#author's note

I've never seen Hayes Warner in anything before but she's adorable and I'm so excited to see her performance. Debbie comes across as so sad in so many scenes, which is perfect. My special girl 😭

I was already sold on Rigney as Bret before seeing his performance, but if I hadn't been his posture during the lunch with Terry would have done it. There wasn't a single moment in the trailer during which he wasn't a scared, slightly anxious little boy.

As with most modern streaming shows it is a little dark, but they seem to have gone for some interesting lighting setups, which I'm looking forward to seeing populated with characters.

I was worried Bret and Matt's relationship would be misinterpreted, but their clip is so tender. Matt holding Bret's waist? Both of them smiling? Leaning in to kiss? This is going to destroy me, I fear.

The costumes are cool (Bret is so snatched, lol), I'm hoping we get to see some more casual fits too, especially from the girls.

The flashlight in the yard in Palm Springs - YES!!!

Obviously nothing could be as iconic as the original 80s soundtrack, but there's so much modern music that could be a good fit, and the trailer sounds good, so fingers crossed.

Liz just laying into Debbie - oh, my sweet girllll.

I love that Bret has to stand on his tiptoes to kiss his own girlfriend, as god intended.

Whilst the tone is a bit glitzier than the overall vibe of the book it does balance quite nicely with what appears to be heavier scenes - Bret crying, people arguing, Debbie feeling left out and alone - and it is just the trailer, I'd expect them to put their most-eye-catching foot forward.

Still on the fence:

Dale seems to be playing some kind of Ryan/Jeff combo. Which makes a lot of sense run-time wise, but kind of muddies his relationship with Bret. Bret wanted to get serious with Ryan, whatever that meant to him, I can't see him being mature enough to think that way about a sex worker. Part of Ryan's allure was also that he was inexperienced and it was exciting for Bret to show him how things were done. Ultimately not a narrative ruiner, just curious to see how they do it.

There's only one scene where Bret genuinely enjoys being intimate with Debbie, and it's not the scene they show in the trailer. Would completely understand if they wanted to move that one to the bedroom though lol.

Yay, more screen time for the girls, but maybe at the price of a slight butchering of their characters? Susan is not an "AV club, hit it!" girlie, and Debbie would never tell Susan she could "just kill her". However, easily forgivable if 1. It's to show contrast with how numb Susan becomes later in the story and 2. If that's what Bret thinks Debbie would have said, even if really she wouldn't have.

Perhaps my biggest gripe: it looks like Robert assaults Bret at the party, not Terry? 1. Whilst Terry is past forgiveness before he even starts trying to groom Bret for constantly checking out sixteen year olds, the assault at the party is what truly cements how despicable he is. Bret made it very clear while they were "having sex" and afterwards that he didn't like it. For Terry to then try and touch him again - it's beyond sickening. 2. I don't think Robert thought what he did to Bret was sexual assault and I think he's too homophobic (whether you think he's queer or not, he is homophobic) to go any further than that. I also think it's important that he comes into Bret's home, somewhere he mostly feels safe, and proves to him that he isn't. This would really change their dynamic. But I could be reading the shot all wrong, it is just a trailer.