The Work Experience Girl

If you're not watching Black Doves on Netflix...I don't know what you're doing with your life. No, seriously.

Quick rundown, Keira Knightley portrays Helen Webb, a Black Dove. The Black Doves are spies who harvest intel and sell it to the highest bidder. Helen is married to a politician who doesn't know who she really is, so she's comfortably collected secrets for the past ten years.

There are a host of other wackier, much more interesting, and blessedly queer characters like Sam (Ben Whishaw), a gay triggerman pining for his ex, and the infamous lesbian triggerwomen No-First-Name Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor No-Last-Name (Elizabeth Creevey). Isabella Wei portrays Kai-Ming Chen, the heroin-addicted daughter of the recently slain Chinese Ambassador to Britain (she's also gonna be in Bridgerton Season Four!!!!).

Please Don't Reboot "Buffy". Reboot "Sunnydale" instead.

Previously: We Need a Wolfram & Hart TV Series

Ever since Dolly Parton said producers were still working on the Buffy reboot, something's been bugging me.

I was in Facebook group recently talking about The Vampire Diaries, and instead of the usual rants about what they did wrong, we were actually talking about the (few) things they got right. And I said I loved how they fleshed out the lore of Mystic Falls, which was one thing sorely missing about Sunnydale on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

What we know about Sunnydale reads like basic trivia: it sits on a Hellmouth, it's a demon magnet, and there are a handful of people and events we learn about over the course of the series, but nothing ever really feels fleshed out. Even worse, we often learned something specific for an episode that was never referenced before, then never referenced again. I found that particularly annoying.

Now, we're never going to recapture the magic of the original show, certainly not that special magic of the first three seasons. Buffy was the first of its kind in an era now long gone. We're not getting that time period back. So instead of trying to get that back, let's move forward. Step One: reboot the lore of the town and this time, properly flesh it out. The theme of that "one special girl in all the world" has been since done to death. I would keep the Hellmouth element, but instead of the rehashing the very tired Chosen One trope, just (re)introduce us to a town full of demon hunters who once drove the demons out, only for them to return.

And for the love of God, just bring back the original actors. We don't need new (read: younger) people. We just need to do right by the ones we already have.

How I Think Carmy/Claire Should've Been Handled

Previously: I Just Watched The Bear Season 2

***Spoilers Ahead***

While I'm glad The Bear won awards again (congratulations, Ayo Edebiri!!!), I'm gonna be honest...Season Two was not better than Season One. There were questionable dips in the writing that could've been easily avoided if Hollywood wasn't so addicted to cheap male fantasy.

In a show where every angle, every color, and every song choice is so carefully chosen, there's no room for cheap male fantasy. This show is better than that; The Bear itself is literally a gourmet offering in television, and the Carmy/Claire "romance" was like day-old McDonald's wedged between elaborate courses. For me, it caused Season Two to drag at times, and what's wild is that with a few tweaks, their interaction could've been so much more meaningful.

Yeah, I'm Not Done Talking about Found

Previously: Not Enough People are Talking about NBC's Found (2023)

First off, congrats to the cast and crew of Found; they just got renewed for a second--and hopefully longer--season.

***SPOILERS***

Not Enough People are Talking about NBC's Found (2023)

I was recently thinking about how I missed Shondaland during the Scandal era (Seasons 1-2 and maybe the first half of 3) and how I wished there was something else to fill the void. How to Get Away with Murder was too crazy. Inventing Anna only has one season (they could've at least given us a spin-off about the Scriberians).

So enter Found.

***SPOILERS***

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

L to R: Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, Samantha Sloyan, Sauriyan Sapkota, T'Nia Miller, Katie Siegel,
Bruce Greenwood, and Mary McDonnell.

Sorry for the lateness; I actually watched this as soon as it dropped, then rewatched it, then rewatched again, then spent weeks watching reaction videos on YouTube. Because I am that obsessed.

Needless to remind you all, spoilers ahead.

Sunny Vale

This is just a joke/idea.

I've been watching all these young people on YouTube react to the Buffyverse for the first time, and after enjoying the vicarious (and often hilarious) thrill of reliving the first-time Buffy experience, my brain began braining.

Set during the Middle Ages, this (obviously) alternate universe story follows the Bellfleur sisters, two Parisian noblewomen suddenly forced to flee their home. They move to a small town populated by the most unusual characters.

Persia White as Lady Aura Bellfleur

Lady Aura is the elder of the Bellfleur twins; they are the last of their family, but Aura's determined to make sure their line continues. They originally reside at the the court of a French princess, until circumstances change and Aura decides they need to leave.

Persia White as Lady Agnes Bellfleur

Unlike her perfectly normal twin, Lady Agnes is cursed with the Sight. And though she's initially accepted as an eccentric, whispers soon abound that she's a witch.

Epilogue: The Girl Returns

Previously: The Bride

Marble Hill House, one week later

Dearest Reader,

After a most remarkable wedding, it seems the Count and Countess Mironov are the talk of Mayfair. Whatever dark cloud was hanging over them appears to have finally dissipated, for the newlyweds have begun attending social functions in lieu of a honeymoon, and are even planning their very first ball together. The Count in particular has promised a night of "proper Russian revelry"....

Cordelia Patridge crumpled Lady Whistledown's scandal sheet and promptly tossed it into the fire.

The Bride

Previously: The Girl, Part III

"What do you mean our special license has been denied?"

Elizabeth Mironova was already at her wit's end; less than a year of being widowed, she was already engaged to a man who was technically, legally her stepson. And she'd had no time to process it, for the next day, after agreeing to marry Adrik, a jeweler arrived to take specifications for her engagement ring. The day after that, Madame Delacroix showed up to take measurements and requests for her wedding gown. Worse still, Allegra and Clementine bombarded her with questions about cakes, decorations, and the number of people being invited.

And all the while, Iakov played piano in the background, stubbornly remaining above the madness.

We Need a Wolfram & Hart TV Series

So I'm rewatching Leverage and suddenly thinking...we need a Wolfram & Hart series.

Hear me out.

It could be dark, moody, introspective, with a nuanced focus on lawyers from the mortal world navigating the demonic world. So instead of the campy, kooky humor we saw back in the early aughts, we'd have a more melancholic atmosphere. I also think it would be cool if we never saw a demon onscreen on or any special effects, you know?

I just feel like Angel never got the acclaim it truly deserved and a lot of the actors fell by the wayside...which they didn't deserve. In the age of reboots and remakes, this would be a project that actually deserves a second chance.

The Widow Velethi

I'm happy to announced I've brought back a revamped version of the The Widow Velethi on my Redguard Girls blog. A fanfiction set in the Skyrim universe during the Civil War, the story follows a Redguard by the name of Katarinya, whose arrival at Mistveil Keep exacerbates the rivalry between two brothers.