methodwriter85

Chapter 63 -When Will and JJ fly in a helicopter to Connecticut. "Fly Like An Eagle" by Steve Miller Band -When Will admires the Italian style architecture of JJ's house project in Connecticut. "Buona Sera" by Dean Martin -When Will...uh...watches JJ with Carullo. "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel -When JJ goes back for seconds with Carullo. "Nobody Does It Better" by Carly Simon -When Will calls JJ out for giving up love again...only...there's a true love that JJ really cannot give up- New York City. "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line

They're socialites. Think Gossip Girl. (Okay, we're a few years short of that.) They basically swan around in fancy couture at New York City social events and get photographed for society mags. Influencers are basically the modern-day marketers and I can't see that being JJ. JJ is never going to shill products for a living like influencers do because he doesn't need a job. Although I guess we could say he's a pro-bono influencer as he's not picking up products he doesn't believe in just to make money? It's kind of funny how JJ both wishes for the spotlight but also seems to believe in a low profile. It's like he wants the spotlight yet he doesn't want to invite it. In any event, to talk about Gossip Girl, Will is the Serena to JJ's Blair Waldorf. I did chuckle a bit at the tension over Carullo. Someone is very protective of their meal ticket. I mean, boyfriend.

Chapter 62 -Will and Darius talking in the plane about (what else?) Will's love life. "How Will I Know?" by Whitney Houston -When Will cries thinking about Travis. "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" by Al Green -When the brothers reunite at JJ's home in New York City. "New York, New York" by Liza Minelli -When Will gets dressed in his Gucci outfit. "I'm Really Hot" by Missy Elliot -When Will gets into a threesome with Patrick and his boyfriend. "Salt Shaker" by Ying Yang Twins

Sophie Turner is hilarious. I can see her as Zanie.

Ah, okay, I kept picturing an Amazonian Brigitte Nielsen type. The 1980's really liked big athletic blondes with big fake boobs and that's where I was going with the idea for Travis's mother- someone who just looks like she belongs in the 80's and drag queens would totally dress up as. Zoe Lucker a British soap diva? She's definitely got the trashy glam right. Maybe Joely Richardson? I was so into Nip/Tuck. This one's actually surprisingly hard to brainstorm because British actresses often have this well-bred, classy look to them, especially the ones that are still acting after their 30's.

Hannah Waddingham from Ted Lasso as Travis's Eurotrash mother? She just kind of has that larger than life vibe I was picturing. The fake tan and bleached hair also track with what I was picturing. Like you could have just pictured her being a model in the 80's and leading some weird, glamorous life before (somewhat) settling down.

Something tells me they aren't going to be like high school mock trial. It's funny we haven't even gotten to spring break yet. LOL

Zach should be smarter than this. He's always come off as a shark who reads people well. I don't think Zach would try that. He is, at the end of the day, a sports prodigy from a working class family. He's convinced that the NFL is his ticket out of that. I don't think he would do anything that risks that. Eh. JJ sounds happy. Well, as happy as he can be. I wonder how long this will last before his next big drama, LOL.

It's kind of funny to see Will experiencing high school The OC like drama when he's already done with it.

Well, what can I say? As the late and great Olivia Newton John once said, I'm hopelessly devoted.

As others had said, a lot of times Will just acts so goshdarned mature for his age but then you go and let him be a kid and it's fun.

We're all irritating as fuck until we hit about 25 years old.

Hero Fiennes Tiffin as poor, doomed Kevin/Sergio?

And Rich Crampton is JJ's biological half brother. LOL I would assume they all know, but the only time it's been discussed has been Brad with Wade and Matt. I don't recall Will or JJ ever acknowledging that.

I don't like Tony either. At least with Zach, he admitted he was an asshole. Tony is one of those people who put on a show of being a good person and then stab you in the back. Honesty, he's perfect for the entertainment industry. Maybe he can be a power couple with Cam Squires?

See, this is where JJ still being a figure skater could have come in. Mark could have ripped off the 1978 film Ice Castles starring 70's dreamboat Robby Benson and have JJ blinded in a tragic figure skating accident. Instead of tripping on a cable, JJ could have been blinded in a bombing at the ice arena instead, making things topical for the terrorism of the 2000's. Zach, now paralyzed from a moment ripped off from Friday Night Lights, tries to recover. JP being JP offers them the place in Hawaii, where they both get physical therapists. They eventually start to flirt with each other and kind of have a thing going, which fires up Will and makes him realize how much he still loves Zach. JJ then falls in love with the physical therapist who can be described as looking like a blonder Bradley Cooper. Okay, in all seriousness though, this is a soap opera and anything's possible, but I do think this is a pretty definitive ending for the Will/Zach saga. At least for now. One thing I've noticed about how Mark has changed up his writing from the way he started writing this saga is that he doesn't seem intent on giving everyone a "happily ever after" like he did in previous stories up to about "If It Fits." I think that's largely due to the fact that Mark doesn't really time jump anymore (we've covered every year since 1998 in pretty full detail), so it's kind of pointless to wrap everything up in a neat bow because then Mark has to mess with that anyway unless the characters either stay in the background or they've been sent off the canvas. This is me saying in a roundabout way that I don't think Mark will settle Will into anything for awhile because he's the lead character and to be the lead character in a soap you generally can't be happily settled into a forever relationship. For example, Brad and Robbie were a generally stable couple and were mostly in the background after their story largely concluded with Man in Motion in 1986 until Mark shook the couple up with Matt Carrswold arrival in 1998's Bloodlines. Although eh, Mark could always throw us a curveball and set the next story in 2015 so we can see Riley Danfield leading the mantle as the rebellious Cap teenager. LOL Edited to add: Now that I think about it, the arrival of Matt Carrswold really did spell the end of Robbie and Brad's stability as a couple. They were just never the same after that because Robbie just went into mid-life crisis mode. It's kind of a parallel to the arrival of Nicholas Cassadine on General Hospital, which put an ultimate wedge between Luke and Laura that they never really recovered from. God, I miss when soaps were good and not dying.

I don't think he would, either. Zach probably reminds him of his brother Jeff but I don't think Zach is a hill Frank would die on. Matt and Robbie Carrswold, yes.

Chapter 54 -When Will and Zach break up in a pretty final, definite way. "With Or Without You" by U2 -When Will ruminates over his breakup with Zach while jogging around Malibu. "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac -When Will checks out the damage from his fight with Zach, and later tells Stefan about the fight. "It Never Rains in Southern California" by Albert Hammond

I was really, really, really not happy with this development as a Zach/Will shipper, but honestly, Mark needed a reason for Will to finally let go of Zach and he got it. It had to definitively end in any event. Will's going off to school in the East Coast and Zach isn't going to be available for a relationship until at least 2016 or so, assuming he has a normal NFL career.

Chapter 53 -When Will and Travis drive along the Pacific Coast Highway and talk about how to get back at Mr. Buck. "Horse With No Name" by America -When Will and Stefan talk about (what else?) boy trouble. "Two Lovers" by Mary Wells -When Will approaches Zach, who's sleeping. "Lonely People" by America

I completely forgot we were doing this. So far there haven't been any deaths in The Gap Year.

I miss Blue and Private Tim. They drove a lot of conversation. Private Tim has been around recently, but Blue hasn't been around since the end of the Obama administration.

I don't hate Zach, but I also have really shitty taste in men, so...🤷‍♂️

I grew up on the East Coast less than 90 minutes from a beach, so I feel like I met a fair amount of beach bunnies in my life. The preppie ones looooovvvvvveeee Jack Johnson, especially the ones that are around Adam Phillip's age. I'm more of a boardwalk person and walking on the sand than actually being in the water type. Somehow I managed to go 6 years without being at the beach but finally went again for Labor Day Weekend. It was kind of a trip. The weirdest part about my time at Pittsburgh Metro region was realizing that I didn't see seagulls in the parking lot. In-land life was kinda weird to me, not gonna lie.

Chapter 49 -When Will and Zach have sex before Will drops the bomb that he watched him with Travis. "Toxic" by Britney Spears Chapter 51 -When Will and Travis go surfing. "Wasting Time" by Jack Johnson