klaus mikaelson

Klaus Mikaelson: a truly compelling TV villain…

Netflix, Uncategorized

Klaus is painted to be the big bad wolf in most of TVD, and granted he does some truly terrible things however he is such an interesting character. I think that is a big part of why they were able to create The Originals spin off, because all three of the Original siblings have so much depth of character. So let me explain why I love Klaus so dearly as a character.

Klaus is so compelling to the point where he is a villain that you can’t totally hate, he is so deeply flawed but we understand him so clearly. Klaus may be 1000 years old, but at heart he is still that little boy who’s father hated him and mother turned her back on him. Klaus longed for the love of his family and felt he would never have it or deserve it. This led to a multitude of trust issues which, you guessed it, are heightened as a vampire.

Klaus’s father hated him for being his illegitimate son, forcing him to spend him life with a piece of who he is (the werewolf side) being kept from him, his mother constantly tricks him when she comes back and doesn’t protect him. He is hated for being born. I know many people can understand and empathize with being forced to hide a piece of yourself because your family or society does not accept it.

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Consistently, through the show, we see Klaus make growth and then feel betrayed or hurt but you can’t say he is heartless. Klaus does care for his family and siblings. He cares for Rebekah and Elijah and even Stefan. Also, it is so clear to see Klaus opens up around Caroline, almost only around Caroline but still. He shows her himself, though his paintings, stories, gestures. Which is why it hits so much harder each time she betrays him and causes him to lash out and revert back to being terrible and un-trusting, as he feels he doesn’t deserve the love of others so he will ensure they fear him. Even in ‘The Originals’ we see this go further with Klaus caring for Cami and his past relationship with Marcelle. He looked at Marcelle like a son, he cared for him, loved him, raised him and tried to give him a better life and family than he himself had, until he felt betrayed by Marcelle.

not my image…

For instance, although Klaus constantly lashes out at his siblings and daggers them, he is not one to actually kill them. He values his family so greatly he trades anything he needs for them.

Also, we can see when Klaus does finally get to be fully entirely himself, all he really wants is to belong. He wants to make himself hybrids so he won’t be alone. Klaus is driven by his past trauma and trust issues, having your own parents try to kill you must really affect your emotional growth and I can get that. Klaus doesn’t want to be alone.

Klaus does terrible things but I find him so interesting to watch because he is so complex, more complex than Damon or Stefan or most any of the other characters. I also have to give Joseph credit for making me believe him and feel for Klaus through his acting.

We see so many moments of redemption such as, always coming when Caroline needs him but he also constantly falls off his redemption, which is honestly really human.

For me, the hallmark of a good TV villain is all of these things, depth of character, understanding why they are doing things, showing they aren’t inherently evil, humanizing them. Klaus ticks all these boxes for me and more.

Also, I have to say I’m a die hard Klauroline (Klaus + Caroline) stan.

I can’t explain it honestly. Although, I will say, watching Klaus meet Hope for the first time gave me so many emotions. All Klaus ever wanted was a family, people like him, Hope really was that. She was a ‘hybrid’ like him, she was his daughter, his family. And standing next to him was the woman who gave everything for the baby, her mother, Haley and the two members of Klaus’s family who loved him through it all. Klaus had his family standing right there.

So, what do you think? Did you love Klaus like me? Or was the murder too much for you? In any case, I believe Klaus was an incredibly well-written villain for this show and that this continued with other villains like Kai. All I want is character depth and growth and I feel like that’s what Klaus give me.

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grand army

‘Grand Army’ is worth the watch!

Netflix, Uncategorized

So, grand Army came out a long time ago and I hardly heard anyone talking about it, so I finally checked it out on Netflix recently. I was definitely surprised but what I was faced with and had not at all expected it. For me this was a very clear case of judging a show by its cover image, and I was way off!

Grand Army is about a school in New York and a set of kids at this school, but it is a little dark. Not in the regular sense of a dark show, I feel like Grand Army is unapologetic in showing all of the worst aspects of high school. Particularly in America.

Some themes which are discussed include; friendship, selfishness, racism, sexism, feminism, terrorism, rape and sexual assault, religion, sexuality, class, poverty, pressure on women, victim blaming and more. In only a few episodes.

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For me though, the most influential character was Joey who starts as a very confident woman trying to support women’s rights at their school, going against dress code norms and being confident in her body, sexuality and herself. However, this character later goes through a turmoil with rape, losing all her friends and going through the criminal process as a victim. I feel like her acting was incredibly compelling through this show.

We see her come to lose confidence in her body, her memories and her personality at points, she moves to shroud herself in clothing. A woman who stood up in her school for non sexist dress codes and free the nip. We watch her lose herself entirely for a time.

While the other stories are also important and well done, hers had the most impact to me, however they all did impact me in one way or another. But I wouldn’t want to spoil the whole show for you!

Although, I have to admit, I hated this girl so much and I hated the amount of screen time she got!

So, is Grand Army an enjoyable show? No not really, but I think the messages are very important and they didn’t totally shy away from the worst of a high school experience. You can learn things from every character. I also feel like there is a character that we can all probably relate to.

So I do 100 percent recommend Grand Army but it is nothing like I was expecting and it can be difficult to watch at points. Because they chose honesty. I think more shows should be more honest about these issues rather than recycling the same ideals and the same way to approach issues.

It is a very confronting show a times but, that added to the realism for me. So, if you have a chance, please do check it out and let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading this quick post, please like, comment or share this post if you enjoyed it and don’t forget to follow down below!

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I watched October Faction so you don’t have to…

Uncategorized

So, I have kind of been on a roll with Netflix Original titles lately so I thought I’d continue with October Faction. This 2020 title follows a family of supernatural hunters who travel around with an organisation called ‘Presidio’.

While I started watching it expecting to see a Supernatural rip-off it was really more similar to Shadow Hunters with the righteous (humans) who attempt to kill all the ‘monsters’ whilst also doing horrible things to them and massacring people. Kind of reminds me of the Clave in Shadow Hunters. As well as just how much politics is going on between these groups. So, if you liked Shadow Hunters maybe you’ll enjoy October Faction.

The moral of the story is; if you want to watch some hunters + family dysfunction (and magic babies). Just watch Supernatural instead. You still get the angst and hunting (in fact more hunting), still got those family dynamics (in particular daddy issues), however, without the high school experience. So, while they are different, if you have the ability to watch Supernatural instead, for instance on Aussie Stan, do that. If not then sure you can check out October Faction.

Anyway, here are all the things that didn’t make sense to me in October Faction;

Oslo? Someone explain to my why they would be being transferred to Oslo, that is actually quite far from the Finland-Russia boarder. It isn’t that close? Why Oslo? Why not Helsinki or even Stockholm? Not many people know this but I’m obsessed with Norway so I know a bit about it, and I know it looks small but in actual land size it is pretty big so, that is really far, even by plane its several hours away…

Yes, Oslo… right by the border?

**Oslo is in the south of Norway by the Sweden border**

The whole burial thing made no sense because he couldn’t possibly not give this one guy a proper burial but he walked over all his other soldiers who also just died. And you can’t say its because of the mission because the mission wasn’t over either time.

It wasn’t snowing then it was only moments later…

Murder vs torture. Can we really act like they’re so different and one is off limits when their jobs are to murder.

How could no one know about the secret prison and why was it a secret? They raised all these soldiers to believe everything else was a monster and the enemy, wouldn’t lots of them not care about the torture cave?

Why were they the only two without masks or helmets on?

So who’s kid was she putting in danger

Seems like it was kind of all Alice’s fault to me.

How’d she cut her own umbilical chords and tie them off on her own?

How did no one find Alice screaming whilst giving birth to twins while there were soldiers everywhere killing her town?

What was the actual purpose of fake killing the grandfather – it wasn’t to bring their family back because they tried to transfer them right after. Seems like everyone hated the old man so who would have known?

Just because they’re ‘free’ why’d they become assholes.

None of the big reveals shocked me, not the “they’re my children” or the “old man isn’t dead” or the guy with the weird eye being the dead brother. I’m sorry, I don’t know if that was just me but they all felt pretty obvious to me…

What did shock me was Alice over-writing all the innocent humans to bring back the warlocks. And like, Viv and Geoff didn’t care?

Lowkey the story of Alice being imprisoned underwater by whoever would’ve made a better story. Show me that flashback. I believe the show would have been better if we watched the events at Harlow then watched what Alice did after as opposed to basically the whole show. Sorry.

So anyway, if you liked Shadow Hunters you probably won’t mind October Faction but I won’t say it isn’t flawed… clearly. It is available on Netflix, the first 10 episodes, so check it out if you’re interested and if you did watch it, please comment down below and let me know what you thought!

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Recommendation: ‘Get Even’

Uncategorized

‘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.