characters 20in20

Watched Episode 5 of Heated Rivalry last night after work, and I think this one might be my favorite episode after Episode 3 (which I know people dislike/hate but I found it charming and heartbreaking).

Also this is the SECOND time I'm trying to type this out since I apparently shut down my computer without making sure post actually posted? Did that make sense? Whatever. I remember clicking Post but it was also like 4am and I was tired AF. I am so angry at myself for fucking that up. I had tons of links to gifs (now you have to go to Tumblr to find them) and fanvids (shockingly very little? at Youtube).... UGH. I suck.

No actual spoilers unless you don't want to know my reactions to certain episodes.

You know how book-to-screen adaptions usually suck? I don't think Heated Rivalry has that problem. If anything, I think the show enhances the books for me. Like you get more in-depth with the characters thoughts in the books obviously since they aren't doing any voice-overs for any of the episodes for the characters which I'm actually kinda happy about? But I don't normally mind that in shows/movies. But I have what happened in the books in the back of my head filling the missing moments/scenes in the show (namely the end of Episode 4). And if you go back and read the books, you can see faces behind the characters. The actors are doing pretty good with acting through the quiet moments, that I almost dismissed them in Episode 1 since I was so awkward with it. Honestly they haven't changed that much from book-to-screen adaptation, only smallish stuff that I probably wouldn't even notice if they aren't brought up. I'm really enjoying the gifs on Tumblr that show snippets of the book.

Anyway, I have since read the audiobooks for all the books (minus Game Changer aka Scott/Kip's story - man that accent is really tripping me, see previous post for more details). And let me just say I WANT ALL THE CHARACTERS STORIES to appear in Season 2 (or beyond if we get more than 2 seasons but if they only mainly focus on Heated Rivalry & The Long Game books, it would probably only be 2 seasons). I know people hated Episode 3 mainly because it switched main characters to Scott & Kip and made Ilya & Shane the background characters, but I don't care or maybe it's because I've read the books that I'm actually want to see Scott/Kip, Eric/Kyle, Ryan/Fabian, and Troy/Harris stories. That or I'm used to a larger "main cast" which would contain multiple couples so adding other couples doesn't scare me? Well that and the other couples stories are also SO connected within the universe and hell Ilya and/or Shane makes an appearance in their stories that I feel like they could tie them in.

Ilya might be my favorite character in the series though, and Season 2 will probably gut me.

Episode 1 was a lot like watching fanfic(I was reading the comments at tv_talk and they described it as such which fair honestly)/smut book (which yeah definitely) & I experienced a lot of second-hand embarrassment throughout it (I would be like Shane, but like worse? I can't flirt for shit and I don't even know how I would handle someone flirting with me - honestly, I'd probably wouldn't notice unless someone like Ilya does what he did & even then I might just laugh it off as a joke). I didn't watch it with anyone but myself & my cats (when they actually cuddled with me) so I shouldn't have felt embarrassed but I felt like this even with other rom-coms & other shows before (even non-sexual moments). I can't quite explain it, like I get embarrassed for the characters?

I don't think it was until Episode 2 & 3 that I actually fell for the show though. And maybe it helps that I was sorta already familiar with the characters (through Role Model aka Troy/Harris's story) and began listening to the books before Episode 4 premiered so I was prepared for what's happened and what's going to happen. Episode 5 made me so happy despite nearly making me cry during certain scenes (oh god THOSE scenes) and had me exploding with fucking happiness by the end of it (I scared the shit out of my cat with how much exited clapping I was doing). The fact that I didn't cry is a shock to me (usually I'm a mess anymore and I cry very easily).

I cannot WAIT for Episode 6.

BUT the worse part of Episode 6 is that it'll be released while I'm at my sister's house, so I have to go find a spot hidden away from her family and my parents and watch it. It's not even the sex scenes that I'm worried about. No it's more like the fact that is a "gay show". My sister knows I'm bi but she's more of a "love the sinner, hate the sin" person (even though I think if it was pre-Grad school & pre-marriage I think she would've been more open, or maybe I just imagined that) which I love her but I find is such a bullshit response and I don't even know what my parents would react like (I would say they would've been supportive a few years ago {again maybe I just imagined that}, but ever since my mom got more religious {she would literally start praying during High Potential show during the gay storylines that appeared in Season 1 and my dad said something along the lines it's against the church/pope/God} within the last few years I don't think they are exactly supportive if you know what I mean. They'd probably still love me {especially since I have no love life to speak of}, but I've been told by my sister and my aunt to not tell them... so yeah.) I don't even know if my brother would think/react (I mean he's from a younger generation; we're thirteen years apart after all, but I don't know - that doesn't always mean anything). It sucks. I can only really be me with a few select people and even than I don't even get to talk about it or hang out with those people much to actually be me.

Sorry, anyway - I haven't read any fics really for the show, so I don't have any recs it yet since I figured I'd wait until after Episode 6 to start reading, although if have any recs, please feel free to direct me to them.

Ok I'm posting this before I lose it again.

Edit: Adding some fanvids recs:

( links to fanvids... )