Little Fires Everywhere virtual watch party SPOILERS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not quite done with the series but it seems like the point of the show is that white women are unworthy of empathy and their aims at friendship are inauthentic because they are actually narcissistic psychopaths. The scene after the abortion is kind of cruel, I mean, she's a teenager. I'm waiting for Mia to point at the screen and lecture me that white women are why Hillary Clinton lost the election, and a "the more you know" rainbow to appear on the screen.

Book fan here. This was all for TV. There was no race issue in the book.

The post abortion scene was terrible. In the book, Mia comforts Lexie. Lexie walks in crying with the bag of pads and Mia knows right away. It’s a great book scene.

I strongly disliked how this out-of-character scene was done in the show, because in the book, it really showed Mia as empathetic, caring and as having a really sharp eye for details. And then you see that sharp eye at the end, when the artwork Mia created about the entire family was displayed.

Just finished watching and thought both Mia and Elena were annoying as hell in the series. And the ending was ridiculous. I thought some deviations from the book worked and enjoyed the 90s nostalgia (I graduated high school in '97) but it was clear the producers felt the need to ramp up the drama.

Definitely this. I watched the series, then listened to the audio book. It was much more subtle and realistic IMO. We barely got to know the youngest daughter and why she had such a troubled relationship with her mom. I enjoyed both but the series is Hollywood.

[Anonymous]

I need to watch this series again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not quite done with the series but it seems like the point of the show is that white women are unworthy of empathy and their aims at friendship are inauthentic because they are actually narcissistic psychopaths. The scene after the abortion is kind of cruel, I mean, she's a teenager. I'm waiting for Mia to point at the screen and lecture me that white women are why Hillary Clinton lost the election, and a "the more you know" rainbow to appear on the screen.

Book fan here. This was all for TV. There was no race issue in the book.

The post abortion scene was terrible. In the book, Mia comforts Lexie. Lexie walks in crying with the bag of pads and Mia knows right away. It’s a great book scene.

I strongly disliked how this out-of-character scene was done in the show, because in the book, it really showed Mia as empathetic, caring and as having a really sharp eye for details. And then you see that sharp eye at the end, when the artwork Mia created about the entire family was displayed.

Just finished watching and thought both Mia and Elena were annoying as hell in the series. And the ending was ridiculous. I thought some deviations from the book worked and enjoyed the 90s nostalgia (I graduated high school in '97) but it was clear the producers felt the need to ramp up the drama.

Definitely this. I watched the series, then listened to the audio book. It was much more subtle and realistic IMO. We barely got to know the youngest daughter and why she had such a troubled relationship with her mom. I enjoyed both but the series is Hollywood.

Exactly. The book, especially the audiobook, pulls you apart...subtly. And you don’t know who’s team you’re on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the adaptation of the book is quite well handled (and I loved the book).

Kerry Washington does match up pretty well with her character on the page: remote and alive really only for her art, and struggling when she needs to put her daughter first. But Washington's facial expressions in this role are soooo weird. The upper lip curling and teeth-baring when she's in distress make her look contemptuous, not sorrowing. It's odd as heck.

I'm late to this show, but just finished last night. I *completely* agree with you about Kerry Washington's bizarre facial/mouth expressions!! It got to the point where I was completely distracted by her feral teeth-baring. So strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I havent watched it yet. Kerry Washington’s face drives me CRAZY. Her scrunched nose in Scandal...ugh.

And without watching it I knew that Reese as Elena was the same as Madeline in BLL.

She was like Madeline on steroids. Or like Tracy Flick grown up. I'm tired of seeing her play the same role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like Kerry Washington's version is just so less sympathetic than the book's version of Mia. Kerry's is really harsh.

+1

The beauty of the book is how TORN you feel: you side with Elena, Mia, Linda, and Bebe all the same.

At least I did. I listened to the book and the narrator was fantastic; you’re really torn.

DP. I haven't read the book, but I did get some of that from the show. Most of the characters are multi-faceted enough that they're not entirely "bad" or "good."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they're dubbing. I read an interview with the young Reese actor who said she watched and listened to a lot of Reese to get it right.

The young Reese actress also played young Sarah Jessica Parker / Carrie on a Sex and the City spinoff called The Carrie Diaries. It was an adorable show, glad the actress is still around.

+1
I loved that show and that actress. Haven't seen her in anything since, which is strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we just give a should out to the kid (probably young adults, I haven't checked) actors in this show? They are all killing it.

I was so impressed with the casting. Not just of Pearl, but the four Richardson kids. They actually looked related to one another, and also to RW and JJ. Incredible resemblances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the looks of the trailer, I think they are changing the story?

Book followers, help me. Does Elena ever figure out about Mia and pearl?

Yes

Does she use it against her?


I am SO excited to see how they play out the very end. Like, very end. I was sobbing and gasping. I’m team Bebe.

I'm empathetic, but she abandoned her baby and the mandatory waiting periods have well since passed (the baby is a year old!). Should babies left at safe haven spots be left in foster care limbo for years just in case the mom returns?

DP. I was also very empathetic regarding Bebe, but couldn't help wondering - why didn't she go to a women's shelter with her baby when she couldn't afford to feed her? Surely there were/are places that will take in women in dire straits and their children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually burst out laughing during the finale. I hadn’t read the book and figured it would end in a super dramatic way, but it was just so ridiculous how it all came together that I couldn’t take it seriously at all. Good fun, though!

+1
I thought the fire was absurd. First the kids are desperately trying to talk Izzy out of setting it on fire... then Elena comes in and says her awful things... then the kids look at one another and silently agree to SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE. So ridiculous.

But I did think Elena's last words were so telling - when asked who started the fire, she said, "I did." Metaphorically, she did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the looks of the trailer, I think they are changing the story?

Book followers, help me. Does Elena ever figure out about Mia and pearl?

Yes

Does she use it against her?


I am SO excited to see how they play out the very end. Like, very end. I was sobbing and gasping. I’m team Bebe.

I'm empathetic, but she abandoned her baby and the mandatory waiting periods have well since passed (the baby is a year old!). Should babies left at safe haven spots be left in foster care limbo for years just in case the mom returns?

DP. I was also very empathetic regarding Bebe, but couldn't help wondering - why didn't she go to a women's shelter with her baby when she couldn't afford to feed her? Surely there were/are places that will take in women in dire straits and their children?

She was illegal and it was 1997.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the finale was okay, and liked that Elena actually seemed to learn something, but don't understand why Pearl wanted to see the grandparents who rejected her and her mother instead of the father who had desperately wanted her. Not that I'm totally sympathetic to the latter, given the whole issue of a rich family's "buying" a young poor black girl's body and eggs with little regard for her well being.

Find it totally implausible the adoptive parents wouldn't have had a security system installed ffs. And heartless of them not to let the bio mother at least have limited visitation rights.

Regarding the bolded, plenty of young white women are paid surrogates too - why make that about race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not quite done with the series but it seems like the point of the show is that white women are unworthy of empathy and their aims at friendship are inauthentic because they are actually narcissistic psychopaths. The scene after the abortion is kind of cruel, I mean, she's a teenager. I'm waiting for Mia to point at the screen and lecture me that white women are why Hillary Clinton lost the election, and a "the more you know" rainbow to appear on the screen.

Book fan here. This was all for TV. There was no race issue in the book.

The post abortion scene was terrible. In the book, Mia comforts Lexie. Lexie walks in crying with the bag of pads and Mia knows right away. It’s a great book scene.

Well, that is pretty much how it's shown on screen too. Mia makes Lexie tea, puts clean sheets on the bed for her, and just generally comforts her. It's only when Lexie asks her if she made the right decision that Mia explodes - that seemed to come out of nowhere and was very strange to me.

[Anonymous]

How do people like the book? It’s absolutely awful-zero subtlety and suspense and all around poor writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the finale was okay, and liked that Elena actually seemed to learn something, but don't understand why Pearl wanted to see the grandparents who rejected her and her mother instead of the father who had desperately wanted her. Not that I'm totally sympathetic to the latter, given the whole issue of a rich family's "buying" a young poor black girl's body and eggs with little regard for her well being.

Find it totally implausible the adoptive parents wouldn't have had a security system installed ffs. And heartless of them not to let the bio mother at least have limited visitation rights.

Regarding the bolded, plenty of young white women are paid surrogates too - why make that about race?

I was a college student 94-98 and our student paper had ads every week asking to buy for our eggs.