Month: August 2020

‘Never Have I Ever’ been less impressed…

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‘Never Have I Ever’ is another one of the Netflix Original new releases and similar to ‘Get Even’ it is based around the lives of a few high school women. Devi is the main character and has experienced a lot of trauma over the past 12 months but decides this year is the year for her and her two friends Fab and Eleanor to become popular. Honestly, for me, this show just wasn’t it. It didn’t get me like a lot of other shows have. It was also super cringey in my opinion. However, I do appreciate the diversity Netflix has shown with NHIE, but honestly it should have come sooner. I also really appreciate them showing cultural and religious aspects for the characters which can educate viewers. So, here’s how I feel about Never Have I Ever. Spoiler disclaimer!

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The beginning is really quite like ‘Awkward’ (on Stan Australia). In Awkward the main character has broken her arm? collarbone? (I couldn’t be bothered to check). She’s required to wear a cast around looking like this. She then attempts to get everyone to forget that she had that and tries to get with the most popular boy in school.

Here, the main girl has been wheelchair bound and returns to school without the wheelchair hoping to reinvent herself and get the guy. As usual, my biggest problem with this show is the main character.

Devi: For me, Devi is quite flawed, which I suppose is meant to be realistic for teens finding their identity and such but she just is not someone who I feel like I can root for when you add up a lot of her actions. For example,

She intends to use a guy figuring out his sexuality for popularity. Devi states she is going to try to date the guy in her class, who she believes to be gay. Because having a boyfriend, even a closeted one, is apparently better than being single? That’s not cool Devi.

She also, really doesn’t like listening to other people’s feelings or seeing their point of view. Case and point, her friends tell her they need to talk to her and she blows them off. She tries to force them to date people because it will make them cool. She doesn’t want to see her cousins point of view on not wanting to have an arranged marriage because she’s jealous of her cousins beauty.

Fun Fact: You can have your own things going on but still care about and respect that your friends do too. Just because you have stuff doesn’t mean you can’t be there for your friends.

She even chooses to be there all day for the guy she likes rather than being there for her best friend who’s mum just left her! I mean come on.

She also tries to change a lot about her friends in the beginning of the show telling them how they should dress and who they should date. This also, doesn’t appear to be optional to her. Devi has just decided they’re going to date these 3 guys she picked out. You can’t control people like that Devi.

Then there’s the whole trying to sleep with the cool guy because he’s cool then basically aiding a rumour going around that they did have sex. Why is that okay Devi? Don’t use people like that especially when you’re his friend.

I’m not going to say that Devi was entirely unlikable, but many of these actions for me really didn’t put me on her side. I recognise I don’t understand what she’s dealing with being a Hindu American or with the loss of her father but her high school quest for popularity and notoriety unsettles me.

I feel like you could even be more sympathetic to Ben because you saw he really had no one around him, was ignored by his family and really just wanted a friend so you could forgive his behaviour early on. Had the show been about him I feel like we would have been shown a better character and better growth.

The show also perpetuates the societal ideal that women should find a man in order to be popular and valued by others. Devi entirely believes that her worth can be equated to the boy she’s dating or who ‘sleeps with her’. Can’t we normalise on TV that it isn’t essential to date in high school and it doesn’t make you a failure or a loser to be living your life on your own. Can’t we slash societies idea that women need to find a man (especially at 16).

Although, Devi isn’t my only issue with the show. I really don’t enjoy the narration over the top of the show, kind of reminds me of the over narration I felt in Jane and Virgin and for me its too much. Narration by a not character also just annoys me, if it is going to be narrated why isn’t it narrated by Devi.

However, there were a few redeemable aspects of the show. For example, Devi does make the first move on the guy she likes which I think was nice to see.

I do also appreciate that Devi is seeing a therapist throughout the show as this should be normalised for teens to ask for help if they need it and seeing someone doesn’t make you weird.

I also did quite like her friends. Both of whom were going through their own things trying to be supportive of Devi and each other, but ultimately were let down by Devi the entire time. But, they both showed personal growth without starting out being really selfish.

I also enjoyed seeing Fab’s coming out in stages to people around her.

Here’s another few things I noticed while watching Never Have I Ever that don’t contribute to how I feel about the show I just found them funny: 

  • Old el paso product placement…
  • Netflix referring to Riverdale – hi Netflix I already have a subscription, that’s how I’m watching, you don’t need to keep advertising yourself.

Netflix has revealed it has been renewed for another season, so I really hope we can see some personal growth for these characters and avoid some of these issues in the next season. All that said, it is nice to see Netflix moving in a move diverse direction slowly but surely and I hope this continues. However, I can’t say I would recommend the show as it is very cringey.

If you’ve seen it let me know your thoughts and if you agree Devi was the worst character. Devi is definitely another character to add to the list of boring, unlikable main characters. If you missed my post on main characters check it out here https://simplymythoughts.blog/2020/08/15/main-character-syndrome/

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget you can subscribe to be emailed when I upload at the bottom of the page or check out my socials @simplymythoughts_blog on Instagram and Simply My Thoughts Blog on Facebook.

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Why I’m gutted ‘The Society’ season 2 got cancelled…

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The Society | Trailer da temporada 01 | Legendado (Brasil) [HD ...

So, Netflix announced recently that they were axing season 2 of ‘The Society’ due to COVID and it really saddened me. ‘The Society’ came out in 2019 and became quickly very popular. For me, it was the best of the constant versions of “a whole bunch of kids are the only ones to survive how will they make it” shows which we’ve seen before in ‘Under the Dome’ and ‘Between’. It was real, these kids were doing stupid things, just trying to make relationships work and learn how to survive. There were power struggles and the part that I found really interesting as a criminology student was, we were able to watch them recreate the criminal justice system. American kids deciding which parts of the criminal justice system they wanted to keep and wanted to leave behind. But, they made mistakes. It showed domestic abuse and mental health. I loved ‘The Society’ and really liked the cast. Here are all the reasons I really am gutted the show got cancelled and why I hope Netflix will change their mind.

  • Grizz and Sam were adorable – I think lots of us would agree we need to know how they get through the whole Becca’s baby thing. Grizz learning ASL (or really BSL) to talk to Sam in his language killed me. We need more of Grizz and Sam!
  • We aren’t going to find out for sure who the baby’s father is – my money was always on Campbell because otherwise there would be no reason, when you are entirely isolated with only those classmates, to not tell your best friend unless it’s his terrible older brother.
  • Where are they?
  • What was up with the dog? Only 1 domestic animal was seen in New Ham and I need to know why! How did the dog get back to the real town at the end?
  • What happened? – The entire show is them trying to learn to live in their own ‘society’ and figure out a way to get back and now we will never know. This just reminds me of when ‘The Returned’ got cancelled and I could never find out why those specific people rose from the dead and why Camille’s sister started to get sick.
  • Are they going to make it back home?
  • What was the deal with the writing on the church?
  • What happens to their society? – Do they survive under this new leadership, can they become self-sufficient? Do they run out of food?
  • I really enjoyed Katheryn Newton and so I hope she gets on another show soon so I can watch more of her work.

‘The Society’ was really popular when it came out with people making their guesses about what was really going on and theorizing and I for one was really looking forward to season 2 in 2020 but now they’ve cancelled it because of COVID and I am sad to know that I will never find out what the heck was going on. I understand these are unprecedented times and film and television is being hit hard by COVID however, I wish they had picked a different show honestly. The society could have had a really long run like ‘The 100’ but now it won’t and our questions will never be answered.

Please let me know if you’re also upset we won’t be seeing more of ‘The Society’ in the future!

Thanks for reading, don’t forget to check out my Facebook page down below or my Instagram @simplymythoughts_blog to know when I upload.

All the characters in ‘Elite’ are terrible… (Season 1 & 2)

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I recently started watching Netflix’s Elite, at the recommendation of my best friend who has seen all of Elite so far. I have only made it to season 2 but I have a lot to say about the characters. My first impression of Elite was that it reminded me, format wise, of Quicksand another foreign Netflix Original about teens and a crime. Both shows have the same back and forth timeline formula however Quicksand is focused from 1 characters perspective and takes a more criminal justice viewpoint than Elite. Disclaimer, I am really enjoying Elite so far, I like the music choices, cinematography, and the plot and am watching it in English subtitles, so this is not intended to come across as negative towards the show it is merely my feelings about each character in season 1 with a little help from season 2. So… in no particular order here is my reasons why all the characters in Elite are bad people.


1. Marina

Marina starts off seeming like the nice character of the bunch, at least towards to scholarship kids having this rebellious facade before we realize, she really is not the good one. My first issue with Marina is her relationship with Nano. She begins the school year with adopting Samuel, becoming his friend, inviting him to events with her before meeting his brother Nano. Now, Marina can’t say she didn’t know Samuel was into her because, well, it was pretty clear. But, she still sleeps with Nano after their party, at least she wasn’t together with Samu at this point, but then she cheats on Samuel with Nano while they are together and attempts to run off with him. Keeping in mind, Marina hardly knew Nano at this point, she has had a few conversations with him and they slept together a few times, she was then willing to give up her family and her entire future to run away with Nano.

Now, I recognize a large part of the reason Marina almost leaves with Nano is because of the pregnancy, so lets talk about the pregnancy. Marina had already prior to the shows run time, gotten an STI off her previous boyfriend which she now has to live with and shows shame about in the beginning of the first season. So, it was irresponsible of her to sleep with Nano and not tell him she has HIV even if it is undetectable, but it also leads me to question how she could be so careless another time and either not make sure Nano used a condom, or control her contraception, or both in order for her to get pregnant. Yes, there is a chance they did everything right and she still got pregnant because contraception is never a sure thing but…. seems unlikely statistically to me.

We then have the issue of, why did Marina date Samu in the first place, if she wasn’t into him and was more into Nano the whole time there was no reason for her to date Samuel or sleep with him. Marina leads Samu on for most of the season which is poor of her. Marina has so much pent up anger towards her family that she tells her fathers big secret about the school he built collapsing to Samu, who went to that school and knows people who were affected by it. Telling him that it was entirely her fathers fault and he knows so and there are documents that prove it. She also allows him to record her saying that and she hardly knows him yet. It is understandable that she finds this hard to live with and that yes, telling the truth would have been the right thing to do but she then doesn’t tell the truth to the authorities and there is something to be said for family loyalty.

Marina threatens the teacher with outing the fact he accepted a bribe and then actually does out his bribe in order to cover up her substance use issues. Similarly, to cover up her substance use issues again she gives up Omar as a drug dealer, I’m sure he could have gone to jail for this, even so, he feels imprisoned in his own life and family. Marina gives Nano everything he needs to steal from Carla and her family, despite their previous friendship, despite Carla trying to be there for her and reconcile.


2. Nano

Now, I personally hate Nano’s character and have been told he doesn’t get better in the later seasons, and here’s all the reasons I can’t stand him. He is Samu’s older brother which realistically means he should be interested in protecting Samu but he doesn’t. Early in the season Nano is pissed about the rich in town and the fact that Marina’s father was to blame for the school collapse. He then makes Samu come with him to graffiti Marina and Guzman’s house, despite just getting out of jail and putting Samu in danger of being charged with something. Samu has a great opportunity with his scholarship to make something of himself and Nano jeopardizes that as fast as he can.

We also have to blame Nano for the whole thing with Marina in my opinion. As you’ll probably see I’m big on family loyalty. Nano knows from the first time he meets Marina that she is Samu’s friend. Before the party Samu tells Nano he likes Marina and wants to tell her that night, then, that same night, Nano uses Marina to get inside her house and has sex with her, the girl his brother likes. Then he doesn’t tell Samu, probably because he knows he shouldn’t have done it to Samu but hey. He then cheats with Marina while her and Samu are together which is just so not cool, where’s the brotherly love man. Samu flat out asks Nano, is the baby yours and he lies to Samu’s face instead of just coming clean then has Samu hear from someone else that it is actually his and he did sleep with Marina knowing Samu liked her.

Then he tries to convince Marina to keep the baby all while his big plan to support them is to blackmail her lifelong friends. He steals from Carla’s house. That’s it, that’s the whole point. He couldn’t get it together enough to pay back what he owed that he steals from some random family. And even then, he’s too greedy, he didn’t need to take all the watches, he didn’t need to stop to grab just that one last one that Carla’s dad had taken off. In turn, this greedyness is the reason Marina is killed. So, basically, although he is innocent in the sense that he didn’t kill Marina, I didn’t mind his character being in jail because he really irritated me.


3. Samuel (Samu)

Then we have Samu, I guess nice guys do finish last aye Samu. I’m sure, had many of the events that happened at the school not happened, Samu probably would have remained a really good guy but he makes some key mistakes. For instance, he outs Marina’s HIV to his friends – which in turn leads to the message he was sending on his phone to his friends being read aloud, outing her to the entire class. Kind of a dog move Samu. Then again, he gets pissed at Marina for not telling him who the father of her child is, jumps to huge conclusion that it’s their teacher then, instead of talking to her about it he tells everyone in their class that she’s pregnant. Like, what the hell Samu can you not keep any secrets to yourself? Samu also does try to get involved in the whole, blackmail Carla’s family thing, and really, for what? He didn’t want or need the money the same way Nano did, he just felt like hurting someone else, he knew it was the wrong thing to do but he did it anyway. Then he tries the whole kid detective thing out which is just annoying and just makes him rude to everyone he may suspect. Then he really does fuck with Carla for most of the second season which feels unnecessarily cruel.

4. Guzman

Guzman is 100% just a bully. That’s pretty much it. He bullys Samu basically all the time, he bullied Pablo for giving his sister HIV, he tried to mess with Nadia for really, no reason. He didn’t know her, it was simply, shes new, shes on a scholarship and she’s Muslim and that kinda makes him a bad guy. Now Guzman tries to redeem himself many times through the season but it honestly just doesn’t take with him going to beat up Nano and all of them and him outing Omar to Nadia.

He also couldn’t just wait for Ander to feel comfortable coming out to him that he had to do it for him. Guzman also leads Lu on by sleeping with her and acting like a couple with her then dropping her then dating her simply because he’s messed up and grieving. He also cheats on Lu rather than just breaking up with her because he loves Nadia. He also just really messes with Polo’s head which impacts his relationship and all the other events to follow. But at least Guzman tries to be better sometimes. Although, Guzman, breaking up with the girlfriend you never loved for another woman after you cheat on her does not make you a hero, stop acting like Nadia’s hero because you finally let Lu go.


5. Lucrecia (Lu)

Lu is also just a bully, she says things just to hurt people, she blackmails people. She blackmailed a teacher to win a trophy that she didn’t really want that badly, she just didn’t want anyone else to get it. She even said that the scholarship meant nothing to her, she just wanted to be the best. Lu does however try to be a good friend to Guzman and Carla and simply wants Guzman to actually love her and reciprocate her feelings. But, that isn’t an excuse to be a typical mean girl. Let’s not even talk about the Valerio thing…I look forward to seeing where the writer take her character in the next few seasons.

6. Ander

I really like Ander’s character, he’s dealing with a lot of relatable issues like coming to terms with his sexuality, deciding who he is and who he wants to be and navigating parental pressure and expectations. However, Ander outs Omar to practically everyone, including Omar’s father (indirectly), without Omar’s knowledge or blessing which is strange as he had only just come out himself. Another thing is the Pablo incident, we hear several times that Guzman and his friends assault Pablo so he will leave the school and as revenge for giving Marina HIV, this is a pretty poor choice for Ander which he then makes a second time when going with Guzman to attack Nano. He also has no tact when speaking to Omar’s dad about the way he runs his family making him come across as really ignorant to what Omar’s situation actually is, which I guess isn’t a character flaw it is just ignorance which I hope we see him overcome and learn from. However, I don’t really see how he is going to learn from these mistakes because he gets away with it all pretty easily. Then we have the clear insensitivity towards Omar’s problems constantly, sure Ander is dealing with things too but Omar is finding his identity there’s no need to be so dismissive. Also, he does cover for Polo which is complicated, he is trying to help one friend at the expense of potentially Nano, Guzman and Marina and also is lying to everyone including when Carla confessed.


7. Polo

Polo is a confusing one, he starts off seeming simply a bit insecure before moving on to become a bit controlling of Carla and has a lot of issues about losing Carla whilst being confused about his sexuality and attraction to Christian. However, this leads him to attempt to have Christian sell himself to Polo in exchange for, well money, a career, a future which Christian does and then Polo turns around and doesn’t give Christian the incentive. This in itself is just not good, to prey on someone who is desperate for a way into a better lifestyle. On another note, I think it’s become clear I’m not letting go of the assaults on Pablo or Nano so that’s another strike against Polo. A more pressing one however is the obvious, Polo is the murderer. He murders Marina because he is angry and thinks he can threaten her to get the watch back for Carla, but he murders her. Polo made the choice to pick up the trophy and hit her, then he makes the choice to leave her and not help her while she bleeds out. This is the nail in Polo’s coffin. He also allows someone to sit in jail for his crime for months while maintaining being Guzman’s best friend. Polo should have come clean and the fact he didn’t and he had Carla and Christian and Ander lie for him makes him selfish. These are the reasons Polo is a bad guy. Some may say accident, he didn’t mean to kill her, some may say crime of passion, he was angry and she was saying things he didn’t want to hear, but for me, he still picked up the trophy and hit her, he didn’t need to do that and he could have decided not to.


8. Omar

Omar is a drug dealer, now I guess I get his reasoning and it doesn’t necessarily make him a bad person but it isn’t ideal. I know this one is a bit weak but I love Omar, I totally appreciate his struggles and why he makes his decisions. So I guess not everyone is a bad person but still, made a better title didn’t it? It also does a bit lead him to treating Ander not very well because he is struggling with a lot of things but yeah, I love Omar. Omar also isn’t that actively present in season 2 so there’s not much else to say.


9. Christian

Christian effectively seems to have no morals in season 1. He lets himself be bought as a sex object and a little pet for Polo and Carla. Christian allows himself to be bribed into being in a relationship with all of them, gets bribed into doing things he doesn’t want to do with Polo and bribed into letting his best friend who he has known for years, who he knows will likely be convicted just based on him having a criminal history, sit in jail. He also enters this relationship with Carla and Polo by trying to be the guy she cheats on her boyfriend with, all the while staying in the relationship intending to take Polo’s girlfriend. Most importantly, Christian knows who murdered a girl in his class, who murdered Nano and Marina’s baby, who murdered the girl Samu is in love with, and he says nothing. For months Christian has his fun with Carla and her money, then momentarily changes his mind and allows himself to be bought off again after the accident. Christian is just a guy mesmerized by money, power and privilege and that is his problem and it makes him incredibly selfish and without loyalty. Honestly, he kind of deserved to get hit by that car…


10. Nadia

Nadia does seem to act like she’s better than the others at the school, that is one point I will agree with Lu on, she presents herself as better than everyone else there but realistically she isn’t. She gives up parts of her faith to fit in and for the advantages giving up those things might have. She is also very judgemental of the other character, particularly Marina which is sad as Marina actually is a friend to her. She drops Marina because of the HIV thing and just judges every choice Marina makes, but then drops to the level of everyone else when she finds out about the bribe and immediately outs Lu for bribing the teacher. She didn’t even have proof, or know it was true and he lost his job. Granted he took the bribe but he did the right thing in the end and was punished regardless. I just view Nadia as very judgemental despite her own shortfalls with lying to her parents and not respecting them, not really understanding Omar, the continual judgement towards her sister who she hasn’t seen in a long time. Then the rebellion against her family and her beliefs leading her to drink and dress differently and wear her hijab less. Now, I recognize that I can make no real comments on her beliefs as a non-muslim non-religious person, and she is able to make her own choices it just makes her seem hypocritical to judge others. However, I feel a lot of people would agree that her getting with Guzman while he was still with Lu is pretty poor form. So get off your moral high ground Nadia! I guess all of these don’t make her a bad person necessarily they just make her a bad friend and a judgemental person so far in the show.

11. Carla

For me, Carla also isn’t that bad, she definitely has her faults and uses Christian but he knows he is being used and they (Carla and Polo) sort of, compensate him, for being their toy. She does then also try to use him to steal the watch from Marina. What her real issue is is, she helps Polo cover up killing Marina. I understand that Polo means a lot to Carla and all but, she lets an innocent man sit in prison for her ex-boyfriends crime. She does also help her father cover up whatever it is that he needs to be covering up. Essentially, this is what makes Carla a bad person for me but one of the more interesting and more compelling characters. Her finally confessing does not remove the fact she did cover it up and I know she does flop back on her confession (whoops a season 3 spoiler for anyone who hasn’t seen).

To sum it all up, these characters are all young teenagers finding themselves and making mistakes along the way but, honestly, they make so many choices I can’t agree with and they majorly, don’t just affect themselves when they make these choices. The characters aren’t perfect but I guess that is part of the appeal, they aren’t expected to be perfect and they’re just being teenagers I guess. However, I wouldn’t say these are good role models by any means and all of the characters are very flawed (as we all are). I do however, wish there was more… ramifications… for outing the characters. Ander outed Omar to all of his friends and Omar didn’t really do anything or say anything, Guzman outed Omar to Nadia and just got away with it, Samu indirectly told everyone Marina had HIV and she wasn’t mad. These private things that need to and should be dealt with in a private way and in the way the person affected wishes weren’t. I feel like it isn’t okay to out people’s sexuality, in the words of Simon from ‘Love Simon’; “that’s supposed to be my thing. I’m supposed to be the one to decide when and where and who knows. You took that from me!“. I feel like this message should have been somewhere so those watching know that doing these things to people isn’t okay.

All that said, I look forward to making it through the rest of Elite and seeing where they take these characters and seeing more of the new editions I did not discuss here.

Main character syndrome…

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I don’t now if anyone else feels this but I seem to have a slight issue with likeability of main characters in lots of television. This can make it hard for me to watch some of these shows which I really do like, except I don’t like the main character or main love interest. Now this isn’t all shows, some shows I really appreciate the main character or main love interest but for many of the shows I love I seem to find the main characters irritating. I am curious if this is a phenomenon others experience or these are my own issues or choice writing. So, I’m going to refer to this as main character syndrome – making the main character or love interest of the main character un-apologetically boring, cliche or just the least likeable of the characters. Here’s some examples for you;

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Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy) –

I find Meredith a terrible friend most of the time, starting with George and ending with being a poor sister to Amelia (okay sister-in-law) and Lexi (half-sister). She also is just very whiney and selfish in my opinion. I feel like she definitely has her moments where she is a good character but across the board she is standoffish, rude and not understanding.

Derek Shepard (Grey’s Anatomy) –

Derek is so manipulative from the start and I feel like people forget that he lied about being married, then chose to stay with his wife instead of Meredith, got all angry about her being with other men before finally choosing to be with her. He is incredibly condescending towards the other characters and needs to be the best. I cannot stand team Derek and he honestly impacts my feelings towards Meredith making me like her even less. Derek has to be in charge and has to be in the spotlight even if he truly isn’t the best. But characters in the show constantly say how good a guy he is, honestly show me where! Not so Mr. Dreamy to me….

Clarry Fairchild (Shadow Hunters) –

Clarry is so incredibly irritating to me, I have the utmost respect for her actress but she leads Simon on for years then instantly starts dating Jace, finds out he’s her brother so goes on to date Simon but really still loves Jace then finds out Jace isn’t her brother and goes back to him. She also makes everything about her (although, I guess a lot of the problems facing them are about her) and she kind of just walks into the Institute having never held a weapon and suddenly everyone (except Alec) is cool with her and she can fight super quickly.

Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries) –

Elena Gilbert is boring. She is a boring girl who just happened to be a doppelganger but early on in TVD she has no substance to me. She’s just playing through the motions of her life not being active in any of it. Admittedly I do think her character improves as she becomes a vampire but in the beginning everything about her screams bland from her fashion to her hair to her personality. The only interesting things about her were that her parents were dead and Katherine (who was a far more interesting character with way more depth).

Marissa Cooper (The OC) –

I have very few words for Marissa I just really couldn’t stand her, I couldn’t even make it to her death because she irritated me so much I had to stop watching. Ryan wasn’t particularly likeable to me either but in my opinion he was far better as a character all the times him and Marissa weren’t together. Marissa was just so self-destructive.

Stefan Salvatore (The Vampire Diaries) –

As Elena said, Stefan is the safe option, he’s the one who listens, but he’s also very bland. The most interesting thing about Stefan for me is his addiction but a characters addiction should not be the most interesting thing about them. If Elena and Stefan had ended up together their lives really would have been as boring as if she had stayed human and married Matt (no shade to Matt). He also really needs to get over Elena faster, it is so boring watching Stefan love Elena and not understand that she loves Damon even if he’s bad for her. He also really dogs Caroline for a long time before they finally get together.


Detective Stabler (Special Victims Unit) –

Detective Stabler is a bad cop, he just is, he is a poor investigator, he’s way too opinionated about the cases and the people involved (I guess so is Olivia but hey), he is constantly using unnecessary force against the public and he is always rude especially to Olivia. I for one am not excited to see Stabler return to SVU in the coming seasons.

Alison DiLaurentis (Pretty Little Liars) –

Alison DiLaurentis, whilst not entirely a main character in PLL I will still discuss. She’s a terrible friend obviously, she used so many people before and after she ran away ranging from her friends to the pilot she dated so she could live a double life to the Police. Then after years of screwing with Emily and marrying someone else they decide they should be together. Alison has to be my least favourite of Emily’s love interests and I really think Emily got a bad bunch compared to the other characters. Alison also completely disregards her friends feelings all the time but especially towards Charlotte in the flash forward. She is also obviously extremely manipulative.


Tara Webster (Dance Academy) –

Now this one might be a bit more obscure, for those who don’t know, Dance Academy is an Australian teen drama about Ballet dancers in the National Academy of Dance and I have a lot to say about it that might make it into it’s own dedicated blog but for now…. Tara is the main character. Bland, untalented, childish. I can’t understand how Tara got into the academy but when she’s there, she blatantly ignores her teachers, goes straight for her best friends brother, risking their friendship, then cheats and basically ignores Kat most of the time. She’s entirely self-obsessed and boy crazy.


Duncan Kane (Veronica Mars) –

Duncan Kane sleeps with Veronica while thinking she’s his sister. He is also incredibly boring and acts like a child in my opinion. Dates the popular girl – effectively using her because Veronica ‘is his sister’ until she wants him back. Then he literally runs off with his ex-girlfriends (and his) baby. GOOD RIDDANCE. Now I love Veronica Mars and I get not everyone likes Logan, and yes, Veronica and him were quite toxic but I have to love them, two very flawed individuals trying their best to love each other even if it doesn’t work sometimes. But Duncan for me was the worst of the show.


Hannah Baker (13 Reasons Why) –

Hannah Baker is a sad story, I’ll give you that. It is upsetting to watch the events in her life unfold up to her suicide, But… she decided she would bulldoze everyone else’s life in the process of ending hers which feels like payback. Was everything that each character did bad, yes, but was it worth blaming them for your death, I don’t think so. Had Bryce Walker not raped Hannah Baker she likely would not have committed suicide, so to blame the other characters for taking her notes and writing her name on a hot list is offensive. It makes for a good story about the impact of small actions however it doesn’t make me care for her character as a character.

Rae (My Mad Fat Diary) –

Rae was such a strange character to me, obviously she was dealing with a lot of personal issues throughout the show and a lot of those were relatable for the audience. But honestly, I felt like you almost couldn’t root for her because she behaved so terribly and she treated her friends poorly, treated Finn poorly because of her own insecurities and was terrible to her mother the entire series. I can’t understand why they made the main character a character who I couldn’t fully get behind or fully root for. All her friends were more likeable than her and more interesting. I respect My Mad Fat Diary for really going over body image issues as a core to this show, but, Rae for me wasn’t the character to look to for personal growth and becoming confident and accepting of your own body and prioritizing health. If you’d like to hear more on My Mad Fat Diary let me know in the comments.

A few other notable mentions for me include Clarke from The 100, Wes from How to Get Away With Murder, Finn from Glee, Tori from Victorious, Rory Gilmore and Emma from the Netflix Original Scream.

Those are just a few examples of what I have decided to call ‘main character syndrome’. I find it very confusing why shows make their main character so boring and irritating. It can seriously impact my willingness to watch a show if I dislike the main character or love interests. Would it not be better to have compelling main characters who show personal growth. Take The Vampire Diaries, Caroline for me is the best character in the show, she is compassionate, confident, caring, powerful and a great friend. But she didn’t start off that way, she grew over the course of the series. BUT, Caroline isn’t the lead, she’s a main character but TVD is undeniable about Elena, Stefan and Damon. What purpose does it have to make your lead uninteresting?

Please let me know if you’ve ever noticed this or if you have any other main character/love interests to add to this list. Thanks for reading!

The beginning of The Vampire Diaries is just Twilight…

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I like many others enjoyed watching TVD in my teens as it aired and still enjoy re-watching it despite some issues present (but more on this later). After several times watching TVD the most recent time I noticed several scenes and lines which directly relate in my opinion to those in Twilight and I will lay them out. Although, I would not consider myself a hardcore Twilight fan I have seen all the movies at least once and the first several times. However, no one can deny the connection between Twilight premiering in 2008 and The Vampire Diaries airing in 2009. Both are book adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight and L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries. Granted the Vampire Diaries books were released prior to the Twilight books, the Twilight film was before TVD and therefore, I am equating TVD to being script and cinematically similar to Twilight. Both include tales of vampires, humans and werewolves and lots of teen drama and angst. I merely wrote this as a bit of fun and to point out some things you may not have noticed, there is no intention to offend any parties involved in the creation of either work as I do enjoy both and am a fan. So, here are all the similarities I noticed when re-watching the first few episodes of TVD, forewarning of spoilers.


1. A newcomer to town… who’s not so new
As we know Twilight begins with Bella Swan arriving to town to stay with her father. Now although Elena is not the newcomer to town there are newcomers, Stefan and Damon who become the talk of the school. Bella used to holiday in Forks which makes her not a total alien there and Damon and Stefan both have spent many lifetimes in Mystic Falls before returning once again.

2. Much like Edward, Stefan is the mysterious man in the school who everyone (particularly the side characters) is interested in.

3. Vampires
Now, I know this is an obvious one but there was a clear interest in television and film in the supernatural, but it is a similarity between the two as well as the slightly later addition of werewolves to TVD in season 2.


4. Vampires gotta wear sunglasses I guess…

5. It is also a vampire family, granted a much smaller family that the Cullen’s but a family of vampires nonetheless.

6. We have the changing eyes in relation to blood lust.

7. Then there is the obvious, we eat animals trope from Twilight which we see again from Stefan.

8. The very stalkery Vampires:

Look at this creeper out here honestly,

Then Damon breaks into Elena’s room while she’s asleep and later when Elena finds out Stefan is a vampire and she’s in her room with the window open, Stefan jumps through her window into her bedroom. That is 100% an Edward move, because he did it constantly.

9. Also, now come on, you can’t tell me these aren’t the same scene…

10. Super fast running, super strong Vampires in both, we also have the super hearing thing and the jumps that make no sense at all. Basically, the vampire lore and powers are almost the same minus the vervain and mind reading future seeing powers.


11. Old ass Vampires who choose to go back to high school which I just can’t understand. Why would they all want to go back to high school to have to worry about high school stuff like exams and learn about the history which they already lived through? Also, Stefan supposedly already had college degrees so school must be such a bore. ALSO also, just because you stay in the body of a teenager surely doesn’t mean you don’t age psychologically and grow up, they’re both over 100 years old after all.

At least the TVD Vampires don’t also sparkle, they sizzle instead!


12. Werewolves:

Although, Tyler doesn’t become a werewolf and they aren’t introduced until later in the season it is still a similarity. It is also a similarity that Jacob doesn’t become a werewolf until after the first movie and Tyler doesn’t until season 2 episode 7. Although, Uncle Mason is introduced season 2 episode 1.


13. Questionable parenting:

So we are led to believe in both medias that the parenting is subpar for the mains. However, I honestly have to disagree, I think Jenna is trying her best considering she lost her sister and suddenly had two teenagers to raise while still being quite young herself and Charlie I really think is trying so hard to get to know Bella after all this time of her living with her mother and he wants to know her he’s just a bit out of practice and Bella doesn’t seem to want to know him. That said, it’s still a similarity.

14. Bland main characters:

Whoops sorry! But as you’ll see in an upcoming post I am writing (subscribe down below to be notified when it is up), I have an issue with Elena. I find Elena incredibly bland and boring basically until she becomes a Vampire but even then I don’t like her. She is so average in every way except that she’s the Doppelganger. Same with Bella, Bella Swan is so boring of a character to watch, she has no personality in the first film, she’s a terrible friend and she’s just plain.


Bella’s a suffer in silence type, how brooding

15. The very hot and cold romance where honestly Edward and Stefan kinda treat Bella and Elena really terribly, you either like her or you don’t, you either want to stay away or you don’t.

16. Small town people and small town lives, both of which are surrounded by forest!Both of these are set in a small town despite the fact it’s probably far easier to fly under the radar if you’re surrounded by people. It’s easier to blend it when there’s thousands of people around you – although no animals to hunt.

17. “Animal attacks”, I guess that’s why we need to set these in wooded areas.

18. Car crash that didn’t kill our main girl – check

19. We have the boy who wants but just can’t have our main girl, I guess that makes Matt, Jacob. Or is Damon, the Jacob, hard to say. On this same point we have – Love triangle. Who doesn’t love a vampire love triangle?

20. Tad bit of gas-lighting to add to the mix is another similarity I can’t ignore.

21. Sports scene, admittedly a bit of a reach but, sports.

22. Lovely little cooking moment despite that vampires don’t need to eat human food.

And that is all the reasons I could find to justify the fact that the beginning of The Vampire Diaries is basically Twilight. Granted the two move sharply in different directions for the rest of their movies and seasons I still felt it was interesting to point out just how many similarities there are. I’m sure everyone could agree there being Vampires and Werewolves and a love triangle were clear similarities but I hope this has shone some light on some other similarities between these two book adaption YA medias.


Still, despite all this I do enjoy watching both Twilight and TVD and have the utmost respect for those involved in the creation of them for the joy they have been able to bring me over the years.


Thank you for reading, please comment any opinions or thoughts you have I’d love to hear them, don’t forget you can add your email at the bottom of the page or follow my Instagram @simplymythoughts_blog to find out when I post.

Recommendation: ‘Get Even’

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‘Get Even’ is a relatively new release to the Netflix Original Series list centered around four girls in a UK high school, Bree, Margot, Kitty and Olivia. These girls make up DGM (Don’t Get Mad) who’s mission is to ‘get even’ with those doing wrong at the school. Starting with a teacher. DGM says, “don’t get mad, get even’ as the premise for their group. The series runs across 10 episodes so far and I personally really liked it. I will try not to spoil to much of it but, there is a bit of a mystery which strikes the DGM and their mission, as they’re being framed.

They also explore many relatable high school issues like wealth inequality, cliques, finding your friends, family troubles, popularity, bullying and sexual harassment. There obviously needs to also be a bit of romance/relationship drama.

It has a lovely sound track and the shorter 20-30 minute episodes rather than the 40-1hr episodes of some shows which makes it easy to watch episode by episode. The scenery is beautiful. I definitely enjoyed the show and hope they will get more seasons, the vibes are nice and it is one of the less cringey high school drama Netflix has made. And who doesn’t love a murder mystery?

‘Get Even’ centers around four powerful women who want to create change and call out people’s bullshit. Maybe their methods are questionable however it’s still a cause I can get behind.

I really feel like for those who enjoy dramas like How to Get Away With Murder, Elite, The Hunt, Veronica Mars and 13 Reasons Why, might enjoy ‘Get Even’.

You can check out the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4RZZ2KO6pk

Or directly on Netflix…

Let me know if you give it a shot or would like me to do an in-depth review or recap as there are some clear questions I’m left with. Thanks for reading.

Outer Banks wasn’t that good…

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So as many of you, if you’re reading this, likely already know; Outer Banks has become a very popular show among mainly the teen and young adult audience on Netflix. Outer Banks was released this year as a new Netflix Original title about 4 (or 5) teens who live in an island town in the U.S., Outer Banks. This show follows their quest to find the infamous treasure lost on the ‘Royal Merchant’ ship many years ago and explores themes like crime, law enforcement, abuse, broken families, wealth disparity, teen romance and of course, College. I started watching Outer Banks because I saw so much of the hype about it online so I thought I’d give it a watch but I noticed so many questionable things and issues with the show that I thought I’d share my thoughts. So, here’s every thought (47 of them) I had while watching Outer Banks the first (and second) time…spoilers obviously!

*please note some links may be affiliate, I may make a small commission on purchases made through links*

1. The weather in Outer Banks sucks, now I’m not suggesting this is incorrect in any way but… the weather is so bad, over the course of the show (including flashbacks) we see multiple storms and hurricanes rip through the town.

2. They invented all these words like Pogue and Kook, Figure Eight and the Cut which is just a lot to wrap your head around so quickly.


3. Opening with the Pogues having broken into an under construction house just for fun was not it for me, it was not something which made these characters likeable or relatable for me. And maybe I wasn’t the target audience for Outer Banks as a 20 year old university student. But for me, that wasn’t it. This also isn’t a pass time they revisit during the show, although, there is a lot of breaking in to places going on, but it wasn’t just for the sake of breaking in somewhere and drinking.


4. Pope is constantly going on about his scholarship yet also risks it at all costs before ultimately giving it up during the interview, Why’d you make such a big deal about it then Pope if it didn’t matter. His dad was right, he should’ve been hanging out with better influences if he wanted a future.

But also, he goes on about it so much to the point that JJ risks himself to give Pope his shot at this.

5. John B’s house is like massive, considering his father was apparently poor and they live on the poor side of town the house is huge. Maybe that’s my “Australianism” showing through and houses are just bigger in America, I don’t know but… to me, that is a big house for a poor kid with a single parent.

6. These kids are criminals, but because we watch the show from their perspective we are supposed to believe they are just becoming victims of circumstance. BUT, they are criminals, they break into houses and hotel rooms, steal gold from other people’s properties, steal money and a gun, steal equipment, John B runs from child services so many times, they stow away on the ferry, John B also turns himself into a fugitive. Pope sinks an expensive boat for revenge. So, we are supposed to watch and ignore these things but I simply can’t ignore them being criminals in their quest for wealth.


6.A They are bad criminals, they don’t seem to have any concrete plans going on they just do whatever they feel at the time, they don’t even wear gloves when they intend to break into places, honestly, have they never seen crime TV? Don’t put fingerprints on a gun when you don’t know what it has been used for, and also don’t steal it! That is linking yourself to any crimes which have been committed using that gun. Honestly, it baffles me how bad they are at committing crimes. When they’re in the basement trying to get the gold they actually yell each others names out while being shot at – don’t give the person who’s house you broke in to your name?

They even sometimes recognize how bad their plans are but just do it anyway.

7. The compass getting back to John B and the island is incredible dumb luck. When you really think about it, John B’s dad died on an island and it is also dumb luck that Scooter found his dad, took the compass, died, then John B found it.


8. No one cares about the welfare of these kids, not the teachers, Sheriff, no one. John B lives alone in his dead dad’s house having to work to keep the electricity on, JJ is being abused, and we just, don’t care.

Thanks a bunch Sheriff Peterkin.


People know that JJ is being abused but no one does ANYTHING. Child services was all over John B, they were even in town and no one has bothered to report JJ’s abuse. I mean for gods sake, his dad attacks him in a car on the street right outside the Police station and no one sees? I think not.

9. Sarah’s little sister is only there for plot convenience, she adds nothing and no substance.

10. So, Kiara jumps through a hole in the side of the mausoleum, which she needed a boost to get in, then, they just cut to her out of it. How could she get back out if she needed a boost to get through the gap before and they couldn’t open the door.

11. For a show with so much class struggle and such a wealth divide which demonizes the Kooks, they are total hypocrites about it all. They all wish to be Kooks the second they could be, but hey, money corrupts I guess. To going full Kook!

I guess, socioeconomic struggle is just so inconvenient…

12. Almost 20 isn’t that old Ward…

13. Rafe and JJ’s dad share a drug dealer, how cute!

14. Topper and Rafe literally go after way too many people in this show. Rafe kills someone, Topper attacks John B and tries to drown him, throws John B off the tower, they try to kill Pope and JJ at the outdoor cinema. Then, Rafe burns down a church. What the actual heck. Neither of these people are arrested in the course of the season.

15. Pope risks everything for revenge?

16. Special shout out to Sarah for recognizing she wasn’t ready to sleep with Topper, for saying no and not being too afraid to change her mind and showing it is still your choice and you can change your mind even after you say yes if it isn’t right. Keep your power ladies! So happy to see Outer Banks having shown this topic and proving on TV if it isn’t right don’t do it.


17. Lucky the only guy who speaks this random language happens to be a teacher at the school who knows John B. But also, how’d he recognize the language if he doesn’t speak it and it’s a lost language?

It’s also lucky the teacher doesn’t ask too many questions… and it’s kinda messed up that they weren’t going to give him a cent of the money considering they would have had nothing if he hadn’t translated the letter, they wouldn’t have known it was at Tannyhill.

18. Cheating is still not okay though.

19. The fuck does that even mean and why are we, or Sarah, supposed to care about it?

20. I absolutely hate lines like this, if you’re going to break up with him break up with him don’t make it like a move to be with someone else. Break up with him first then go to John B. Really, why didn’t she break up with him after she got back from the Ferry with John B then she wouldn’t have had to go to the Midsommers party with him.

21. John B “fell” off that tower so far down it is a miracle he was barely injured cause honestly, wouldn’t have surprised me if he died from that fall.


22. Similar to number 10, John B gets lowered down into a well, being held up by a pipe in the basement (risky if you ask me),

and needs to slide face first into the hole to reach the gold and unhook himself. How does he get back out!! With all the commotion of the woman with the gun, John B gets himself back out. Apparently, despite being wet and no one helping him he can scale the wall of the well and just pull himself out. I disagree.

THEN later he goes back on his own after Ward buys the house and takes the gold, how’d he get himself down and out again.


23. They didn’t melt off the whole wheat marking, they said ‘we can’t sell this with a wheat marking on it’ but didn’t get rid of the marking.

24. They try to sell their gold bars in down at a little pawn shop? Why didn’t they take the ferry to the mainland. Did they really think that store was going to have the money to pay them out.


25. Why did JJ even give his dad the restitution money instead of giving it directly to the courts or Topper, considering he knew his dad’s issues and had to know something like this would happen.


26. Why did they wait so long to go back for the gold, what was the point in waiting? They could have gone back the next night but instead they worry about melting down the bars and taking them to the pawn shop instead of collecting all the bars then John B has time to go fishing with Ward before they get the gold.

27. How is it that Denmark didn’t spend more of the money, he was supposedly releasing all these slaves and such but didn’t spend that much of the money off the ship and no one ever knew he had it.


28. Are they suggesting that they just built a house right on top of the well and didn’t even bother to fill the well or build an actual floor on top of it, they just covered it with some planks?


29. How did JJ get a hot tub delivered and installed in less than 24 hours? Outer Banks doesn’t seem like a place full of hot tubs to me.

30. What was Ward’s plan, he tells Sarah he’s taking John B on the boat, gives John B time to tell people, then he tries to kill John B. What was he gonna do, what was the cover story? He was going to dispose of another body the exact same way as the previous time. Also, Ward was John B’s legal guardian at the time.

31. Ward’s story about John B and the stabbing makes no sense, if anyone looked at how shallow the ‘stab’ was they would’ve known that.

We also have this little inconsistency…

32. Why would Ward confide in Scooter about killing Big John?

33. Do these kids not have phones? None of their parents seem to be able to get a hold of them or know where they are.

34. The sale of that house went through insanely fast. It was like one night.


35. The fact that they actually find the treasure is so dumb, obviously I know that is what the show is about but it is ridiculous that it actually happened even after John B’s dad spent his life looking for the Royal Merchant it is insane that these four kids are the ones who found the gold.

I agree JJ!


36. Why did Ward wait so long to call for help with Peterkin, he made it so that his son was a murderer instead of giving himself up. He even could have called an ambulance for Peterkin and ran with the gold but he didn’t. He waited and let her die and Rafe became a murderer. Like father like son I guess, now they can both be murderers since well, Ward did already murder a minimum of 3 people.


37. Did they do any forensic investigation or ballistics testing on Peterkin, cause honestly, the gun Rafe used was registered to someone, someone loaded the bullets.


38. What did Ward have on Peterkin? I need to know because without knowing I can’t understand this.


39. I guess there’s no innocent until proven guilty if you’re a Sheriff’s Deputy in Outer Banks.

40. Why was Pope the one driving after he smoked so much weed, that’s also illegal and incredibly stupid and dangerous, why wasn’t Kiara driving the get away car from the ferry.


41. Rafe burns down a church, that’s insane, he is actually actively trying to murder John B in the process. Like I get that if John B died it’d be great for their story that he was the shooter but honestly, burning down a church with people in it?

42. I feel like they’re pretending that Topper helping John B out of the church was a redemption arc for his character but guess what, it wasn’t. BECAUSE moments earlier he tried to get the police to the church and before that he was blocking John B in and before that there’s the whole, throwing John B off that tower thing.


43. John B does not know how to hide from the Police.


44. The fact that John B and Sarah survived and held on to that boat all night long is comical because it’s so unlikely.

45. Saying “the gold” on a ship after you’ve just been rescued seems like a poor move to me.

46. Kiara’s character is really confusing. She wants to play a Pogue but go home to her big house with her happy family who love her but pretends to understand John B, Pope and JJ’s struggles with being poor.

47. I honestly felt like for the story they told, Outer Banks had too few episodes. They needed to explain so much about the place and the people and the Royal Merchant whilst also setting up John B and Sarah’s relationship, Kiara and Sarah’s feud, John B and Topper’s Feud and everyone else’s feud with Topper. Also, they found the gold and lost it so the pacing for me felt really weird, it shouldn’t have been so fast for them to find the gold but also it felt like so much time passed before they did anything when you re-watch it. It is four episodes ( out of 10) before they even find out the gold wasn’t lost a sea.

All that said, Outer Banks was a fine show Netflix made about some misfits looking for treasure but for me it wasn’t anything amazing and it wasn’t top tier television or even a top tier Netflix Original but it was decent. Maybe two times was enough times to watch it though… Please let me know any thoughts or comments you may have I love to hear them or hear any differences of opinion. Thanks for reading.

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