Gossip Girl. A seminal work of literature that would later evolve into a series that shaped the minds of an entire generation of teenagers and by the time its effects began to wane, a reboot of the classic to keep the legacy going. 

Alright then. I’ll be the first to admit that Gossip Girl is often, not very good. But its cultural impact is undeniable. The problem is, it’s addictive. Once you start watching, you want to keep going. I will not call it a guilty pleasure but it’s definitely somewhere in that league. 

That’s not to say it’s a bad show. It has its moments. It’s entertainment, scandalous drama, shocking twists, overall debauchery all consisting of teenagers living beyond the means of most, you want to watch more even if you think you’re better than it. 

I’ve watched all six seasons of Gossip Girl and I bring that up more often than anyone needs to. I watched it after the show ended so I knew who Gossip Girl was from the get go and I still decided to watch it. Why, you may ask? And the answer is, I don’t know. I think it seemed like required reading (watching, in this case). 

It’s easy to forget just how big this show was at its prime but on a re-watch, there are enough cameos (not all good) to remind you that this show was right up there.

The High Highs

Gossip Girl found itself at the heart of pop culture from season 1, arguably the best season of the lot. Season 1 doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s about rich kids being rich kids and the Humphrey siblings trying to find their place in this ridiculously unstable world, despite not being rich kids themselves. 

Season 1 is interesting because it’s fairly simple, Dan and Jenny are trying to fit into a world in which neither of them belong and they both have to navigate the schemes of Blair Waldorf, in different contexts. Blair Waldorf makes this season as the scheming rich girl, obsessed with the social hierarchy that keeps her on top. She’s a bit of a tyrant but she’s also just another student, but she inspires fear in everyone who comes across her but she’s also humanized throughout the season with her fierce protectiveness of the people she cares for. 

Gossip Girl herself also sees Blair as their main subject as the series progresses. Yes, Serena and the rest of the gang are also referenced regularly but Blair has the biggest moments. 

I haven’t revisited the series recently because I’m not big on rewatching anything but almost every important, iconic, gasp worthy moment has to do with Blair. 

I also think the way Gossip Girl presents itself is sort of reminiscent of Big Brother from 1984 (yes, I compared Gossip Girl and Orwell, I’m aware it has been done before and I’m going to say it again). The concept of a being that sees and hears everything you do or say and being judge, jury and executioner, reminded me of the classic, despite their philosophies having nothing in common. 

The ‘You’ of it all

And now, we see how much further technology has come and how much more it could be used for and we have ‘You’, starring Dan Humphrey himself, Penn Badgely as Joe Goldberg, a twisted stalker who would make an excellent, if murderous, Gossip Girl. 

‘You’ is a more accurate take on social media today. It should have been a PSA but the drama was too juicy to stop after a single season. It is almost a continuation of Dan Humphrey’s arc seeing how the last episode of Gossip Girl has a flashback that makes this rather believable. 

Joe from ‘You’ uses social media to his advantage and to get an entry into the life of a woman he interacts with once and is instantly obsessed with. It’s scary and believable and instills the same fear in me that Gossip Girl did in the fictional characters of the Upper East Side. 

‘You’ does what the Gossip Girl reboot fails to do, it helps you realize just how creepy the whole concept is. 

Oh! How the mighty have fallen

The Gossip Girl reboot is a lot like Legacies (The spinoff of The Originals which was itself a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries). Wasted potential, relying a little too heavily on the reputation of what came before, entertaining sometimes but lacking in consistency. 

Gossip Girl (2021) does use social media but it doesn’t capture the essence of the original. That can primarily be attributed to the audiences knowing who Gossip Girl is from the very beginning rather than leaving that as a mystery, but that may have been an improvement on the original had the drama lived up to the mark. 

In the original, Gossip Girl was horrible and didn’t hold back, she was ruthless and her vendetta remained consistent at least for the first season. Which is why everyone feared Gossip Girl. 

A look behind the curtain should have made it more interesting but that’s impossible because Gossip Girl is now the teachers and that’s gross and creepy on so many levels. Plus, it hampers the access Gossip Girl has to the information about the teenagers. It also dramatically reduces the tension within the group and presents them as a united front. 

In the original, there was always this possibility that one of the kids was Gossip Girl. They were all aware of that. And that automatically made them distrustful, it amped up the drama. And I happen to like drama of the fictional sort. 

Final Thoughts

A show that pulls off the mystery and the look behind the scenes a lot better is Bridgerton. While season 1 is problematic and season 2 is not without its flaws, it manages its gossip writer reveal and subsequent portrayal rather well. Plus, you’ve probably already heard of it. 

This has been a long and rambly look at a series I will likely continue thinking about once every few months. I don’t know if I’ll continue watching the reboot or if I’ll give up on it like I did with Legacies but it has been insightful to say the least. 

I think there’s something to be said about the evolution of the content being produced and the impact social media has had on it. In a sense, the new Gossip Girl could never capture what the original had because of the way the world has evolved since then. The original aimed at being scandalous and wasn’t afraid to take it too far, admittedly not the best approach but the risks it took allowed itself to cement itself in pop culture, long term. 

What’s to say what becomes of the Gossip Girl legacy beyond this point but it’ll be interesting to see if it manages to recapture a moment in time as convincingly as it did in 2009-10. 

The post Gossip Girl : The Old, The New and ‘You’ appeared first on Diti Writes Reviews.

I believed that the show that best embodied this was Euphoria. A 2019 teen drama that has an artistic but clearly adult tone, that tells a story in the most heartbreaking but wonderful looking fashion. A show that’s glamorous, unrealistic and exceptionally binge-able.

With season 2 of Euphoria just having ended it has become more than apparent that this show doesn’t want to concern itself with effective storytelling or prioritise the story, which was a disappointing shift, to say the least.

Euphoria, as seen from the first half of season 2, relies a little too heavily on shock value. Much like an earlier HBO show that lost sight of what made it great in the first place and decided that plot could be substituted for big moments *cough cough* Game Of Thrones. 

So I’m going to look at what these two shows have in common, what each managed to do best and where I think they both failed. 

The Best Of The Best

Euphoria season 1 is easily some of the best TV to come out in a long time. It takes the teen drama to the next level, not only does it have an exhilarating plot right from the get go, it also sets itself apart by having a soundtrack that’s instantly recognisable and cinematography that makes it feel like a movie. 

Each episode follows a different character and we have Rue, played by Zendaya, narrating these events in creative cutaways and making use of every moment of screen time, but Rue is ultimately unreliable due to her own struggles with substance abuse. 

Every scene in season 1 feels purposeful, every sound, every second given to a character feels weighty and like it belongs to that character. 

And at the same time we get to know these characters, we get to see their backstories, we get to understand them, at least to a certain extent. 

The show does a brilliant job of establishing these characters, setting up their conflicts and their flaws while also being supremely entertaining. 

Much like Game of Thrones, it has a first season that does everything right. It cannot be confused with any other show, stylistically or thematically. The nudity was, at times, excessive and uncomfortable but it could be ignored in favour of the plot that seems to drag on a little but definitely ties everything together. It sets things up brilliantly. It uses the element of surprise and shocks you when it needs to grab you again. And, most importantly, a cast of characters that draws you in but where each character remains deeply flawed. 

The Characters

Euphoria has a colourful cast of characters, to say the least. Each character has a unique voice and believable motivations. They do, for the most part, feel like teenagers who have been moulded by their experiences and their backgrounds. However, their behaviours are exaggerated. I didn’t mind, it made for some compelling drama.

Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) for example, has quite a sad backstory, she’s also iconic, her outfits, her makeup, her attitude it makes her easy to root for but she’s also in a relationship that’s awful and makes her awful, and while she realises that she’s still not ready to let go of that. 

Her boyfriend, Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) is a terrible person. Even a character like Nate shows moments of vulnerability that make him interesting, if nothing else.

What worked in season 1 of Euphoria was the immense care that went into creating it, visually, acting wise and in terms of the writing. It was unattainable and shiny and melodramatic and it was exactly what it needed to be, relatability be damned. 

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain

Season 2 tries to top that. The teenagers are sexualized like never before, the nudity is at an all time high and all the things that made the story plausible in season 1 are given up for shock value.

You don’t realise how essential the structured storytelling of season one is until you come to the third episode of season 2. Suddenly everything is random, it’s hard to keep track of all the characters because the show struggles to give all of them attention. Instead of narrowing down, the show expands its cast to include more storylines. It tries to flesh out characters who didn’t really need it, like in the case of Cal Jacobs. It feels very season 5 of Game of Thrones. 

The show lacked direction. Something that should have been obvious from the start because the show wasn’t structured to last more than a single season, as it was. Season 1 works by itself. It leaves enough loose ends to keep you thinking about it but it has a big ending. An ending that only works if you stick to it. 

The show still has addictive drama but it made me feel a little stupid as a viewer. More than once I felt like I was stuck watching something a little too close to Riverdale for my liking. It also made me question what I loved about the show in the first place. 

Which is not what a season 2 is supposed to do? 

Speaking of Season 2

It was messy. It doubled down on its pretentious tone but took away the narration that made it sound rational. And it desperately lacked cohesion. The story just can’t seem to get it right, it’s stumbling at every turn. There’s no clear direction, which was okay as long as the show had some reliable structure.

I don’t know if this is just me but this season unfairly punishes characters like Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Jules (Hunter Schaefer) for being teenagers and making the kind of poor decisions that teenagers often do. It’s okay if they make mistakes. 

And characters like Lexi (Maude Apatow) get away with things they shouldn’t because they don’t make as many mistakes and are the closest to being relatable. 

The second season is self-indulgent to the point of narcissism. It takes itself a little too seriously and assumes it’s smarter than its audience. There’s one episode that tries to be a bottle episode where we follow just one character. No distractions, no cutaways, just this one character doing increasingly unhinged tasks and getting away, and that’s the one that jumped the shark for me. It’s a clear display of acting ability but it contributes so little to the plot that it seems unjustified. 

I didn’t hate it but I did think that it squandered all its potential. Euphoria doing a bottle episode makes sense on paper but I haven’t been that frustrated with a show since the last episode of season 7 of Game of Thrones. You know things are in a tough spot, you know it’s probably lost the charm that made it so addictive in the first place but you also know that you’re going to keep watching and you’re going to keep hoping that it gets better despite showing no signs of the same. 

Game of Thrones built something so magnificent over its first four seasons that it was inconceivable that the ending would disappoint even the least critical of viewers. I don’t want to see Euphoria go down this path but it seems likely and yet my optimism will persevere. 

Conclusion

The end of the season gave me hope for a better third season but it’s too far away. Who knows if I’ll even be watching. It’s okay, I think, is what I’ve learned from this show.

I enjoyed watching it, it kept me going, it was something to look forward to each week. It was something to talk about, something to cherish. But in hindsight season one was enough. It was contained and couldn’t have worked as a show with multiple seasons. 

I’m heartbroken. I wanted this show to be better. To rise above its worst tendencies. To let us enjoy a show set in highschool that doesn’t resort to love triangles and two girls fighting over a guy, a show with hope and colours that popped. A visual delight that was equal parts melodrama and one of the most exciting things you’ve seen in a long time. 

But it fails in so many ways. So many aspects of this show are removed in favour of something much more commercial. Something easier to sell.

And that’s all I have to say. This is a show that did everything right and subsequently sacrificed all of that in favour of mediocre plotlines and an aesthetic that comes nowhere near being as distinctive as the first season. Which is a shame.

The post ‘Euphoria’ & The Game of Thrones-esque Fall: Season 2 Review appeared first on Diti Writes Reviews.

There’s always that one TV show that first got us interested in TV. Like, the kind of TV where you binge multiple episodes in a day, search for fans who agree with you, try to get everyone to watch your favourite TV show and get a little too invested in the show.

That was Dexter for me. A show that made me really care about TV because it could be really really good.

When I first watched it, I watched a lot of it on my phone and it was quite the experience. I devoured this series. I was very late to the party so I was aware that the show really went to crap after the fourth season and the ending was a joke but I still decided to give it a go and it was worth it.

When Dexter’s Good, it’s really good

Dexter is a crime-drama about blood spatter analyst, Dexter Morgan, who investigates murders with Miami Metro Police Department and moonlights as a serial killer. We follow his life, his adoptive sister Debra Morgan, his colleagues, and his love life.

The show has a total of eight seasons but the fourth season is ideally where anyone watching should stop. That’s not to say that the later seasons are all bad, they just don’t live up, they have some good . They undo everything the first few seasons did and really, season 4 has an ending that makes the story feel complete.

So. For this rant. I’ll be focussing on the first four glorious seasons. This article is going to be part 1 of 4 or 5, I haven’t decided yet.

Dexter season 1 has some of the best writing in a TV show, in terms of how efficient it is. Episode one of the show is a perfect episode of TV. The writing is tight. It gives you all the information you need and it sets up all the characters of the show as well as the big mystery for season 1.

Dexter Morgan

Season 1 is wonderful. The editing is great, there’s just the right amount of cheesiness and we see the character of Dexter brought to life by Michael C. Hall who embodies the character to terrifying perfection. The portrayal of Dexter is the main draw of this series. Dexter is a serial killer, but he only kills bad guys, he’s clever, he follows a code, he genuinely cares about his relationships. He has a sense of humour, he’s good at what he does, Dexter is complex. And none of that would have translated to the screen had it not been for the way the character is acted.

The performance has nuance, it makes you want to root for Dexter despite the fact that he’s a murderer and season 1 embodies that with Dexter learning new things about himself. It’s such a brilliant season that doesn’t mess around or waste time.

We also spend a fair bit of time with Debra, Dexter’s adoptive sister played by Jennifer Carpenter. Deb is foul mouthed and still trying to make a name for herself and finding her place in Miami Metro. She’s hardworking and eager, she’s the only real relationship in Dexter’s life for a very long time. Debra starts right from the bottom and we see her learn and grow throughout. As the series progresses she establishes herself as one of the strongest characters in the show.

She also comes off as the most human of all the characters in the show. She cares deeply, especially evident in the first season.

The Mystery of Season 1

The mystery in season 1 is just so creepy. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and even when you know who the killer is (which is not left to the finale and gives us enough time to get to know the character) there’s so much to explore. The killer also has a personality.

Season 1 is just so good. The writing, the characters, the way these characters change and develop, it’s all just so well done.

I also really appreciated the editing here. They don’t always make bold choices but when they do it really sets the tone.

Season 1 is really the foundation of the series with events of this season having repercussions down the line. It’s such a thrill to watch it because it sets the tone for the rest of the series and it holds up surprisingly well even after all the years.

The Vibes

In my rewatch of the series this year, what I noticed was how carefully Dexter sets everything up. It builds on itself and it rewards the audience for paying attention.

Special mention to the title sequence and the soundtrack that give the show its identity. Dexter’s tense music is its personality. The sounds of Miami make the city feel as much a part of the show as New York is to How I Met Your Mother. The score overall is particularly immersive. It’s essential to the soul of the show. Dexter without creepy background music isn’t Dexter at all.

However, sometimes I think we often overlook just how strong of an aesthetic identity the show has. It uses cheese to elevate the show from any ol’ cop show to something that’s a lot more thoughtfully constructed. The blood is red to an alarming degree, the language is crude, the humour is distasteful and the main character does despicable things and the show is better for it.

Right from season 1 even the baddies each season have a style, something distinctive, something that translates well to a screen. Particularly true in seasons 1 and 4. (season 6 also technically count here but I will be ignoring that because by that point the storytelling made the show near unwatchable. Nowhere near as bad as season seven’s Russian mob plot but I’m getting carried away here.)

The show makes for a fantastic re-watch as well, it lets you really absorb those striking visuals since the first time around you’re too occupied with the story. Season 1 rewards you for re-watching, but it’s also obvious that the show was aired weekly because certain facts and events are repeated over and over again. This can be a little frustrating but since most of this is done through Dexter’s inner monologue it’s not so bad.

The show isn’t flawless and I still cringe at Dexter calling it his ‘Dark Passenger’ but I’ll forgive that.

Conclusion

Re-watching this show all the way from season 1 breaks my heart because of the legacy this could have had. It could have been considered one of the best shows ever, one of those instant recommendations. And I suppose, for a brief period in the late 2000s, it was. But to watch a show build itself such a strong foundation and then implode on itself is devastating. I feel for the creators, actors and everyone else who was involved in the production of the early seasons because they almost made something great. Something unmissable.

But that’s something we’ll get to later, for now, it’s all about the glory of season 1. A season of TV that acts as a perfect set up. A beginning so well written that it led to seven more seasons and a spin-off a decade later.

The post What A Way To Start: ‘Dexter’ Season 1 Review appeared first on Diti Writes Reviews.

Succession is a family drama, following the rich and powerful Roy family and the politics of their media empire of Waystar Royco. The family consists of a cast of absolutely terrible people, headed by Logan Roy, a ruthless man and shrewd businessman, constantly testing his children, refusing to believe in any of them and refusing to pick the next CEO of his empire. The show was created by Jesse Armstrong and premiered in 2018. 

The show revolves around Logan being forced to pick his successor and the drama that ensued from his decision, or rather, indecision. 

Logan Roy

I want to focus on Logan Roy for a bit. Prior to season 3 I didn’t have much of an opinion on Logan but season 3 is where he really shines. Played to perfection by Brian Cox, the patriarch of the Roy family steals every scene he’s in. He overshadows his children in every instance and despite, arguably, being the most morally corrupt character of the show. 

He’s terrifying to all his children and even to the audience as being this unpredictable, exceptionally powerful character who could tip the status-quo of the show at any moment he sees fit. 

When the series starts, Logan is treated almost as an outside element, someone who’s not actively a part of the action, decisions are taken around him but he hardly does anything himself. His presence grows over the next season, he remains unpredictable but his presence can be felt a lot more. But we still don’t understand him. Season 3 is where we really get to see Logan and we get to see a few different sides to him. 

It makes for some of the most exciting TV I’ve ever watched, it’s tense and you can never tell what’s coming next with him. 

The man embodies capitalism in the show and he does it brilliantly. Every moment with Logan on the screen is filled with a different sort of energy. 

The Children

Here’s a show where you don’t have to root for anyone, they’re all terrible people. Logan’s children are all flawed to varying degrees, his eldest, Connor, is an idiot; next is Kendall, a man going through a lengthy and embarrassing midlife crisis consistently makes the same mistakes; younger brother Roman is a vulgar, selfish man with no respect for anyone or anything except his father; and sister Siobhan/Shiv, who for a long time tries to be better than her brothers, eventually ends up just like the rest of them, power hungry and corrupt. 

Yet, there’s moments in the show where you find yourself rooting for each one of them, at least a little bit. 

Kendall

Kendall (Jeremy Strong) starts out just trying to run the company, like he’s meant to, still seeking his father’s approval but willing to forgo that to be at the top. He’s flawed but still sort of likable. A lot of the show consists of him trying to take down his father, which makes it easy to care about his cause. But Kendall is frustrating, rooting for him is exhausting and his growing detachment towards the end of season 3 leaves us with a deconstruction of what the character originally started out as. 

It’s wonderfully done and Kendall has the perfect level of cringe but not the worst vibe to him. 

Roman

Roman (Kieran Culkin), on the other hand, is instantly unlikable. He says and does things that are gross and misogynistic. But he looks up to his father and is always hesitant to pick a side that isn’t his father’s. Roman says things you don’t want to hear and yet, in some ways, he’s probably the best equipped to run a company, save the fact that he’s the worst and the most anxious to please his father. Season 3 is also where we see Roman shine. 

Shiv

Shiv (Sarah Snook) starts out different. She works in politics and is actively trying to make a change that she believes in. She isn’t a part of her father’s company, at least not actively. She’s got a very steady moral compass and she sticks with it, that’s until she gets a taste of power. Shiv has a very interesting arc and it’s probably my favourite thing to see in a show/movie. Taking a character in this direction is not unusual but it’s just such a fascinating journey every single time and here it’s done particularly tactfully. 

Connor

Connor (Alan Ruck) is weird. His goal far surpasses running the company and so he’s not quite as involved in a lot of the politics that goes on but he does have his own weird plot going on and that’s entertaining in its own way.

Tom & Greg: The Outsiders

Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) is Siobhan’s boyfriend and he’s one of those characters that lacks a spine, so is Greg (Nicholas Braun). But while we see Greg start off as an outsider and possibly even a good guy, we see Tom while he’s already sort of a part of the Roy family (and already rather annoying) as Shiv’s boyfriend but he’s still trying so hard to get Logan’s approval and to actually fit in and have a place in this family.

Each of their characters go through a lot and yet, we see them form probably the most sincere friendship on the show. Yes, they both have vested interests but let me just give you an example, there’s a scene in season 3 where Tom gets some truly fantastic news and the only person who he actually shows his joy to is Greg. Partly because he sees Greg as being a little lower than him in terms of their social standing but also because Greg would understand. 

Tom also takes the most effort in the family to make Greg feel like he belonged. 

Greg also finds himself asking Tom for advice the most and they have their own support system in each other (sort of). 

Their relationship is not perfect but it’s a very important part of this show. Season 3 was big for both of these characters. Tom especially. Also Greg hates Greenpeace now, which is just hilarious. 

The Writing and Dialogue

So yes, the characters are great and all but the writing? The writing is what makes the whole show. The show is incredibly clever with its dialogue and its humour particularly. There isn’t a dull moment or a moment that feels out of place. It’s all consistent. 

Many times you’ll find yourself listening to a conversation that means nothing with its words but everything when it comes to the characters having the conversation and the consequences of it. There’s an absurdity to the way the characters act and talk and that’s what makes the whole thing click so well. The writing is nuanced and bonkers at the same time. 

Balance is key. 

Each character has a different way of speaking and each of them is written in a way that’s distinct, it’s easy to place characters with their dialogues.

It’s an entertaining show, what can I say?

Conclusion

It’s a show about rich people being horrible to each other while also exacting their power on everyone else. A fun watch but not something I would recommend binging. Each episode is about an hour long so I’d suggest taking it slow and steady. There’s a lot to take in and it’s all great stuff. 

When I first started watching the show I thought it was okay but I couldn’t figure out why everyone was so crazy about it but as the show progressed it became painfully clear that Succession is one of those shows that utilizes all its potential and that’s what makes it so great. The ending of the third season feels like an end to the show in many ways so I’d be interested to see where this show goes from here. But they have a fantastic foundation to build on.

The show also has the best opening credits theme ever and it was one of the main reasons I found myself drawn to the show, Nicholas Britell is a genius. The soundtrack remains consistently fantastic through the show. It is beautiful.

The post An Empire Without an Heir: ‘Succession’ Series Reflection appeared first on Diti Writes Reviews.