Stuff Watched

[maplemood]

Derry Girls! On Sunday I figured out season 2 had dropped on Netflix and spent a very enjoyable evening marathoning the whole thing--it's only six episodes long, like the first season, and each episode is only around thirty minutes (so, in terms of bingeing, practically nothing). Season 2's still got plenty going for it on the black humor front, but it's maybe not quite as focused on the people-doing-awkward-insensitive-or-downright-terrible-things kind of humor as the first season; not that those kind of situations aren't there (Clare tries to connect with a Protestant boy during their Friends Across the Barricade weekend trip and ends up freaking out when he [apparently] says he hates all Catholics; Joe still hates Gerry for no good reason; Aunt Sarah wears a floor-length white ballgown to a wedding with predictable results), but they're all mixed in with a lot of warmth. This time around there are even more great friendship moments, and also the whole set-up continues to be heartwarming in a low-key way--like, it's never pointed out that the Quinns are more or less a second family for Clare, Michelle, and James, but they absolutely are. Also, for all that Joe keeps sniping at Gerry, everyone actually gets along pretty well for one big family forced to share one small house. Things can get tense, but at the end of the day they stick by each other and love each other. (Another really cute moment is when Orla invites Joe to the prom as her date, since "everyone kept saying you have to ask a fella you really like, and he's the fella I like the most.") And of course Sister Michael is and always will be the best: "You will go far in life, Jenny, but you will not be well-liked."

After stalling out a bit I have seasons 3 and 4 of Black Sails checked out from the library. I'm hoping to finish them before school starts back up (three more weeks?!). I'm expectedly super invested in Anne and unexpectedly super invested in both Jack and Jack/Anne; Silver's also grown on me a lot since the first season, where he wasn't a bad character (imo, anyway), just one without any human connections at all. He was completely in it for himself, and even though he still is, a bit, in his own way he's genuinely loyal to the crew by the end of the second season, and they're loyal to him--the season 2 finale caps off with the most heartwarming amputation scene ever (maybe the only heartwarming amputation scene ever?) and in season 3--though I'm not very far in yet at all--he seems like he's trying to do right by them, as opposed to just do right by himself. He's still Silver, though, so who knows. 

Comments

[maplemood]

Oh, good, I'm glad to hear that! And Max's journey so far has been so great to watch--my favorite callback to s1 is when she tells Anne that her kingdom "is built on things I cannot control--it is built upon sand." Compared to her telling Eleanor that Nassau "is just sand; it cannot love you back"...it's just such a good callback, and it shows how much Max has grown but also that she hasn't lost her clearsightedness, which is a big part of what makes her her.