#tv rant

Willow and Tara being moms. Spike being Dawns sitter. Love love love

Actually Spike and Dawn in the whole three episodes is amazing. I love these two and the way its obvious how much Spike cares about Dawn even past the promise he made to buffy. I love the way he interacts with the buffybot, something he had made to stand in for Buffy but he can hardly even look at now.

Omg Willow going at that deer holy shit.

Omg Willow scary witch lady.

The way everyone was against the spell but went with it anyway. The secret relief when it didn't work. The immediate palpable fear in the group when they realized it worked but not quite right.

The tower scene holy fuck the tower scene.

"You had to dig yourself out of your grave.... i had to do that myself once too." AND THAT LITTLE HEAD TILT. JAMES MARSTERS IM COMING FOR YOU

"You didn't tell me because you knew that if it went wrong and you had to put down whatever came back in her place: i wouldnt have let you." !!!!!!!

SPUFFY.

All of episode three when they kept repeating "you were in hell" like THEY had to convince THEMSELVES thats where buffy was. But the undeniable feeling as the veiwer that that is NOT where she was.

The fact that she told Spike and no one else. No one else was allowed to know that they ripped her from the peace she had been longing for since s4.

Also Xander if you dont let Anya announce your engagment this second i will send you to actual hell. YOU proposed despite her telling you not to if you didnt really mean it. Dont be an ass here man your girl deserves better.

Okay, so I’m posting this like a literal month after the season fully came out (I've been writing it since I watched the finale), even though I watched it the day it came out. I suppose I needed to digest (and rewatch) before giving my opinions.

I give this season a 10/10. It was my absolute favorite season of Bridgerton so far (I don’t think I had a favorite before. I had things I liked about all of them…actually, the Queen Charlotte spinoff was absolutely my favorite before), even if things didn’t necessarily go how I wanted/expected in all regards. I made a previous post about my theories and hopes for S4, and I’m very happy some of them came true, but I also have so many things that actually happened that I want to talk about…

He came out to her!!!

This season just felt very queer-friendly. I think it was because of all the subtle things Alfie said, he’d also, maybe it was because the characters weren't all a part of high society, so the environment was more open and accepting (maybe that is to build for a new season with Francesca...)

This was something I dreamed about and thought was so crucial. I couldn’t decide whether it was fundamental for it to happen or just something I was deeply hoping, like I couldn’t tell if the creators of the show thought it was as important as I did. I'm so glad they did.

Who is the new Whistledown?

My top contenders are Hyacinth and, of course, Lady Mondrich, and here is my reasoning behind both:

Hyacinth: She wants someone to write about her season. She has always loved Whistledown, ever since it was first introduced in season one; she was very interested. She wants to discover more about herself, her words after her talk with Eloise.

Lady Mondrich: She wants to do something greater/make more of an impact than just being the Queen's lady. I’ve heard people say the language of Whistledown has changed to point to an author with a different, less “raised in high society” accent, though I didn’t notice that at all. That to me doesn't define who Whistledown could be; there are many high society, but less well-read people than Penelope, which could impact the new voice of Whistledown.

Michaela's characterization!!!

I love her. I was expecting a social butterfly after her debut at the end of S3 (how she introduced herself to Eloise and Francesca), but she leads a room gracefully and energetically. I love her relationship with John. John was like my favorite man (I stand by that, RIP <3), and I saw a devastating edit of that Taylor Swift song with the lyrics "I don't mean to make this all about me, but who am I supposed to talk to" over John and Michaela, soul-crushing.

That beautiful ruby dress, she is so amazing, I am very much looking forward to learning more about her and why John was so adamant about Francesca not setting her up with a suitor (I deeply hope he knew and didn't care, I wonder if she knew he knew, or she finds out he knew. They were so close, like he was the only person she could be honest with adn I think part of that comes with knowing each other fully

The guilt she had/will have for loving his wife...ahhhh. Leaving after Francesca grabbed her hand oooo.

I've seen the ads where Michaela says she doesn't enjoy the mundanity of society life, so I deeply wonder what she does in the places she visits, what she is running away from, etc. (I wonder if she regrets not spending more time with John while she could (more grief yay!))

John is dead

I am sad but not disappointed like I thought I might be.

The way he left, looking at Michaela and Francesca, like he knew they would be okay, and he was so happy the people he loved most in the world loved each other.

I have nothing! I saw a devastating edit to a Whitney Houston song (yes, that one and the “I have nothing”s lined up perfectly, it was *chefs kiss*).

Francesca's fertility struggles idk how much they are meant to be discussed in the book, and I don't know if everyone will be satisfied if it ends here, but it doesn't have to if the writers don't want it to. I think it would be interesting, also, will her season be in Scotland, away from her family and all of the children/couples (aka constant reminders of what she doesn't have)?

Still, I really loved that moment between Violet and Francesca, and Fran is holding so much guilt that she betrayed John by not giving him children. During that breakdown, all I could think about was how devastated she sounded that she had somehow hurt/betrayed John by not being able to give him the life he wanted. I think part of her season should be about her realizing she was everything he wanted, because her recovering from that guilt and grief is the best way to move forward.

Hazel and Footman John!!

The flirting Hazel did to make him leave his post was amazing (what a girls girl), and the eye contact during the wedding, I didn't realize how low my bar was, but I was somehow satisfied by that at least for right now. They are so cute!

Also, when the staff, including Hazel, had to interrupt the Briderton family's spiral when they thought Sophie had left. I thought that was a good example of the new relationship between the family and the staff (they can speak up and interrupt the family so these rich dummies get their sh*t together). They would literally be helpless without their staff.

The Wedding!!

Alfie walked her down the aisle! We got the perfect wedding of my dreams, the Bridgerton family and staff (out of work clothes) alike. And Posy and her, I am assuming, new husband were there, which to me totally means he is a good man, considering he sat on the Sophie/staff side of the wedding attendees.

Anthony talked about Sienna.

It was in like the worst way possibly, honestly, so disappointed in you, Anthony. Do better, you can admit she wasn’t your true love, but don’t act like she was the one holding you back from finding it 😒.

Glad he admitted he was wrong in the end after Benedict and Sophie got married.

Possibly unpopular opinion: I really like Araminta.

I think it's really easy to hate her, similar to how people hate Lady Featherington, but I always find it hard to fully hate women in shows like this. Of course, they do awful things, and of course, they are products of their environment, but they also have those moments where they are just very human (Lady Featherington's: I am a mother! moment and Araminta's anger at Lord Featherington for leaving her with Sophie and the burden of his past mistakes).

I can love them as complex female characters and still think they are both jerks, though. :)

Also, Varely and Lady Featherington! They held hands and were so great after the forgiveness/apology.

Her manipulating Posy was awful, though, but I did enjoy the kind of sister solidarity between Posy and Rosamund, where when Posy asked about the dowry, Rose looked a bit guilty and shocked by her mother's actions.

Those two were great siblings. When they were in the Bridgerton house, trying to subtly argue across from Eloise and Hyacinth, it was great.

Violet, you were my goat this season.

I was irritated by your classism, I am always annoyed when she is a little closed minded, especially when you find out how open minded she was in Queen Charlotte (I need a Violet prequel during the wait for one of these next seasons! Especially after she dumped Anderson/Danbury's brother becuase she doesnt know if she wants to be a wife again) but I hope opening her arms to Sophie at the claim of love will help her accept Francesca next season (yeah, I waited so long to post this that season 5s main character was announced 🤦)

The Queen and Danbury

The goodbye, dear lord, that scene where she nodded a goodbye at Charlotte and Brimsley, was the closest I was to crying the entire season, and constantly seeing that painting of a young Danbury and Charlotte. Their friendship is so amazing.

I also enjoy the side relationship between Brimsley and Danbury (he said he always liked her during the Queen Charlotte show, which is why he advised Charlotte that Danbury was a good lady to trust). They take care of their queen so well. Now it is just Brimsley and Mondrich. I am really interested to see how it goes. Also, I stand by that I want Brimsley to know about Francesca and Michaela. If the Queen will have any part in this season, I need Brimsley to be there too; that actor can really show his whole heart through his expressions(side note: isn't it book canon that George and Charlotte saw Brimsley and Reynolds dancing together, why is it different in the show? Or is it not different and Charlotte will reveal it later god I would love that (maybe if George died... no, she would be too angry to hide the pain to sympathize with others, I think)).

I wish Francesca got a season on her own (as a background, but then again, she has been a background/subplot character throughout the last two seasons) as a subplot where she grieves and, you know, grows on her own. But that is just because we barely got to know Francesca on her own because she was barely in seasons 1 & 2, but I am very excited to see what they do with the season and to learn more about Francesca and Michaela.

✨Fucking Nothing✨

I think Shameless gets a lot more hate than it deserves. I recently finished watching it and I didn't realize that there was actually quite a large crowd of people that hated it so deeply until I saw a video about it and went down kind of a rabbit hole.

I feel like the show gets boiled down to raunchyness, sex, and people being dicks (which, to be fair, there is a lot of), which ignores that there's plenty of genuinely heartfelt moments and actually interesting writing. The characters, even when they're being awful, feel like real people that react to even absurd situations in a, relatively, real way (they definitely feel like people you'd cut off if you knew them irl, but that's pretty much the point)

That isn't to say the show is devoid of criticism, I think there's a point to make about having almost zero likable female characters (which is another rant in and of itself), and the plotlines of certain characters becoming repetitive and annoying (mostly Fiona's, and Lip's until later seasons), and losing the point of certain plotlines very quickly.

But the show does have a lot of really good moments, more than bad I'd say, there's a few scenes that genuinely shook me to my core. As well as the camera work and soundtrack being pretty great.

Its been years and literally nobody cares but Girl Meets World blindsided me with the Maya X Lucas stuff and creating a triangle because I never saw any of the so-called chemistry?

What, he smiles when she makes jokes and gets along with her? They have banter and are comfortable with each other?

I'm sorry have y'all ever had friends before? Because if that's the criteria for "chemistry", then I must have been in love with all my friends.

I like Riley and Lucas because even though they were awkward the consistently showed that they cared about each other and were interested in more. Their relationship only really came together at the end of the show but I liked that too because it showed how two friends came to grow into themselves first and then each other, and they didn't have to rush their relationship; they just had to care for each other.

Not to mention, Lucas was consistently jealous of people who were interested in Riley or who she was interested in, like Charlie Gardner and Sherpa Evan (Also shout out to both those guys bc Charlie was a real one who, despite being reasonably frustrated at times, handled all her drama with grace and was just happy to be around her. And Evan knew exactly what he was doing and was trying to help her feel more secure). He was also super protective of her and literally broke the handles off two drawers once when he found out she was being bullied. He never had anything remotely similar with Maya.

Also, things didn't feel romantic from Maya's end either. It felt like she had fun teasing her friend and genuinely rooted for Lucas and Riley in season 1, so why add these unrequited feelings to her character? Did they need another example of her feeling rejected by people she was close to? Were her family issues and feelings of alienation from peers bc she was poor not enough?

I think her arc about changing herself to be more like Riley hit one major point for me where the love triangle is concerned: Lucas and Maya never really liked each other like that.

They were friends who got confused about their feelings because of outside forces, like their classmates shipping them or their own struggles in growing up. I always saw it like this: Maya tried to like Lucas because Riley liked him so he must be likeable, and their classmates all seemed to think she should. And Lucas thought he might like Maya because his classmates and even Riley seemed to think she liked him, and when he started spending more time with her and looking for that supposed attraction, he found the parts of Riley Maya was trying to mimic. I think Maya was trying to like him because she was trying to be like Riley and Lucas liked the parts that reminded him of Riley and only really pursued it because Riley pushed him to after she shut him out under the assumption she was giving him up for Maya's sake.

Honestly, I felt like the love triangle would've made more sense if Maya was in love with Riley not Lucas. It would have fit her character arc of feeling different or like an outsider before learning she didn't have to make herself more palatable and just accept herself. It would have added layers to her confident public persona vs. her vulnerable and insecure core, as well as why she was so personally invested in Riley's happiness. Not to mention, there would have been some great lessons about being honest with yourself, acceptance, and being supportive to be taken that would have fit with the themes of the show. Besides, if they had to have drama, pitting friends-to -lovers vs. love at first sight would have been just as good, if not better.