Joolia

Some other things I noticed on this third go-around! (Once again, spoilers!)

- Marko and Paul have a cute little secret handshake

- Colin doesn’t cover up his tattoos as Pete, which makes sense but is very funny considering Pete is kind of a square and Colin has the tattoos of someone who is very much not lmao

- “Star… looking at stars— SHUT UP, MICHAEL!!”

- LJ gripped his shirt around where the bruise is on “I need a family that’s gonna stick up for me.” The bruise-ography of this show continues to break me (and it looked particularly huge and gnarly today, props to makeup)

- Marko wears a red velvet blazer during Secret Comes Out?? Insane to me that there’s an entire costume piece that is only onstage for less than a minute

- At the very end of Wild, in the split second before Lucy comes back up to look at Max and he has his hands on her waist, you can see him become a monster — just for a moment. It almost looks like he’s going to inhale her. Then she pops back up and he goes right back to his dorky self. Chilling.

- I was in the second row (which is technically restricted view, but I only had an issue with that when the homeless guy lays on the bench while Michael and Star are standing at the concession stand in the back) and no one talks about how immersive that haze is. You are IN the mosh pit. You are IN the motorcycle chase. You are IN the crowd of ghosts welcoming David to the next life. Unbelievable.

- LJ got a little fake blood from Cameron on his hand, and he was staring really intensely at it during You Belong to Me, like he’s fighting the urge to lick it off. Idk if that’s something that always happens, but I feel like I would’ve seen it before.

- Today’s audience was HYPED for Max and Lucy. Audible “awwwws!” when he brought he flowers and gasps of pure horror when he says “David… my boy…” they were SO in it and I was so happy for them.

- I really saw “David looks at his two loves” today.

- I wanna know what Michael and Star talk about standing off to the side after the final confrontation lol

- Maria Wirries, man. Obviously I knew how unbelievable they were the first two times, but seeing them up-close during War is a fucking masterclass. Goddamn.

- Ali mentioned in a recent interview that David lost someone in the Coronado earthquake of 1906. When the vamps are talking about how everyone trapped in the building died, David gets this haunted, faraway look on his face WHICH MARKO CLOCKS and goes to check in on him. That only recently became public knowledge but you can tell how deeply it’s woven into the tapestry these guys created for their characters. (David would’ve been 16 when that happened, btw. Have fun, fanfic writers).

- Saved this one for last because it’s kind of insane. Michael doesn’t really cry when his dad kicks him during Secret. It’s more like a scream. A long, pained scream, where he can no longer hold in everything that he’s been trying to keep contained for so long. It was really viscerally upsetting. It’s not like it wasn’t before, but there was something about this time in particular that really reminded me that Michael is seventeen and no kid should ever hurt that much. And then later Lucy sings “I wish you would scream but you won’t say a word.” Fuck, dude.

SURPRISE: stage door performance of If We Make It Through The Night feat. The Rescues & Michael Arden!! (Please note that Boston was wearing a little biker jacket)

SURPRISE: Bandanna!

And thank you so much to the person who gave me this button! It’s so cute! ❤️

(Like obviously there’s More Than One thing involved in why someone would do what they do, but I think Star’s addition makes more sense to me than simply “they found each other hot.”)

Obviously this would be dependent on thinking that she’s worth all this attention and interest. Michael projecting on her will only work if you can see how she’s worth being projected to. David’s entire—fucking—thing is fascinating only if you find Star herself interesting, otherwise you’d probably miss him display his savior complex justifications and can somehow end up thinking that he always lied to Michael and is only interested in another henchman or something??

But like idk man!! I get the criticism that she could be more fleshed out, but this is like… narrative structuring 101. She is not the main character and the story doesn’t try to make her be one, she serves as a narrative tool in the same ways all other characters are narrative tools: to bounce off each other and tell a coherent story. She’s actually quite important in displaying the different facets of other characters! And she does this while also displaying different facets of herself! We get a bit of backstory and how it relates her to Michael! She has opinions on how the plot is happening to her that are summarized as #complicated! What more do we even want!!! Basically, I think she’s a pretty fine character if you want to look at her.

They're preying on insecurities to do it. Yes, you can write an essay - but can you write a good essay, they ask you. Do you not want to improve your output? Do you not want people to think of you as competent and very clever? Why go through the mortifying process of failing and failing and failing until you succeed if you can just skip the "learning" part of doing, and simply generate a ready-made product?