airali_glo

airali_glo

Copy/paste from the Campaign thread



Sooooooooooooo here we are!

I have to say that I'm intrigued and I like it. A LOT. You can totally see it's the first episode because it starts a little slow, but hey I'm hooked!

My favorite is Max, Thomas is so damn good that really how can you not love his character? I also feel he's going to show some deep hurt or something, as we go on, because when drugs are involved there's always something, inside.

As I said I ship him with Aki - only Aki. This throuple starts more with Audrey wanting to spice things up, because her relationship with Aki is clearly not like before. We see only her point of view in this first episode, Aki one is way less evident, but I'm sure it will develop into something more. After all he is the one really experimenting and discovering himself, Audrey is straight and Max is pan, they already know who they are. Also since this is tv and not real life, I feel (and hope) this menage à trois is going to change at some point, because otherwise...how boring! Sure in real life there are happy poliamory throuples, but on tv it works less, I think.
I hope Max and Aki are going to fall in love, at some point! And Aki and Audrey becoming friends like Blair and Nate ended up being.

The wardrobe scene killed me, I was like THE TENSIONNNNNNNNNN.

Wow, Monet and Luna are mean it's not necessarily a bad thing, for now I prefer Monet over Luna, though.

Julien and Zoya. Okay, that conflict was inevitable, it started slow and toned down (LOL at Luna taking pictures of Max you know what for her scheme, with him being like READY!). I'm sure it's going to get worse when Zoya and Obie are getting their affair, I'm curious to see.
Julien is a very interesting character, because she hides herself and doesn't want to show her true self to the world. She seems strong, but I think she's not.

Okay the teachers. I like them so much I don't know, maybe because they're 30-something people like me and they say things that I would say too, somehow, but I just loved that they're absolutely uncool, but focused on the mission of being the new GG (I feel the hot teacher isn't going to be so okay with it, when Max comes into the picture. We'll see).
By the way I can't already with all those saying that's immoral for adults to spying on teens - IT'S A TV SHOW, IT DOESN'T HAVE TO TEACH ANYTHING. Or be "moral". Sorry, I just can't with such talking when it's a work of fiction.

I don't like Obie. He seems sneaky, I don't know. Also he has literally zero chemistry with Julien.

SO I really look forward to the other episodes!

Have you noticed this parallel?

Cadenf

I just started this episode...I'll let you know what I think!

airali_glo

Yes! I hope you like it! Have you ever watched the OG? This reboot has a different vibe and a different pace, in the first six episodes. I liked it after the first episode already, but I read that others needed more episodes to get used to it and appreciate it

Cadenf

I did watch the original and mostly enjoyed it...so I am looking forward to this one.

airali_glo

I'm glad you're checking this out

I admit I wasn't a huge fan of the OG, I watched all seasons but at the end I wished I dropped it after S3 the only OG season I like is the first. I prefer this version.

Cadenf

That is good to hear. I am not alway susre about reboots granted, but I did want to watch, so now is my chance!

airali_glo

I think the reboot has still the OG feeling (but it shows up more as the season goes on), but it's also more adult, I think? It has its own vibe, it's not as soapy as the OG. I suggest you to not compare the two of them and enjoy this new as the new show it is oh there are a few OG cameos in a couple of episodes (ep 4 and ep 10)

Can't wait to read your comments!

Cadenf

I got so used to not knowing who GG was on the original that it is hard knowing right off the bat...and I will admit I was a little confused. I assume things will make more sense as I keep watching.

Seems everyone is trying to knock down Julien. I hope her and Zoya can actually be close and like sisters, instead of this back and forth that already happened throughout the first episode.

airali_glo

For me instead it made things easier maybe because this way I know I won't be disappointed like with the original, where I was like WTF NO WAY (and in fact it was a little bit random). Also I like to know the mission behind it. But don't worry you'll get more into it as you watch, especially you'll see that's not as easy as Kate and the others thought it was.

I think that Julien most of the times doesn't really stand for herself, even when she doeas it's always because someone else told her so, that she should do it.

Well, I won't spoiler that to you, let's just say that their relationship doesn't always go smooth, but that's because they have strong personalities and especially Zoya isn't someone who surrender easily

Cadenf

I can see that about Julien... I do like her though already, But maybe it is because I feel like she is struggling the most so far.

airali_glo

Same. I like her for the same reason. As they sing in waitress: "she's imperfect, but she tries". Even though I feel that not always Luna and Monet advice are helpful, she gave them too much power, imho.

shinebrighterxx

Not being disappointed like with the original is a good way to look at it. I still can't wrap my head around the teachers being GG though. That just is so wrong to me on so many levels. But what the students were doing to them wasn't right either. That power imbalance is disgusting. Money shouldn't give them such power. But I don't know how it sits with me being the teachers. That put me off trying to watch the show when I heard about it. I don't know if part of it is the educator part of me going 'how can you cross so many lines & harm children' preventing me from just enjoying the show. Also thinking of all the lines the OG cross with GG too without just letting this play out. The teachers don't necessarily enjoy or want to do it, they are backed in a corner & want the power back. I can get that.

The sibling relationship has me intrigued but I don't know if it has me invested. It also bugged me that Julien(?) didn't be open & honest with her friends. It doesn't seem like they would've run off & told on her to her father. They might have faulted her for wanting a relationship with her sister but at least if she'd been honest with them they would've had the opportunity to try understand her side of things. But of course if she'd done that they wouldn't have a show & the drama

Audrey reminds me of blonde Leighton Meester, at least in the look of her

A nice thing about this show I think is already from the first episode you've got a pansexual character. It always bugged me that the OG didn't showcase more diversity in their sexualities (minus Serena's brother). It was a perfect platform for it but nothing. Or at least nothing in the main cast. They did a decent enough job with Eric, & could've had him a main possibly had Jenny stayed. But it wasn't in the core characters so wasn't the same impact.


One possible deal breaker for me though is the messaging on screen. Does that continue? I want to be able to tune out a little on shows, not have to watch the screen for messages to make sure I don't miss something. They also bug me. I get why they do it & at least in this case it works due to the nature of the show but there is something about them which annoys me & turns me off shows.

airali_glo

You watched it

Oh, that's surely your teacher soul that doesn't make you like that I love them, instead like I know those teachers are the worst (and you still have to see what Rafa is going to do!), I know they're awful and I like them for that if it can "help" you, they're going to face such behaviour as the season goes on and they'll start wondering if they're harming those kids or not and they'll face consequences of playing God, but the drama is always there. It gets even a liiiittle bit worse in 1b, with some new teachers involved.
So I suggest you to try and put aside that educator side of you, otherwise you won't really enjoy the show. The OG never went there, because it was more to the soapy kind of drama.


I can understand why Julkien didn't tell them, she probably feared they wouldn't accept her, especially since she wasn't from their world, I think it was more because of this than the fear of them telling her father. She also wanted for them to accept her for what she was, rather than doing it just because she was her sister.


Audrey is more preppy, though! If you watched Revenge, Emily played the young Amanda and she's the daughter of OTH Deb, (Nathan's mother)!

I agree Safran said that from the start, that he wanted the show to have more queer characters. Max is pan, then there's Aki who's bi, Monet (lesbian) and Luna (trans). I think that on the CW you couldn't do a lot of things, also back in the OG days the teen dramas weren't much queer in general.
Thomas/Max is a real highlight of the pilot, you can already see a rounded character, while for the others it takes some more episodes to really get them.


Yes, they do continue, but less than the pilot. Way less, honestly, at some point it's more like characters showing their phones screens to the camera, rather than typing on screen. It annoys me too, especially because I'm also busy reading subtitles, so but really, it's something that happens way less as the season goes on.

shinebrighterxx

I finally gave it a chance the other night . I had meant to but then never got around to it & was wary of it/put off from what I read. But then watching that first episode I thought it might be ok now seeing the motivation behind why the teachers are doing it. It may still take a bit to accept it but if they have that struggle & facing consequences as you say I think it'll get easier to watch & tell the educator side of me to shut up

I guess the acceptance might be a part of it & she did want them to accept her sister but I don't know, it still seemed strange to me. you should be able to trust your friends & let them in, & by not telling them she screwed things up for herself a little anyway

It just was her in the face, there was something there... I don't know. The character didn't remind me of Blair, it just wasn't the best association either since Leighton was Blair

I presume it all will be explored in greater detail, but it was quite clear from that first episode (& trailer I think) that they were being more open & realistic with their queer characters. What the original lacked, but as you said it could've been the CW at the time

That's ok then, thanks. Showing a phone screen is easier to accept while annoying to read still. At least that's just 'hey look at this' feeling more than weird things popping up on the screen