Meem’s Ramblings

We’ve gone from The Beast, who sure, k i l l e d a bunch of people but his kill count was tame compared to the rest of the show. And then they get rid of him. And then they have another mess and instead of stopping while they’re ahead, they off a god. And then when magic gets taken, instead of leaving it alone, they release a vengeful god into the world. And sure, they brought magic back but they also put a fascist regime in power.

And then they off the god and the leader of the fascists, and yeah they have intense surges in magic. People will d i e. And that’s objectively bad.

But in trying to fix that, they mess with the moon. Which, any idiot should know not to do. And now they’ve broken the moon and the earth is about to be destroyed.

And of course they can’t leave it alone now! So they’re going to mess around even more. Even though, every time before this, their interventions only make things worse.

So I’m currently on Season 3, Episode 10 of The Magicians. And I’ve been pissed off at all the main characters (Quentin Coldwater, Eliot Waugh, Alice Quinn, Margo Hanson, Julia Wicker, Kady Orloff-Diaz and even, Penny Adiyodi), at one point or another. While they’re all above average magicians. They all have the fatal flaw of believing they’re the exception to the rule. They all genuinely believe…

Almost four months ago, I went through a very traumatic breakup. Sure, my relationship had its problems but I genuinely believed the fights were a result of miscommunication and just a man putting his foot in his mouth. But when I got hit with an unexpected breakup, I found out my ex had been lying to me and hiding things from me since our first date. And it’s taken me this long to realise that…

I used to be able to read an entire novel in one sitting and now I can’t even get through a movie without getting on my phone.

And I know there’s plenty of fish in the sea and I’ll eventually find someone else. But right now, I don’t even have a fish and it sucks.

Cinderella has always been a special interest of mine. I have consumed every adaptation of this story that I could get my hands on. And despite reading / watching this story in a hundred different formats, my favourite version continues to be Disney’s Cinderella (1950). Not only is it an exceptionally well written account of a woman surviving abuse while retaining her individuality and sense of…

The way that she’s constantly giving Mary backhanded compliments. Every time I see her, I want to smack her across the face.

Honestly, as bad as some of the characters were in Pride & Prejudice, they seem worse in this show. But they’re not caricatures of their book counterparts. Honestly, I could imagine this is how Mary Bennet felt within the story. She was always the overlooked sister and sure, she lacked social skills but her family were still quite mean to her. Even Lizzy could be quite cruel to her sisters.

I’m midway through episode 5 and it feels like a very faithful spin off of the book. It’s a different perspective but it’s within character. And I can truly imagine that as time passes, Mary would become more insecure and resigned to being plain and that Caroline, in turn, would become more desperate.

In the past year, I’ve gone through two soul crushing breakups. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s the fact that you can’t postpone grief. You don’t get to ignore the pain of losing someone by getting into another’s arms. Around this time last year, I had just been broken up with mere weeks before my final exams. And you know what, Boy 1 was right. We were absolutely wrong for each…

So I recently went to the Lyric to watch Anastasia with my friend. I haven’t seen the movie in years but I’ve been getting bombarded with ads for the musical. So when my friend told me there was a flash sale, of course I had to get tickets to a random showing on a Thursday night. And it completely blew my expectations out of the water. I enjoyed watching the movie years ago but the play really…

When it comes to discussing how much Ross and Rachel suck, I have endless thoughts. But the more I watch Friends, the more I realise that they all sucked.

And Phoebe Buffay was no exception.

Now, as someone with a whole lot of childhood trauma of her own, I understand the propensity for trauma dumping. I understand that sometimes it just comes out.

But part of being an adult, and being someone worthy of their friends, involves focusing on other people. I cannot imagine telling someone they shouldn’t be sad about what they’re going through because I went through something worse.

And Phoebe did this all the time. You want to talk about your breakup? Well, Phoebe suddenly needs to talk about her mum committing suicide. She couldn’t stand not being the centre of attention. And it sucks. You can’t be friends with someone who constantly makes you feel like your emotions aren’t valid because they went through something worse.

I understand she had a hard life but the way she acted was out of line. And most people would’ve stopped associating with her.

Phoebe was constantly trying to make every situation about herself. Sure, Rachel’s the obvious one when it comes to trying to steal Monica’s thunder but Phoebe did it too.

All she had to do was look after the engagement ring and she did anything but that. She made fun of Chandler’s intense desire to get the original ring back. And when he finally managed to get the ring back, she kept trying to take it.

What kind of friend asks to have the engagement ring if the proposal’s rejected? Phoebe does!

And when they finally get engaged, she harasses them to perform at their wedding. And you know what, she’s a terrible musician! No one else would ever hire her for their wedding and yet she’s standing outside their door, harassing them for a deposit.

If I was Chandler, I wouldn’t have stopped at taking her guitar, I would’ve broken it.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first, Ross and Emily were so beyond stupid for getting married after only knowing each other for six weeks. They shouldn’t have even been a couple. Ross and Rachel were clearly not over each other at that point. And six weeks is nowhere near enough time to truly know another person.

However, once they got married, Emily was fully in the right to ditch Ross. And she was also in the right for wanting Ross to move to England.

This girl was humiliated in front of her entire family. Not to mention, that wedding would’ve cost a fortune for everyone involved. She should’ve just gotten an annulment or not signed the marriage certificate after the ceremony.

Instead, all she asked was for Ross to move to England so she wouldn’t have to uproot her entire life, and leave her support system, for a man who’d already humiliated her once.

And then, the very fact that she even agreed to move to America made her a saint. She was perfectly reasonable for wanting Ross to cut off Rachel. In fact, it was the bare minimum and something Ross should’ve offered on his own.

And the fact that she wanted them to move into their own place was also reasonable. She moved countries and Ross can’t even move uptown?

And the fact that Ross’ friends made her out to be the unreasonable one is beyond ridiculous. If anything, she gave in way too many concessions to Ross. If anyone was the villain in this story, it was Ross.

And don’t even get me started on the pick me that is Rachel. After repeatedly breaking up with Ross, she has no right to show up to his wedding to break up his next relationship. And she especially has no right to confess her feelings to him WHEN HE IS MARRIED TO SOMEONE ELSE!

I recently received a free ticket to watch The River, at the Opera House, courtesy of my friend working there. And while the initial description of the play outlined a relatively simplistic tale of a fisherman inviting a woman to his family’s cabin, the reality of the story felt much more sinister. As a prior warning, I will go ahead and say that I definitely recommend this play to anyone who…

I understand that breakups are messy. And while Rachel was fully in the right to break up with Ross, she wasn’t in the right for all the shady things she did.

She thoroughly messed with Bonnie. Long before she pushed Bonnie to shave her head, this girl was actively hating on a woman whose only fault was that she was dating Ross. Rachel wasn’t only flirting with another woman’s boyfriend, she was chasing him and curling up against him on the couch.

Now, Ross is the clear loser. He should be setting boundaries with his ex. In fact, they shouldn’t even be hanging out together. You cannot get over someone while still maintaining such a high level of intimacy.

But Rachel is so wrong for everything she does in that episode. SHE chose to break up with Ross. And if she truly wanted him, she had every opportunity to get him back. Instead, she waited until he was with someone else to start messing with his relationship.

This girl is genuinely terrible. Getting pregnant with Ross’s baby and winding up with him in the end is what she deserves. At least this way, no other woman has the misfortune of being his partner.

I think most people will agree that Ross and Rachel shouldn’t be together. Yes, he put her on a pedestal and seemed to adore her. But he didn’t truly value her as a person.

And their breakup makes this painfully obvious.

If it wasn’t already clear that Ross didn’t respect Rachel’s job, him showing up while she’s handling a crisis makes it painfully obvious.

He makes a grand, romantic gesture without taking her wants and needs into consideration. And then he belittles her work when she isn’t appreciative of it. He is so beyond disrespectful.

We don’t even have to get to him sleeping with another woman immediately after their fight, even the way he handled the fight shows he isn’t the right man for Rachel.

When she was a waitress, he looked down on her for it. And when she was actually making something of herself in fashion, he allowed his jealousy to override everything else. Despite being repeatedly told Mark was just a colleague, he never let it go. The truth is, Ross was holding her back.

I’m glad they broke up but I hate that they kept getting back together. They were truly terrible for each other. Despite their good moments, for the most part, they couldn’t communicate.

Yes, Ross has a point that they should celebrate their anniversary. But Rachel is also at the beginning of her career. She needs to put her job first. They shouldn’t have had that conversation while she was already stressed out from handling a crisis. They should’ve been mature adults, sat down and had a conversation about their needs. But they should’ve done it while both were calm so they could set effective boundaries.

Now, I am usually a pretty strict hater of Ross. He obsessed over Rachel for years, only to treat her terribly once they were together. And whether or not they were on a break is irrelevant. Any man who could sleep with another woman immediately after breaking up with the “love of his life” is not worth keeping.

However, the one time he was fully in the right is when he lost his patience with Rachel in The One Where No One’s Ready.

I’m sorry but the man spent almost 30 minutes trying to get people ready to go to an incredibly important benefit. He was very patient to begin with and was continuously disrespected. Sure, maybe he should’ve been nicer and not snapped at Rachel but he’d already tried to get her ready, nicely, multiple times at this stage.

I think I’d snap too if I was in his position.

So it makes me so angry that in the end, Rachel throws a hissy fit and he ends up having to apologise and beg and plead. If it was me, I would’ve dumped all of them, then and there, and gone to the benefit by myself.

People who consistently disrespect you shouldn’t be in your life. And they especially shouldn’t be centred in your milestones.

To be honest, either way, Ross and Rachel shouldn’t be together. Yes, Ross was a terrible boyfriend. But the more I watch Rachel’s behaviour towards Ross, the more I realise that the disrespect truly does go both ways.

Rachel repeatedly crossed lines and humiliated Ross. And the Friends didn’t even seem to like Ross. The number of times they embarrassed him and took no accountability.