Never Have I Ever
At the start of the year, I did the tarot card pulls for every month of the year and in April, my card was the Knight of Cups (charmer in Practical Magic speak). And at first, I was skeptical about this card — not even because I knew we would be in lockdown but because I’m just skeptical over-all.
Well, April has come and gone and now I know who would be charming me all April long. Because honestly, I was charmed to the max. I haven’t fangirled in a while — not to this level of fannish good feels and I’m so glad that it came at this time of quarantine.
It’s funny because both of these kilig-inducing things have ‘teams’ to side with but I’m Team whatever makes me feel good and honestly, both teams have pros to them, so why choose! So even though I may lean towards one team for either fandom, I also wouldn’t be heartbroken with either team.
When Calls the Heart
I’m a new fan to this series that Chinggay got me in to, so it’s not like I was long suffering fan or attached to former love interest, Jack. In fact, as I was catching up on the seasons, Jack took a while to grow on me and because there wasn’t any other choice, I get why he could bring feels to fans back then. But then they killed him off (spoiler whoops) and we got SO MUCH MORE.
Season 6 and 7 have produced new Mountie Nathan Grant and worldly saloon owner Lucas Bouchard and honestly, I don’t care about the teams because these guys have been opening doors and windows of my heart. And though I did lean more towards Nathan (because Kevin McGarry’s eyes are pools of blue I would drown in), when you watch the supercuts (and there are many), you’ll realise, HOLY COW LUCAS SHOULD BE WITH ELIZABETH.
Honestly, Chris McNally’s portrayal of Lucas Bouchard is KILLING IT. The writers have paved the way for Lucas to trample all over Nathan’s stuttering mess this past season and it’s such a joy to watch Elizabeth just not believe her luck with how attentive and service-oriented Lucas is (case in point: he’s built her a library, took to her to see Virginia Wolf, and did a friendly-non-friendly date with her to celebrate the book deal HE orchestrated). COME ON.
Meanwhile, we have Nathan stumbling over his words (honestly props for this song choice because HE SAYS NOTHING) and clearly with a lot of catching up to do. I get that he has his niece to look after and “the town”’s safety is his responsibility but if he wants to be a legitimate horse in the race, he needs to step the fuck up because that red serge is only going to get him so far (although let’s be real, I’m in). I hope we see more of him manning up and getting in the horse race with Lucas.
From February to April, I’ve been enjoying the weekly episodes of When Calls the Heart and hope that they get to shoot the next season asap because I do not want to have this delayed.
It also doesn’t hurt that the actors who play them, Kevin McGarry and Chris McNally are the ultimate charmers on and off the screen. I found myself waking up ungodly early one Monday morning to catch them doing an Instagram Live chat with ‘fans’ and seriously, I’m one of those people now who log on to watch them be cute with each other. I haven’t shipped a bromance in so long and yet, here I am.
The cast are so cute and wholesome and all seem to project a sense of friendship on social media and I am lapping it up (the birthday greetings! The comments on each others posts!) Most of all, it’s sharing the fangirling with Chinggay, who is responsible for getting me into this beautiful mess to begin with. Oh how my life has been changed.
Never Have I Ever
A late entry to all the charming I received in April but Mindy Kaling’s latest series Never Have I Ever premiered on Netflix and I devoured all eight episodes in ONE NIGHT. It was that good. I was both impatient for the next episode but also really sad that I now have NO EPISODES left to watch. And this was all my doing.
I’ve messaged almost everyone in my life to bug them to watch it quickly so that I could squee with them and they all delivered the highest praise for it — I guess we’re all in the same demographic. Nevertheless, I am glad that I have done this because honestly, this show deserves it — if only for all the pop culture references (Kristen Stewart in Twilight or Charlie’s Angels?!)and the narrators (John McEnroe AND Andy Samberg!?!)
The representation! The entire cast of characters were honestly a delight. From Devi, our problematic but loveable lead to her best friends Eleanor (the fabulous theatre kid) and Fabiola (Eve & Fab 5ever, I could make an entire post about this), to her family (her dead dad, her mom and her cousin — and her cousin’s own love triangle!!! The triangle I actually care more about) and every other character’s parents, to her therapist! to the people in school — more on that later. It was just a freaking delight.
Then of course, we have the “teams” to root for. Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Devin Barnett is a fox) and Ben Gross (Jarren Lewinson is freaking adorable) and really, I would make a table of why they’re both great choices. The slow burn for Ben and their love-hate dynamic to Paxton’s jock on the outside, softie on the inside archetype complete with adorable sister. They’re both TOO GOOD for Devi who needs to work ON SO MUCH — which is why her therapy scenes are amazing.
I don’t know how I’m going to last an entire year (or more) waiting for season 2 because this show has brightened up my social isolation. I was laughing OUT LOUD in front of my computer one Friday night, which is rare for me — the laughing out loud as I try to be a good flat mate — not the being in front of my computer on a Friday night bit.
But Make It Hallmark
And because I have all this pent-up energy inside of me — and clearly this blog wasn’t enough of an outlet for me. I finally put something Chinggay and I have been discussing forever into reality. As you know, I watch a shit ton of Hallmark movies and pester Chinggay as I watch it with my real time thoughts on it.
So we’ve decided to start a podcast together! But Make It Hallmark has me and Chinggay basically putting our WhatsApp chats in audio format for the world to hear. If you sense how niche but also random my podcasts are (a football podcast about a specific EPL team and now a selective Hallmark movie one), you can get a glimpse about how weird my brain works.
We’re still putting finishing touches to the first episode but we’ll share it when it’s ready. I’m quite excited about it and I hope it charms your pants off the way I’ve been charmed by these goddamn delights.
