You know what was a “cute if you catch it” moment? Sterling pretty much crouching against that wall in the laser tag room so she was the same height as April when they kissed. I am a sucker for height difference.
Aww, I didn’t notice that!
Aw, she’s just like, braced against the wall to stay that low for a lengthy period of time. I don’t really care about height differences in the sense that, like, I prefer them, I’m fine either way, but they’re still adorable! Especially when the shorter one is way more the scarier one. The second season should make use of a reversal, with like, I dunno, stairs or a desk or something.
I’m glad I follow you because had I not know where TBH is going, I wouldn’t have made it through the opening without knowing it wasn’t just super hetero the whole time.
And another anon:
I just wanted to thank you for the Teenage Bounty Hunters rec, I saw your gif posts and was curious. It was a revelation. I binged it in one day, the show is completely off its rocker its actually refreshing. Thank you!
I’m glad you gave it a chance! I liked it a lot, the humor, the love, the f/f.
I really wish there was a way I could alert y’all to new f/f without giving it all away in the gifset, it’s a fundamentally different experience not knowing who it’s gonna be or how it unfolds!
Ok but my favourite moment between them is the phone call when Sterling says she’s not coming to school. The whole exchange is just for freaking adorable.
It isssss. It’s so them, April is written so distinctively and she is just, like, aside from the Christian thing and the closeted thing, SO intense and extreme. Truly Paris Gellar if she’d been born in Atlanta. The way she jumps from not wanting to get sick to being afraid Sterling is a Slacker (and probably rethinking their relationship–she can be with a girl but not with…a bad student) and then thinking Sterling’s told Blair who reacted badly and just running away forever. What a kid! I love her.
But I especially love how Sterling just calmly responds to each escalation, knowing how to deal with April. It’s a representation of the best part of their dynamic, where April expresses concern in her own super intense way, Sterling understands where she’s coming from and reassures her, and goshhh, the whole prolonged goodbye. I can’t blame April for getting carried away, it was the sweetest thing ever. At that point, they both really thought this was going to carry well into the future and were settling in.
As much as i hate it, i feel like if we do get a second season, the truth about april knowing the twins brought their dad in is gonna be like another last episode cliffhanger and possibly “undo” much of the pining thats gonna build throughout the entire season
Ugh, I knowwwww. Surprisingly, they saved some pretty major revelations for next season and while I don’t know when the parents will find out they’re bounty hunters (that might just last throughout the show, like Clark Kent’s secret identity), Sterling’ll sexuality’ll be revealed to her parents at some point so we can process through a coming out, possibly bad reaction and all, but the s1 finale really set up April finding out next season. The dad’ being out means he’s going to make a move and if he does, April’ll find out at some point.
Unfortunately, it really would be exactly the kind of drama I expect from TV shows, for them to finally work their way through their current obstacles only for this next huge one to pop up. It’s not just that they turned him in, April hates people lying to her SO MUCH, especially the people who love her, and Sterling offering her sympathy about her dad multiple times and having done this? She’s gonna be SO MAD. The show’s not gonna get that out of the way early on, right, not when it can milk it for extra drama. 😡
I really think Teenage Bounty Hunters just loves its own characters way most shows would never love people like that. Most TV with a liberal mindset seems to have no respect at all for classic red state values and always needs to disclaim the values before showing the holders as good people. I legit think that the Wesleys might be the emotionally healthiest TV family I have ever seen. (Blanket publishing permission disclaimer for this as I found you in public searching.)
Hmm, I’m not sure I entirely get what you mean by classic red state values, but I do think the show did disclaim and at times gently and affectionately mock the characters? And I feel like most shows in general do love their characters? Suddenly on the spot I can hardly think of any at all, but for example, as harsh a look at that world as it was, Justified really examined the circumstances that created its characters and seemed to have this understanding and sympathy for them. Or, actually, another southern Christian series, Greenleaf, that show loved those characters! …Ambitions loved its characters less, lol. D:
Hmm, emotionally healthy… I mean, I don’t think they’re unhealthy, but I think as a TV rule, they’re about as healthy as most fictional families where the conflict isn’t about how unhealthy they are? But they are pretty solid and I want to see how they deal with this upcoming drama from all these secrets.
religious anon here! yes, I didn’t realize that as well after watching and rewatching it. It only sank in with me because I had an epiphany this morning lol. for me, I think why I didn’t realize it right away, is because of how comfortable they are in their own skin that I didn’t question it. that all this talk of sex is just another tuesday for them; it’s normal and it’s okay. sex is such a taboo in a conservative religion that a fresh take like this feels like a miracle, at least for me.
sorry i have so much thoughts haha and, like, even with their eventual coming out, whenever that happens, it doesn’t hang onto the idea that God might smite them and send them to hell. It’s just a very real fear of people judging them or shaming them or, as in April’s situation, her bigoted father. i mean… is there any other religious show where they tackle sexuality and sex in general but the religion isn’t in question? (½)
(2/2) I have lots of love for this show and i deeply regretted that i judged tbh before i watched it. oh and btw, i like The Fellowship. It’s both endearing and ominous. haha
Yeah, I think we didn’t make a big deal because they didn’t make a big deal. It really is so unusual, I’m trying to think of the religious LGBT stories I’ve seen and it’s actually not that many, since I avoid the unhappy ones and that’s most of them. For the non-Christian characters, there were Muslims like Rana on Corrie and Adena on TBT, with varying levels of devoutness, and they actually seemed to be okay with it, but in both cases the show just genuinely never even brought up how they navigated the intersection of religion and sexuality, it was just…a fait accompli. 😛 Sydney on Saving Hope was devoutly Jewish and man, it WAS a huge deal for her to work through, something it took a long time for her to come to terms with. I really liked her story, but that’s exactly what you meant, right, where religion was something to Process, although that’s also very important rep in its own right.
There are obviously way more stories with Christians but I cannot remember a single one of them now, lol, I feel like most of them were people with religious family who’d judge them, that was the angle, they themselves weren’t seen to really think of it much or need to reconcile things, like Rana and Adena. All this to say that yes, I’ve not seen it done like this, where a religious person was immediately like, yes, I’ve accepted myself and I think God has too. As you said, it’s powerful!
I’m kind of curious at what exactly you were prejudging it for, but at least you know better now. 😛 And lol, the Fellowship. The Tolkien connotations would have been too strong, but I still think we can do better than Stepril. :[
What moment do you think April caught/ re caught feelings for Sterling? Or was it just like lingering under the surface repressed?
And other anons:
Hey, do you think April already had a secret crush on Sterling? Or she became attracted when Sterling kissed her?
Did April like Sterling when she was being mean to her early on?
Do you think April had a crush on Sterling? I think Sterling might have had one on April (if maybe subconsciously) when they were younger if only because in the scenes where they’re reminiscing on their childhood Sterling seems to remember little details that even April is surprised she remembers
Hmmm. That is the big question, right, was Sterling one of the Adeles, and if so, did it ever go away and if it did, when did it come roaring back?
I don’t know what the show’s version of the timeline would be, I’m not even entirely sure of my own thoughts, but here would be my current feelings:
In the first few eps, there’s a genuine resentment from April toward Sterling, for the reasons I mentioned earlier and obviously the 5th grade thing. Mixed up with all that was probably also a buried attraction, Sterling’s pretty, but she’s also a good enough student to be an actual rival and on some level that’s something April responds to. April also seems strong-minded enough to appreciate how principled Sterling is, except it makes her even more resentful, thinking it’s fake.
So you enter ep 6 with this swirling maelstrom. teen hormones, resentment past and present, having to suppress any gay feelings, probably hiding them from even herself, the recent agitation of her father’s situation and the resulting social humiliation. I don’t think she’d like, been sitting there examining her feelings and being like, omg, I have a crush, damn, I wish I didn’t have this crush on this snake, I think she just had complicated messy feelings about Sterling, former friend and current rival, who can hold her own against her but also keeps reaching out and being nice. And then it all comes to a head at the competition, where she’s actually teaming up with her, having to think of her as an ally (if grudging), and then the 5th Grade Betrayal comes up again and Sterling seems to genuinely have no idea about it and immediately and earnestly wants to apologize. When Sterling refused to use the info against Craig, April was furious in the moment but I think that really was when everything really changed.
She’s yelling at Sterling, right, angry at her and also at herself for trusting her to do this and being hurt again and you can see that moment where she catches herself and pulls back:
As much as we (understandably!) talk about Sterling’s reaction here, April was having a Moment of her own. I mean, don’t think she went home and had a Clueless fountains realization, I’m in love with Sterling Wesley, but I think she did realize she’d been overreacting, over a lot of things, as she said in 1×08, her anger had been “misdirected”, and that might even mean that Sterling had been an Adele. But now the realization gave her a lot of room to think about Sterling’s good qualities without always stopping short because of the bad (or what she thought were bad). Because with everything else, refusing to use that info against Craig was actually super admirable.
I think a lot of Sterling’s flirting over their project actually DID get a response from April, the way she grudgingly admitted she didn’t think Luke was right for Sterling, the whole conversation about Naomi and Ruth with her confused about Sterling’s motives but also curious in so many ways about her thoughts on it. At that stage and with the specific complexity of this situation, it’s hard to really define it, I don’t think she was in a place where she had fully decided her feelings and was just waiting for a sign to act on them, I think even then she was ready to remain alone for the whole of high school, at the very least, buuuut, to answer all your questions, I think she absolutely did have increasingly positive and warm feelings about Sterling at that point, maybe some wistful what-ifs, and then the kiss opened up a whole world of possibilities.
That’s an interesting observation, last anon, about Sterling having a thing for April and that’s why she remembered things like what she’d quoted to Luke. It’s definitely possible, I do think she has a great memory in general and can probably quote all kinds of stories like that, but that was SO specific. i do agree, though, if it was there, it was subconscious.
To be honest i think Blair looks crazy similar to Emma Chamberlain (they even have similar personalities lol)
Maybe you have to see her in motion, but I’ll take your word for it, anon! Actually, the actor who came to me out of the blue for Blair (but still waiting on April :/) is Alona Tal! I can’t believe I didn’t think of her earlier.
And another anon:
Is it just me or does Sterling look like Camila from warrior nun??
It isn’t just you! Someone else mentioned her too, so that’s like, possibly the most votes so far. 😛
My coworker is a doppelgänger for Blair. Like no joke you can’t tell them apart. Obviously I can’t prove this but trust me ?
Man, what is it about this trio of actresses that’s making people find all kinds of similarities.
And another anon:
do you ever find yourself disliking a ship/character because an actor looks like someone you know who you don’t like? (i ask because sterling’s actress looks EXACTLY like a girl i know in real life who is, well. a massive homophobe :/ )
Honestly, not really. Most people I know don’t look like celebrities, heh. That sucks but like, I think if you watch enough you’ll be able to compartmentalize. Technically, these characters aren’t even like their actors, who they literally look like.
And another anon:
i have been racking my brain for who april (devon) reminds me of for days now and i think i’ve got it. rebecca ferguson from mission impossible.
Hmm, this feels like the Sterling -> Jes Macallan comparison, where like, maybe a baby version, lol.
And another anon:
Sterling kinda looks like Aly from Aly & AJ when they were younger
I guess I can kinda see that. The nose, right.