Still Star-Crossed

Hey, guys, it's Willow, for the first time in forever. Sorry about sporadic updates recently! I've been busy with, y'know, getting an education and all that good stuff. But now that school's out, it leaves me free to do as I please... within reason, of course.

So.

"Still Star-Crossed" is a (relatively new, actually) TV show on ABC. It's a post-canonical adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Which, y'know. Catnip for nerds. Well. My kind of nerd, anyway.

So I watched the first episode. Here are some of my thoughts. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

Pros:

• The cast of this show? Incredibly diverse. About half of the main cast is POC; the main character, Rosaline Capulet, is a dark-skinned, beautiful Black woman. Prince Escalus? Black. Romeo Montague? Black. Excellent. I approve.
• This is... exactly the kind of overwrought, historically inaccurate, theatrical Shakespearean drama that I will probably always fall in love with, to be honest.
• Listen, I am so glad they made Count Paris a jerk. (So far, anyway.) He was an utter creep in the original-- an adult man, repeatedly asking for the hand of a teenager? Yikes. At least Romeo was somewhere in her age range. They've aged the lovebirds up in this, of course, but it's still sketchy.
• The mob/brawl after the funeral? Good.
• Ohhh, that scene with Rosaline and Escalus in the church. The softness in his gaze, the fondness in his voice, the helplessness that they can only try to escape-- yes.
• Isabella. Just... Isabella. Dang. Give me all the cutthroat, ruthless women who will do anything and everything for their city. "Escalus, Verona is burning."
• Escalus quietly cutting out his own heart to save the city he loves and is responsible for? Absolute perfection, my friends.
• We didn't get too much of them, seeing as they're dead and all, but I actually enjoyed the Romeo/Juliet dynamic. Cute.
• Rosaline and Livia. Everything about them: Rosaline, who would do anything at all for Livia's safety and happiness, who just wants to live a life where no one tells her what to do, and Livia, who doesn't understand her sister's quiet dream, who could be happy with a husband who loved her, who wants nothing more than to marry and live out a normal life.

Cons:

• Listen. At this point, I literally could not care less about Benvolio Montague. Give me a personality, Beardy McBeardFace.
• Same thing with Ben/Rosaline. They have no chemistry (yet), no reason to like each other (yet), and just... meh. 
• I think they might've gotten Benvolio's and Mercutio's personalities switched. Ben's the steady one, the designated driver, the Mom Friend and responsible adult. Mercutio, on the other hand? He does it for the Vine, he's an actual meme, and he will Fight Anyone.
• I'm kind of uncomfortable with the fact that Rosaline and Livia (dark-skinned WOC) are the servants of the Capulets, who are (drumroll, please) white. Like, I understand it as a narrative decision-- Ben and Rosa are both looked down on, they have to obey, they want a better life, yadda yadda-- but still, it skeeves me out.
• Why couldn't this show have given me Benvolio Montague and Rosaline Capulet, heirs of their respective houses, fiercely proud and loyal and also rock-solid and trustworthy and willing to do whatever it takes to keep Verona running smoothly? Who unwillingly agree to marry and find that they have more in common than they thought? Why?
• Related: love triangles are the spawn of evil and I despise them. Grr.

Final Rating: like, 3.7 out of 5 stars. Still, I think I'll keep watching. 

And there you have it. "Still Star-Crossed", ladies and gentlemen.

Happy summer! 

Willow