Monthly Archives: August 2013

Daily Dose of Feelings #21

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Do you want to know something that never fails to make me cry? Watching someone do what they were born to do. Not just something they’re good at—or even great at—but to paraphrase A League of Their Own, something that gets inside of them and lights them up. There’s nothing quite like watching someone with a God-given gift bask in the joy they feel while using that gift. It’s a feeling of pride for someone you’ll never know, a strange sense of secondhand accomplishment.

It’s the feeling I get every time I watch a Rachel Berry solo on Glee. Lea Michele is truly a once-in-a-generation talent; she was born to sing big songs on big stages to big ovations. And I love that she has always infused her portrayal of Rachel with that same sense of devotion to performing. The stage is and always will be Rachel’s first love—her happy place, her home. And there’s something so moving about watching this character—who has dreamed of being something special her whole life—find the one place where there is no one better, no one more special, than she is.

Everyone has their favorite Rachel Berry solo, and mine is “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” I’ve been a fan of that song since I was a little girl, and to hear it sung with such passion and such strength made me fall in love with it all over again. But this moment is about so much more than the song choice. It’s about a love story deeper than any other Glee has ever tried to sell: the love Rachel has for the stage.

Michele glows in this performance; her inability to contain her own happiness is what makes this scene so powerful. You know you’re not just watching a character do what they love; you’re watching an actress do what she loves, too.

The moment when Rachel sees Carmen Tibideaux sit down to watch her is my favorite moment in the whole scene. As soon as she sees the woman behind her rejection from NYADA, Rachel turns her performance up to another level, almost daring Carmen to continue to doubt her. That confidence is something this character almost lost after that rejection, so to see it come back in such a definite way was incredible. Rachel may doubt a lot of things about herself, but she knows she’s a great performer—and it’s beautiful to watch her prove her greatness on the biggest stage.

The joy of performing is something nearly impossible to describe. It’s something that can only be felt, and only the best of the best can translate that joy into something tangible for audiences to latch on to. Michele is so good at making you feel everything Rachel feels as she’s singing—whether it’s pain or joy. In this moment, she’s feeling a kind of joy and sense of purpose unlike any she’s ever experienced, and if that’s not a powerful thing to behold, then I don’t know what is.

Daily Dose of Feelings #20

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I gave myself an extra day to pick this one, so I wanted it to be a good choice—and a happy choice. After last night’s finale of The Bachelorette and its beautiful proposal (I know this ending surprised a lot of people—myself included—but I think Chris was the perfect choice, and I think Desiree was finally able to see that), I started thinking about my favorite television proposals of all time. Of course there are the ones from The Bachelor and The Bachelorette that make me cry every season (I’m such a softie), but there are plenty of fictional ones too: Monica and Chandler, Jim and Pam, Ryan and Jenny, Chuck and Sarah, Seth and Summer, Meredith and Derek…

And Ben and Leslie.

Ben proposing to Leslie isn’t just my favorite proposal scene in television history; it’s one of my favorite television moments ever. The acting, the writing, and the element of surprise all combined to create something truly special—something that makes me cry just thinking about it (so you can only imagine how hard I still cry while watching it).

The thing I’ll remember most about this moment is just how surprised I was by it. This happened in the fifth episode of the season—not a premiere, a finale, or any kind of sweeps episode. I started crying as soon as Ben walked into the room because it meant he was choosing Leslie instead of a job in Florida, but little did I know just how committed he was to choosing this woman as his future. When he got down on one knee, my reaction mirrored Leslie’s: Oh my God, what are you doing?

At that point, I couldn’t stop crying if I wanted to. Sometimes a scene just makes you feel so warm, happy, and hopeful that all you can do is cry. From a pure performance standpoint, Amy Poehler and Adam Scott have never been better than they were here. From the little cracks in his voice to the unshed tears in her eyes, they both gave themselves over to this moment, and we as an audience reaped the benefits. Scott’s delivery of each line is filled with a kind of sincerity that makes you believe everything Ben is telling Leslie. And Poehler reduces me to a blubbering mess every time I watch the part where Leslie looks away and takes a deep breath (around the 0:57 mark in the video), as her happiness overwhelms her. Leslie’s reaction is so perfectly true to this character, and Poehler makes that reaction resonate with a kind of quiet joy so radiant it’s impossible to look at through dry eyes.

This scene is more than just emotionally powerful—it’s important. Part of the reason it makes me cry so hard is the hope it makes me feel as a young woman who believes it’s not crazy to find a man who will support your dreams and love you for being ambitious, intense, and more than a little ridiculous at times. I have always identified with Leslie, and I am forever grateful to Parks and Recreation for creating this beautiful character who doesn’t have to sacrifice one dream (love) for another (career). That a genuinely nice, hard-working, ambitious woman exists as a main character on television is a great thing in and of itself, but the fact that she is loved to the extent that she is loved by a genuinely nice, hard-working, intelligent man is incredible.

I don’t think I can articulate my thoughts on the importance of this scene and what it says about this relationship any better than I did in my review of the episode, so I’ll stop trying and leave you with these thoughts:

My favorite thing about Ben and Leslie’s relationship has always been that Ben never forces Leslie to give up any of her dreams—to curb any of her ambitions—to be with him. In fact, it’s Ben who—once again—makes a sacrifice for love because that’s the man he is, not because Leslie demands it of him, either. He loves helping other people make their dreams come true—that’s why he excels at managing political campaigns. But the person whose dreams he most wants to help bring to fruition are Leslie’s. There’s never any resentment or any indication that it’s strange or revolutionary for this male character to sacrifice so much for the woman he loves; it’s just who he is. He’s not at his happiest managing campaigns; he’s at his happiest with Leslie. She’s his future.

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (7/28 – 8/4)

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If I had to pick the Worst Thing I Saw on TV, my choice for this week would be easy: Part One of the The Bachelorette’s two-part finale was a depressing downer, with Desiree being dumped by the only man on the show she grew to love and 40 minutes of crying, which proved to be the most painfully real moments I’ve ever seen on reality TV.

Beyond those heartbreaking two hours, the rest of the week featured some strong performances from my favorite couples on So You Think You Can Dance, a new love interest for Donna (and rival for Harvey?) on Suits, the usual laughs from Hollywood Game Night, and some great reruns of New Girl and The Mindy Project—two shows that get even better with repeated viewings.

The best of the best, though, came from SYTYCD, but it wasn’t a moment by anyone in the Top 14 (now Top 12). Instead, it was one of those rare moments when a true pro in their genre shows the kids how it’s done.

With Curtis injured, Spencer Liff had to step in and perform in the Broadway group number he choreographed to “Come Together.” It’s always a treat to watch a choreographer perform their own piece, and this was no exception. Liff was everything this routine called for its dancers to be: fluid, strong, sexy, and thoroughly entertaining. His natural stage presence and technical ability made it impossible for me to take my eyes off him throughout the dance. This is what “Broadway dancing” should look like—it’s not cheesy or corny; it’s simply all about stage presence and style.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

Daily Dose of Feelings #19

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There’s no more emotionally volatile time in a person’s life than their teenage years. And no television show reflected that emotionally volatility quite like The O.C. did for my generation. Ten years ago, the show premiered as a soapy piece of summer escapism, but it ended up having a surprising number of emotionally honest moments before its run as king of the “teen soap opera” genre was over.

Most of those emotionally honest moments came from Seth and Summer, everyone’s favorite couple on The O.C. (or at least everyone with good taste). As a sophomore in high school, I latched on to Seth Cohen as my nerdy, sincere dream man. Seth was the kind of guy who wouldn’t judge you for being a virgin; he would take a relationship at whatever pace you wanted; and he would be content just to dance with you in his room because he loves you exactly as you are.

This scene still makes me cry because it’s so sweet. It’s funny and realistic and honest in what it says about sex and relationships. I love how earnest Seth is when he tells Summer that he could never think less of her upon finding out that she was a virgin before him. Seth is the kind of guy we all wish we could have found for our first love. He’s willing to take things slower because Summer wishes they wouldn’t have rushed into such a milestone, and that conversation rings with a truth not often heard on TV—and it’s a truth told with so much love and respect between these two characters.

When Seth offers his hand to Summer to dance with her (with Ryan Adams’s gorgeous “Wonderwall” cover playing in the background), I still get tears in my eyes at the simple romance of his gesture. There’s such a beautiful innocence to this moment. Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody had such a genuine, warm chemistry, and it’s used to great effect here. Bilson is especially endearing and emotionally affecting with just how vulnerable she allows Summer to be. It feels like you’re watching two teenagers fall in love in such a real way, and it resonates as strongly now as it did for me back when I watched it as a teenager for the first time.

TV Time: Teen Wolf 3.09

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It’s time once again for Leah to share her thoughts on the latest episode of Teen Wolf!

If you haven’t watched the episode yet, do that before reading! There are some major events in this episode that you do not want spoiled for you; trust me. Then come back and share your thoughts with me!

Title The Girl Who Knew Too Much

What Happened? In this episode, the Darach continues its sacrifices and our group scrambles to figure out its plan in order to stop it before it kills again. Isaac and Allison try to figure out what Chris Argent is up to, and Stiles tries to tell his father the truth about the supernatural beings that inhabit his town. Ultimately, during the school’s memorial for the recent lives lost in Beacon Hills, Jennifer Blake is revealed to be the Darach when she draws Lydia into an empty classroom in order to silence her and also finally gives us a name for Lydia’s powers—banshee. Sheriff Stilinski interrupts the attempt to kill Lydia, but he gets hurt and is taken by Jennifer as she escapes from Scott and Stiles via the classroom window.

Favorite Quotes
“You found a dead body?”
“Not yet.”
“Not yet? What do you mean not yet? Lydia, you’re supposed to call us after you find the dead body.”
“Oh no, I’m not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on.”
“How are we supposed to find the dead body? You’re always the one finding the dead body.”
“Guys…I found the dead body.” (Stiles, Lydia, and Scott)

“I cannot believe that we’ve gotten to the point where a sentence like ‘What if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?’ actually makes sense to me.” (Stiles)

“I smell blood.”
“Where? In what direction?”
“I don’t know, I’m not that good at this yet.” (Isaac and Allison)

“I don’t know why I’m the one that keeps finding the bodies. But maybe…if I just stop trying to fight it…I find them before it happens. Maybe with enough time for someone like you to do something about it.”
“You get me the time, and I’ll do something about it. I swear to God, I will.” (Lydia and Scott)

“You’re just like me, Lydia; look like the innocent flower, be the serpent under it.” (Jennifer Blake)

My Thoughts The “sheriff finds out” plot has been one that I’ve been waiting to see happen for a long time, because one of my favorite relationships on the show is between Stiles and his father. The scenes in Season 2 showing the deterioration of that relationship were some of the most painful scenes for me, and I am quite ready for the sheriff to join in on the supernatural-mystery-solving team, especially if he and Melissa McCall work together like they have been lately, because I am very much in favor of them being an awesome parental team helping their boys out. I think this episode showed us just how much their relationship has worsened due to the fallout from the lies Stiles has had to tell his dad to protect him. The emotional climax with Stiles’s line, “Mom would’ve believed me,” just killed me with feelings for the both of them. Hopefully we’ll get a scene in the next few episodes that will deal with the consequences from the sheriff realizing that his son was actually telling him the truth about werewolves, because I feel like the audience still needs some emotional payoff from the sadness in this episode.

On a side note, I feel like the chess scene with Stiles and the sheriff is probably what it is like for non Teen Wolf fans when we try to explain the plot to them. Sorry, everyone who has heard my excited ramblings about the show and wondered What the heck are you talking about?

We can finally put a name to what all of Lydia’s powers add up to! She is a banshee, which explains why we’ve seen her screaming so much in this season and last season. We still don’t know the full extent of her powers, or how her screaming works other than that she screams before a death occurs. What I find interesting is that it appears that Lydia’s scream acts in a similar way to the wolf howl; it gives her a way of calling the pack, as we saw that not only Scott, Ethan, and Aiden heard her scream, but Derek was able to hear Lydia’s scream all the way from the hospital. I’m hoping that we see that Lydia has more powers than just screaming to forewarn of a death and showing up at the place the bodies will be found, or that she at least learns how to gain some control over her powers.

The last major arc in this episode was the reveal that Jennifer Blake, our seemingly innocent English teacher, is the Darach. I knew there was something strange about her! I am quite curious about her past and her motives now, as she clearly knows the Alpha Pack and fears them enough to feel that the sacrifices are a “necessary evil.” That she is clearly being portrayed at the moment as a character who, as Peter would say, “live[s] in shades of gray,” is quite interesting, and I can’t wait to see where they take her character.

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Daily Dose of Feelings #18

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Sorry for the unannounced hiatus from these posts. I was all set to start writing when I suffered a bout of narcolepsy…or just couldn’t stay awake any longer after too many days of staying up too late to write.

Sometimes emotional moments catch you off guard. They’re the ones that leave you shaking your head as the tears form in your eyes, wondering how a show or an actor can manage to surprise you after you thought you’d seen it all from the world of television.

The ending of this season’s finale of New Girl caught me off guard, and that seems fitting for a show whose best moments have come when I didn’t expect them. After the way the finale had built to Nick and Jess deciding to call off their budding relationship, I expected the finale to end with tension and angst in order to create suspense going into this coming season. Much to my pleasant surprise, however, the season ended on an incredibly happy and hopeful note, with smiles, laughter, and one hell of a kiss.

While so much of New Girl works on an emotional level because of the complexity of Jake Johnson’s performance, this scene works because of Zooey Deschanel. I love her vulnerability at the start of this scene because it feels so genuine. Her eyes are red, her nose is red, and her voice sounds like she’s been crying ever since she walked away from Nick earlier in the episode. Those little details may not seem like much, but added together they make her emotional investment in this man and this potential relationship so subtly powerful. At this point in the season, we knew how much Nick loved Jess, so it was such a gorgeous moment to finally see how much Jess loved Nick when her voice broke as she asked him to “un-call it.”

The beginning of this scene may be emotional because it’s such a realistic depiction of the vulnerability that comes with loving someone, but the end of this scene gets the tears flowing for me because it’s such a realistic depiction of the happiness that comes from loving someone. The sound of Nick’s confident steps towards Jess is such a perfect touch—it makes my heart race in anticipation. And then he kisses her in that way only Nick Miller can kiss her, and the sheer happiness she feels with him causes her to laugh in one of the sweetest, most honest moments of love I’ve seen on television in a long time.

That’s what love is; it’s happiness. It’s someone who makes you smile, someone who makes you laugh. This is one of those scenes where understanding the characters and their journeys makes a scene even more emotionally resonant. Jess Day loves to be happy—she likes happy things like singing and dancing and polka dots. And Nick Miller has trouble finding and holding on to happiness—he’s grumpy and cynical and thinks people are the worst. So it’s a beautiful, surprisingly emotional thing to see these two people find each other and make each other this happy.

Love doesn’t always have to be dramatic and angst-ridden. It should be something that brings you joy. The same can be said for TV shows. New Girl brings me joy, and I’m so happy it chose to end such a great season on such a joyful note.