My Mad Fat Diary: Thoughts and pic spam on episode 1.01 Big Wide World
I approached My Mad Fat Diary with some trepidation ... tumblr was full of gifsets ... was I going to cringe my way through an episode of something very implausible and contrived? I didn't expect to last past episode one but instead, found myself falling in love with this show.
In episode one, it's the day that Rae is being discharged from the psychiatric hospital. She has her first meeting with her therapist Kester. He is benignant, perceptive and pleasant. Rae by contrast is defensive and wary. One of the best parts of the series is seeing Rae gradually grow to trust Kester who is one of the rare people in the world who actually understands her.
We meet dear, sweet, troubled and irretrievably broken Tix. At this stage, we are not sure what is 'wrong' with her but we know that she adores Rae and the feeling is mutual. She gives Rae a personalised hospital bracelet as a farewell gift...
Rae's mum is more than an hour late to pick her up and the drive home is awkward and it's clear that the relationship is a strained one. On the way home, Rae re-encounters her best friend Chloe and Chloe's new friends. Chloe is your stereotypical pretty, slender, popular girl - Rae is hopelessly overshadowed and awkward around her. When Chloe invites Rae to join them at the pup later, she refuses at first but when she seems Archie (who I assume is hot by teenage girl standards :), she changes her mind.
During the first meeting at the pub, Chloe warns her that the group may not accept her but overall they appear friendly and relaxed around her. Finn is his usual introverted self, Izzy and Chop are boisterous and chatty and Rae is enthralled when Archie gets up to sing a song. He may not have the best voice but I suppose he's 'fit' and plays the guitar :) Finn doesn't really interact with her apart from glancing at her now and then.
At the chippy, it's interesting to see Rae watching the group from the sidelines. Chloe's the popular girl, Chop gregarious and outgoing although not even in school with the rest of them, Izzy is ditzy but adorable, Finn is fit but surly but best of all is Archie, rated as an awesome pizza slice by Rae :) She sees how well the gang gets along and she would clearly love to be one of them.
After the gang are kicked out of the chippy, she's still on the sidelines - taking the photo rather than being in on it, but I think she sees the potential for a new friendship group.
Alas, she doesn't hear back from the gang after the first gathering so she goes to the pub to see them out. Chloe seems surprised she's there but doesn't seem upset about it.
When Finn asks Archie to change the music that the jukebox is playing, Rae sees her chance to show off her strengths. She offers to do it. Finn says no. She retorts that if he doesn't like it, she'll give him his money back.
Rae picks a song and earns points with the gang who are all very approving of her choice - Sabotage by the Beastie Boys. Not one of my favourites I must say but the gang approves. Finn knows he's been bested but does little more than just give her looks.
Alas, pride goes before a fall because Chloe announces that they are all invited to a party at her house. It's a pool party. Rae is horrified and downs a snakebite without batting an eyelash - making Finn stare at her. Not sure if he's impressed or perplexed given that she had announced earlier that she does not drink. I'm guessing that he's starting to be intrigued that this person is a little different from the norm.
The impending pool party is enough to trigger a panic attack, making Rae stare at the larder in her home that's filled with all sorts of food she's not supposed to eat. She reminds herself of the difference between snacking and binging ...
She refugees to the hospital - convinced that she's not ready to leave. This happens after she goes shopping for a bathing suit and because of a smoke alarm ends up standing in the street in swimmers holding an inflatable animal and feeling humiliated. Archie happens to be one of the bystanders ...
At the hospital, Tixy reproaches her telling her that if Rae can't make it, then what hope have people like her got? :'( We still don't know what's wrong with Tix but the more we hear, the more we know it's not good. This bolsters Rae's resolve.
Turns out Archie has back acne so isn't keen on the pool party idea either. He comforts her about the bathing suit incident and they make a deal that they'll both go in the water.
At the pool, she clings to the sidelines but after some prodding from Chloe, attempts to enter the water ... and becomes stuck. This almost causes another panic attack as everyone can see the marks on her thighs, see her body, her humiliated face ... but then she makes light of it, gets Chop to help her into the water, the awkward tension is broken and everyone is laughing and happy again. She's one of the gang ...
Rae's fledgling steps towards acceptance were lovely. They felt natural and believable. I liked that she did not change herself or pretend to be someone else ... I also liked the individual members of the gang very much and felt that they were a positive influence on her despite the drinking and smoking. For sixteen they're very 'adult' :)
Overall, I thought it was a strong first episode. I liked seeing the interactions between Rae and Kester and Rae and Tix. I loved the gang. I cringed with Rae over her mother's infatuation with the oversexed Tunisian illegal immigrant. I was very keen to see what happened next.
Index to other MMFD pic spams/episode thoughts
In episode one, it's the day that Rae is being discharged from the psychiatric hospital. She has her first meeting with her therapist Kester. He is benignant, perceptive and pleasant. Rae by contrast is defensive and wary. One of the best parts of the series is seeing Rae gradually grow to trust Kester who is one of the rare people in the world who actually understands her.
We meet dear, sweet, troubled and irretrievably broken Tix. At this stage, we are not sure what is 'wrong' with her but we know that she adores Rae and the feeling is mutual. She gives Rae a personalised hospital bracelet as a farewell gift...
Rae's mum is more than an hour late to pick her up and the drive home is awkward and it's clear that the relationship is a strained one. On the way home, Rae re-encounters her best friend Chloe and Chloe's new friends. Chloe is your stereotypical pretty, slender, popular girl - Rae is hopelessly overshadowed and awkward around her. When Chloe invites Rae to join them at the pup later, she refuses at first but when she seems Archie (who I assume is hot by teenage girl standards :), she changes her mind.
During the first meeting at the pub, Chloe warns her that the group may not accept her but overall they appear friendly and relaxed around her. Finn is his usual introverted self, Izzy and Chop are boisterous and chatty and Rae is enthralled when Archie gets up to sing a song. He may not have the best voice but I suppose he's 'fit' and plays the guitar :) Finn doesn't really interact with her apart from glancing at her now and then.
At the chippy, it's interesting to see Rae watching the group from the sidelines. Chloe's the popular girl, Chop gregarious and outgoing although not even in school with the rest of them, Izzy is ditzy but adorable, Finn is fit but surly but best of all is Archie, rated as an awesome pizza slice by Rae :) She sees how well the gang gets along and she would clearly love to be one of them.
After the gang are kicked out of the chippy, she's still on the sidelines - taking the photo rather than being in on it, but I think she sees the potential for a new friendship group.
Alas, she doesn't hear back from the gang after the first gathering so she goes to the pub to see them out. Chloe seems surprised she's there but doesn't seem upset about it.
When Finn asks Archie to change the music that the jukebox is playing, Rae sees her chance to show off her strengths. She offers to do it. Finn says no. She retorts that if he doesn't like it, she'll give him his money back.
Rae picks a song and earns points with the gang who are all very approving of her choice - Sabotage by the Beastie Boys. Not one of my favourites I must say but the gang approves. Finn knows he's been bested but does little more than just give her looks.
Alas, pride goes before a fall because Chloe announces that they are all invited to a party at her house. It's a pool party. Rae is horrified and downs a snakebite without batting an eyelash - making Finn stare at her. Not sure if he's impressed or perplexed given that she had announced earlier that she does not drink. I'm guessing that he's starting to be intrigued that this person is a little different from the norm.
The impending pool party is enough to trigger a panic attack, making Rae stare at the larder in her home that's filled with all sorts of food she's not supposed to eat. She reminds herself of the difference between snacking and binging ...
She refugees to the hospital - convinced that she's not ready to leave. This happens after she goes shopping for a bathing suit and because of a smoke alarm ends up standing in the street in swimmers holding an inflatable animal and feeling humiliated. Archie happens to be one of the bystanders ...
At the hospital, Tixy reproaches her telling her that if Rae can't make it, then what hope have people like her got? :'( We still don't know what's wrong with Tix but the more we hear, the more we know it's not good. This bolsters Rae's resolve.
Turns out Archie has back acne so isn't keen on the pool party idea either. He comforts her about the bathing suit incident and they make a deal that they'll both go in the water.
At the pool, she clings to the sidelines but after some prodding from Chloe, attempts to enter the water ... and becomes stuck. This almost causes another panic attack as everyone can see the marks on her thighs, see her body, her humiliated face ... but then she makes light of it, gets Chop to help her into the water, the awkward tension is broken and everyone is laughing and happy again. She's one of the gang ...
Rae's fledgling steps towards acceptance were lovely. They felt natural and believable. I liked that she did not change herself or pretend to be someone else ... I also liked the individual members of the gang very much and felt that they were a positive influence on her despite the drinking and smoking. For sixteen they're very 'adult' :)
Overall, I thought it was a strong first episode. I liked seeing the interactions between Rae and Kester and Rae and Tix. I loved the gang. I cringed with Rae over her mother's infatuation with the oversexed Tunisian illegal immigrant. I was very keen to see what happened next.
Index to other MMFD pic spams/episode thoughts