The Baby-Sitters Club, season 2
Nov. 27th, 2021 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI finished season two of the Netflix adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club, and although I will probably never overcome my tragic disappointment over their decision to invent an entirely new character and give her the name of Ashley Wyeth when she is NOTHING LIKE Ashley Wyeth, a human disaster whose heart beats only for Art and Claudia Kishi -
AHEM. Aside from that, I quite enjoyed the rest of the season, and I suspect that people who are not deeply overinvested in Claudia and Ashley’s dysfunctional yet compellingly obsessive friendship will be able to get over the fact that the creators gave Ashley Wyeth’s name to a girl who has functional social skills and is in love with the wrong Kishi sister.
It’s just such a well-made show. The entire cast, both children and adults, are perfectly cast. When I first read the BSC books as a kid I was pretty indifferent to the storylines involving adults (Mary Anne’s dad is dating Dawn’s mom? Pfft, like I was interested in anyone over the age of thirteen), but now I enjoy them as much as the stories about the girls.
It’s also fun to see how the show has updated things: Mary Anne’s worrywart father now has an anxiety disorder, a therapist, and a stash of adult coloring books, for instance. In the book series, Dawn’s Impossible Stepsister occurs after Dawn’s mother and Mary Anne’s father marry after just a few months of dating; the TV series acknowledges that, in contrast to the 1980s, people in the 2020s rarely marry that swiftly, and sets the story when Mary Anne and her dad stay with Dawn and her mom while their own house is fumigated.
I particularly enjoyed the last episode, where Kristy decides to give her asshole dad the benefit of the doubt and agrees to meet him for lunch, and then he flakes on her AGAIN, and then the other characters join together in a ringing denunciation of his character. The man IS an asshole who regularly lets his children down! He basically disappeared from their lives for years because he couldn’t be bothered to keep in touch! He’s consistently awful and Kristy deserves better. The benefit of the doubt is for situations where someone lets you down, but their previously upstanding behavior suggests that there might be extenuating circumstances for this particular failure. It does not need to be extended over and over again to someone who continually fails to meet the most basic expectations. The benefit of the doubt cannot be the foundation of a relationship.
AHEM. Aside from that, I quite enjoyed the rest of the season, and I suspect that people who are not deeply overinvested in Claudia and Ashley’s dysfunctional yet compellingly obsessive friendship will be able to get over the fact that the creators gave Ashley Wyeth’s name to a girl who has functional social skills and is in love with the wrong Kishi sister.
It’s just such a well-made show. The entire cast, both children and adults, are perfectly cast. When I first read the BSC books as a kid I was pretty indifferent to the storylines involving adults (Mary Anne’s dad is dating Dawn’s mom? Pfft, like I was interested in anyone over the age of thirteen), but now I enjoy them as much as the stories about the girls.
It’s also fun to see how the show has updated things: Mary Anne’s worrywart father now has an anxiety disorder, a therapist, and a stash of adult coloring books, for instance. In the book series, Dawn’s Impossible Stepsister occurs after Dawn’s mother and Mary Anne’s father marry after just a few months of dating; the TV series acknowledges that, in contrast to the 1980s, people in the 2020s rarely marry that swiftly, and sets the story when Mary Anne and her dad stay with Dawn and her mom while their own house is fumigated.
I particularly enjoyed the last episode, where Kristy decides to give her asshole dad the benefit of the doubt and agrees to meet him for lunch, and then he flakes on her AGAIN, and then the other characters join together in a ringing denunciation of his character. The man IS an asshole who regularly lets his children down! He basically disappeared from their lives for years because he couldn’t be bothered to keep in touch! He’s consistently awful and Kristy deserves better. The benefit of the doubt is for situations where someone lets you down, but their previously upstanding behavior suggests that there might be extenuating circumstances for this particular failure. It does not need to be extended over and over again to someone who continually fails to meet the most basic expectations. The benefit of the doubt cannot be the foundation of a relationship.
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Date: 2021-12-09 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-09 11:49 pm (UTC)