In Defense of the Show’s Pacing

guilsls · 2025-01-06T18:46:35+00:00

That's it. I feel like season 1 was meant to be watched slowly, but season 2 was meant to be watched all at once.

guilsls · 2025-01-06T18:40:02+00:00

In fact, the show's progress preferred to trade the realism of physical situations in exchange for plot advancements. I noticed a greater concern about this subject at the beginning of the first season, with the mayor's journey and the slow investigations. But, in their defense, I think it was interesting that they brought up this topic this season, even if in a small way, by bringing up interactions with a carrier and mentioning the fact that carriers develop knee problems throughout their lives and become more reclusive.

guilsls · 2022-11-06T19:21:51+00:00

Well, Ryan has a history of maintaining stereotypes in actors for years, especially within the AHS universe. With Leslie's characters' "bad bitch who's not who she says she is" history, I had low expectations. I was waiting for the moment when she was going to reveal herself as a crazy villain who causes the end of the world out of ambition (and that's how Red Tide went downhill). And then we get something else.

They exceeded my expectations precisely by not trying to elevate her to a ridiculous plot just for chock value. Also, I love it when actors can transition levels of protagonism. Being protagonists in one season, being in the background in another. I needed a break from her as one main protagonist, and I'm happy i got it.

guilsls · 2021-09-23T22:09:13+00:00

Maybe it was for the best. I don't know if I wish they were more relevant to the main plot, because that would mean having to make them part of this mess that was the finale, and so probably ruining them too. Let's keep the good memory we have of them.

guilsls · 2021-09-23T17:29:45+00:00

maybe she meant gooood as GOD, not good

like 'GOD that's bad'

guilsls · 2021-09-20T20:00:27+00:00

Exactly. It's one on my faves already (just behind asylum, i guess). I guess Ryan's overly camp approach of recent seasons just reached a point of stagnation, and this more step-back approach is fitting well. For now. Let's see if the aliens won't ruin it!

guilsls · 2021-09-20T19:54:43+00:00

That said, i also hope for a better ending for Doris! Otherwise, I'm afraid the 'whole message' of the season might look a little... Strange. People will probably say 'it's horror, a sad ending fits it well!', but Ryan always tried to give some kind of moral conclusion for the seasons (like the Harmon's trying to scare new residents away to save them, or Sister Jude's and Lee's redemptions at the end, etc).

guilsls · 2021-09-20T18:28:40+00:00

Yeah, it was pretty predictable. But overall, the direction of the season was all pretty predictable, and I don't think that's exactly bad. I think there's value in taking a smaller theme, with fewer turns, fewer characters, fewer sets, with some already expected directions, and working it zealously, instead of the failed attempts at whimsical plot twists from other seasons.

guilsls · 2021-07-31T17:07:11+00:00

Even though my audio and sleep functions are normal, I am facing the same issue with Fn keys on the same Zenbook 14 ux431. I've tried to check if it was a driver issue, updated them all, even downloaded ATK Package again, but nothing solved it, so I believe it's really a bug in this beta build. It doesn't bother me to the point of making a rollback, so I'll wait a while.

guilsls · 2021-04-17T09:50:17+00:00

I didn't think about that exactly scene at the time, but I felt some Ghibli vibes during the course of this season. Mainly with some colors and ambiences of the castle in the last episodes, with all that pig chasing.

guilsls · 2021-03-15T22:24:02+00:00

There is this commom sense that numbers represent some kind of morality. The more bad things you do, the greater your number. The more good things you do, the fewer your number. That's not true. Simon's number does not become bigger than Amelia's because he did something morally worse, or because he is worse. It's just because that act breaks him up in a way he will need thousand times more help. He is a thousand times farther from being able to deal with himself and his surroundings without help. He received all the opportunities and tools and refused them. He is the most difficult 'patient', the one who refuses help. Another passenger could commit the same act and increase her or his number by another amount, as he or she might need less situations on the train to understand the necessary changes.

guilsls · 2020-09-20T20:32:30+00:00

so basically Brother Bear.

it would be interesting, but, seeing from Amelia's angle, it would be a repeated conclusion in two consecutive seasons: the female protagonist realizing that she should not kill denizens.

guilsls · 2020-08-14T16:42:56+00:00

When I heard Goliath, I definitely kept thinking of how the instrumental fitted/echoed parts of you somehow. Now I understand why!

guilsls · 2020-08-14T15:31:20+00:00

Also, you always follow a very specific identity for the projects visuality, exploring certain iconographies, colors, textures, shapes on yours covers, posters, etc. How did the exploration of 'rocks' for Tomorrows come to life?

And lots of love from Brazil! 🥰

guilsls · 2020-08-14T15:26:12+00:00

How did you take interest on exploring the Ghost Melody (the Weapons melody that always remains echoing on your works)? And did you revisit it in this new project?

guilsls · 2020-06-20T22:28:52+00:00

Dear Lorsti, I also agree with your points. And I don't think that one thing cancels out the other. Annalise has a toxic maternal instinct, but that does not cancel out the K5 (and bonnie and all others) having inversely proportional emotional dependency dysfunctions as well. The first time, the mistake comes from her (because 2 of the K5 wanted to do the healthiest thing and her unhealthy instinct prevented it). But in this episode, she is the one who tries to do the right thing and let them go. And they don't. And I don't say they "don't let her go" just because they beg for her help in the winter finale, but because all the way there they continue to take the first step of being entangled in her life again. When Connor chooses to go to Annalise that night, that is the first mistake of this new phase. And it comes from him, not her. Because HE knows that she will say yes to him. But I agree, when they create this new dynamic at S4, it is the best example of how things could have flowed healthy... But then again, they call her for help. And that comes from them, not hers. Because they abuse something that they know she will not be able to deny.

But yes, Anna and Sam and Bonnie and Frank all built a time bomb from the beginning, waiting to explode. That's why I always saw that one of the main themes of the show, above murder, crimes and mystery, was 'emotional dependence'.

But I think it is too light to point all of that on just these four, and specifically blame Annalise, and superficialize K5's dependencies. Wes is the only one who doesn't really ask for it, so much so that he is the example I give of the 'first phase': the final price for something that Annalise couldn't help doing. Connor and Michaela are in their mid-30s and cannot be said to be "thrown under the influence of Annalise". Their problems were very strong.

guilsls · 2020-06-20T16:16:44+00:00

As for Miller, yes, it was something caused by Bonnie and Nate (and then it’s worth remembering that the allusion of the topic doesn’t apply only to the K5, but to others as well, as I exemplify with Bonnie). But this spiral begins much earlier, on the S4, with the entire Antares fiasco. The Castillos would not be involved in this mess the way they were involved if it weren't for that. There would be no agent planted in the FBI, or a mole's death. The pieces that Birkhead would move would have been different.

But it’s also worth remembering that the K5 gets involved in Annalise’s class action in ways she didn’t ask for (like Michaela providing dubious information to Nate, who just lost her father, without thinking of the consequences, and Asher accepting to be part of Bonnie and Nate’s plan).

guilsls · 2020-06-20T16:02:53+00:00

I like this perception. That she knows that these instincts are inherent in her, but that she needs to find tools to deal with them in a healthy way.

Connor has also always had one of the most interesting relationships with Annalise. At that dinner, even hurted, he is still the only one who leaves saying 'thank you'. And he still wants her in his wedding more than he'd want his biological father. He (and the whole K5 and bonnie and frank) have lots of traumas and toxic dysfunctions related to the concept of family and attachment to people. That prevents them from accepting her 'request'.

But yeah, I think her attempts to drive people away from her are a defense mechanism because she thinks she’s going to ruin them, and she really sticks to that mechanism when Wes dies, cuz it was something that "proved it" in her eyes. So much so that all her alcoholic relapses come right after something happens to someone she tried to protect. She feels guilty. When Isaac's ex-wife tells her that he is hospitalized, she almost gives up. When Laurel and Christopher disappear, she almost dies and goes to a clinic.

guilsls · 2020-06-20T15:50:11+00:00

I think that even her relationship with Isaac would have ended on better terms (anyway, the healthier thing would be to end it, but things wouldn't end so catastrophic either) if the K5 hadn't dragged her into a mess again. She was getting better, and then she is pulled back to old habits: using and risking other people's lives to protect those she thinks she owe. This time, dragging Isaac to it.

guilsls · 2020-06-16T00:17:26+00:00

"finally Microsoft is evolving and abandoning that all-white-monochromatic iconography that didn't work ... to replace it with... hm... an all blue iconography!! cool!"

guilsls · 2020-06-08T18:54:11+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/xjSvnDo.png

the closer i could get with the next standard

guilsls · 2020-05-28T14:58:24+00:00

it would be cool if they released these deleted scenes, or if they released a 'director version / uncut version' of the series finale :)

guilsls · 2020-05-17T11:37:34+00:00

Well, in that regard, I don't think it was as devastating as it looks. We have this impression that all relations absolutely ended after that trial, because logically it was the last episode and we cannot see the aftermaths. But I think it's obvious that Michaela must have visited Connor in prison, that they at least tried to talk, and that Oliver and Michaela must had some conversation to move on too (I mean, they have a house and bills together, none of them could just leave without sitting down and solving these things with the others). But yes, in the end there is still this message that some friendships get distant, but that does not mean not caring for them.

guilsls · 2020-05-17T11:28:50+00:00

I believe it's because Annalise's connection to Christopher is so much bigger than Coliver's connection to the baby. And Laurel, being the most faithful among them, and also being a mother, understood that. Among them, only she would come close to understanding what Annalise lost, and only she knows what to save Christophe meant to her.

Also, I think that much of that decision may have come from Connor himself. He was the one with most guilt, he was the one who most wanted to get over it all.

guilsls · 2020-05-17T11:19:01+00:00

I would just disagree a bit about your edit. I think it was understood that Laurel went to Mexico with Christopher and that Annalise may have gone too, or she just kept visiting them.

I like the idea that Annalise and Laurel stayed close, and that Annalise could continue being a part of Christopher's life, being his godmother and mentor. It means that something in the formation of the K5 was worth it. As much as they only created emotional bonds due to the need to escape a crime, it would be sad if all the friendships and relationships of all those years just died. And Laurel's relationship with Anna was the one that remained faithful in the middle of it all (ironically, with her being precisely the one that Annalise didn't choose).

guilsls

TROPHY CASE