Jordan Rosenburg

What else was created at the hands of Dan Schneider were countless acts of abuse, harassment, manipulation, and much more. His sets were homes to child sexual abusers. Adults who are around children each and every day, taking advantage of their trust and innocence, grooming them and harming them physically and mentally. 

It’s not easy for victims of abuse to speak up. Many aren’t believed. Reliving trauma is a horrific experience, so I commend each and every person who shared their story for this docuseries. There were previous cast members who aren’t as well known who got to share their truths, there were crew members sharing stories about Dan’s harassment and sexism on set. There were many crew members that felt uncomfortable about the scenes they were shooting, but no one spoke up. Dan had so much power at Nickelodeon because he kept churning out hit after hit after hit. The parents weren’t much better, but I’ll come back to that. 

The docuseries revealed three adult men who were caught for child pornography, and for sexually abusing children. One man’s name is Brian Peck. He groomed Drake Bell for years. Joe Bell, Drake’s father, did everything he could to keep Brian away from Drake because he knew something just wasn’t right with how Brian acted around his son. Brian eventually convinced Drake to fire his father as his manager, and let his mother take over. This gave Brian the room to drive Drake to and from auditions, take him to Disneyland with him and his friends, and more. Drake Bell revealed in the documentary that Brian Peck sexually assaulted and abused him for years. Since Drake was a minor when it started, his identity was kept secret.

During the trial, many people wrote letters for Brian Peck, attesting to his character: James Marden, Taran Killam, Alan Thicke, Thomas DeSano, Ron Melendez, Rider Strong, and Will Friedle. Some of these names are extremely surprising, and others aren't at all.

Joanna Kerns saying, "there must have been some extreme situation or temptation exerted on him to influence is actions" at the time, and is now saying "I have now learned that my letter of support was based on complete misinformation.

Knowing what I know now, I never would have written the letter". For me, it's not even about her writing the letter, it's about her blaming Drake Bell, the victim, and child in the situation, as if Brian Peck wasn't a grown man who should have known better.

Kimmy Robertson also wrote victim blaming language in her letter of support for Brian Peck.

Rich Correll wrote, "it would be my pleasure to work with him again". And then he did! Brian was allowed to work on The Suite Life! Correll later said, they had no input or involvement in the casting". He also went on to say that, "Mr. Peck simply replied that 'the problem had been solved'".

The series went on from there, explaining how Dan’s behaviors just got worse and worse, and he “flew too close to the sun”. The inappropriate sexual innuendo bits on his shows happened more and more frequently. This included constant closeups on actors’ feet, many of the young female actresses being forced to be squirted in the face with various liquids to represent “money shots”. Ariana Grande probably had it the worst in that she had to film videos that went directly to YouTube, many of which included her biting her own toenails, squeezing a potato until juice squirted out of it, etc. Just absolutely disgusting things that do not make sense for a CHILDREN’S television show. These weren’t jokes for kids. This was Dan Schneider abusing his power, and seeing how much he could get away with. 

It wasn’t until Jeanette McCurdy’s mother died that Nickelodeon finally launched an investigation into Dan Schneider. Jeanette talks about this in her book, “I’m Glad My Mom Died”, which was a heart wrenching read, but well worth it. Jeanette returned to work a WEEK after her mother died from a long battle with cancer. Because of the backlash she got for that, Nickelodeon realized that it was the culture Dan created that probably made Jeanette feel like she had to come back, that she couldn’t take more time off. 

All Nickelodeon did was remove Dan from his sets, and made it so he could only watch from his office and give notes from there. Even though he wasn’t physically on set, the toxic and hostile environment was still alive and well because he was still watching everyone’s every move. 

Thanks to #MeToo, more and more women started speaking up about their experiences on set with Dan Schneider. And then in 2018 Nickelodeon finally kicked Dan Schneider to the curb after launching another investigation based off the new claims. The investigation didn't reveal proof of sexual abuse, but it revealed more cases of harassment of his actors and his crews.

Child stars are often made fun of and exploited by the media as they transition into adulthood. We watch their mental health decline until they’re caught having a breakdown. People point and laugh, and say it’s just another child star who couldn’t handle life as a grown up. But what I think a lot of people don’t understand is that many child stars are forced into the entertainment business. Parents put their financial burdens on their children, tell them they need to work to support the family. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a child. So, if something bad is happening on a set, a kid is going to be too afraid to speak up because they could be fired, and if they’re fired, then they’re not making money for their families. The parents are supposed to be on set and with the kids at all times. But so many turn the other cheek and don’t speak up because they don’t want to risk their kids getting fired. 

It just feels like no adults, not even the ones you’re meant to trust, are safe to be around. In some way, shape, or form these kids get abused. Whether it’s sexual abuse, racism, inflicted eating disorders, or other types of mental abuse, they’re not safe. No one is looking out for them. Everyone is more concerned with making money. 

The entertainment industry squeezes the youth dry and tosses them aside when they can’t legally control them anymore. And we wonder why so many of them have a tough time later on in life. The lucky ones are helped through therapy, and the not so lucky ones either turn up dead, broke, abused, or end up abusing others as they were abused. 

I am feeling very sad and heartbroken. And I’m not sure where to go from here. So many of these shows have brought me comfort and laughs over the years. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy them again. Is it okay to sit and watch reruns or should we be boycotting everything? I want to help in the ways that I can, but I also know that the world will stop caring about this in a week or so when the next big truth bomb about something else is dropped. 

That trailer couldn't have prepared me for the unadulterated fun I was about to have. Every other line out of Sam Rockwell's mouth was laugh out loud funny. What kept me drawn in, though, was the editing. The splices between Rockwell and Cavill was seamless. I know with modern technology, they easily could have greenscreened a lot of it, but it still must have taken a while to film all the same fight scenes in the same exact way to make the cuts as seamless as they were.

The score and soundtrack were brilliant. Between the funky tunes used for the fight scenes, and the dramatic notes used during what would be dramatic in a regular spy thriller, had me enjoying every minute. I will be looking up the soundtrack playlist on Spotify and listening repeatedly.

Henry Cavill is no stranger to playing a spy. In between Superman movies, Cavill starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The latter was another movie that didn't mind being silly and wasn't afraid to have its comedic moments. Because Cavill has played so many daring roles over the years, where he's been the hero or the brute or even just the eye candy, he was the perfect fit for Argylle. You can tell he was having a blast, and not taking things too seriously. The audience isn't supposed to take it seriously either. The Argylle books in the movie are a personification of how cheesy those sorts of books and movies can be. The eye-rolling puns, the use of a femme fatale, and crude jokes.

Back in the day, that's how most James Bond movies were. They had their serious moments, but Bond was a cheeky spy who liked to fuck and crack wise with his villains. He was suave and sure of himself and a badass. But there was a transition in the 90's when the Austin Powers movies started rolling out. Now, I'm a huge fan of Austin Powers movies, I'll watch them any time, any place. But those movies, being replicas of the old Bond films but with more humor, outlandish sex, and over the top puns, made it difficult for the new Bond films to be silly. Suddenly, they were getting more and more serious, with more and more over the top action scenes and explosions.

Argylle brought back the silliness and the goofiness, and the ability to laugh at itself. Suspension of disbelief, etc etc. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let yourself enjoy the ride. Throughout the film, as the layers kept being peeled back, I kept thinking, "What is this movie?!" I can usually figure out what's going to happen, but the twists and turns in this film kept throwing me off, and that kept me in my seat and having fun.

There's a scene where Bryce Dallas Howard's character, Elly, thinks she's seen her parents die in cold blood. Rockwell is driving her somewhere in the south of France, and he asks her if she's okay. Howard, astonished, asks, "Am I okay? Am I okay?!", and then she started crying. This made me lean over to my friend and say, "all of us @ Elmo the other day", and we burst into hysterics. (If you're unfamiliar, Elmo's X account posted asking how everyone was, and there was a surge of responses of people using memes to show how not well they all are.)

A little more than halfway through, we find out that Elly's real name is Rachel Kyle. She had gotten into a bad accident on a spy mission and had no memory. The bad guys brainwashed her into thinking she was someone else, and it worked. The Argylle books she wrote as Elly, were really just memories coming back to her. We were made to believe her books were predicting future events, but really, it was the past. Samuel L. Jackson explained that to her. Rockwell then had to calm Howard down and get her to settle into the information. Slowly, Rachel remembers who she is. She hasn't lost all of Elly, but she makes it seem like she has in order to complete the overall mission.

Rockwell thinks that Howard has double crossed her, but in a very Knives Out fashion, she explains that she knew if she shot him in the chest in just the right spot, he wouldn't die. We learn that the two were lovers back in the day. Not only did he feel betrayed, but he was heartbroken. Later on, she double crosses the bad guys, finds her cat, then finds a room with all the weapons she could possibly need to get out. Rockwell finds her there, and they're able to hash things out. She assures him that they're on the same side.

This leads into one of the most incredibly choreographed fight scenes I've ever seen. You can tell the actors were having an incredible time. Smoke pours into the corridor and the two come out shooting. While throwing in body rolls and other dance movements, they take everyone out. This also included Howard lifting Rockwell up, much like how Dua Lipa was lifted up during the beginning of the movie by Henry Cavill, spread eagle. The shots used every time there was a lift like this was not subtle. We get it, it's an innuendo for sitting on someone's face. And it was funny every single time.

Then the next fight scene happened, which gave Howard a moment to shine. They were trapped in a room that was slowly filling with oil, so they couldn't shoot their guns. She remembers she's actually good at ice skating, and puts together makeshift skates. She sticks a knife into a gun, then rushes out like a hockey player. I thought I was going to pass out from laughing so hard. It was the perfect mix of hockey style skating and figure skating. Were these scenes filled with CGI and body doubles? Yes. Did it make them less fun? Absolutely not.

Everything works out in the end because of course it does. Her ending is given to Argylle and Wyatt. Personally, I think Henry Cavill and John Cena should have kissed, they were clearly in love. I thought they would have since Rockwell and Howard kissed. All of the scenes paralleled one another, so why couldn't that one? I digress.

For one last big laugh, at the end of the movie, Howard is back to pretending to be Elly the author, and is doing a book reading of the final Argylle book. She's taking questions from the audience, and she calls on a man. He stands and knowingly smiles. It's Henry Cavill, only he has a curly mullet and a southern accent. What is it with British actors and doing southern accents that brings me so much joy? He says, "I don't have any questions, but I'm sure you have a couple for me", and winks.

There was a post-credits scene. It was supposed to be the actual Argylle book's first film adaptation. The scene takes place in a bar called The King's Man. An Easter egg thrown in by director, Matthew Vaughn, who has also directed the 2021 film by the same name. We couldn't tell if it was serious or not, but I'd love to see a movie based off the fake books. I think mostly because the writer, Jason Fuchs, and Matthew Vaughn, should definitely team up again.

Even though there were parts reminiscent to other spy movies, this is one of the most creative movies I've seen in a while. This is my favorite kind of satire. There are so many movies that are just remakes of remakes of remakes these days. It feels like there are no original ideas left. So, this was a breath of fresh air. It was so funny and so brilliant with a star studded cast. I bet this movie was so fun to work on, you could just feel that energy radiating from the actors. There were some slower parts, but that's to be expected. For the most part, my attention was kept. It was one of those movies where I left thinking, "I can't wait for this to come to streaming so I can watch it again".

I don't think Howard is the strongest actor, and some of the plot between the good spies and the bad spies was a little confusing. I found a lot of that hard to follow, maybe that was supposed to be on purpose. Most spy movies aren't always clear on what the main issue is.

Anyways, if you're looking for an escape from the cold, or an escape in general, this is definitely the movie to see.

Ticketmaster’s OP option apparently enables “market-based pricing”, which is basically as more people buy seats, the prices go up. They’re saying this is similar to how hotel and airline prices are sold. Okay, but this isn’t a hotel or an airline. It’s for a fucking ticket to an event that’s less than three hours long, and you’re not being provided the same service you would get at a hotel or on a plain.

“Enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their market value.” ENABLING ARTISTS! This is a function artists and their teams choose to use. They do this so they can get paid more because the artists don’t get any of the resale money when tickets are resold on other sites. Okay???? They’re still getting paid for the original ticket that was bought, right? So what does it matter?

Sites like StubHub and the like used to be where you could find tickets for cheaper prices. Now the prices are just as high, if not more, than what people bought them for off Ticketmaster because they know, for certain artists, someone out there is willing to pay over $1000. We’ve seen this time and time again with other companies. Air BnB used to be a way to have a more affordable vacation. Uber and Lyft used to be more affordable than getting a cab. Etc, etc. The real kicker for me is that this only happens in the U.S. I have friends around the globe, and they don’t have to deal with prices inflating. So why is like that here? Answer me that Live Nation! Oh, wait, LIVE NATION IS OWNED BY TICKETMASTER, SO IT’S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ARTISTS TO USE OTHER TICKETING SITES TO SELL THEIR TICKETS FOR REASONABLE PRICES!

People like to blame the venue itself, but it’s not necessarily the venue’s fault. They’re being told how things are done. They have to follow Ticketmaster’s rules. Now, at smaller venues where maybe an artist is slightly less known, but still popular, most of the time it’s about $45 for a general admission (GA) ticket. For example, venues like The House of Blues in Boston typically sell their tickets for $45, that’s with fees included. Smaller venue means less crew that need to be paid. The stage doesn’t need to be made up or broken down. So obviously the price of the ticket is going to be less.

And I understand that people need to be paid, I’m not saying that these people who work incredibly hard behind the scenes don’t deserve to be paid, I just think it shouldn’t be at the expense of the fans. There has to be another, more feasible way to make sure the crew and all the other folks are getting their money. And I know some artists have to wait a while to be paid because the label has to get paid, the record company has to get paid, the managers have to get paid, and so on. But isn’t that what selling merch is for? I thought things like that helped to offset the cost. Or, you know, the hundreds of dollars worth of taxes and fees.

OP has been around for a long time, but with less and less venues selling tickets through their physical box offices, we’re basically forced to buy tickets online, and pretty much only through Ticketmaster. I’m sure there were some good intentions in the early days of OP, but it’s become the bane of many peoples’ existence.

Many artists use the OP function to make more money. Okay, that’s fine if face value is between $50-$150, I guess? There’s nothing more infuriating than clicking on tickets and getting them in your cart, only for the price to have doubled in the two seconds the page was refreshing. Then you either have to buy them, or go back in and try again. The whole process is exhausting! What’s always mind boggling to me is when I’m trying to get GA tickets, and I get the pop up from Ticketmaster saying, “another fan has already purchased these”. THEY’RE GENERAL ADMISSION, WHAT DOES IT MATTER????

I didn’t know things were this crazy up until a couple of years ago when I became a fan of Harry Styles. Signing up for presale, clicking into waiting rooms (if you were lucky enough to get a presale code), waiting in queues only to be told there’s 2000+ people ahead of you in line. What I’ve noticed more and more is that there’s a presale for everything, so by the time general sale happens, there’s no good seats left. How is that fair? There also is rarely ever a limit to how many tickets you can buy, so scalpers and bots buy up entire rows of seats, and go onto resale sites to sell them for double or triple the original price.

There are presales for Spotify users, but you have to make sure you’re following that artist and listening to them enough for Spotify to even send you a code. And now some credit cards are giving out presale codes! AMEX is the one I see most often. You have to your AMEX card on file in your payment options for Ticketmaster to be considered for their presale. And when you get to the event itself, AMEX users sometimes get access to merch that no one else has access to, and more. Then you have “verified fan” (VF) presale.

According to Ticketmaster, VF is another way to help artists to get more of their tickets into the hands of the fans, not just to resellers. Wasn’t that the intention of OP? Awesome, another hoop to jump through. Only this time, you’re signing up to be registered for a chance to obtain this presale that is automatically linked with your Ticketmaser account. So you can’t even share your code with your friend. They would have to sign into your account to get the tickets, and then transfer them. AMEX does this as well for their presales.

A lot of these presales happen on different days and times. I’ve had to literally put them on my calendar so I’d remember which day and time I could try for specific show dates. The most annoying thing about VF is that it’s a lottery system. You’re not guaranteed VF just from registering for it. I’ve only been lucky enough to have VF one time, but even still you’re not guaranteed tickets because you still have to wait your turn in the queue, and then it’s a race to select and buy your tickets.

What happens if you don’t get selected for VF? Ticketmaster sends you a bullshit email telling you that you’ve been added to a waitlist, and if all the tickets they’ve set aside for VF don’t sell, then you’ll be taken off and given access. This literally never happens. No one ever gets taken off the waitlist. Just be blunt and say I didn’t get VF and let me know what my other options are, if there even are any.

Let’s get back to Harry Styles. I love him to death, and I love going to his shows because they’re always a unique experience. He interacts with his fans way more than other artists do. He makes your night together very special. So for that, sometimes it’s worth the price. I won’t lie, I’ve paid over $500 for one ticket to see Harry. There are other artists I would not do that for. And nine times out of ten, I’ve had to buy tickets to his shows through resale sites. Normally, I don’t think I would care, but for the final leg of his North American portion of Love on Tour, he decided to have residencies in large cities. Fifteen nights in New York, a couple of nights in Canada and Texas, a week in Chicago, and another 15 nights in LA. He did this so it would be easier for him to work on writing and recording. He loves touring and performing, but this time around he had us come to him. This is where I started to really lose my mind.

Okay, so say my GA Pit ticket (and trust me, you want to be in the pit for a Harry show at least once if you can) is around $450 with taxes and fees included. Not great, but not horrible enough to send me into excruciating debt. But now I have to factor in more travel than usual. I live in central NH, so normally I just go down to Boston and stay with my friends. A simple drive that costs next to nothing. But now I have to travel all the way to Midtown. So not only do I need to travel down to Boston, but now I have to go from Boston to New York. And on top of that, now I need a hotel room. Then you have to factor in food. That’s well over a thousand dollars at that point.

I went to two of Harry’s residency shows at MSG. The first show I had pit for the first time, and I honestly blacked out, so I couldn’t even really enjoy it. I took a bus from NH to Boston, then flew to New York. The flights were cheap. Then I took an Uber to my hotel where I was paying for two nights at. It was a good hotel, and only half a mile from MSG. I’m usually willing to pay a little extra for a good hotel. My safety is very important to me. After the show, I flew back to Boston, took my bus back to NH and called it a day. Fine. But I wanted to go again. So, the second time, I took a bus from NH to Boston, then took an express bus from Boston to New York. This time, I had no hotel. This trip was 24 hours. After the show, I met up with my friends who I knew were also headed back to Boston, and we waited for our 2AM Amtrak together.

I’m lucky that I have the means to travel like this. Many others aren’t. And I understand that it’s easier for the artist and their crew to stay in the same place for longer periods of time, but if you really cared about your fans, wouldn’t you want to make things easier for them? Even if the ticket is reasonably priced, now I have to pay for all these extra things? And I’m not saying I didn’t have fun in New York, because I did. I made the most out of my time there, but it’s the principle of the thing.

Harry Styles is a very humble person, at least, that’s the side of himself he lets us in on, but I truly don’t think he knows how much a loaf of bread costs.

I’m not a fan of Taylor Swift, so I won’t dive too deep into what happened with her ticket sales, but I have many friends that love her and I felt terrible that they had such a tough time getting tickets. There was another lottery system, and Ticketmaster really thought that most people wouldn’t be jumping in at the same time. Taylor hasn’t toured in years, of course everyone who got VF was going to login at the same time and try for tickets! One of my friends sat in the queue for THREE HOURS and she was able to get tickets in a decent part of the arena. Then the general sale was sold out because all the tickets were sold during VF, which is so fucking stupid because VF usually only releases a certain amount of tickets. But again, bots and scalpers go in and buy as many tickets as they can.

One event that was done right was Harry’s One Night Only for Harry’s House. I was fortunate enough to go because a friend couldn’t and she gave me her ticket. This lottery system was insane, and trying to get tickets was even more insane. However, the tickets were only $25. At first, they were non-transferable, so you had to be with the person who bought the tickets, or log into their account at the time of the show. That obviously wasn’t feasible, so they made the tickets transferable, and that’s when the craziness happened again because those tickets were being resold for over $500, and a lot of those were in the nosebleeds! I had front row in the second level behind the stage. It wasn’t the most ideal spot, but for $25 and a weekend away with my friends? Totally worth it. If tickets can be sold for that price, without OP getting in the way, why can’t artists do that all the time? Or maybe just turn off OP in general for all shows.

What has finally pushed me over the edge with Ticketmaster is the week of Jonas Brothers shows at the Marquis in New York. I’m just as peeved at the boys because they announced this barely a week ago, and the shows are in two weeks. That’s not enough time to prepare travel plans for a reasonable price. Each night is a different album. Super fun idea, I love it. However, the Marquis only holds up to 1000 people. So, we all signed up for VF. There’s no presale, there’s no general sale. You had to get VF in order to purchase tickets. Everyone I know, including myself, was waitlisted. When I looked at Ticketmaster last night, it said there would be VF tickets sold and OP tickets sold. So, I was able to calm down and I told myself I’ll try my luck with OP and see what happens. But when I tried to join the waiting room earlier today, Ticketmaster wouldn’t let me because I didn’t have a VF code associated with my account. I took to Twitter to see if anyone else was confused, and they were. Many people were asking why Ticketmaster would even advertise OP tickets if they weren’t actually going to sell any. I took a deep breath and went to Vivid Seats. Surely the ticket prices won’t be astronomical. It’s just the Jonas Brothers. WRONG AGAIN! Tickets are being resold for over $400. All I wanted was to listen to Lines, Vines and Trying Times in its entirety!

I think because of what happened with Taylor and the backlash Ticketmaster got, they cracked down on not letting people in unless they had VF, which I can respect. However, they shouldn’t have also advertised a sale for OP tickets. They claim they want to keep the tickets in the hands of the fans...

Does this look like fans bought the tickets? And it’s infuriating because Ticketmaster doesn’t care. Because guess what? The higher ups at Ticketmaster also don’t know how much a loaf of bread costs!

What’s worse is that what used to be a fun and easy thing to do, is now a battlefield. It sucks all the fun out of getting tickets for an event you and your friends are excited for. How can you feel excited when you’re sitting in a waiting room that refreshes into a queue that no matter what number you are in line you’re still not guaranteed tickets? It’s stressful, anxiety inducing, and completely unnecessary.

I know there was a time where before you could buy tickets online, people camped out for certain artists. But that’s a clear line, you know how many people are actually in front of you, and you’re not paying an arm and a leg for your ticket! Even when I was in high school, I could go online and buy tickets for a show and get really good seats for under $200.

We can’t go on like this. Beyonce, the woman preaching for people to quit their jobs and to release their minds, is selling tickets to her shows for astronomical prices just because she can. I know management has more to do with it. They’re using their cash cows to make even more cash. I get it, I really do. But what’s going to happen when this all finally crashes and burns? What happens when we all decide, “You know what? This isn’t worth it”? Artists only get to perform if they have an audience to perform to.

Something else that’s come from all of this stressful ticket buying is hostility within fandoms. If you’re not selected for VF or presales, then you’re telling the people that are getting early access that they’re not real fans, that you deserve it more than them. It’s not another person’s fault a computer selected them. It sucks, and believe me I’m disappointed too, but there’s no reason for animosity to occur because of it. That’s how the corporations win. They want us to turn against each other because they know if we all banded together and said enough is enough, they wouldn’t be able to keep getting away with all this.

Then when all these fans do get together, there’s hostility at the shows! Because people had to fight for their tickets, they come into these venues hot. I was lucky enough to go to both Palm Springs shows for Harry’s birthday. It was at a smaller arena. Two tickets I got off Ticketmaster (front row seats), and two tickets for the next night off of Vivid Seats (GA Pit). Because my friend and I had never been to this arena before, we asked where our section was and the person working told us where to go. So we sat and waited for the show to start. These two girls came over to us and demanded we show them our tickets because apparently we were in their seats. We realized we were in one section over from where our seats actually were. Easy mistake, right? It’s not like we had upper bowl and we were trying our luck at taking other people’s seats. But these girls were being so nasty about it, I finally spoke up and said, “Calm down, we’re all going to get to see him.” And they looked at me like I had three heads. My friend and I walked away and found our actual seats, which were in an even better spot. But still. We’re all going to see a man that preaches treating people with kindness. Those girls were not kind at all.

And when the lights go out and the artist comes on stage, for that brief time we all forget what we put ourselves through to get there. We’re in the moment, having fun with friends and strangers, singing and dancing to the music we all love. It’s so powerful being in a space with people who have all gathered to watch this one person. I’ve made some amazing friends over the last few years because artists have brought us together. And I’ve gone on some amazing once in a lifetime trips because of these artists.

The cast of Abbott is comprised with some familiar face: Lisa Ann Walter, who many folks of my generation know as Chessy from The Parent Trap, Tyler James Williams of Everybody Hates Chris fame, Sheryl Lee Ralph, who many of us remember as Dee Mitchell from Moesha, and William Sanford Davis who is no stranger to the sitcom world. We also have Janelle James, a comedian who I had honestly never heard of, but is truly hilarious, and Chris Perfetti, another new face to me, but has quickly stolen my heart as his character Jacob.

The first season starts off during the spring semester of the school year. Janine, played by Quinta, is a semi-new teacher who wants to be the absolute best for her students. She’s young, ambitious, high-spirited, and is often annoying her colleagues.

Seasoned professional Barbara Howard, who happened to be Janine’s teacher back in the day, is probably the person annoyed by Janine the most. But only because Janine’s high energy and new teaching styles don’t jive with what Barbara’s used to. Throughout the season, Barbara ends up leaning on Janine a bit more, and starts to see her value as a teacher. Especially when it comes to using new technology that Barbara isn’t exactly savvy with.

Jacob is a corny, happy-go-lucky social studies teacher. He’s the closest with Janine. Jacob is the quintessential cis-white guy who is often a little too “woke” for his own good. But he means well, and even though his students refer to him as “Mr. C.” because he’s so corny, they love him as their teacher. He also has a very loving relationship with his boyfriend, which I enjoyed seeing represented.

Melissa is a fast fan favorite. Having grown up in Jersey, she brings a very real character to the table. She’s a math teacher, and a damn good one at that. Another seasoned professional, who is close with Barbara, but also plays by a lot of her own rules. If something needs to get done, she knows someone who knows someone who knows someone, but you didn’t hear it from her.

Gregory is new to the elementary school. He starts off as a substitute teacher. He was originally supposed to be the principal of Abbott, he was offered the job after going to school for it! But alas, the job was given to someone else - Ava Coleman. Ava has literally no teaching background of any kind. So how did she get the job?

Ava is often flirting with Gregory, making some very crude remarks. She uses the budget inappropriately for her own vanity, and only sometimes actually does her job. She and Janine tend to have many disagreements, but Janine is a passive person, so she’s usually coming up with some over the top idea to make a change instead of just simply discussing the issue with Ava. Not that Ava ever really listens, so it almost forces Janine to do something crazy.

And Mr. Johnson, our beloved custodian, is always there with a smart remark, often that extra comic relief we need to break the tension during some of the more serious scenes.

The show is a mockumentary style sitcom, similar to The Office, or Parks and Rec. The interviews the characters give aren’t as formal as they were on The Office. Most of the time when they’re talking directly to the camera, they’re in the hallway between classes. This style can be hard to pull off, especially when so many other sitcoms have done it, like Modern Family, for example. But Abbott does it flawlessly.

Like many of my favorite shows, we have a slow burn occurring between two main characters: Gregory and Janine. Gregory makes it pretty obvious, to the cameras, that he likes Janine right away.

In fact, part of the reason he takes the open position to become a full-time teacher and not a substitute, by the end of the school year is so he can still be around Janine. Nothing can be too easy, though. We learn early on that Janine has a long-time boyfriend, Tariq. Tariq is basically a deadbeat, going from one dead-end job to the next, leaving Janine to constantly pick up the slack. But they’ve been together for well over ten years, so she’s not exactly looking to start anew.

However, by the end of the first season, Janine does end things with Tariq. And it’s not because she’s in love with Gregory. As much as we want them to be Jim and Pam, they’re not. Janine breaks up with Tariq because she realizes she’s simply outgrown him, and it’s not healthy for either of them to stay in their relationship. It’s not easy for her to come to terms with this, we see that at the beginning of season two as she pretends to be fine with the breakup. Throughout the first season, Janine evolves quite a bit. She’s much more confident as a teacher going into the fall semester. She’s more sure of herself and her capabilities.

The show is heartwarming at its core. Yes, it’s extremely laugh out loud funny. (Which is a big deal because a show rarely makes me audibly laugh, so the fact that I’ve laughed so hard I’ve nearly cried?? Yeah, this is a well written show.) All of the main characters go through a sort of “after school special” moment that helps them grow and become better. I think my favorite person’s journey is Gregory’s. He was obviously bitter about not getting the principal position. He’s also just a very odd duck. He likes order and rigidity. He only eats plain, boiled chicken between two slices of white bread. (He doesn’t like when different foods mix together. When he admitted he didn’t like pizza, it was a whole thing. Jacob was the most offended, especially when Gregory also told them he didn’t pie.)

Gregory doesn’t get goofy or silly with his students, he prefers order. But he slowly starts to realize that if he’s going to actually have a good command over his classroom, then he’ll need to let loose a little.

We’re three episodes in to the second season, and it’s already holding up to the groundbreaking first. This isn’t always easy to do. Sometimes when a show has such an incredibly good first season, the second season can feel lackluster. But not Abbott Elementary. Less than a minute into the first episode, I was already laughing hysterically. Janine was discussing her breakup, so we cut to a scene showing Tariq packing up his friend’s car, and them both driving away. Tariq had a shining smile on his face as he danced in the passenger seat while ‘Snap Yo Fingers” by Lil Jon blasted through the speakers.

The main cast are back to their old antics: finding ways to keep the students interested, doing their best to keep the school from crumbling, and just getting through each day one step at a time. The teachers lean on one another for so many things, and I don’t think that’s something we’ve seen in a show with a school setting before. Most sitcoms that take place in school are usually about the students, not the teachers. And if it is about the teachers, it’s usually very serious. We’re getting a real and unique perspective about what teachers have to deal with at a semi-underprivileged school. Second and third grade classes get lumped together, the textbooks are nowhere near new, and the grant money Janine won for new supplies had to go towards getting rid of a rat infestation in the cafeteria.

Not that it’s all about Janine and Gregory and their slow burn, but if we’ve learned anything from watching Jim and Pam (The Office), or Jake and Amy (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), or Ben and Lesley (Parks and Rec), or even Jonah and Amy (Superstore), these two will not be confessing feelings any time soon. And if they do, they won’t be getting together as an official couple until at least the end of the third season, as many of the couples listed previously did. I’m really excited to see how it all plays out. I know it’s going to be good.

In my opinion, we haven’t had a truly good sitcom in quite some time. Many of our favorites have long since ended. Sometimes when I see the current ones, the ones that are on cable networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, I find myself asking, “How is this still on the air?”. One of the last good ones standing, again in my opinion, was Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which ended in 2021 after eight seasons. Modern Family ended in 2020, but despite the few really funny clips I’ve seen from that show, I never got into it to watch regularly. Just because a family is blended and a little unconventional, doesn’t mean it’s modern. Who was it modern to? The upper-middle class? The same goes for Black-ish, which ended last spring. That was another show I tried to get into, but just couldn’t. To me, it was just another show about an upper-class family. Yes, the cast was diverse and had good representation, but not everyone lives like that family did. Other honorable mentions are: The Good Place (2016-2020), Schitt’s Creek (2015-2020), and Superstore (2015-2021). Many of these beloved shows have all ended within the last three years. And what are we left with? The Goldbergs? Young Sheldon? Grown-ish? Hard pass. If you like those shows, no shade, they’re just not my cup of tea.

And even though we have shows on paid streaming services like Ted Lasso (a must watch if you’re able), that’s not a program that’s easily accessible to everyone. I’m hoping Abbott sparks inspiration for more warm-hearted comedies. It’s a show that’s fun for adults, but it’s something you can still watch as a family if you so choose. Having someone like Quinta as a writer is truly the key to its success. The show is funny, relatable, sometimes gut-wrenching, and something I look forward to watching every week. 

As a long time lover of DC Comics and the like, I had been excited about this new Batman movie for quite awhile. Although, I’ll admit, I was hesitant because it just feels like the DC movie universe has been all over the place for the last decade. Does Robert Pattinson’s Batman exist in a different universe from Ben Affleck’s? And if so, what does that mean for the number of upcoming DC films slated to come out? Are we all going to pretend the first Justice League movie didn’t happen? 

I could go on with a number of these questions, but there’s really no point. I think we’ve all been spoiled and led to believe that our favorite superheroes need to team up and live in the same universe because of Marvel. DC isn’t Marvel, and that’s more than okay. I’ve always preferred the DC heroes. (Not including Tobey’s Spiderman, that will forever be my favorite.) I think it’s okay for our heroes to live their separate lives in their separate universes. There have been so many iterations of our heroes over the years within the comics and TV shows, it would be impossible to narrow down which storyline for each would make the most sense. 

Batman’s universe has always been one of my favorites. Probably mostly because of all the different Robin’s he’s had over the years, Jason Todd being the one I hold closest to my heart. Sorry, Dick! 

I was a little too young for the prince of darkness that Christian Bale brought to life all those years ago. And to be perfectly honest, I much prefer the campier versions of villains because I feel like they’re just more interesting. Nothing will ever compare to Jim Carrey’s Riddler, but I digress. As much as I appreciate what Christian Bale did for the Batman franchise and his portrayal of Batman, he just wasn’t Bruce Wayne.

I feel like so many of the these actors either nail what it’s like to be Batman, or what it’s like to be Bruce, never both. I felt like Ben Affleck made a great, older Bruce. But him as Batman? Not as believable. 

That’s where Robert Pattinson comes in. 

Was I ever a fan of Twilight? God, no. Was I excited to see someone as unhinged as Robert Pattinson play Batman? God, yes. 

I think what I liked right off the bat, was that this wasn’t another origin story. We all know what happened to Bruce Wayne and his parents on that fateful night. We all know about his trauma and his years of sadness. We didn’t need another origin story. The film takes place about two years after Bruce became The Batman. 

We didn’t have to deal with Commissioner Gordon not trusting Batman or fighting against him. No, we got to see them on the same side right away for a change. This brought me so much happiness. We’ve once again avoided having to deal with more unnecessary backstory. We all know their history already, I promise. 

In this film, we get to see Bruce in rare form: he still has a lot to figure out. He’s still after vengeance for his parents. But he slowly starts to realize that shouldn’t be his driving force for helping people, especially when one of the copycat Riddler’s says that he’s also vengeance. In another rare moment, Bruce realizes that he’s also part of the problem. That his family is part of the problem. Bruce Wayne is a rich white man, given everything he’s ever needed while a city of people pretty much have to fight for their lives the second the sun goes down. 

The people of Gotham believe The Batman is one of them. 

There are a few times Bruce believe he’s been found out, that people know who he is under the mask, but they don’t. Because the people of Gotham, including The Riddler, hate the rich, Bruce Wayne is the last person they would expect to see under that mask. It’s both a strength and a weakness for Bruce. He’s spent so much time sulking and fighting that he hasn’t stopped to think about the other ways he could be helping. Sure, he was a kid when the renewal project was announced, but as an adult he could have done more to be involved with Wayne enterprises. Since his parent’s death, he’s felt detached from his family name. It’s Alfred that’s kept all of that going.

Bruce had to face some tough truths. His father wasn’t the perfect man he thought he was. His mother’s family had more skeletons in their closets than he could have ever imagined. Probably one of the most important things he had to face is that he does have an impact on Gotham. He is making a difference. Some if it is for the better, and some of it for the worse. The Riddler became what he became due to childhood trauma, yes, but he also told Batman that he inspired him to do more. Bruce now knows that even though he’s been saving lives, he may also be the reason they were put in danger. 

This iteration of Batman also gave us what I think a lot of us were craving which was detective!Batman. Bruce Wayne is an incredibly bright man. Getting to watch him take in a scene, think things over, and then make his move was so much fun to watch. He was taking in clues, using his scary persona to get him answers, and solving so many pieces to what seemed like an endless puzzle. It wasn’t just about brute strength and having a six-pack. Robert Pattinson didn’t kill himself in the gym to look overly muscular for this movie, and I’m so glad he didn’t. Believe it or not, that’s not what everyone wants to see in a hero. 

His chemistry with Selina was top tier. From the moment they met there was a connection. Bruce often works alone, but he’s not opposed to working with someone so he can find answers. He knows teamwork makes the dream work, it just needs to be on his terms. I’m really hoping we get an official Catwoman movie with Zoe. I want to know more about Selina, and what her new life will be like. Will she still teeter on the sides of good and bad? 

I understand they were trying to show how today’s terrorists mirror The Riddler. He was a deranged white man much like the terrorists we’ve seen in our own country over the last two decades. I just wish we could have had a little more fun with him. I enjoyed having this introduction to The Penguin, I’m excited to see what they’ll do with him next. I think one of my favorite scenes in the movie was the car chase between Penguin and Batman. And when Batman finally catches him, the music that was playing along with him walking away from the fire was just immaculate. But what I’m most excited for is this new version of The Joker. He’s already in Arkham, but for what? And did Batman put him there? I would love an Arkham Asylum movie of some kind where you see The Joker get his gang together. 

This movie was three hours long. As much as I enjoyed it, I don’t think it needed to be as long as it was. There were definitely a few scenes that dragged on a little too long for my liking. I feel like they were trying to squeeze in so much so they could set up some other potential films. I will say, when Batman lit the flare, and guided all of those people out of the water, when he held that woman’s hand, when he just never got tired and never stopped helping? That made it all worth the three hours. Watching Batman really become The Batman was the cherry on top of an already delicious sundae. 

The film score was impeccable. I know Something in the Way was used for Batman’s sort of theme music, but it also reminded me a lot of Darth Vader’s in Rogue One. Every time it was used, it was just so badass and clever. There were many scenes were I couldn’t help but laugh because of the way Bruce just slowly approached his next victim while the music was playing. 

Did I talk about the new tech yet? Because those contact lenses that recorded exactly what you’re seeing? That was so cool. I loved that Bruce not only watched all of the footage back, but he journaled about his experiences as well. His attention to detail is part of what makes him such a good detective.

I’m really hoping more films come from this version of Batman. As the movie ended, I was almost in tears because it was just so good. 

That was the god damn Batman if I ever saw one.

Side note - all I could think about after the flood scene was this:

As I was crafting this course, I took an interdisciplinary approach when it came to putting together objectives. I wanted the class to be fun, but also teach the students an applicable 21st century skill that they would be able to use in other classes and in the workplace. Because of this, students across multiple disciplines signed up for the course, such as: English, Communication, Adventure Education, Public Health, Marketing, Nursing, Criminal Justice, Social Work, Finance, Business Administration, Geography, Sports Management, and Undeclared. It was so nice to have such a diverse group of students all come together for this class. 

Students need creative outlets. I’m sure there are a number of case studies about this, but this is just something I know from experience. Students jump to take photography courses, drawing courses, etc because it lets them take their minds off of everything else for a while. Today’s students are going through so much. As a first-year academic advisor, I see first-hand every day how drained these students are. I was happy to be able to teach a course that provided this creative outlet that so many of them needed. 

The first few weeks of the course was dedicated to getting everyone up to speed on film and film theory. In order to make a captivating video, you have to know how captivating videos are made. I also asked the class where they watched most things, and they all said online. YouTube is the main source of entertainment for these students. So, we looked at popular YouTube channels, and we discussed what makes them successful. I wanted them to learn how audiences are made and retained. Consistency is key in the world of YouTube and Tik Tok. 

As we were discussing YouTube, I showed the class a few different examples of video blogs and essays. I also wanted to show them the difference between a video blog and a vlog. A vlog is a video that is just compiled snippets of someone’s day, or an event that occurred. Whereas a video blog is just a blog that’s turned into a video. I had the class focus on video blogs that are about music, TV, and movies. I wanted them to see that high level discussions can be had about their favorite media. 

For a fun way for the students to discuss what they learned about film, film theory, and character development, as a class we watched Goldfinger and Austin Powers. I then had the students write me a 3-page essay comparing and contrasting the two films. This was a great “beginning of the semester” assignment.

After having an assessment on the basics, I dove into what’s needed for pre-production. We discussed screenwriting, shot lists, lighting, sound and more. Even though the students would be talking directly to the camera, I wanted them to know that it’s important to have their shots set up, and even if they don’t need an official script, they should still have notes for what they’re going to talk about. While we were discussing all these things, I also had the class watch The Imagineering Story on Disney+. This wasn’t to provide free propaganda for the mouse company, however, this documentary does an incredible job of going over the imagination, creativity, and innovation process. I wanted the students to see that their first idea doesn’t have to be their best idea, and that it was okay to start over and try something new. 

I did a couple of weeks of filming and editing workshops with the students. I had them get into groups and put a script together for how someone in the group met their best friend. Each group performed a skit, and then we voted on which one we wanted to film as a class. I shot the clips on my phone, since most of the students were using their smartphones to film their video blogs, and then I explained how to upload them to their computers. The following class, I gave them a real time tutorial on how to use Adobe Premiere CC. This is a product students can use for free on campus computers. I showed them everything from importing clips to exporting the final product, and how to then upload that final product onto YouTube. From there, we talked about channel branding on YouTube, and I had everyone set up their YouTube channels for what their video blog was going to be about. 

I gave the students many in-class work days for filming and editing. I wanted to be there in case they had questions, but I also wanted to give them more autonomy on their projects. Many editing platforms have quick tutorials for things on YouTube, and I wanted them to see that they could easily find answers themselves. Editing can be a tedious part of making a video, but it can also be the most fun because that’s where you can really put some flavor on your video. Editing can make or break a video. So, I made sure to show the class some examples of well edited videos vs. not well edited videos. We talked about keeping audiences engaged. I would often ask them, “Would you actually sit and watch this entire video?”, and I would often remind them, “Make the video you would want to watch”. 

About 2/3 of the way through the semester, I had one on one appointments with each student. I wanted a pulse check on how they were doing in general, how they were doing in the class, and so I could see the progress they were making on their final projects. The students really appreciated this because it gave them a chance to talk to me about things that they maybe didn’t feel comfortable sharing in front of the class, or quickly after class. I was able to discuss turning in late assignments with many of the students that had been previously out sick. I’ll definitely continue to do this in future courses since the experience for the students was so positive. Many of them told me that they wished more professors would do this. 

Throughout the course, I had the class read Imagination First: Unlocking the Power of Possibility,  Liu, E., Noppe-Brandon, S., & Institute, L. C. (2011). This was a text I read for one of my graduate level courses, but it’s a very easy read, and it applied to what the students were learning about the imagination, creativity, and innovation process. I wanted them to have something they could connect to the course, the documentary, and to their every day lives. 

The week before finals week, I had each student present their video. I knew a lot of them had things going on, or wouldn’t be able to attend the actual final exam period, so I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to present. (I also let a few students present to me one on one via zoom to accommodate their needs.) I was so impressed with the quality of work these students brought. What I could see overall is that they had fun making their videos. Many of them tied in little skits, or other amusing things, to keep the viewers interested in what they had to say. It was also nice to see the excitement so many of these students had while analyzing their favorite TV shows, movies, video games, and more. 

For the final itself, I had us all arrange the class so we could sit in a circle and really reflect on the semester we shared. For many students, it was their first semester on campus, or it was their first fully in-person semester for classes. Since it was my first time getting to teach this course, and I’m hoping to teach it again next fall, I had each student tell me their “rose” and “thorn” of the class. I wanted to know what worked well and what didn’t work well so I could improve on things. Here are some common responses:

more class periods in a computer lab (something I already plan to do)

another film comparison project (more work! I couldn’t believe it)

another group project (again, I’m shocked they wanted more!)

loved the less stressful and “chill” atmosphere I provided

loved having creative freedom

appreciated in class work time

appreciated the practical aspect of YouTube/Internet to relate to how these use things today

more editing workshops (we discussed this at length during the final so I could get a feel for what they truly needed more of)

enjoyed getting to have a place where they could watch and discuss videos

appreciated the one on one pulse check meetings

appreciated the easy navigation of the Canvas course

I was lucky to have such an amazing group of students for my first go around teaching this course. I’m excited to take some time over our winter break so I can work on changing some things on my syllabus. (I want to do it while a lot of this is still fresh in my head.) I appreciated the students being candid with me. Overall, they really enjoyed the course, and that made me so happy. It’s important to remember that all students are like snowflakes. Not a single one of them is the same, which means they all learn differently. I made sure to have written assessments along with the video projects because I wanted to make sure different students could shine where they already felt confident. 

I think it’s important for students to know their professors are human too. I was often candid with the class about how I was feeling about certain things. I reminded them just about every class period to make sure they were wearing their masks correctly for their safety and the safety of others, but to really drive it home, I told them that I was finally going to see Harry Styles in concert after waiting two years due to COVID. So a little running joke at the beginning of class would be me asking, “Why do your masks go over your noses?”, and the students would collectively respond, “So you can see Harry Styles.” Many of them would even email me when they were going to be out sick, and would say things like, “I don’t want to ruin your dreams of seeing Harry, so I wont’ be in class today.” It was silly, but I loved that I could create a playful atmosphere. This helped a lot of students know they could come to me with any issues because they saw me as a human just the same as they are. One of my students is even going to be taking engagement photos for my fiancé and I! 

Right off the bat, seeing a diverse cast really drew me in. For a show set in 1813, it was obvious that things weren’t going to be totally accurate because of the cast, but it just made me want to watch it more. I didn’t want to watch another show about a bunch of white haves and have nots. Another thing that drew me in? Hearing Julie Andrews narrate the entire thing, and hearing her say the word “bitches” within the first fifteen minutes of the first episode. I’ve never watched anything Shondaland related, so I was a bit skeptical, and even though I won’t be jumping to watch Grey’s or Scandal, I was extremely impressed with the flow of this story. 

There were five major things to keep track of during this first season (I’m really hoping for a second):

Daphne & Simon

Anthony & Siena

Colin, Marina, & Penelope

Elouise’s investigation of who Lady Whistledown is

The Featherington Estate

Obviously, what Benedict goes through is also worthy of note, along with Lady Danbury constantly being the voice of reason, and many other side characters, but the above five things, I believe, are most worthy of note. Everything throughout the season was interconnected and woven together. The Bridgerton’s and the Featherington’s were the two main families. The Bridgerton’s seem to be higher up in society than the Featherington’s, the ugly step-sisters of high society. 

We start out with Daphne’s coming out day in front of the Queen. She’s basically marked as this diamond, someone who should be highly sought after for marriage. This was a time where a girl needed to be married off into a good family in order to survive in the world. They’re taught from a young age that this is the way of things. It’s Daphne’s dream to get married and start a large family of her own. Thanks to the gossip sheet of the unknown Lady Whistledown, Daphne only sees one suitor, this disgusting older man who makes a deal with Anthony that he can have Daphne. By now, though, Daphne and Simon, the Duke of Hastings, have made a secret agreement to help each other out, and in doing so they grow feelings for one another. Daphne’s feelings are more obvious, maybe because of her innocence. 

In the second episode, we get some much needed background on Simon. We learn how he was raised, or not raised, by his father. He was a cruel man, who didn’t even seem to care that his wife died after Simon was born. Then he cast Simon aside because he had a speech impediment. Simon goes to visit his father while he’s on his death bed, and he tells him that Hastings will end with him, and that he’ll never have a child. This is what causes a lot of the complications between him and Daphne because even though he wants her, he doesn’t want to take her dreams away. She almost accepts the proposal of a prince! But one evening, in the garden, Simon follows Daphne, and kisses her, touches her, in ways she never had been before. Anthony catches them and challenges Simon to a duel. Simon accepts because he’d rather die than marry Daphne. He knows he can’t give her what she truly wants. 

Daphne stops the duel, and concocts a plan that will make Simon marry her so that the Bridgerton name isn’t sullied. Simon tells her that he can’t have children, and because she loves him, she tells him that he’ll be enough for her. He lied to her. After they’re married, they move out to the country, away from London, to start their new lives. The two are quite affectionate with each other, succumbing to their lust whenever they feel like it. Simon pulls out every single time, and Daphne doesn’t understand why because her mother never properly explained how babies are made. She gets the true talk from her maid, Rose, and this is when she realizes that Simon lied. It’s not that he can’t have children, it’s that he won’t. He doesn’t explain to her right away why he won’t, and this causes a lot of problems between them. However, he does explain things, and she finds some old letters he had sent to his father, and they’re able to come to a reconciliation. They end up having a son in the end, and all is right with them...for now. 

Daphne grew a lot during her journey. She was starting to question the things she had learned from when she was younger. It was great to see her take charge of things towards the end, and gain a little more control over her life. The way she stepped in to help Marina was remarkable, and I think the first stepping stone in helping a lot of young women. 

Anthony was a peculiar case. He’s the man of the house since his father has since passed. He wants to do right by Daphne, by everyone in his family, while he himself is a recluse. He has a mistress, Sienna, that he’s lied to over and over. Their on again off again relationship is apparent throughout the entire season. He uses the duel between himself and Simon as a way to finally be with her, but by then it’s too late. She had waited long enough for him, and she found someone else. She found someone that could take care of her the way she needed, and she stood her ground with Anthony. She was another strong female character, and it was refreshing to see. I think this was also the reality check that Anthony needed. He needed to see and learn that he can’t have his cake and eat it too. 

It was revealed that our friend Marina was with child, giving Lady Featherington yet another reason to dislike her. The man that she was in love with was off at the front lines, fighting. No one was sure what to do, until they cooked up the plan to marry her off. Lady Featherington wanted to marry her off to an older man who just wanted an heir, and wouldn’t question who the father of her child was. However, Marina stands her ground time and time again, and goes for Colin Bridgerton. Penelope Featherington isn’t all too happy about this because she’s in love with Colin. 

She does everything she can to break them up, but nothing works because he proposes to Marina instead of going on his trip to Greece. Lady Whistledown somehow exposes the fact that Marina’s pregnant, and Colin breaks off the engagement, rightfully so. The worst of it is, he tells her that if she had just been honest with him, he would have married her without question. Daphne steps in to help Marina find the man that got her pregnant, but his brother comes in his place. He had died on the front line, and his brother wanted to marry Marina because that’s what his brother would have wanted. Marina says no at first because she’s doesn’t know or love this new man, but eventually she comes around to it, and she gets her happily ever after, or close to it. 

Elouise was the outward recluse of the Bridgerton clan. She was next in line to come out after Daphne, and she had zero interest in being married off. She wanted to do more with her life than be someone’s wife and mother. Even though it’s what Daphne wanted, which was fine, it just wasn’t for Elouise. She becomes enthralled with whoever Lady Whistledown is, and wants to uncover who she is. She looked up to this faceless person. She was someone who had money, the means to send out letters whenever she pleased, and was high up enough in society that she was attending all of these major events to get the information she was dishing out. Elouise and Penelope have many arguments throughout the season because Penelope is wrapped up with Marina and Colin, and actually wouldn’t mind getting married. This leads Elouise to telling the Queen about her investigation, and the Queen assigns her the official task of discovering who Lady Whistledown is. 

After Benedict becomes involved with the French seamstress, Elouise thinks she’s cracked the case, which is exactly what the real Lady Whistledown wanted. The Queen wanted Lady Whistledown killed. The audience is also led to believe that it’s the French woman, but I think many us knew it wasn’t going to be revealed so easily. Elouise realizes at the very end that she had been wrong because another scandal sheet comes out after the French woman’s departure. We find out that the real Lady Whistledown was none other than Penelope Featherington.

Which brings me to the final major topic that was weaved in throughout the story. The Featherington’s find themselves wrapped up in all sorts of messes from the very beginning. It’s clear Lady Bridgerton can’t stand Lady Featherington. The Featherington daughters are not liked by the Queen, and thus are not seen by any suitors. When one does finally come, Lord Featherington sends him away. Lady Featherington realizes that all of their money is gone, including her daughter’s dowries. Lord Featherington has a gambling problem. In one last effort, he gambles his estate during a boxing match. One in which he told the favorite to throw the match. He wins, obviously, but the people he bet against know he cheated, and so Lord Featherington is killed, leaving Lady Featherington a widow. Because of the money they acquired, though, her daughter Regina is able to be courted by the suitor that had come for her previously. 

There were many twists and turns throughout this story. I know it’s based off a book, and since I haven’t read it, I don’t know how true to the story this adaption was, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m usually one of those people that would rather rewatch something than invest in a new show. This sucked me in, and I couldn’t get enough. I finished it in a day, and I have zero regrets. A must watch. 

Let’s start with our boy Andrew:

I resonated most with him, and no it wasn’t because he was constipated all summer. First of all, I thought the anxiety mosquito was a genius way of representing anxiety. That little bitch just came and went as she pleased, and that’s how anxiety works with a lot of people. It just pops up at random times with little to no warning. Eighth grade was around the time I started having serious panic attacks, but we’ll get to that for when we talk about Nick. 

Andrew’s anxiety was almost hard for me to watch because he was anxious about the same things I was and still am anxious about: death. I almost wanted to cry while I was watching it. As I watched him use his skills on how to breathe and calm down, I couldn’t help but follow along with him. That’s an age where a lot of things become real, and you realize a little bit that you’re not invincible. Andrew’s still a loveable little weirdo who may or may not have a sex addiction, but what he was going through was very real and relatable. I’m really glad the show tackled this aspect of things because I feel like people don’t talk about this fear enough and how to cope with it. 

Next I’d like to talk about our girl Natalie:

 I wasn’t expecting this show to tackle being transgender, but I’m so glad they did. I especially loved it when they showed Natalie discovering who she was, and how she yelled at her hormone monster about much she hated it, and he was like “It’s supposed to be awful! That’s the whole point of the fucking show!” They broke the fourth wall a lot this season, which just added to how hilarious it was. I’m really glad that Jessi got over herself a little to be friends with Natalie after the other girls were a little cruel to her. Also, seeing what she went through with Seth spoke volumes. He was obviously an asshole for not wanting to be seen with her after kissing, but I’m glad she stayed true to who she was. She didn’t apologize for being herself and she stood her ground. I think for anyone watching this at any age, it sent a good message. I wonder if there’s anyone who’s transgender on the writing staff or if they consulted with a transgender person to get things right. I thought it was sweet that when they were showing future clips of the kids grown up that she was snuggled up with Seth. He clearly got over himself too. It gets better! Happy endings can happen!

Now we can talk about Jessi:

I was so fucking mad when that depression kitty came back. Watching her team up with the anxiety mosquito was too real. Unfortunately, those two things go hand in hand, and I was at the same age when I started feeling depressed. I was often told I had nothing to be sad about, which just made me feel worse. Jessi went through a lot this season. Starting with getting a HEAVY flow at camp. I think all of us with a uterus can remember a time of waking up to an absolute crime scene on our sheets. It’s awful and embarrassing. Then the poor girl had to go swimming with a pad! I’m glad she was able to figure out how to use tampons, wish I could have at that age! I just didn’t go swimming when I had my period. Obviously she was forced to, which was really annoying. The female camp counselor should have been more understanding. 

Jessi started a new school year away from all of her friends in the city. This is when her depression and anxiety got really bad. She was suddenly an outsider, surrounded by a ton of rich kids she couldn’t relate with. She started lying about herself, which just caused more anxiety. This leads to her skipping school, and meeting Michael Angelo, a ninth grader. (Which I’m glad they clarified because he looked like a fucking college student!) Obviously a bad influence, but when  you’re that young and you find someone that’s willing to show you attention and affection, you hold onto it. He made her feel better, but not in the way she needed. Ultimately the relationship didn’t work out because he wanted her to give him a blow job, and she didn’t really want to, and when he took it out she laughed. He got upset and kicked her out. This lead to another level of doom for her, but I’m glad the relationship didn’t last long. 

Even when she goes to her father’s she feels like a burden. Her anxiety tells her that she’s not actually wanted there. I’m glad Connie, Jessi’s hormone monstress, was there for her when Jessi’s parents finally got their shit together, and told Jessi she could go back to school with her friends and see a therapist. Jessi ended up getting a grip on her anxiety and depression when she met the gratitoad on Halloween. This was when all of our favorite tweens had a moment to come to terms with their anxiety, and find ways to cope. Jessi coped with gratitude. I thought the gratitoad was great, and he was voiced by Zach Galifianakis so that was just super fun! Jessi was able to find a light at the end of the tunnel. She even said, “You’re not so scary when you’re small.” So, even though her anxiety and depression aren’t gone, she now knows there are ways to manage it. 

Matthew:

Someone got mad at me last time when I didn’t properly include him, so he’s getting his own section this time! Matthew was a classic case: gay, has a boyfriend, and a mother who couldn’t accept it. I felt so bad for him because his boyfriend clearly makes him happy, but he doesn’t want to lose the special relationship he has with his mother. He had to come to terms with a lot. His mother told him to keep it quiet because of his father, but his father understood and accepted him without question. So the mother clearly has her own shit to work out. I’m hoping next season Matthew and his mother can figure things out. It shouldn’t be his job to get her back on his side, as a parent you should love your child no matter what. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in a lot of households. I had a lot of anxiety about his father kicking him out or something, and was pleasantly surprised when he said he knew and that it was okay and that his mother just needed some time. I’m also really glad Matthew had a talk with his boyfriend about what they were ready to do and not ready to do, and how supportive he was with Matthew and doing the baking contest with him. At least he had someone to lean on when it got tough. 

Missy:

Missy had a real identity crisis this season. I loved that you could tell when her voice actresses switched, and they broke the fourth wall when she was talking to Devon about code switching and she said, “I’m voiced by a 37 y/o white woman soooo”. I won’t speak too much on the racial aspect of things because I’m not a person of color, and I can’t even begin to imagine going through what she was, but I was happy to see her find a balance. Her scene was a call back to Us, love that Jordan Peele manages to squeeze his films in there somehow. There are so many sides to Missy, and she felt like she had to give certain aspects of herself up. She put the pieces back together and was able to love herself, fully and completely. There are sides to ourselves that we may not like, but the more we learn to accept them, the easier things get. I don’t think people realize how big the jump from seventh to eighth grade really is. Puberty is in full swing, and you learn so many things about yourself. Missy probably has a long road ahead as she continues to discover who she wants to be, but I think this was a great first step for her. 

Lola and Jay:

Okay, obviously things were...weird with them and whole muddy pool and the toe sucking. They were both sort of delusional and indulging a little too much into their fantasies, but they were exactly what the other needed. Jay is a loveable character when you get past all of the fucked up shit about him, and he just wants to be friends with everyone. Lola is a lonely girl who’s best friend in pretty and popular and not that nice to her. She could just be herself with Jay, and I think that’s something she really needed to discover. 

Even though it was awkward, I loved how they depicted when they got intimate. She calmly explained that it was okay that Jay didn’t know what he was doing, and that they could figure it out together. It was okay for her to tell him she liked things. I loved that he asked questions while he was doing it, and that she was still able to get there. I also liked how they depicted it by showing a dragon trying to enter a castle. I think a lot of people, younger and older, are afraid to be vocal in the bedroom on both ends because they don’t want to seem inexperienced or like they don’t what they’re doing. But it can still be a really fun, intimate experience when you speak up. I’m interested to see where this relationship is going to go with them. When Lola didn’t say she loved Jay back, I felt terrible. For the first time in his life he was really vulnerable with someone. I’m glad they talked it out afterwards. The communication between the two of them was phenomenal. We also learned that Lola may be a little fucked up because she accidentally murdered someone when she was in kindergarten, but we don’t have time to unpack all of that. 

*cracks knuckles* Nick:

Nick went through a lot this season. He was already battling with losing Andrew over kissing Missy. I’m really glad the two were able to reconcile, even if it was over Andrew needing help shitting in the woods. The anxiety mosquito came for Nick in one of the most terrifying ways: panic attacks. Jessi even tried to help Nick, but he didn’t really know what was going on with himself. Deep down he was afraid of being alone and a jerk, but he needed to realize that he needed his friends. He needed to see that being an asshole wasn’t going to give him a happy life. He couldn’t just look out for himself all the time, he needed to consider others. I think he was starting to have this revelation when he and Andrew went out with the seventh grade girls, and they realized other kids had their own shows. Which, sidebar:

If you haven’t watched PEN15 on Hulu, you’re doing yourself a disservice. It’s essentially a life action Big Mouth, just without the hormone monsters, and it takes place in the early 2000′s. I loved that they got the girls to do voice cameos. I was sort of wondering how they were going to top having the fab five on from last season, and this totally delivered! 

ANYWAYS! Nick had an incredibly scary dream on the bus ride back from NYC. Another side bar, I’m really glad Devon called out his ex-girlfriend on spending the whole day taking sad selfies at the memorial instead of trying to take it in. There are so many people that do this and honestly they just look dumb. Back to Nick’s nightmare, he got a glimpse of his future, and it rocked his shit in the worst possible way. He didn’t want to become Nick Star. Through the dream, though, he realized he really did still have feelings for Jessi. Nick somehow became a spirit after Nick Star took over his body, and this was when he realized he needed his friends. They all came together to help get his body back. Nick was able to use all of the coping mechanisms that this friends used individually to get himself together. He saw this sad, scared version of himself and it asked him, “Do you hate me?” and Nick hugged him. He accepted this side of himself, and that’s what saved him. Thus his dystopian future becoming beautiful and clean. The gratitoad defeated the anxiety mosquito, and Nick was able to return to his body. 

Final Thoughts:

This season drove home the point that, yeah, life is really scary, but it’s better when you have your friends to lean on. It’s okay to ask for help, you don’t have to keep things bottled up. It’s important to talk and speak up about how you’re feeling because your friends may be feeling the exact same way. I can’t wait to see what they do for the next season. As always all of the hormone monsters were amazing and hilarious, and helped add the comic relief we needed during these heavier subjects. I loved when Rick, the older hormone monster showed up. His motto of “what are you gonna do, baby?” was almsot calming towards the end??? Nick even accepted that Rick was the right hormone monster for him. This was just a very good season. It keeps getting better and better. What did you all think???