review

Show Don’t Tell!

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BELLARKE VS. BECHO

“Remember, show don’t tell.”


I feel like that is the first, last and only bit of writing advice that anyone ever really gives.


Show don’t tell.


“You’re writing a book? Remember, show don’t tell.”


“Oh, you’re working on a screenplay? Remember, show don’t tell.”


“Yeah, what you’ve got here is great and all but, remember, show don’t tell.”


Which is awesome, except, I often found myself scratching my head feeling like – how? What even IS showing? What’s the difference between telling and giving the audience vital information? And, after that HOW do I find the perfect balance of Show & Tell?

Well, I’ve found the perfect example of what SHOW is and what TELL is.


Bellarke vs. Becho.

Bellarke (above)
Becho (above)

In CW’s The 100, Bellarke is, was and always will be the main superior ship of Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin from episode 1. If you’re like me, then you know that there was no going back from the moment that Clarke fell into that pit in episode 2 and Bellamy caught her hand. You know the one I’m talking about ;). No going back. None.

And yet, we all know how things ended… don’t mind me, I’m just going to go and scream into a pillow for a few minutes.

Ok, I’m back.


So, Bellarke. Yeah, pretty amazing ship. A true OTP if there ever was one. But, they were never quote un-quote CANON.


A couple that WAS canon was Becho, who, as you might recall, became a couple between seasons 4 and 5 during the space hiatus. Bellamy was in space, Clarke was on the ground, he thought she was dead, Echo was there – end of story.

So, here’s where the SHOW vs. TELL comes in.


In the show, they constantly had to tell us BECHO IS A THING. Until the final season (which I think we can all agree is not part of the real show) we did not get a single flashback to Spacekru’s time on the Arc. Then in season 7 we got a single scene where Echo and Bellamy shared their first kiss. It was almost like the writers realized “oh, maybe people don’t like this ship, because we haven’t SHOWN them any of their romantical development!” and so they forced it in there at the last moment.


Before that scene, however, all we ever got was BECHO IS A THING, OK, DEAL WITH IT! Lines like, “we met in a cage.” “who knows more about forgiveness then us, right?” “It took you 2 (or was it 3? Honestly, I can’t remember because I died of an eyeroll when I heard it) years to even talk to me.” or something like that, were all that we ever got to validate their relationship.

Now, more honesty, I originally, back in season 2 when Bellamy and Echo first met, didn’t hate the idea of the two of them becoming a couple. But then, they went and really (in my opinion) ruined their relationship over the course of the next two seasons (showing us that Echo was waaaaay more into Roan btw!), only to come back in season 5 with the two of them dating.


OK, fine. Then show it!

Show us the scenes of Bellamy being sad about Clarke and his sister, Octavia, and show us Echo comforting him. Show us scenes of them fighting, arguing and struggling to live together up there on the Arc and then show them softening towards one another. Give us a scene where Bellamy rages at Echo for causing the deaths of Gina, Clarke and trying to kill Octavia (multiple times, I’m pretty sure) and then she breaks down in tears apologizing for what she’s done and confessing that she loves him and would do anything to earn his forgiveness. Show me something, ANYTHING.

But, no.

All we got was – BECHO IS A THING. DEAL WITH IT.

What they did show us was Bellarke.

Bellarke being a team. Bellarke needing each other, saving each other, caring for each other, writing each other’s names down on the bunker list, forgiving each other over and over and over again. Bellarke fighting, breaking down, crying, willing to let the entire human race die for the other – and then, being reunited, the hugs (aaaaalll of the hugs!!!), eye-banging each other all the time, the looks of regret, the almost disgust on Clarkes face when she sees Becho for the first time – the list of all of the Bellarke romantic relationship that they SHOW us is ENDLESS. There are too many moments to list, too many glances, touches, remarks from other characters, hidden expressions, half-said truths, etc…

In summation, in “Show Don’t Tell” the writers of the 100 TOLD us that BECHO IS A THING but they SHOWED us that BELLARKE IS A THING. DEAL WITH THAT.

So, the next time that you’re confused and you’re not sure if you are showing or telling in your writing just ask yourself, are you giving the reader Becho, or Bellarke? And if you’re giving Bellarke – can you please give us a better ending?? Please??!! I seriously, don’t think I’ll ever get over them and how robbed we all were.

At least they’re married in real life.

Writer OUT.

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Here’s What I Would’ve Done!! When The Devil Calls Your Name (korean drama)

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When the Devil Calls Your Name is a brilliant tvN 2019 K-Drama inspired by the 18th century German play Faust starring Jung Kyung Ho and Park Sung Woong as the Devil.


First off, it’s really an awesome drama. If you haven’t seen it, you really should go watch it over on Viki right now. Seriously, pause reading this and go over and watch it right now, if you don’t want to be spoiled.


If you don’t mind spoilers, then please join me for episode 1 of Here’s What I Would’ve Done…


Now, I know you’re thinking, “But, you just said it was brilliant. Why would you wanna change anything about it?”
Because, it was brilliant – for the first 14 episodes. It’s only the last 2 that I would change as those were, to be honest, a real mess.


The first 14 episodes followed Jung Kyung Ho, or as he will be referred to in this post as Devil Guy (even though he wasn’t the devil, he was the guy that sold his soul to the devil, but that’s just my nickname for him, ok!), an old washed up musician who sold his soul to the devil for youth, fame and fortune, but when the Devil, Park Sung Woong, comes to collect he tries to re-neg on the deal in any way that he can.


In the beginning, the Devil tells him that if he re-negs on the deal he will go back to his life before, where he is old, poor and alone, and that everyone who’s life he touched on account of the deal will revert back to their original paths as well. This freaks Devil guy out and he instead promises to find the Devil an A-grade soul to replace his.

That’s when the rest of the story really kicks off as he finds a young, talented, down on her luck, nice girl whom he believes has that A-grade soul that he’s after. He fosters her music career all the while trying to figure out how to get her to sign a soul contract.
But, something unexpected happens. He starts to like her. Not necessarily in that romantic way, (although there were some scenes that made me think…) but in that “this is a really nice person that I like as a human being” kind of way. So, he starts to try to think of new ways to wiggle out of his own wretched soul contract – but it’s all for naught.


I won’t spoil the rest of the plot – I’ll just jump right into what I would’ve done.


I would’ve ended the series where the only way out of the contract was for him to go back to being that poor, washed up, alone, has-been, that he had been before. The Devil had said that THAT was an option.


How inspiring would it have been to have the show end where he is able to change his past, undo this great mistake of selling his soul to the devil out of despair, and embrace his life as it was, saving the people that he cared about (spoiler alert he knew the A-grade girl back when he was an old washed up has-been) and living out the remainder of his days quietly and goodly, turning everyone that he met away from the empty temptations of the Devil. It would’ve turned it into Faust meets Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

(incidentally this is my favorite version of A Christmas Carol from 1997 starring Tim Curry)


The show didn’t end that way. It kind’ve ended in a way that was like “so, yeah, you know even if you sell your soul, sometimes it can just come back to you.”


Oh, ok. Then – what was the point of all the pain, drama? Why did you put us, the audience, through the ringer if the solution in the end was just, “you know, someday you’ll be fine.”?


I still loved the show, it was brilliant – the first 14 episodes, the last 2, as I’ve said, were a mess. Therefore, in my opinion, the show would’ve been a lot better if the solution in the end had been to reverse the deal, give up all of the money, youth and fame, to live and die a normal life – a better life, as a better person.


Writer OUT

PS – The soundtrack is absolutely amazing! Here’s one of my favorite songs.

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Movie Review: Rebecca (1940s)

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“…that’s for the 2nd Mrs. De Winter!”

I just watched the 1940s Alfred Hitchcock version of Rebecca (after being amused by Michell and Webb’s, a British comedy duo, parody skit of the film – which can be found on YouTube) starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine and let me just say I LOVED IT!!!

I want to make this a proper review, but I don’t really know how to do that just yet. So, I think, if it’s alright with all of you, that I’m just going to rave and ramble a bit about what I liked most and my thoughts and such.

Firstly, I loved the romance between Mr. Olivier and Ms. Fontaine! Ms. Fontaine’s character, the 2nd Mrs. De Winter, made me IMMEDIATELY think of Bella Swan from Twilight. She was clumsy and simple and plain and totally did not believe that anyone could actually like her, especially not an amazing man like Mr. De Winter. Just like Bella.

In fact, there were more than a couple of scenes of the 2nd Mrs. De Winter knocking things over or clumsily bumping into doors or breaking things. It was actually one of the things that lead to their first luncheon date (she spilled a vase of flowers on her table at the hotel which made him notice her and go over to invite her to his table) that cascaded into their whirlwind week of romance! ❤

I am very convinced that Bella Swan was hugely inspired by the 2nd Mrs. De Winters. We know that Jane Eyre, which Joan Fontaine also starred in, was a point of inspiration to Stephanie Meyer and honestly the three characters, at least in they way they view themselves, are very similar. They’re just your average plain, simple, normal, clumsy (except Jane wasn’t very clumsy) girl that falls in love with the moody and broody older man.

But all of this only takes us through the first 30 or so minutes of the film. Once we get to the house, Manderely, much like Thornfield Hall, the place is full of restricted sections, questionable staff, and secrets. Most of the staff are happy to welcome their new mistress, even though she herself feels awkward about all of it, except for the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. I feel like housekeepers, in theory, should be great! But unfortunately, more often then not in these old tales, they are far from it. Oh sure, they act like they’re helping, giving you invaluable information, etc, etc, but in actuality they’re hoping that you choke on a lemon and die.

Mrs. Danvers reminded me of old Miss Holloway from the 1944 version of The Uninvited. If you know, you know. And if you don’t know, then you really should go and watch The Uninvited, it’s a really scary ghost movie starring Ray Milland that kept me awake for ages as a little kid. Now, it still gives me the spooks but I love it!

Mrs. Danvers does not do much to help her new mistress at all – in fact she does her very best to get rid of the 2nd Mrs. De Winters and let’s just say that her and Bertha Mason had similar ideas and leave it at that.

I really don’t want to give away too much of the film anymore (even though it came out 81 years ago {that’s right 81 years ago!!}) so I’ll just wrap it up by saying…

I loved the lighting, the framing, the acting, the writing, the setting and the ending.

And I want to compliment Twilight for using classics such as Rebecca and Jane Eyre for its model. I now know that the major thing missing from the first Twilight book (and indeed the whole series) was an old, grand, spooky mansion. Because sure, the Cullen house was nice, but Manderely and Thornfield Hall it was not.

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Loki Finale – We’ve Seen You Somewhere Before!

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Yes, we have seen Loki somewhere before, but no I’m not talking about the Multi-Verse or any of the Marvel movies or indeed any of Mr. Hiddleston’s movies. I’m talking about the content similarities in the finale of the first season of Loki. Don’t get mad Sylvie & Loki, it only makes sense that the show would copy classics just as you two did.

Similiarity # 1: Nevermore aka Shadar’s Castle from Ni No Kuni, and the concept of fighting/killing alternate versions of oneself.

Similarity # 2: Castle Fairfax aka Lucien’s Castle from the beginning of Fable 2 and the awful choice that has to be made by our Hero(s) at the end.

Similarity # 3: The Dark Tower written in the 1940s by Mr. CS Lewis and the monster sitting alone in their tower watching other timelines as well as the history of the discovery of time travel that included a mad scientist experimenting on children.

First, Nevermore…

If you’ve played (or would now like to play) Ni No Kuni, the Miyazaki PlayStation adventure game, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Near the end of the game our hero, Oliver, finally makes it to the evil villain Shadar’s castle, the castle Nevermore. The mission is all very topsy turvy, with the camera angles constantly shifting and turning till it feels for some of the time like you are playing upside down. And Loki gave us that with the twisting turny camera angles as Loki and Sylvie entered the Citadel at the End of Time.

Then, Oliver gets to talking to Shadar and Shadar tells him about how the two of them are Soulmates and that Oliver shouldn’t have even been born because he, Shadar, had been going about and killing all of his Soulmates to prevent any of them from mending his Broken Heart. Much like how our Kang, or He Who Remains, in Loki talked about how he met himself many times over and that some of him were much, much worse.

Second, we have Fable 2 and Castle Fairfax…

The room that Loki, Sylvie and Kang are sitting in looks EXACTLY (ok, almost exactly) the same as the room that the main character and the main character’s sister, Rose, enter into in the very beginning of the game. The room where Lucien, the master of the castle, kills Rose and then attempts to kill the main character thus propelling the plot of the game.

Then, at the end of Fable 2 the hero is given 3 choices – 1 good, 1 evil and 1 neutral and the player of the game is free to choose whatever choice they’d like. Much the same as Loki and Sylvie are given the choice of Rule the TVA or Unleash the Multiverse and let chaos rein! More or less.

Third, we have The Dark Tower by CS Lewis.

Not to be confused with The Dark Tower by Stephen King, ok, CS Lewis wrote his unfinished tale years before King was even born.

But anyways, in The Dark Tower this group of scientists have created this Chronoscope that allows them to look through a scope into another time, a timeline that is projected onto a fabric screen. Much like the projection screen in the first episode of Loki when Mobius is showing Loki his timeline. Through the Chronoscope they are able to view this valley that has a singular Dark Tower in it’s center. In the tower sits a still dark figure that I don’t want to go into here, but suffice it to say if you’d like a good little scare then please, go and read Mr. Lewis’s unfinished story, it is quite hair raising.

Jumping over a lot of major details there is then a sequence in the story where one of our characters finds himself in that other timeline reading up on their history of time travel discovery. Just like Kang a scientist created a device, discovered that there were other timelines, discovered that there were other versions of ourselves on those timelines and decided to experiment, using the young of course, on crossing over into those other timelines. Unfortunately for us, this is where Mr. Lewis stopped writing so we don’t get much more, but the similarities between Kang and the scientist in this other timeline were so striking that I found myself shouting at my laptop “they’re just doing The Dark Tower!”

I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there are more time travel classics buried in this final episode of Loki alone, not to mention the entire show, but these were just the major comparisons that I couldn’t get out of my head.

Finally, I would just like to finish by saying I LOVED this show and I CANNOT WAIT for season 2.

Bring on the Multi-Verse!!! Tobey Maguire is back everybody!!

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