Ohhhh. I knew the daughter was, but not her too. Well, well, well.
Girl, are you going to gif Carina’s scenes from GA ?!? ???
I wasn’t really…gonna? I do download and skim through Grey’s now, just for her scenes and in case Maya pops up, but she hasn’t so far, and even Carina hardly shows up. She had some parts in the recent finale because of Amelia’s baby but she mostly just kinda smiled supportively. Was there anything you wanted in particular?
I started laughing about what you said about watching and the stopping for a bit when Maya and Jack became a thing because name ??? for real though, even if my hopes for Maya and carina are low as hell, I hope they stop yanking Maya around like a plot device for whatever story they want to do with Andy.. it’s not doing either of them Justice and it’s wrecking a pretty nice friendship…
Lol, yeah, as soon as Maya started casually showing up in Jack’s scenes, I was like, nope. I hoped they wouldn’t go there because of that ep where Ryan helped with her brother (and god, their dad did a number on them) and I’d been afraid THAT might have been a thing and of course it wasn’t, but no such luck this time. I would have preferred Ryan, tbh, I just dislike Jack in general, for both of them. I like Andy with Ryan and I actually like her a lot with Sullivan, it’s not hating m/f in general. But Jack…like, so many deaths and he’s still alive? Okay. >_>
And right! Maya’s plots are often not so much about her as they are her doing something to Andy. Now this new thing, which AGAIN, Andy might be mad at Maya about. You can just make it a solid relationship, show, there doesn’t have to be this drama. Although I guess that’s literally not true for them, as long as it’s on screen, there has to be drama attached. Which applies to all serialized media to some extent but this franchise takes it to an extreme.
It’s our luck that the one independent thing Maya had, with Carina, might not even shown to its fullest this season. It looked like DeLuca’s storyline was picking up at the end of the Grey’s finale, which was originally just a regular ep but had to be made into the finale because their taping was cut short. And we also know that since they want to pick up where they left off next season, they’ve edited out any parts from S19 that reference what would have happened in the rest of the Grey’s season. I’m just guessing but some of that might have been related to Carina and her brother. Maybe Teddy and her cheating, but I can’t imagine the S19 people care tons about that. I just hope we still get that scene in the captain’s office.
it’s funny bc i only watched s19 bc of a poster i saw of andy’s actress. thought, ‘oh shes hot’ and watched it when my shows ran out. i finshed it without realizing and actually started to like it. i mean, it’s ridiculous even for broadcast but i love maya and how well the actress plays her. first half of the season was me going ‘dont be mean 2 maya’ @ my tv lol. her and carina are sweet but i have 0 trust as much as i want them to last, this show kills(ppl, places love) in seconds lmao
Oh, Jaina Lee Ortiz? Yeah, she is! I dunno if you caught her in Rosewood (that also had a f/f couple)? But Andy’s great too. I started S19 as just a new show, even though it was a Grey’s spinoff I naively thought it wouldn’t be as dramatic, lol. And at the start, it kind of was okay, and then as soon as Maya and Jack started hanging out, I knew what was going to happen and stopped watching, occasionally looking in to see how things were going. As soon as they broke up, I was back, lol.
It did suck that everyone was so angry at Maya, I’m glad they’ve started showing her background and POV more, I hope the general audience stops hating on her so much. Maybe it’s because I’m just so not in it for the drama, the ups and downs just seem so manipulative, I’m not going to hate on Maya when it’s the writers who keep yanking everyone around. So absolutely, as much as I like this new thing with Carina you just can’t trust anything with this franchise, you wrote this on Wednesday and by the next day, they’d killed off yet another major character. I’m just going to enjoy what I can and hope that when it ends, it’s not in a way that’ll destroy the ship for me completely.
Of course Alice Wu isn’t supposed to fix years of misrepresentation, but she’s someone who has been to hundreds of festivals and met fans and she knows how the community is waiting for a romcom and she gets a chance with Netflix and makes a movie about a friendship between a girl and a guy? that’s disappointing tbh even in the comments everyone missed the point of the trailer and are shipping the lesbian and the guy.
Nooo, they’re not! Are they?? Nooooooo. Surely it’s just a teeny tiny group of people.
But leaving those people aside, it sounds like you do still kind of think Alice Wu should have made a different movie? Even if all that is true, it’s still not her responsibility. She wrote what she felt inspired by and this is the story she wanted to tell. I think all the choices she made were important to her, not just that it’s f/f, but that it’s in small town Americana, that it’s a white guy she befriends and who begins to understand her, that we can find commonality with anyone. She was inspired to write this after the 2016 elections, there was something more here than just “let me throw something down”. The choices here weren’t a platonic m/f friendship vs a f/f romance, it would have just been this movie or none at all. If anyone’s on the hook here, it’d be Netflix and Hollywood as a whole, who’ve made so few lighter-toned f/f movies that this one has to stand for them all.
I totally get being disappointed by it but two things can be true:
1) I wish this were different
2) Alice Wu can make what she wants
Neither negates the other. It just means you and Alice Wu are different people and like different things, which is totally normal and healthy and fine? It’s only when it goes from “I like something else” to “I wish this was something else” to “this creator should have made something else” that you get near dangerous territory. And honestly, even that last comment is pretty mild, it’s just, when you consider your audience, which is Anyone On the Internet, we want to be a little more careful because often that’s not where it stops, it goes to “this creator is stupid/selfish/bigoted in some way for not doing this instead”. Not saying that’s what you’re saying! Not at all. But I think we all know how things can spiral, or even be open to misinterpretation.
I went to my friend and said actually much more extreme things, because I know she understands where I come from, what exactly irritated me, what I meant and didn’t mean, and most importantly, I knew she was on the same page. Aside from not wanting this to spiral out, I know people are excited about this, I don’t want to ruin it for them. My priority in answering these asks is trying to make sure everyone feels heard but I especially don’t want to take this good thing and bring anyone down.
Which kind of hilariously takes me to literally the very next ask:
And another anon:
alrighty so originally the only things i knew about The Half of It was GAY and alice wu but now having seen the trailer is see that its a little less gay and more about friendship (which is fine). Heres to hoping they go nancy drew-esque in that the guy is like Ace and is more than ok with being friends instead of getting the girl. Either way i will watch and keep any and all negative opinions to myself cause Alice doesnt need or deserve that shit
I do think the guy will be fine, I think it is very much a story of Paul and Ellie’s friendship winning out over everything, not just small-town racism or homophobia but the more focused “relatable”–at least in fiction–issue of liking the same girl. But you know, exactly the same as above except in reverse, you can have your preferences and not like something and not have it be an attack, heh
And another anon:
the ironic thing is alice wu HAS made a romcom with a full on happy ending with saving face years ago but that movie gets so overlooked and underappreciated
She has, she absolutely has, but even if she hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been on her to provide one now.
Although on the other hand, I also don’t think the existence of that or IMAY can be used to stop people from wishing there were more happy f/f romcoms in general. It’s not even like there’s been a jump in the number in the last few years, even though sometimes people act like the lack of rep has been addressed. And that’s aside from the generational differences. Someone who wasn’t born when Saving Face came out could be old enough to be the target audience for this teen movie.
And another anon:
I’m not sure but the trailer looked good. And I like the platonic side
That’s good, anon! I think it’ll be uplifting and even many people, like myself, who wish for something more romance-centric, will like it.
That joke would definitely fly over my head since I’m not even sure what HOA stands for ? thank you for answering my silly question though.
Heh, homeowners association. And no worries, it certainly was the easiest of these pending asks where I try to thread the line between “absolutely but their point of view is understandable too” and “I see what you’re saying but that’s not entirely fair to ask of her either”. 😛
What is HEA?
Happily ever after. 🙂
Where are you all reading info on the half of it’s ending? My google skills are failing me! Also, darn… really hoped it was a feel good movie.
Whoops, sorry, forgot to answer this above. But I think it’s still feel-good, just not purely in a romantic direction? Anyway, by now you’d have seen the trailer and what it’s aiming at. I think it’s still a pretty uplifting ending for Ellie.
how do people know the ending of the half of it already?? was the script leaked or smth
And another anon:
Hey, I was wondering where the supposed “leak” of the half of it is? I would like to read it
A whiiiile back it was up on reddit (and probably other places?), I found out through this post which summarizes much of it:
It’s been removed since but it should be reinforced that we have no idea what the actual ending or even movie itself are like now, anything could have changed from that script to actually being shot. For what it’s worth, the ending as it was written was open-ended but hopeful for the f/f pair.
I want to say thank you for all your gifsets and commentary. I’ve followed your blog for years now and I always appreciate the new shows I come across through it. It cheers me up, especially in times like these. Thank you again!!
Aw, thank you for taking the time to say so, anon! It means a lot to hear it in these times too! Whew, they have been rough. In so many ways, so many new ways every day. But yeah! Eventually I’ll be pulled into something and then gif it, I’m glad it helped you too!