This was hilarious. For the same reasons as you, I also refuse to pay for a TV license and as a result I was completely out of popular culture conversation until Fleabag became available on Amazon Prime, which I had at the time. I still remember the glory days of living in our last London flat, where the TV came with a TV license and ALL SKY CHANNELS. Those were the good times!
So funny - really enjoyed this. Paul Mescal's acting in that therapy scene in Normal People is just heartbreaking. You can't be blamed for engaging with Normal People over The Fraud, I could not get through that (but have loved literally everything else by Zadie Smith).
Thank you, glad you enjoyed reading it. Paul Mescal and Dayse Edgar-Jones are fantastic in Normal People. To think they were both so young and yet delivered exceptional performances is impressive. So impressive indeed that I even went on to read Normal People despite I truly find Sally Rooney's characters insufferable. What good acting can't achieve! Interesting to hear your thoughts on The Fraud. I found it enjoyable and I was quickly into the story but in those last 50 pages the novel went a bit downhill.
“This seems a bit odd until I realise I have been moving towards her while holding the remote in one hand and smacking it to the other as I kept talking to her.” This really made me laugh - I could actually visualise Ella slowly backing away like they do in horror movies.
As someone who has grown up with tvs in at least two rooms of the house all her life, I’m kind of envious of the fact that you have to be so picky about what you watch. I devour everything, especially if it’s the current “it watch”, but it means I couldn’t tell you a show I’ve loved or has had an impact one recently!
I think that's the irony of it, isn't it? Once something is available we tend to overlook it until it becomes scarce. That's probably why I had laser focus determination to tackle years of missed shows, otherwise I'll be on the same boat as you 😅
Ah, I get it! I haven't owned a TV set for 13 years that I've been living on my own, and whenever I'm travelling, I'm totally mesmerized by the TV in the hotel. Which more often than not is in a foreign language, which still didn't stop me and my bf from watching a western with Daniel Craig and dinosaurs, in German.
I also get the Paul Mescal thing. I got aware of him mostly due to the Aftersun buzz, and when Normal People landed on HBO here, I was like "well, not my genre at all, I'm probably gonna find them annoying, but what the hell, the episodes are 30 minutes long, and there's a lot of Mescal indeed!" I totally subscribe to your point re him taking off his underwear while standing on one leg. I found the first Gladiator boring AF but I'm so gonna line up for the new one. And Normal People, Aftersun and All of Us Strangers left me absolutely sobbing. Mescal is exquisite at playing handsome guys that are dead inside (my favourite kind of man anyway).
PS: Ben Whishaw's surname is quite inconsistent in the text 😅
"Mescal is exquisite at playing handsome guys that are dead inside" 😂 I guess that's a good way to put the characters he goes for. I don't know what's about TVs but like you despite not having one I am always intrigued when I'm travelling and the place I stay has a TV and I get the chance to watch a programme. Must be that we grew up with it and it's a familiar object? And thanks for flagging the Whishaw gate 😉 Between autocorrect and myself we've invented a new person.
Glad you enjoyed it, Sacha. You lived the dream in that London flat! It’s funny how not watching a show everyone seems to have access to can make you a social outcast. Not anymore (said she 8 years later 😂)
That ending is great! :)
This was hilarious. For the same reasons as you, I also refuse to pay for a TV license and as a result I was completely out of popular culture conversation until Fleabag became available on Amazon Prime, which I had at the time. I still remember the glory days of living in our last London flat, where the TV came with a TV license and ALL SKY CHANNELS. Those were the good times!
So funny - really enjoyed this. Paul Mescal's acting in that therapy scene in Normal People is just heartbreaking. You can't be blamed for engaging with Normal People over The Fraud, I could not get through that (but have loved literally everything else by Zadie Smith).
Thank you, glad you enjoyed reading it. Paul Mescal and Dayse Edgar-Jones are fantastic in Normal People. To think they were both so young and yet delivered exceptional performances is impressive. So impressive indeed that I even went on to read Normal People despite I truly find Sally Rooney's characters insufferable. What good acting can't achieve! Interesting to hear your thoughts on The Fraud. I found it enjoyable and I was quickly into the story but in those last 50 pages the novel went a bit downhill.
“This seems a bit odd until I realise I have been moving towards her while holding the remote in one hand and smacking it to the other as I kept talking to her.” This really made me laugh - I could actually visualise Ella slowly backing away like they do in horror movies.
As someone who has grown up with tvs in at least two rooms of the house all her life, I’m kind of envious of the fact that you have to be so picky about what you watch. I devour everything, especially if it’s the current “it watch”, but it means I couldn’t tell you a show I’ve loved or has had an impact one recently!
I think that's the irony of it, isn't it? Once something is available we tend to overlook it until it becomes scarce. That's probably why I had laser focus determination to tackle years of missed shows, otherwise I'll be on the same boat as you 😅
Ah, I get it! I haven't owned a TV set for 13 years that I've been living on my own, and whenever I'm travelling, I'm totally mesmerized by the TV in the hotel. Which more often than not is in a foreign language, which still didn't stop me and my bf from watching a western with Daniel Craig and dinosaurs, in German.
I also get the Paul Mescal thing. I got aware of him mostly due to the Aftersun buzz, and when Normal People landed on HBO here, I was like "well, not my genre at all, I'm probably gonna find them annoying, but what the hell, the episodes are 30 minutes long, and there's a lot of Mescal indeed!" I totally subscribe to your point re him taking off his underwear while standing on one leg. I found the first Gladiator boring AF but I'm so gonna line up for the new one. And Normal People, Aftersun and All of Us Strangers left me absolutely sobbing. Mescal is exquisite at playing handsome guys that are dead inside (my favourite kind of man anyway).
PS: Ben Whishaw's surname is quite inconsistent in the text 😅
"Mescal is exquisite at playing handsome guys that are dead inside" 😂 I guess that's a good way to put the characters he goes for. I don't know what's about TVs but like you despite not having one I am always intrigued when I'm travelling and the place I stay has a TV and I get the chance to watch a programme. Must be that we grew up with it and it's a familiar object? And thanks for flagging the Whishaw gate 😉 Between autocorrect and myself we've invented a new person.
Thanks Monica, the little joys ;)
Glad you enjoyed it, Sacha. You lived the dream in that London flat! It’s funny how not watching a show everyone seems to have access to can make you a social outcast. Not anymore (said she 8 years later 😂)