Recap. Rewind. Rewatch.: 2014

Let Me Tell You Something: Marvel's Agent Carter and State of Affairs

1:43 AM | By Shay Nic

As you should know by now, if I'm writing this, it's because we have another problem. And unless you've been sleeping under a rock, I'm sure you're aware of this problem, and may have even talked about it around the water cooler. (Do those even still exist at this point? Haha)

But, it's time I say something because this particular issue has happened not once but twice now. Once is bad enough but the more people do this, the more my feminist hackles rise up and demand I say something.

Do the tag lines for Marvel's Agent Carter and State of Affairs not bother anyone as much as it bothers me? Does it just make you want to throw up or run down the street screaming at the top of your lungs? No? Is it just me?

The tagline for Marvel's Agent Carter is: "Sometimes the best man for the job is a woman."

Wait, WHAT???????????? Who thought that this was okay? Huh????

Now you know there has to be a male show runner behind this show and a male had to be ahead of marketing, because if a woman came up with this, shame on you, your cow, and your whole family. This is not acceptable. First of all, let's talk about the fact that this show is based off of a character that was in the first Captain America movie for all of ten seconds. We all know that superhero movies of late, whatever your bias to it, fails the Bechdel Test each and every single movie adaptation. Women are just severely underrated. Should it surprise me that she was in there for 10 minutes? No, it shouldn't. But everyone has latched on to her character through these Marvel One Shots and if you've been watching Marvel's Agents of Shield lately, they have been showing teasers in the show of what's to come. No one's denying that she's a badass, but do I need a whole show on someone who I barely even register? Nope.

Second of all, what kind of a tag line is that? Why mention a man at all? As if a woman tackling a job is such a new and novel idea that she has to be associated with a man in order to validate her cause? Huh? When did that become a thing? Let me tell you something, women have been doing men's jobs for centuries and without us, men would still be flailing around with their heads in their hands and we'd still be in the midst of a 100 year old war. Women rule the world, men just live in it. I'm not a man-hating feminist who marches around in combat boots sticking up my middle finger to the world. I think men have contributed greatly to society, but somewhere down the line, they got it in their little heads that they own the world and everyone should thank them for letting them live in it.

Third of all, what's with the "sometimes" bit? Like men should always get the job but in order to keep people like me satisfied, they have to throw in a woman every now and again just for kicks and giggles? I know what you're thinking, "wow, she's really overthinking this, it's just a tagline". Sure, I'm overthinking this, but the real question is why aren't you? The minute you become complacent and not notice this, is the minute that things like this escape and are considered normal. Knowing and explaining to others that this isn't okay is when change happens! You allow this to happen and pretty soon any show with a strong female lead is going to have horrible tag lines like this. As if women can't stand on their own two feet.

As if that isn't bad enough, State of Affairs has this as their tagline: "All the president's men are nothing compared to her."

Say WHAT now??????? Again, what does men have to do with the situation?

First of all, I'm sure we're all aware that women are underrepresented in politics. I'm guilty of this too, I couldn't care one lick about politics besides how it directly affects me like gas prices and such. But there are a lot of great women in politics and they're kicking butt right now. There should be more women in politics and shut up all those naysayers who believe that if women ran countries they all wouldn't talk to each other instead of waging wars. I mean, come on, we have a woman running for the presidency in 2016!!

Second of all, I fail to see why a woman has to directly correlate to a man. Why do men even have to be mentioned? Why couldn't they come up with a better tagline? I'm sure they could have, but because we're living in a he-man's construct of society that somehow keeps perpetuating itself time in and time out for centuries, people just keep letting this happen. Sure, it's implying that women are better than the men but why does one have to be greater than the other? Why is equality so difficult in this world? Men and women are both human beings, have two arms and legs, and one brain so why, why, why, does our entire human existence hinge on the belief that men are greater?

It's almost as if long ago in the time of the cavemen when they were developing language, an elder gathered all the men around and said, "hey, listen, we know we need women around, we know they're strong and capable, and make us better, but I'm going to need all of you to stomp on them as hard as you can. Simply because you're men, you're greater because we have more muscles and we hunt big game. Pass it on to your children and tell them to pass it on too. Let's make sure that millions of years from now when there are cars and big, bustling cities, that our descendants make sure women will always be second best to us because we know for sure that if given the chance, women can continue to function without us but we can't function without them."

Okay, I know they didn't actually say all of this, but it's the best way to illustrate how our society continues to make women the weaker sex.

Third of all, women are capable all by their lonesome. I firmly believe that women make the world go 'round. Just the sheer amount of will and strength women have to muster up to deal with men alone should be enough to give us some kind of equal status in the workforce but does that ever happen? Nope. Instead, they're compared to men on a daily basis as if that's the only way to justify their place. They're just as good as men and men would be preferred but because we have bloggers out there sitting in their coffee shops with their all important writer caps on, we're going to go with a woman to shut them up. Again, you people out there reading this, you're letting it happen. Daily. Both you men and women.

Let me tell you something, THIS IS NOT OKAY! It'll never be okay and as long as people like you and me sit on our couches and shrug as if it's no big deal is exactly how Hollywood continues to get away with crap like this. Again, I'm ranting, I know I'm ranting, I know I'm overthinking a simple tagline, but it's what those tag lines represent. Their gateway taglines, if you will. What's next? "We wanted a man, but we got this super A-list actress who usually does movies but because there aren't any great movie roles for women and they want to be home in time to actually see their kids to bed and we need women viewers to meet our target demo, so enjoy?" Or, "We wanted a man, but ehh, I guess she's good too." And don't even get me started on great women characters or lack thereof!

It's just a messed up situation all around. It's time to actually start doing something. We all contribute to what's put on their air or apart of our regular media consumption. We don't watch a show, it flops, and it gets cancelled. We rally behind a beloved character, the executive producers think twice before killing them off and if they do, it's only because the actor or actress didn't want to do it anymore or it "serves the story".

We have power people! It's time we use it!

Play the Blues for Jasmine

10:28 PM | By Shay Nic

As always, WARNING! This review may contain spoilers for those of you who haven't seen the movie. I will try to keep them to a minimum, but something may slip through. You've been warned.

With my extreme fondness for Midnight in Paris, I wanted to see this movie really badly. All of my teachers, however, all say they have a love/hate relationship with Woody Allen. Even some of my friends have said that they aren't too keen on Woody Allen, but from the few that I've seen, I kind of like his unique point of view. From the writing and actors and actresses and the way it was shot, I can see where he was coming from. Again, using Midnight in Paris as my go to reference for his resurgence in his career.

The premise was what drew me in, in the first place. It was about a crumbling socialite whose husband ran pyramid schemes all over New York, even among friends and her own sister, but once he got nailed by the Feds, she went to live with her sister in San Francisco to try and rebuild a life for herself. Right then and there, I thought this was the answer to so many male anti-heroes Hollywood has in abundance. I've seen countless posts where women are more than ready for an anti-heroine. And NO, Claire from House of Cards does not count. It's not her show, it's Kevin Spacey's.

I was the first to agree with them. I think Hollywood has had enough of baddies we love to hate. We're so caught up in their redemption story that we keep coming back. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, and so on and so forth. Where are the anti-heroines that doesn't result from a miscarriage, sexual assault, or physical abuse? This movie seemed like the answer to that. And from the start, I thought that was the movie I was going to get.

I will say that Cate Blanchett's nomination was very well deserved. Should she have won the Oscar? That's hard to say, especially given that I haven't seen the other films in the category. However, she did give one helluva performance that had me looking at her in a completely new way. Jasmine is definitely someone you would love to hate. She's completely self-centered, narcissistic, oblivious, and shallow. But there is something about her that causes you to at least keep watching. You find out she was an orphan and adopted, was always treated better than her sister, and always carried herself better than her means. I'm not saying these are redeemable qualities. Obviously, her adoption didn't really affect her. She just went with the flow and hitched her ride to the first man who was going places.

Enter Alec Baldwin as a smooth salesman taking people's money left and right, leaving Jasmine completely oblivious to what he's been doing. As things tend to do, it went south quick and the movie opens with her trip to San Francisco, talking the ear off of some poor old lady. Then, we see her with her sister and the claws come out. She's so judgmental towards her sister and her love life, with how she's supposed to be living her life, and it's revealed that she's never really had a plan in life. She just went with the flow. But the idea of being with someone "beneath" her, she turns up her lip. Her uppity attitude is so revulsive, I've literally found myself shaking my head, curling my lip, and commenting to myself how horrible this woman is!

I mean, she just doesn't get it! She thinks not throwing parties and being the center of attention, getting expensive gifts from her husband, going on shopping sprees in the middle of the day, making her friends jealous, throwing charity balls, is not really living. She hates that it's not New York, hates that her friends turned her back on her, hates that a man who thinks a tank and some shorts is causal attire, and she hates that her sister isn't more like her.

So throughout all this time, I'm thinking Jasmine is going to redeem herself at one point right? That any minute now, she's going to turn things around and see the error of her ways. First thing, she's a little crazy. She talks to herself, has severe flashbacks, and a serious drinking problem. But then she starts talking about getting a job, going to school online, then taking computer classes in order to go to school online, and then getting a job at a dentist's office in order to pay for those classes. Okay, this is a step in the right direction.

While she's doing this, her sister's life, Ginger, played by Sally Hawkins, begins to pick up. She starts to recognize that her boyfriend has a temper and is a mean drunk so she begins dating someone else. A nice little cameo from Louis C.K. And you can see that Jasmine is having some influences on the people she's come into contact with. Whether that's for the better or worse, I'll leave that up to you to figure out as you're watching.

As the movie continues, we see Jasmine in flashbacks and her time with her husband and his sleazy ways and the question that keeps getting tossed out is, "How did she not know?" At first thought, I can see where people are coming from. This is her husband and he keeps pushing papers in her face, or talking on the phone around her, or having all these business meetings, and she didn't know? Really? I mean, she had to know something. She had to look at the papers, or overhear something right? And as people keep repeating it, I find myself wondering where it's going. Are people blaming her for getting their money stolen? Is Ginger secretly hating Jasmine for making her and her husband invest their newfound wealth into Jasmine's husbands' company?

Or are they blaming Jasmine's husband for bamboozling them all and Jasmine is just getting the cast off from that because she was married to him? Again, won't spoil the outcome for you but it is something to think about as you're watching.

Of course, as the movie goes along, the obligatory assault comes up. As Jasmine is working as the assistant, her boss constantly hounds her for a date and tries to assault her in the office. My main question is why? And the reason I'm spoiling this for you is because A) it has no bearing on the movie or the outcome and B) it just HAS to be addressed, because it seems like no one is paying enough attention to the epidemic plaguing our screens.

And yes, it's an epidemic. WHY does a woman have to be assaulted? Not saying it doesn't need to be shown in order to raise awareness, but does it have to be in EVERYTHING now a days? In Scandal, Mellie got raped by her father in law. In House of Cards, Claire was raped. In Mad Men, Joan was raped by her husband. In Law & Order: SVU, the very show where rape is on every episode, Olivia was assaulted while undercover and was kidnapped by a psycho who brutalized her twice. Why does it seem like the only way to turn a woman bitter or get under her skin comes at the expanse of a man? Women are over thinkers, we worry about absolutely everything. Our minds are constantly turning and the slightest thing can set us off. It could be our self esteem, our self confidence, our work performance, our family life, and everything under the sun that does not involve a man. A back handed comment from a frenemy at work can ruin the best of days for a woman and turn her bitter or angry, and yet in every movie or TV show now a days, she has to be assaulted. Assaulted in this case can range anywhere from unwanted attention from a man or blatant rape.

Let's consider the roles reversed. What's the worst thing Don Draper's ever had to deal with? An annoying wife, uppity daughter, incompetent colleagues? What's the worst thing President Fitz has had to deal with? A frigid wife, a whole country to run, B613, his hurt feelings that he can't be with the woman he loves? How about Stabler or Amaro? Spotty records, losing their tempers, crumbling marriages? Then why does it seem so okay for women to be assaulted when their male counterparts get off scott free? Why can't they get attacked, or mugged, or subject to humiliation and torture? Why is it so okay for a woman? And no one's saying anything about it?

Why is it okay for Jasmine to get assaulted? Honestly, I could have done without it in this movie. Because she had a nervous break down, hits the bottle a little too hard, and looks good in scrubs means that she invites assault? Really? And the whole Oscar season, people were just raving her performance and yet no one has even mentioned if the assault was even necessary. I, for one, call shenanigans.

Then towards the end of the film, all is revealed. I will not spoil it, but it is a doozy. However, once you learn about it, you kind of saw it coming. Yet, you're surprised nonetheless because it is a very brilliant script, beautifully shot. As Jasmine's story is drawing to a close, I find myself lacking a resolution. It's kind of like the movie was just one small glimpse into her life and now we're leaving but her life still goes on. While admiral, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel afterwards. It was like the movie just ended. I didn't feel like Jasmine was redeemed or if she was never supposed to redeem herself. That she was just this messed up character who had a nervous breakdown and that's the end of things. As anti-heroes have taught us, they're either on the road to redemption or they're going to continue to spiral out of control, past the point of no return, and therefore no redemption. For Jasmine, I didn't know where her life was going to turn up. Was she going to get her mind right? Was she going to continue being an axxhole and just continue to ruin her life and the life of those around her? I don't know. And I don't like not knowing. I do want some kind of resolution from my movies and this movie fell from the mark.

I'm not saying this was a bad movie. It wasn't. In fact, I enjoyed it despite its hiccups I've mentioned earlier. The writing was good, and so was the cinematography. I found the direction really interesting. Instead of a shot, reaction, shot, where someone is talking, we get the other person's reaction and/or dialogue, and then back to the first one, the arrangement was a little more organic. It stayed on the first person talking until that person walked next to the second and then we see in a medium shot of them both, the other's reaction and/or more dialogue. I thought that was new and cool.

As for Woody Allen's resurgence, good job. Was this better than Midnight in Paris? No. I felt that movie had more of a message that I took away from it. Maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe not. This movie had no message. It may have been the answer to Hollywood's version of anti-heroines, but I've yet to see the formula we get from anti-heroes applied here. Good try, not so good execution. And that's okay, I would still watch this film again.

Welp, that's all folks. If you don't agree with me, that's great! Leave a comment below or visit my new Facebook page which you can find here: Facebook: Recap. Rewind. Rewatch. I'd love to hear from you!

New Facebook Page!

2:33 PM | By Shay Nic

You know I had to do this! So I have now created a Facebook page. If you're a little shy about leaving a comment on here, please, go and like the page and send me a message or post. If you want to see a review about a particular movie, TV show, or music video, then please, let me know!

This is a new page, I've never had one before. So if you see something similar, it's not me. Here is the link to my new Facebook page! Please, like and share!

Facebook: Recap-Rewind-Rewatch

Thanks!

Let Me Tell You Something: Extant

2:02 PM | By Shay Nic

This is a new segment where I air my grievances with certain issues happening in the film industry. Don't agree with me? Good. Leave a comment below and let's chat about it! But for my first segment, I feel like this has to be discussed somewhere or I'm going to lose my mind.

You've all seen the promos for Extant right? Starring Halle Berry? You've probably even seen the pilot episode that aired July 9th right? Any other time, I would have been the first one to watch this show. That's not the case with this. I still haven't seen nor do I plan to in the near future. Maybe if it makes it to season two, I might take a peek at it. But for now, I just can't get over this thing that has been bothering me.

With all the recent success of Scandal starring Kerry Washington, (even though it's been on the air for three years), Hollywood has finally decided it was time for a little diversity. More TV shows are going to feature black leads in primetime slots this upcoming fall season. This has never happened before, so when it does happen, you gotta take notice.

When I first heard about Extant, I thought the concept was a little cool. It's pure sci-fi, my catnip right? As I was thinking about it some more, mulling over if I was excited about it or not, I started to realize something. Hollywood isn't ready for jack spit! And you can tell them I said it!

Yes we have more diversity on TV and films than ever and I can appreciate the effort that took to get us there. But reading the premise for Extant just made my toes curl. An astronaut goes into space for like 14 months and she's all alone. But when she comes back to earth, she's carrying an extra passenger. While cool, I couldn't help but think why she had to be pregnant? They could have done this any number of ways. Maybe an alien overtook her body. Maybe she's a robot. Maybe they're hitching a ride in her brain. But why does she have to be pregnant? I'm not saying this is directly tied to Halle being black or a woman, but I can't help wondering what would happen if there was a male lead. He definitely wouldn't be pregnant, would he? No. They probably would have had him abducted and his DNA messed with as he slowly sank into dementia and his alien side took over.

Finally, there's diversity in sci-fi but it is still so heavily dominated by young, blond heroic men. Not that there's anything wrong with that but I can practically hear some of you shaking your heads and murmuring about Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek, Will Smith in I, Robot, or Zoe Saldana in the Star Trek reboot, but out of those three instances, where else?

And now we get one of the arguably biggest movie stars of all time on TV, coming to us weekly, and....she's pregnant. Look, I'm all for her doing this because she wants to be closer to her kids. I understand how the idea of a kid not being your own or even the simple exploration of motherhood of a possibly new species is mysterious and cool, but why couldn't something like Star Wars have a female be the plucky, young hero whose lap this falls into? Why couldn't there be a female captain of a ship exploring the final frontier in Star Trek? Why couldn't E.T. star a girl instead of a boy? Or the new Earth to Echo movie have a bigger female to male ratio, instead of one girl and four boys? Why couldn't A.I. be about exploring the world through the eyes of an unloved robot girl?

I'm not saying every story has to do it. A.I. is brilliant enough on its own, leave E.T. alone, no one can pilot the Enterprise besides Captain James T. Kirk, and of course, nothing will be as memorable as "Luke, I am your father."

But, can we please stop complaining about how there aren't any female driven sci-fi story lines because no one wants to see them, they don't do as well, there isn't an audience for them, or little girls aren't interested in a galaxy far, far away, but then turn around and balk at the idea of a Wonder Woman movie or a Black Widow movie. You can't have it both ways.

I don't know, this is just my opinion. But I'd love to hear yours! Leave a comment below!

Orange is the New Black

1:35 PM | By Shay Nic

Warning, may contain spoilers for season 1 and 2. Either general or specific and while I try to keep them to a minimum, you will find spoilers! You've been warned!

While I've actually been dreading this review, I can't help but talk about it. Because apparently, talking about it with my friend is out of the question. She gets a little too sensitive about it, like a lot of people about this show as you may have noticed.

I initially had no intention of seeing this show. I know, shocker right? But my tastes steer more towards the supernatural/quirky/dark type of shows. Plus, I'm still having Oz withdrawals. But, my friend had been begging and pleading with me to watch this show and I finally relented. After all, what was I doing anyway? Not to mention, everywhere I turned, there were people having heart attacks from how good this show supposedly was. As usual, I like to wait until the heat dies down before I jump into a show. That way, I can consume it on my time and give me room to think about it before forming my opinion. So here it goes.

At first watch, this show was pretty damn good. What Oz did for male prisons, this show is doing that for female prisons. Just as rough, just as deliciously scandalous, and just as interesting. After episode one and finding out how and why Piper Chapman, played by Taylor Schilling, went to prison, I found myself clicking episode two and episode three. I couldn't stop watching. I was so engrossed by these women and the lives they have created behind bars. That is a place I never want to be. I don't ever want to go to prison. No privacy, you can't get a decent night's sleep, sleazy guards, and the like. This is not an inviting place. And the things these women have had to do in order to survive in this place is just wow. And seeing all of their backstories and how they got there was very intriguing and I just kept clicking episode after episode, wanting to see more and more of it. Thank goodness this was on Netflix! I have no clue how I would have survived if this show came on week by week on HBO or Showtime.

Having said that, as the episodes kept drumming along, I found myself caring more about the other girls than about Piper. While this is no reflection on the actress, I just found her character to be dull and boring compared to how lively and three-dimensional the other women are. I found myself almost hating Piper because she was a self absorbed, selfish woman who had that whole "poor me because I'm blond and pretty" thing going for her which she thought was working. It wasn't.

Roll over the text in-between the asterisks if you want to see some minor spoilers.

* Piper ended up going to jail because in her youth, she smuggled drugs across countries for her girlfriend Alex Vause, played by Laura Prepon, who's in the prison with her. Alex ratted out Piper which was messed up, but what can you do? The whole time Piper is in here, she's fluctuating between hating Alex because she knows Alex named her, and kind of loving her because Alex just happens to be Piper's kryptonite. Everyone has that one person they will just never get over right? That's Alex.

And while in the flashbacks we see their relationship and how they were with each other, I found myself hating Piper because she was just so disgustingly selfish. Oh poor her, Alex named her for drugs she agreed to smuggle. Poor her, her friends are getting along without her because she got herself in this mess in the first place. Poor her, that Larry, played by Jason Biggs, wrote an article about her being in prison in order to get famous. She has an excuse for everything that happens to her and it just so happens to not be her fault at all. She keeps acting like the victim in all of this, destroying the people around her, because she doesn't know how to be accountable for all the mistakes she has made in her life. *

This is the second time I've found myself hating a main character. The first time was in the "Uglies" Series by Scott Westerfeld. I hated that main character, just like I've grown to hate Piper. She just thinks nothing is her fault and the whole world has to stop because she doesn't like being in prison. Boo hoo. She says something wrong in front of the cook and she's outed by the whole kitchen staff and is starving. Poor her that Red is so sensitive. Crazy Eyes AKA Suzanne, played by Uzo Aduba, becomes obsessed with her and calls her her prison wife. Poor Piper that Larry, played by Jason Biggs, and her long time friend Polly, played by Maria Dizzia, aren't too concerned that Crazy Eyes is obsessed with her. And Piper is on an on again off again war with Mr. Healy, a sick prick played excellently by Michael Harney.

Roll over the text in-between the asterisks if you want to see some major spoilers.

* Soooo, Healy has a huge chip on his shoulder. The reason I called him a sick prick is because he's a little racist when he talks to Piper as his ally because he believes they're cut from the same cloth. He doesn't explicitly say it, but because she's upper middle class, white, and blonde, they have a lot in common. He tells her to keep her head down and not to stir up trouble and not participate in lesbian activities and she should be just fine. But she gets sucked into the politics at the prison anyway and when Larry writes that column, he gets his little feelings hurt over what she said about him. So now, they're enemies.

And Piper tries to win him over, but he just won't have it. He stops giving her special treatment and he tasks her with things in order to get his way while reneging on what he promised to do for her. He wanted to her to find out how an inmate was taking pictures of her hoo ha and he wanted her to bring that person to him. She finds out who it was, gives him the cell phone, but she won't out who had it. He takes this personally as he usually does, and now he doesn't like her again, because she has chosen the inmates over him. *

Stop above if you don't want any huge spoilers.

Warning, MAJOR SEASON 1 FINALE SPOILER AHEAD!

* He's gotten so fed up with Piper's antics that when Pennsatucky, played by the delightful Taryn Manning, started to sic her fanatical rantings on Piper and verbally abuse her, Healy basically said it wasn't his problem. Then at the season finale, Pennsatucky just would not stop, and they ended up outside together. Healy takes one look at what's about to go on, Piper is pleading for him, begging for him to intercede, and he turns his back! Just like that, tells her she's on her own and walks back inside. Pennsatucky starts whaling on her, hitting her, and beating her up. Piper, with nothing to lose, beats the ever loving hell out of Pennsatucky. Messed her up so badly that in season 2, Pennsatucky had no teeth. None! Courtesy of the state, she gets a whole new set of chompers. And he just let that mess happen! He's sick! *

But enough about them, I will share with you my favorite inmates and will include some things from season 1 and season 2 with as little spoilers as I can.

First and foremost, Poussey Washington, played by Samira Wiley. I absolutely adore this girl! She has completely stole the show for me. In season 1, she was just this cool black chick cracking jokes left and right, and she cared deeply about her friend. You didn't get too much about her from season 1 but you learned enough about her to make you love her. I was surprised by how well the show has captured all the diverse women. Especially black women. So often, we come off as angry/ghetto women who's always snapping their fingers or complaining about a man or they're loud. That's so not the case with this show. These women are real and wholly three dimensional. By season 2, we've learned a lot more. She's a lesbian, her dad was in the military, and she's made quite a few mistakes from there. We're still unsure about why she got locked up, but hey, there's like a million other characters. We can't learn absolutely everything right now. And that's okay.

With the introduction of Vee in season 2, you really get to see where loyalties lie in this show and I was happy with the way Poussey stuck to her guns and her moral compass was firmly pointing North. I won't say too much about it, but her arc with that whole thing just felt right. It's exactly the way I would have gone if I was writing the show. Samira is a beautiful, talented actress and I can't wait for a long career from her.

Next is Red, played by Kate Mulgrew. I freakin' love Red! She is a super strong Russian woman who takes no mess from anyone, not even the guards. In the first season, Red is in charge of the kitchen. While not always good, she works with what she got. And she smuggles in products for the ladies like nail polish and the like through the kitchen. But she has a strict no drugs policy. That's how people get in trouble! You learn in season 1 that she owned a little restaurant, she was married to a short bald man who worked for this Russian crime boss. You also learn that she was a little more timid than what she is when she gets to the prison. She wanted to be friends with the other Russian wives but they just would not give her the time of day. I know those feels! You still don't quite learn why Red got put there, even in season 2. But in season 2, you do learn how she became the woman that she is. I won't ruin it with spoilers, but you do understand why she became who she is now and again, I was happy with the way her storyline went. I think there's no other logical way for that to have transpired.

Next is Taystee AKA Tasha Jefferson, played by Danielle Brooks. I have a love/hate relationship with Taystee. I loved her in the first season. She was a smart, educated black woman who loved to read and took care of the library. She was loyal to her friends, she cracked jokes as much as anyone else, and she believed whole heartedly that if you just keep your head down and work as hard as you can, everything is supposed to be okay. Cute idealism, but that's not the way life works. I thought her storyline went as well as expected. Again, there's a million characters, not everyone is going to get something at once. We actually learn more about her in season 2 as her storyline is closely wrapped up in new arrival Vee.

Here's where I begin to sort of hate her. Without any spoilers, I can say that she just became so two-faced, that I found myself cringing every time she came on screen. Here's why.

Roll over the text in-between the asterisks if you want to see some MAJOR spoilers.

* So Vee was this huge drug boss and she took in wayward orphan kids that no one wanted, taught them the business and as long as they were good to her, she was good to them. Taystee, having worked at a fast food joint, needed more money and more freedom. So she ended up working for Vee. Taystee feels like Vee saved her so she feels like she owes her something. When Vee arrives at the prison, she immediately starts trying to take over. She bested the Latinas, gained control of the blacks, and beat the ever living spit out of Red in order to take over her tunnel smuggling business now that Red lost her kitchen. Then, she began her own business inside. She smuggled in tobacco through the cleaning supplies in waste management. They began making their own cigarettes and selling them for stamps on the inside.

Immediately, Poussey knew there was something wrong and tried to tell Taystee about it. She knew Vee was dangerous and she kept trying to tell Taystee that she didn't owe her anything. Taystee, being the two-faced fake person that she became, ignored Poussey and hung on to every word Vee said. Vee had Poussey beat up, she ruined their friendship saying Poussey was in love with her, and everything under the sun to keep them apart. Taystee just went along with it. No loyalty whatsoever. But towards the end of the season, Taystee didn't know how to reconcile her mother figure and her best friend. So Vee had everyone ice her out for still somewhat sticking up for Poussey. Iced her out and she still wanted stick up for Vee. What? I'm sorry but that was just so fake. No amount of "saving" inspired that much loyalty. For her to turn her back on her best friend inside is just insane. *

Next is Lorna Morello, played by Yael Stone. At first, Morello was this sweet, romantic girl who was planning her wedding with someone named Christopher. She was so smitten with him that it made it tragic that she was in prison. It really made you wonder why she was there. Unfortunately, you didn't get anything about her background or why she was there until season 2 and that was okay. She was nice to everyone, she made herself pretty with makeup and headbands, and she was just an all around cool chick. Season 2 however answered a lot of questions about Christopher and why she was in the joint and the things she did this season! I have never seen something like that, didn't even know it was possible, but they did it. I won't ruin it, but my eyebrows were firmly to the sky as all my questions were answered. It definitely explained a whole lot about her and I thought it was just brilliant.

And finally Daya and Bennett played by Dascha Polanco and Matt McGorry respectively. These two are wrapped together because, as no secret from trailers and promo posters, they end up together. Here's one of the greatest love stories to come out of this show. It's a roughly all girl's show so any hint of romance will either come from flashbacks or between two girls. And let's not forget that Daya is an inmate and Bennett is a guard. Strictly a no no. But considering that the staff at this prison are mostly all males, it's inevitable that a relationship would bloom.

But I thought it was the most cutest blossoming relationship I have ever seen. Their meet cute was when Bennett was making his rounds and Daya asked if she could have a stick of gum. He said no in public of course, but when she looked under her pillow later, there was a stick of gum. How cute! And she began drawing pictures for him and he began sneaking off with her, I just thought their relationship was what I always dreamed of having. Season 1 treated their relationship so delicately that I was practically swooning and smiling like an idiot whenever they were together. Their chemistry was just so electric, that I could actually believed that they liked each other. But then here comes season two and where things get a little complicated.

Roll over the text in-between the asterisks if you want to see some MAJOR spoilers.

* Soo, in an effort to get rid of Pornstache, AKA George Mendez, played by Pablo Schreiber, the Latinas and Red came up with a plan to frame him for having sex with Daya since management was catching wind of inappropriate relationships between guards and inmates. Wanting to save Bennett, Daya volunteers. So they blame Mendez and he ends up getting fired but now he can't live without Daya and keeps sending her love letters and claiming he's in love with her.

But then in season 2, we find out she's pregnant. Of course she is. Honestly, I could have done without. The writers certainly could have come up with problems for our young Romeo and Juliet and they chose the nuclear option. As usual. Now this couple has completely done a 180. She's trying to keep her pregnancy a secret from management and she's moody and bitter and mad at Bennett because they can't have the fairy tale romance she really wants. I get that. But she keeps blaming Bennett for them not being together, demands he turn himself in for sleeping with her, because all of a sudden she's feeling guilty about what happened to Mendez, and she just keeps requesting the moon from him and gets mad when he only produces a star.

And Bennett keeps bending over backwards to accommodate her. Why? Instead of a cute romantic lead, he's become a joke as he seems flustered over every little mood change that Daya has. And now, the whole Latina community knows about them two and they start blackmailing him for things like iPods, cell phones, candy and the like. What? And then, he shows a little backbone, says no, and threatens to lock them up in solitary if they try it again, and Daya wants to sit there and get mad at him. What? I just don't understand this at all. Why would they put these two together only to have them morph into polar opposites? I just don't get it. *

While this show is good, I will give it that, and you end up binge watching it and staying up for days only to wonder what's wrong with you, by season's end I'm left feeling more than a little empty. At the end of season 1, I didn't know how to feel. Excited for season 2? Happy with the way things turned out? Questioning what the hell I just saw? I'm not sure, and I thought that feeling would pass as the months went on and promos for season 2 began to surface. But it didn't. I had so many problems with the first season and how some of the story lines played out that I kept asking myself, why I was watching it. Just to fulfill a promise to a friend? Because I wanted to see it? I don't know.

I just felt wrong, somehow. I feel like the finale did what it was supposed to but it was such a giant leap away from where they started that I was left scratching my head as so why they went that way in the first place. Then when the promos for season 2 surfaced, I did find myself excited. The promos looked better than the season 1 finale. But as I began to watch season 2, I was even more disgusted with the way these women began to interact. Some story lines were justified. Others, I kept asking, "Well, how the hell did you get to that?!" And my favorite characters from season 1 began to change and morph and make decisions so far deviated from where they started, that I was literally cringing in every single scene. The season 2 finale didn't leave me with much hope for season 3. In fact, I'm saying right here that I'm not going to watch season 3. One disappointing season was one thing. Two, now you're just breaking my heart and I can't go through another roller coaster of disappointment in season 3. I binge watched season 2 so by the time I got to the end, I was left with the same empty feeling. Granted, I felt a lot better with this end than season 1, but I was still empty. I don't know if spacing out the episodes would have made it any better. Maybe, sometimes, we need a little break in-between episodes to let the events really sink in and get you excited for the next episode.

I just don't think I can go through with it. As a show, it is good, I highly recommend you see it and form your own opinions. As for me, it's no Oz replacement and that sucks. No where else on TV will you find another show that features so many diverse women who are as honest and truthful about themselves. They have fat women, skinny women, lesbians, straights, transgender women, butch women, girly girls, sexy women, unattractive women, black women, latinas, whites, old women and everything else under the sun. It just sucks that it's not the game changer I was hoping it would be.

Welp, I hope you enjoyed this review and if you have any comments or concerns, or want to defend the show, please, leave comments below!!

Beauty and the Pretty Boy Update!!!

3:19 AM | By Shay Nic

Warning!!!! This post contains spoilers from the previous two seasons, and while general in nature and intent, there may be specifics thrown in. You have been warned!

You've read my other post on this right? Good. Just checking.

I'm going to start trying a new thing on here where I say my piece and leave it at that. Not necessarily a recap of every show, or a summary as I will continue to do with new shows, but if you see an update, that usually means I have a problem.

And while I will try to stay away from spoilers, as I will continue to try and do, I can't help but air my grievances about the direction of this show. I have not seen the original series as this series is a remake of a popular show in the late 80s/early 90s. Okay, I didn't know that in my last post. Sue me.

But as with all remakes they start to develop their own lives and story lines and while that is all fine and dandy, I must say I have stopped believing in the relationships in this show. This is no reflection on the actors or their characters, but I am finding it harder and harder to actually believe them when they're going through this fictional world.

Stop reading now if you hate even general spoilers! Contains some specifics as well!

When this show first came out, I was rooting for Cat and Vincent. I thought, "Okay, I can buy her falling for him because she spent her whole life thinking she was crazy only to have the object of her obsession save her again and be this tortured, romantic hot guy". Yeah, I can completely buy that. And as it went on, I thought that the cop procedural story line was good. It was light, it wasn't really dark as CW is famous for balancing the light and the dark elements of story lines. I liked how Vincent was a savior not a villain. I liked how these seemingly harmless murders was just beast accidents. I did like that.

However, as the show went on, I found myself getting more and more disgusted with how they have handled the relationship between the two of them. The first season went off without a hitch. It came and went exactly how I thought it would. But as season two began to air, I found myself asking what exactly is going through these writers' minds as they're writing these episodes. It's like they have amnesia or something.

I get that no one wants to see a happy couple. Especially on a TV show where there's trouble around every corner. But the hurdles that these two go through! And while I'm all for throwing everything away for love, I just don't think this show does it very realistically.

Cat started out as this slightly strange, hopeful thinker who's a smart, independent woman and she's a cop, and she's all for justice and just trying to live her life. Okay, I get that. But then Vincent shows up and all of a sudden, she's throwing EVERYTHING away to be with him. Do you know how many laws she has broken to protect him? A lot! As a cop, that should just turn her stomach, and yet she's perfectly fine with it. Every little thing that Vincent has done she has just forgiven without even batting an eyelash.

He's killed people, whether accidentally or not. When he lost his memory and was killing for her real dad, he did it without a care in the world. He didn't care he was killing other beasts. And did she ever reprimand him for that? Or at least have a discussion about it? No, she chucked it off to him being a beast and her dad controlling him. Um, no. He did that all by his lonesome. He's broken a lot of laws too and Cat was just so okay with it, because you know, she loves him.

Then when they break up because he didn't remember her and because he did kill the beasts, she spent all this time worrying over every little thing he did. And oh look! Here comes Gabe! Oh wait, wasn't he a beast before? Didn't he try to kill her? Didn't he try and damn near succeeded in killing Vincent? But Cat decides to go on a date with him anyway? Really? And not only that, she started having sex with him. As if the past is the past and it didn't just happen like a few months ago! Then Vincent starts trying to win her back and she keeps getting sucked into his world despite trying to be happy without all that trouble and here comes Tory to further mess things up for these two.

Vincent came out of hiding for Tory! And while I get that she's a natural beast and Vincent felt some kind of weird attraction to her solely for her beast side, I find it a little strange that he so quickly fell over himself to be with her and her demanding ways. She always got so jealous whenever Cat came up which is understandable, but still. And while they were dating their respective people it was still so obvious that they wanted each other. But then there's the pesky mess of Vincent's moral compass being a little off center.

But as TV shows are so want to do, Cat and Gabe break up. Tory ends up dying and Cat and Vincent get back together because they're "stronger together than apart". Puh-leese! Then, Gabe develops this weird obsession with Cat. I mean, it's seriously borderline crazy. He needs to save Cat because Vincent is dangerous. Was it not that long ago that Gabe was doing the same thing and was ten times worse? Then of course, here comes Vincent to save the day. Since when did Cat need to be saved? She's a NY cop! She can more than handle herself, had even done so on plenty of occasions, but she suddenly needs a man to save her now? Really?

And now, Gabe has gone completely off the deep end, thinking that if he can get Vincent out of the picture, that suddenly Cat will want him back? What? And let's not forget all the things that Gabe had done recently. He kidnapped Cat's sister, he's fought Vincent on more than one occasion, and he's been killing folks left and right. But sure, let's take Cat out on a date because he loves her, needs to save her, and thinks that fancy cakes is going to make Cat swoon and leave Vincent. And then, Cat is back to cleaning up Vincent's messes when he goes to jail and she has to switch out his blood and in order to stop Gabe, she has to doctor evidence. All of this rule breaking! And let's not forget how willing she was to just disappear with Vincent. She has gotten her shield taken away, her photo plastered all over the news because she was helping the fugitive and she's okay with all of it? What has Vincent done to inspire such loyalty? All because their love is epic or their love is the kind that fairy tales get written about? I'm sorry, but fairy tale or not, this whole relationship is one sided. She's risked literally everything. Her career, her family, her friendship with Tess, and everything else because she's in love? What happened to the smart, independent woman we started out with?

And don't even get me started on Tess! WHY IN ALL THAT IS GOOD AND SACRED, is she with J.T.? In what world is this okay? I'm not saying there's something wrong with Tess. I'm not saying there's something wrong with J.T. However, them together just doesn't make any sense. I get that at the core of this show is love conquers all. I get that. And Tess has always complained about not having a man and I share her sentiments. Sometimes a dominant, independent woman ends up alone a lot of the time because some men are really intimidated by that. Some men think they want a dominant woman, but they really don't.

But hooking her up with J.T. is a lazy writer ploy to not introduce new characters or have to deal with the obligatory discussion about how she doesn't want to lie to the object of her affection, but she also doesn't want to include him into this crazy world. And while J.T. did have someone, she just suddenly disappeared and was never heard from again, but he suddenly likes Tess? I just don't see how that happens. Why put these two together? Why? Is this a way to keep both their characters busy while 90% of the show is Cat dodging bullets to make sure Vincent stays in NY with her?

Every time they kiss or have a silly discussion about how Tess doesn't show him enough affection, I cringe and have to avert my eyes. Again, these have nothing to do with the actors or their characters, but them together just doesn't make any sense.

While we're on the subject, can we discuss how Tess is suddenly okay with breaking all sorts of laws for Vincent now? At first she was completely against it. Not following the rules as a cop was tearing her up inside. The show goes on a small hiatus, and she's suddenly on board? She's okay with doctoring evidence and not putting the correct crook behind bars? Really? All because she's in lurve with J.T.? Yuck! Yes, she had a few times in the beginning of the summer airing where she was walking a thin line between working as a cop and making sure Cat has her boo. But now, she's breaking as many laws as anyone else on this show. And what did Cat do to inspire such loyalty? She's done nothing but lie and whine to Tess. And their friendship is nothing but Vincent and J.T. When was the last time they had a conversation that wasn't about a man? A step back from feminism anyone?

While this whole tirade seems like I don't like the show, that's grossly incorrect. I think this is a strong show but they have completely deviated so far away from where this show started. I think the writers are starting to lose sight of where they're trying to go. First it was Muirfield that created the beasts. They were a couple of scientists experimenting on military personnel so that the military could have super soldiers. Okay. But when they closed that story line, suddenly, all of a sudden, beasts have actually been around for hundreds of years and coincidentally Cat has an ancestor that has gone through everything she's going through now with her very own beast. What's next? They're going to find out that aliens have actually abducted humans from the Stone Age and experimented with them and Vincent is just a by product of human curiosity from some scientist or government baddie who found old evidence?

While the search for the origin story of Vincent will always renin a factor in this show, I think they need to stick to one story. They started with Muirfield, they should have stayed with it. They think they stopped, but they're still at it with their experiments. Maybe Vincent wasn't chosen because J.T. suggested it or because he signed up when like all his brothers died (how convenient right?), maybe he was chosen specifically. Maybe they're still after him because he's solved the riddle to keeping his beast together, thanks to Cat, but maybe his strain of the serum has somehow perfected itself. Maybe they want to kidnap him again. Maybe they want to kidnap Cat because somewhere in her blood, is a beast soother or something. Maybe his brothers aren't dead and they're beasts too. Maybe somewhere down in his lineage, an ancestor started Muirfield and his blood is the cure all for major diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's.

While it looked like this season ended on a good note, and I'm excited for the next season, the CW took their sweet, precious time figuring out if they were going to pick this show up again because even they knew their writers were unsure where they were going. While I like Sendhil, AKA Gabe, (I think he's a brilliant actor and sooooo sexy), I just don't understand why they made him so crazy and obsessive over Cat. They had like three dates and slept together like once or twice. It really couldn't have been that great. They could have ended his storyline a long time ago by making him leave dejectedly, or giving him a stronger reason for wanting to kill Vincent other than he wants Cat. At first, it was because he wanted to live. I get that. But he was saved from that, sooooo, why all the craziness to get him off the show? Was it simply because they didn't have anything else to write or because it was so late in the show, that they wanted to give a complete closure to his story line, leaving no doubt in audiences' minds so they could start with a fresh new concept?

While I adore this show, I find some of the elements a little hard to believe. I just don't believe in their relationship anymore. So much has been sacrificed in the name of love and we're just supposed to sit here and take it. Why? Because they tell us to? I'm still going to watch the show but I can't say that I'm happy about it going forward. As history has taught us with this show, this little happily ever after on a park bench as a normal couple isn't going to last very long.

Hope you enjoyed my little tirade. Please, if you don't agree, feel free to leave comments below!

Dear Ruby Sparks

7:58 PM | By Shay Nic

I was actually genuinely surprised with this movie. I know that sounds mean and kind of messed up and it has nothing to do with the movie, it's all personal. Sometimes a movie is marketed a certain way and I think, hey this is different, this is cool and it doesn't really end up blowing my mind. It's still a good movie, just it wasn't OMG YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!

So listen to me when I say, OMG YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!

The basic premise of this movie, as I see, is that there's a young guy, a writer, who peaked at an early age and never really got to enjoy it. The literary world was immediately pulled into his work and want more but he just doesn't have more. He's blocked. And it doesn't help that he's awkward around girls, shy, and a quiet genius. What's a guy to do?

All of this fame is fine and dandy but like most people, what he really wants is someone to love him. He wants to love. How can he write a good story if he's never really lived? If he's never kissed the wrong person? If he's never said, "flip it", and punched someone in the face just because? And like most awkward people around the opposite sex, he finds the answer by hunkering down in his house, staring at the tv, and not really going for it. Not being more confident.

But then, he gets an idea. What is the perfect woman? If it were up to him, what would his ideal woman look like? Sound like? Feel like? You can't look for certain qualities in someone if you don't even know what you want. And so he writes, and writes, and keeps on writing. He writes up the perfect woman. Her backstory, where she came from, who first broke her heart, what her parents were like. Just really getting to the nitty gritty of who this girl is, really making her three dimemensional. And as luck would have it, she actually came to life. It was little things. Her bra in a drawer, her shoes left by the door, and then finally her. His dream woman.

I won't tell you the ending or what ensues but you get the basic gist of this movie. And before you go thinking that you know the ending already, I'm here to tell you that you don't know jack squat. This movie is just mind blowing in the greatest of ways. The main actors are a married couple, Paul Dano who is amazing, and his wife Zoe Kazan who also wrote the movie. Those are the only characters you really need to worry about.

It's about this intimate relationship between writer and creation, it's the ultimate love affair and I just love how cute and quirky this movie is without making it obvious that they're trying to be cute and quirky. That's my problem with a lot of romantic comedies, it's like they're trying too hard. And yet calling this movie a romantic comedy almost seems like an insult. I love that the lead actors are married because it provides a certain level of intimacy that must transcend beyond the page and I don't think it could have worked with two people who weren't that close.

For a sort of novice writer, I'm sure Zoe has written other things unknown to me, this was a very good script. It had very minimal locations, characters, and the dialogue actually sounded like normal conversation. There weren't many pauses and they reacted to what the other was saying rather than looking like they were waiting on the other person to say their line.

This is a fun, cute story that has officially became my go to romantic movie. I can watch this multiple times and never get sick of it. I don't like over the top romantic movies, I don't like the super mushy stuff, and if you're like me then you know what I'm talking about. I can promise you that this movie isn't like that. Please, please, please, go watch this movie. You will not be disappointed.

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