handled quickly and almost instantly which is not the situation in the book. peter is actually the one who threatens to sue on the grounds of child porn and not margot. they also get way more mocked about the video than in the movie.

- Margot is also pretty absent from the movie, her role is not a lot larger but more present in the novel and I think they could’ve included her a little more

- STORMY. WHERE IS STORMY. WE NEED HER. SHE IS AN ICON. WE NEED HER IN THE NEXT FILM OR ILL SUE. The Stormy/Lara Jean friendship is so important to her character development.

- lara jean’s little baking quirk! baking is such a big part of her identity in the book and it got lost in the movie! HER PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE!

- obviously the first book ended different from the movie; the movie ending was definitely modeled after the opening of the second book but I’m curious to see where they go with it.

Lesbians: wtf are you talking about? I’d die for Lara jean!!!!

Some Boy Aesthetics™ I’m in love with include:

Their tired grins? Have you seen a cute boy grin when he’s tired? Life Changing

Sleeves rolled up to forearms is all good and Well but also when they have Sweater Paws in their hoodies or jumpers? Makes the tallest of them seem so smol? I’m lov?

When they run their hand through their hair and it sticks up in places and it looks So Good

Collar Bones

Soft pudgy stomachs they absolutely make me melt

I was tagged by @fannist (the one who created this tag)

Rules: Describe your personality yourself then ask three people you know irl or online to describe your personality as well and post your description and the responses. Get as deep or not deep as you want. Then tag others to do it. 

My description: I would say I am very blunt, I tell you stuff like it is. I don’t deal with people who think they’re better than me but I don’t think I’m better then anyone else. I tend to be a bit sassy. I get great satisfaction in being right. I have a reason for everything I do. Sometimes I’m a horrible procrastinator but other times I will work my ass off on something. I’m extremely enthusiastic about the things I love and I love them fiercely. I’m either the moderator in an argument or I am directly in the thick of it. I don’t take criticism very well but that’s because most of the time I’ve poured my heart and soul into whatever’s been criticized. I’m a great listener and will try my best to give you good advice and I’m not afraid to put my flaws in a description about myself.  

@fannist my internet friend (mom) of 6 months(ish) said: “You are the kindest purest soul?? You love so much whether its a person or a book or anything. You get so excited about stuff amd it is the cutest thing? You are also a great person to talk to because you dont make things about you and you listen and sympathize”

Irl best friend for 9 years (who doesn’t have a tumblr) said:  “You’re not afraid to stand up to people and speak your mind, if you want something you go for it, you can make friends with anyone you talk to, you dont let what others say about you get to you, you have a quick temper and you can laugh at yourself”

@milanocookie my other irl best friend for 9 years said: “You freak out over books in the best way possible and you’ve gotten me obsessed with quite a few books too. you are caring and fluffy and kind but you will slap someone if they are being annoying. You learn from things that have happened to you and you use your experiences to give advice to others. I can gush about a guy too you. or a girl. and you don’t mind or get annoyed. You are creative and talented and are extremely loyal to yourself and your beliefs and to your friends. You won’t let anyone tell you how to do something or what to believe. All in all you are a cuddly friendly bish. or at times just a bish (in a good way).