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The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
OH MY GOD. HOW WAS THAT EPISODE AN ACTUAL THING THAT HAPPENED???? LITERALLY EVERY SECOND WAS PACKED WITH BRILLIANCE AND WONDERFULNESS. And, like, I was kind of grumpy and a grouch at work all morning, and then I watched the video over my lunch break and I couldn't stop grinning, and I had to, like, calm myself down because if I walked back into work with the ridiculous grin I had on my face, people would've wondered what had happened to me during lunch considering how I was acting in the morning. BUT IT WAS SO UTTERLY PERFECT, I NEED TO BREAK IT DOWN:
[-] First off, LIZZIE MENTIONING HAVING A FUN WEEKEND WITH GIGI AND DARCY. AND SHE'S NOT EVEN BEING A LITTLE SARCASTIC. Can you imagine just a few months ago her reaction to the idea of having an actually fun weekend with Darcy???? (Also, WHOSE OFFICE IS THAT??? I thought Lizzie had that other office, but now she is in this one!!! WHERE IS SHE. Why is this what I'm focusing on.)
[-] "This is the boring stuff." ??? Lizzie, you either don't know the meaning of the word, or you don't understand your viewers even a little bit. THIS IS THE OPPOSITE OF BORING. THIS IS THE ACTUAL GREATEST STUFF.
[-] "Gigi told me you want me." / "…she did?" HAHAHA OH MY GOD. With the reveal later on in the episode that she went karaoke-ing with Gigi on Sunday, I completely believe that Gigi was teasing her about how well Darcy and Lizzie were getting along on the Saturday tour of San Francisco and about their common interests and her tweeting him to thank him (!!!!!!!!!) afterwards, and she was probably like, "Come on, you're not even a little bit attracted to him?" and so on, and maybe Lizzie would refuse to admit to anything, but she would be totally in denial and overly defensive, and Gigi would just be like, "mmmhm," so her first expectation is that Gigi would totally tell Darcy that Lizzie's into him. Or actually, I might like even more if her reaction to that wasn't because of any conversation with Gigi, but because she subconsciously does totally want him, so of course her first thought when Darcy would say "You want me," is that… she does want him! BECAUSE SHE DOES. I also adore her face when she realizes what he actually meant by that. Oh, Lizzie, you're so far gone and you don't even know it yet.
[-] I kind of loved when Lizzie was asking if Darcy wanted to be in her videos "again. Some more." Wasn't there a Q&A early on where she answered a question about when we'd get to see Darcy and she was like "Why would DARCY ever be on my videos???" AND NOW SHE'S INVITING HIM TO SIT DOWN FOR MULTIPLE VIDEOS. Also, I adore when he tells her he has time, or "I'll make [the time]." HE'LL MAKE TIME FOR HER VIDEOS. BECAUSE HE'S IN LOVE WITH HER AND THEY'RE IMPORTANT TO HER AND ALSO HE RESPECTS WHAT SHE'S DOING WITH THE VIDEOS, SO HE WILL MAKE THEM A PRIORITY. (And flirting with Lizzie is a sub-priority.) ALSO MAN HER FACE WHEN HE'S LOOKING RIGHT AT HER AFTER HE SAYS THAT IS TOTALLY THE LOOK OF SOMEONE WITH A SERIOUS CRUSH.
[-] NEVER OVER DARCY'S FACE HERE, OMG.
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He is totally doing everything in his power not to let any emotion show because you know inside he's like "omg Lizzie touched me omg no keep it cool, Darcy, this is not a big deal, you're fine, the camera's on you and she will see your reaction later!!!!" IT'S JUST RIDICULOUS THAT THE SIMPLE ACT OF HER CHOOSING TO PLACE HER HAND ON HIS SHOULDER CAUSES HIS FACE TO DO THE THINGS THAT IT DOES THERE. This definitely helps make up for us not getting to see his face in that previous video where she grabs his arm, anyways.
[-] The portion where they discuss Pemberley is cute! The fact that his father's family comes from England is a nice nod to the source material. AND THE FACT THAT HE'S LIKE "I'm sorry, that's boring." HE'S TRYING SO HARD, YOU GUYS. WOULD HE EVER HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE FACT THAT WHAT HE'S SAYING COULD BE BORING BEFORE THE PROPOSAL??? He just wants to help Lizzie make an interesting video! (He just wants her to like him and not think he's boring!!!) BUT SHE DOESN'T FIND IT BORING, AND SHE SOUNDS SINCERE. And I love that he seems kind of surprised when she's says it's not boring, and he holds her gaze for a beat too long, and then looks down and smiles that way he does when he's kind of… bashful/shy? UGH IDK.
[-] When he tells her that she must know what he means about finding something he's good at and passionate about!!!!!!!!! BECAUSE OF HER VIDEOS. God, how he respects and admires her because of the videos, even though she spends many, many videos mocking and insulting him, is just ridiculous, I can't handle it. AND SHE TRIES TO BLOW IT OFF OR BELITTLE THE VIDEOS, AND HE WON'T LET HER!!!! HE HAS TO SHOW HER HOW SPECIAL THEY ARE!!!!!!!!! And oh man:
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YOU ARE FLIRTING WITH DARCY RIGHT NOW, LIZZIE BENNET. DO YOU COMPREHEND THAT. And how he just gestures to her to answer the question!!!! FLIRTING. I CANNOT HANDLE THIS.
[-] THE COSTUME THEATER!!!!!!!! Okay, first off, I love how she can bring up how the costume theater indirectly led to her calling Darcy a Newsie in the past, and he doesn't back down or get awkward or shy!!! He's just like, yes, yes it did, Lizzie, but I'm head over heels in love with you so I don't really care about that! (I'm reading through the subtext there.) Also, I paused the video right after when she tells Darcy he would have to be her assistant, and MAN, LIZZIE. Those are some serious flirty, batting-eyelash eyes right there!!!!! AND HOW SHE GOADS HIM WITH "It's not like it's your first time!" And the glare he gives her is amazing, it's totally like the glares that he's given Gigi, and I just love that he's relaxed and comfortable enough around her at this point that he can glare at her because she's teasing him!!!
[-] DARCY AS GIGI!!!!!!!!!!! Man, I mentioned weeks and weeks ago, before Darcy did the costume theater of himself, how much I wanted Darcy to do costume theater of someone and be awkward at first and then really get into it, and so as much as I loved the first costume theater ep we got, I was a little disappointed he just did it of himself. BUT THIS EPISODE WAS LIKE A DREAM TO ME. I got the awkward Darcy doing costume theater as Gigi, and then comfortable, awesome-at-costume-theater Darcy when he was doing it as Fitz (which I will get to in a second because !!!!!). I also totally didn't notice until it was pointed out to me on Tumblr afterwards that Gigi's costume is just Darcy's hat plus Jane's flower, and that is so cute to me, I love it. AND OH MAN, DARCY'S IMPRESSION OF GIGI, STILL DEAD FROM THAT. AND LIZZIE TRYING TO KEEP IT GOING AND SUPPRESS HER LAUGHTER.
[-] BUT THEN THE WHOLE THING ABOUT MOCKING. I love how the second he says he doesn't want to mock Gigi with the costume theater, he backs down and apologizes and says that mock is a harsh word, EVEN THOUGH LIZZIE HAS SAID SO MUCH WORSE ABOUT DARCY OVER THE COURSE OF ALL HER VIDEOS. But he backs down because he doesn't want her to think he's attacking her because she does costume theater all the time!!! HE CARES SO MUCH WHAT SHE THINKS OF HIM. ughhhhh. AND THEN. THE ACTUAL BEST EXCHANGE OF THE EPISODE:
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YOU GUYSSS!!!!!!!!!! There are so many amazing things going on in this (5 minute) video (that I've somehow spent hundred and hundreds of words flailing about), but this is the best to me, because it's everything I love about them. They make each other better, but not because they're specifically trying to change so the other person will want to date them. They make each other better because being around each other changes their perspective and makes them see people in different ways and they both learn and change and grow together, and it's the most beautiful thing to me!!!!!!!!
[-] "I had a phonecall with my dad, we can reenact that! No, that would be weird." WHY, LIZZIE? BECAUSE YOU WANT TO BANG DARCY AND IT WOULD BE WEIRD IF SOMEONE YOU WANT TO BANG PRETENDS TO BE YOUR DAD??? IS THAT THE REASON??????? Because that's what I'm assuming the reason is.
[-] DARCY AS FITZ. OH MY GOD.
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EVERYTHING I NEVER KNEW I WANTED BUT ABSOLUTELY NEEDED IN MY LIFE. I utterly adore how he looks directly into the camera when he says that Fitz got to do costume theater of him after all, and this is what we call payback, because he totally knows Fitz is watching. I love the sense you get of their friendship just from something like that, even though Fitz isn't even present. Which, speaking of, CAN WE PLEASE GET A VIDEO WHERE FITZ AND DARCY ACTUALLY INTERACT??? I thought for sure we'd be getting Fitz in some of these vids since he's in the area and knows what's going on and is helping Gigi scheme and everything!!! I know he's not in this part of the book, but Darcy doing costume theater of Fitz is ALSO NOT IN THE BOOK, so they can totally make room for a Fitz appearance. ANYWAYS, the cut to Darcy doing the costume theater as Fitz is the actual greatest thing!!!! I love that you don't get to see him get up or sit back down, it just cuts straight to Darcy in that wig, so even though every time I watch the video (which has been numerous times at this point) I know it's coming, I still guffaw and clutch my face each time. AND I CAN'T GET OVER HER LAUGHING AT HIM!!!!!! HE'S BEING FUNNY AND HE'S MAKING HER GENUINELY LAUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, in conclusion, this episode was the GREATEST GIFT TO ME EVER. Every second was utter perfection and I need to rewatch it a million times. AND WE GET MORE DARCY IN THURSDAY'S EP, THAT PREVIEW, AHHHH.
Miranda
OH MY GOD, THIS EPISODE. I mean, most of it I was bemoaning the lack of Gary, but there were kittens and awesome callbacks like the hotel with that… bellhop (? is that what they're called? Why don't I know this, I've stayed in hotels before) and Ping Pong Charlie, which I definitely enjoyed, I was just itching for Miranda and Gary to discuss the fact that she confessed her love for him. BUT THEN. HE WENT TO STOP HER AT THE TRAIN STATION. AND THEN THEY RAN HOME TOGETHER FROM THE YOUTHS. AND THERE WERE MAKEOUTS!!!!!!! MANY, MANY MAKEOUTS!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I have been waiting my entire life for these two to have a legit kiss that is not part of some dream sequence or fantasy or whatever, and then we got SO MANY. AND HIM TELLING HER THAT IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HER!!!!!!!!! Although I couldn't totally buy Gary having that much trouble telling Miranda he loves her because he TOTALLY does, and I've also gotten the impression that he is more in love with her (or at least fell in love with her FIRST, or was ready to admit it first) than the reverse in the past.
AND THEN THE END, WHAT WAS THAT????? I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO REACT TO THAT. Like, there's absolutely no way she's going to marry Mike, but I can see her turning them both down because she doesn't believe Gary really wants to marry her and was just doing it because of Mike. And then I don't know how a season 4 would go, if it would be back kind of to the status quo with Miranda not believing Gary's ready or whatever to be with her, and him trying to prove it all season, and then more makeouts and finally being together for real, or if she would turn down the proposal but they would still date in season 4. Of course, all this discussion might be moot, because there is no guarantee there will be a season 4, BUT THERE BETTER BE. YOU CAN'T JUST END THE SHOW ON THIS NOTE, COME ON. Of course, even if we do get a season 4, we probably won't actually get to see it for like 5 years, ugh. WHY IS THIS SEASON OVER ALREADY???? I DO NOT APPROVE. At least I can rewatch those Miranda/Gary makeouts on a loop for awhile to tide me over.
I'd been slacking pretty hard in the reading department for most of January, but I went from having read only 1 book for the month to 6 by the end of this weekend! And one of the books I read was HDU by India Lee, which I only heard about because it's literally based on ONTD. But, more importantly than that, it features pretend dating, which is legitimately one of my favorite tropes ever, so I had to read it for that reason alone. AND IT ACTUALLY WAS KIND OF DELIGHTFUL!!!
HDU by India Lee
The book is basically about a girl, Amanda, who is a moderator on ONTD HDU who hates this famous actor, Liam Brody, and constantly trashes him on the site. And he's going after this super-important, high-profile role and wants to rehabilitate his image, so he contacts her to stop posting so much awful stuff about him, and he will pay her however much he wants. And her form of payment ultimately is her pretending to be his glrifriend, which is a win-win for them both, since he'll rehabilitate his image by dating a plain jane instead of jumping from model to model, and she'll get out of her small town and become semi-famous.
AND IDK, IT WAS JUST REALLY CUTE!!!! I mean, I'm pretty sure I've read AU fics with this same exact plot in multiple fandoms, and it even felt a bit like reading a fic, but it was still just delightful. Pure guilty pleasure/wish fulfillment read, and there's totally nothing wrong with that. I just adore basically all iterations of the pretend dating trope. And it wasn't a perfect book or anything; I could've done without some of the side plots, like everything about the Ian subplot, and the book actually could've done with more Liam (normally I actually prefer books like this to be from just one perspective, but this is one where I wouldn't have minded getting the guy's perspective as well, especially since him falling for her was actually a bit too subtle for my tastes). But that being said, it was just really cute!!!!! I really enjoyed that you can clearly tell the writer has frequented ONTD because the comments were so spot-on. And I was afraid they'd make Liam out to be a a misogynistic douche who would make horrible comments about Amanda at the beginning, or there'd be forced sexual chemistry/attraction between them early on, but I actually really loved their dynamic. He's never too much of a douche for me to not be able to get over (he makes like one or two kind of douche-y comments, but nothing really terrible), and they just have a really wonderful dynamic where she pushes back and they tease each other, and it's cute!!!! I can't stop calling this book cute and delightful, but that's what it is!!!! I definitely recommend it if you want a light, fun read.
Another one of the books I read was The Diviners by Libba Bray which I've been meaning to read since September, and I finally got to it, and I just… there's something about Libba Bray's writing that I just can't get into her books. I don't know what it is! I definitely liked this more than the first book of her Gemma Doyle trilogy, but I really couldn't get into that at all, so that's not saying much. I liked the ideas and plot a lot more in this book, but for whatever reason, I just never can get invested in her characters. I don't understand why! But I might end up reading the sequel regardless just because I did enjoy the plot/worldbuilding, and I can see a couple characters where there's the potential for me to get invested. Still, I was hoping to like it a lot more than I did, so that was disappointing.
I am so behind on all the TV, ugh! Every time I go to finally watch something, I'm like, "Well, I could catch up on Castle, ...or I could watch this 5 min video of Lizzie and Darcy flirting with each other for the 800th time." You can guess which option I've been choosing. I'M SORRY, BUT THIS WEBSERIES MAY HAVE TAKEN OVER MY LIFE A LITTLE BIT. At least there's new Hart of Dixie and New Girl (!!!!! THE PROMOS, I AM DYING ALREADY) tonight!!! I should be able to divert my attention from LBD long enough to watch those episodes, at least!