Halloween Special Review: Tricked (The Loud House Halloween Special)

 

I've been wanting to do this review for a couple of years now but I could never work it into my schedule.  I admittedly had to wedge it in and rework the schedule a couple of times but I'm glad that I was able to. This is a nice and simple Halloween special that isn't scary but still celebrates the season. In many ways, the atmosphere of this special calls to mind something like It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

I'll be honest and say that it took me a while to become a fan of The Loud House and it truly wasn't until their Christmas special that I became hooked and now it's one of my favorite cartoons.

And now it's one of my favorite cartoons.  With that out the way, let's take a look at the plot.

The Plot

The plot is admittedly simple as it's Halloween time and we see how the Louds celebrate and we get to see some fun moments such as pumpkin carving. 

We learn that this is Lucy's favorite holiday whereas their father hates Halloween as he's afraid of everything. It's cute but does eventually get played out and there are moments where we see how the kids plan to get as much candy as possible. The twins Lola and Lana have multiple costumes whereas younger sister Lisa is using Baby Lily because people love babies.

It's cute and it does work as she ends up with 85 pieces of candy whereas our main character, Lincoln, and his best friend Clyde have found a location that gives out full-sized candy bars and decide to trick-or-treat there.  First, they have to stave off obnoxious bullies.  So, they send them to their neighborhood and as happenstance has it, they have British doppelgangers that are going back to the UK in this area, so they pretend to be them and then rip off those suits hiding their Halloween costumes. While they may have had a great Halloween, everyone else did not as well, those two bullies wrecked the neighborhood. 

After hearing his sisters explain details of these bullies, Lincoln decides that he needs to get back at the bullies after hearing they have stolen everyone's candy. And well I don't want to get into just yet but the way that it works is brilliant.

Lincoln and Clyde lure the bullies to a haunted corn maze that was set up by Lucy and well...

Music

You Got Tricked

Yeah, this musical number is just all kinds of awesome as the Loud Family gets back at the bullies and scares the tar out of them. It's just so fun as it really gets the audience into the Halloween spirit as I have mentioned before. It's all just so much fun and is a blast.

Yeah, I mixed it up a bit, and while all the characters are great. I only want to focus on Lincoln and Clyde.

Characters

Lincoln and Clyde voiced by Collen Dean & Caleel Harris

While some of the other characters had fun moments, the episode really focused on these two as they snuck off to get the candy they wanted and then tried to right the wrongs of what they did. It was sweet and fun in how they go about getting revenge on the bullies.

My Final Thoughts

Like I said this is a fun episode and one that I suggest checking out and The Loud House isn't a show where you need to have watched any other episode to understand what's going on as each episode is pretty standalone. Even with that said, this is still a really great Halloween episode that I strongly reccomendy. 

The Pain in Next to Normal

Lately, I've been thinking about the musical Next to Normal.  I had the honor of seeing it in February at The Kennedy Center before the world went to shit. It was a Christmas/birthday present from my mom.  The show deals with bipolar disorder and PTSD.

The story centers on a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing her illness has on her family.

Rowdy just released a video of The Simpsons episode, Moaning Lisa to address how it's okay to be angry during these hard times.  There are two songs in this show that break me as they go together and speak to how I feel sometimes during a really bad time.





The first song, You Don't Know, Diana is angry in this scene as she has stopped taking meds that were helping her but she stopped after being convinced by the hallucination of her dead son to do so. This song is one that gets me as everything Diana says is a perfect summation of how people dealing with mental illness.  The biggest line that gets me is this one.

Do you know, do you know, what it's like to die alive?

As that is what my seizures often feel like but on a broader scale, this is an honest assessment of what it likes to think that you are being judged for everything that you are doing and one misstep will be the end of you.  This reminds me of a piece of MLP fan art where a class was mocking Derpy by calling her that in a bullying fashion.  While what Diana goes through is much severe, there is a point of believing that you aren't good enough.    Something else to understand about Diana is that the emotions that she is expressing here are the first true emotions that she is expressing as the meds that she was were suppressing who she truly is. While lashing out may be intense, this speaks to the core message of Rowdy's video,  you are going to be sad or angry and people have to accept that. 

Things will not always be easy and this is where her husband Dan comes in, with his song, he is trying to be for his wife no matter how much the hallucination of their dad leads her astray.  I believe that the opening lines for his song are the most important.

Can you tell me what it is you're afraid of?
Can you tell me why I'm afraid it's me?

He doesn't know how to help his wife but he wants to and this is the biggest point to make as people may not always take to the help that you want to offer. And that's okay, you have to let them work things out on their own accord sometimes.  You can't force people to get better, it takes time and if you force people to get better, you could end up making them worse than they were when they wanted to lash out and let out all those angry emotions.  While I'm a generally happy person,  I've had my bad days and both these songs reflect that.  And right now if someone wants to be angry/sad, you have to let them. 

Here We Come a Carolling: Here's Love (Secret Santa for Les)

Miracle on 34th Street is often cited as one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made.  If nothing else, it has the best Santa Claus. 

Last year, when I introduced Here We Come a Carolling, I opened with a look at Christmas songs from musicals that weren't exactly about Christmas. However Les inspired me as he mentioned that the song, It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas came from the musical, Here's Love.  Well, I decided to check this out for myself and found that this show was an adaption of a Christmas great.


Therefore,  I figured I would tap into a well that we are both fans of, musical theater.  I knew that this would be the most fun for me to do.  I'll admit that I opened did this on the Superman ABC musical but I couldn't get through ten minutes of that.  And this has more of the holiday spirit anyways.  With that outta the way, let's begin. 


Here's a playlist of the songs as they're easier to find that way. With that outta the way, let's get started. 



The Big Clown Balloons


This opening number is a bit simple but it sets up the parade rather well and also does a great job of tying into the film's intro and the warm feeling that comes when watching this movie.


Arm in Arm

This is a cute number that expresses the love that Doris and Susan have for one another.  Now, from what I've read one change that was made regarding this adaption is that it was moved from the '40s to '60s.  Which while single parenting is even more common now than it was during that era, I think the forties setting made it stand out a bit more.  I think it's one of those things where a movie that came out in the past retroactively becomes a period piece.  Still,  cute and very endearing to the audience. 


You Don't Know 


This number is such a heartbreaking piece from Doris.  Sadly, the synopsis for this isn't that great but I imagine this being sung to Susan about how hard the real world can be and how it'll break your heart sometimes.


The Bugle


This is perhaps one of my favorite songs from this show.  It encapsulates what I think is one of the most important of Miracle.  

Kris showing that he can under this little Dutch girl by singing a song with her in her language speaks to the magic that is found in this season and the goodness of people like Kris that want to help others.  And this song captures that,  in both versions,  Kris wants to make sure every child has a wonderful Christmas no matter the barrier and well if that isn't tear-inducing, I don't know what is. 



Here's Love


The title song is just okay.  It sounds more like a jingle than an actual song and perhaps that is what they were going for but it doesn't completely work for me.  Something about it just falls flat about it.  It's not bad as there isn't a bad song in the bunch (of those that were on YouTube.)  But it's there and that's all I can say about it.


My Wish


Mr. Gailey suffers the most in this adaption. This song with Susan is nice and sentimental and feels li the most like who Gailey was in the movie. Because sure, he was a bit brash and different from Doris but just as much as Kris, he helped the Walkers to believe.  The Gailey in this musical doesn't come off that way.  We will discuss that with his next set of songs but something about them just hasn't aged well. 


Pine Cones and Holly Berries 


This is another sweet song that includes traces of an iconic Christmas song (oddly the OBC version of that song is not YouTube).  This is perhaps the first Christmassy song of the bunch but it works really well as it's just so warm and comforting like any good Christmas song should be.


Look Little Girl/Look Little Girl (Reprise)


Like I was saying, Gailey suffered a lot in this adaption.  I get that this debuted in a different time but frankly, Gailey, as presented in the musical, comes off a bit gross.  I wouldn't go so far as to say sexist but I dunno,  it feels like the original Gailey had more respect for women than what I've heard in this musical.   The reprise as sung by Doris is nice and feels more genuine than Gailey's original song.  Still, not the strongest piece but rather good. 


Expect Things to Happen

Another great Christmas number that has a warm and fuzzy feeling that more than makes up for the last song just rubbing me the wrong way.  I could see adding this and The Bugle to my Christmas Broadway playlist next year as they are some of the best Christmas songs I've never heard before.


She Hadda Go Back


Again, this is just another song that hasn't aged well.  It's not as bad as Look Little Girl but it's just irritating and feels a little dudebro-ish.  It doesn't take me out as much as Gailey's previous song but I can't say I care for it.


That Man Over There


I love this number and strangely, it reminds me of a song from The Flintstones Family Christmas where Fred sings about seeing a Santa on every corner of Bedrock.  Though, I think this song is a bit better than that number.  Again,  another I think I would love to add to Christmas rotation.


My State

This is a decent number that is very enjoyable but not as strong as previous entries.  Good but not great and that's all I really have to say about it.


Finale

The finale is a reprise of That Man Over There and I think that's a good way to close out this show.


My Final Thoughts

The original movie is infinitely better but this isn't a bad adaption.  It's at best a mixed bag that has some really good numbers but others that just don't hold up in today's society.  In all, I'm glad that I was able to discover these songs from a musical based on a Christmas classic.  And I would love to see this onstage some time in the future.   Les, I hope that you enjoyed this and well, here's a Superman holiday image.

The Brokenness of Dear Evan Hansen Pt. 5: The Absence of The Fathers

In the last entry in this series, we looked at the hardships of the mothers and how Heidi and Cynthia are the most heartbreaking characters. Today, however, we are looking at the two characters in this musical that I can't stand, the fathers.  Now, this is interesting in that one of these characters is an off-stage character and is never seen but his presence is felt throughout the whole show.  Let's start with the father that is onstage, Larry Murphy.


You'll notice that this entry is titled the Absence of the Fathers and here's the thing, a person does not have to be physically absent from one's life to be absent and that is the impression that I got from both of these fathers.  Let's look at how Larry addresses his son during the opening number, Anybody Have a Map.  

He doesn't listen.  Look at him, he's probably high.  

Hmm, I get the disdain as Connor was never the easiest kid to live with but this gives the impression that Larry would rather shrug his son's problems because he can't connect to him.  Consider a quote I used from Mike Faist in Connor's entry.

I believe Connor is someone that is filled with a lot of emotions but doesn't know how to express them.

I understand that not all parents may not be able to understand how to reach out if someone in need of help is keeping their emotions bottled up but if we don't make the attempt, things could get worse. And I'm sorry but Larry seems to have shrugged it off and placed the blame of Connor's suicide onto his son.   According to the first paragraph on the entry for Larry's character in Through The Window, this is stated.

The cold, stern, stoic-to-a-fault patriarch in Dear Evan Hansen deals with his son's suicide by burying his grief beneath an armor of anger and resentment. 

Okay, that is one-hundred percent fair but as the story continues, things with him really get irksome. Let's take a look at what is perhaps the most important song for the Murphy's as a whole, Requiem and like the last two times, we will be focusing on what Larry's set of lines have to say.

I gave you the world, you threw it awa/yLeaving these broken pieces behind you/Everything wasted, nothing to say/So I can sing no requiem

I understand that Larry is going through a lot and I understand that people deal with loss in varying ways but this almost reads like victim-blaming. That may not be the case but I find it hard not to view it that way.  It's actually a little annoying.   I try to see everything the point-of-view of all the characters in this show but with this character, I find it extremely difficult.  The one thing that sells the pain of Larry in this number is the distraught that is heard in Michael Park's voice as he sings these lyrics.  I truly feel that without someone of Park's caliber,  Larry would come across as uncaring towards his son.

Now, that's not to say that I can't feel for him during the second act when Connor's suicide note is uploaded online.   And I'm sorry but I find these words to buy from Larry.

I did the best I could, I tried to help him the only way I knew how and if that's not good enough... And he was failing.   

Again, this is just.....

I'll be quite honest and say that Larry's song, To Break in a Glove was the only number that I had not listened to before writing one of these articles.  However, I changed that, right before I went to write this entry.  And well, I can see what this song is trying to do.





This is the one song that helps to show the human side to Larry as he's relating to Evan in a way that it appears that he never got to do with his own son.   I look at these lines specifically and see that.

 Or you're miles from some goal/Or you're just trying to do what's best/For a kid who's lost control

Consider the last line there for a moment as that is where Connor was at as he had lost control but it feels as though, Larry didn't take the time to notice that. Well okay, that's Connor's dad.  What about Evan's? Well...


Evan's dad does not have a physical presence in the show but there is a strong sense that he's moved on.  Let's look at an attempt for interaction that Evan makes with dad in the Novel for a moment.

I used to mail him postcards, hoping we'd become pen pals but the one I received a response it was in Theresa's handwriting. He enjoys hiking, so I suggested we walk the Appalachian Trail together. He seemed to like the idea, but when I reminded him about it this summer, he up with an excuse about how he's already flying east for my graduation in the spring, and now with the baby coming, he can't afford to come twice. 

A bit wordy but it does get across the idea that Evan constantly feels let down by his father because while all these may be legitimate excuses, that is all Evan hears from his father.  And looking at how, when Evan tried to reach out with a postcard, he got a response in return from his father's second wife is just heartbreaking.  Though, I think a lot of the heartbreak that Evan's father has put him through can be traced back to when Evan was a little kid.






Going to do this a little differently as I have two sets of lyrics to look at there.  Firstly, there's the opening.

It was a February day/When your dad came by, before going away/A U-Haul truck in the driveway/The day it was suddenly real

Starting here is simple as we hear how this man (I apologize I could not remember his name) stepped out on Heidi and Evan.  We don't really get to know Evan's dad but if we take how Heidi feels about him and what we can observe from that quote from the Novel, we have a picture of a man that has moved on and has no interest in being a part of his son's life.   In many regards,  Evan's father leaving when he was so young did a lot to harm him.  And not just in the "he didn't have a good male role model" sense but it seemed to have caused some abandonment issues within Evan.  Look at what Little Evan asks of his mom in this song.

That night, I tucked you into bed/I will never forget how you sat up and said"Is there another truck coming to our driveway?/A truck that will take mommy away"

Now, I am not putting the blame completely on Evan's father as Evan did a bad thing later in life but the kid was a bit unstable and to see a young boy have this thought is just heartbreaking.  Even more so, when it is shown that Evan's father doesn't want to take the time to get to know the man that his son has become.


This was the hardest entry to write because like I said, I try to be fair and view what the characters are going through but for these two, that was rather hard.  This is our final entry looking at the characters from Dear Evan Hansen and I'm sorry that it had to end on a dour note but I wanted to get this one as next month, I'll be seeing this show at the Kennedy Center.

I might give you a Musical Musings on my thoughts on the show after I see it but that might not be for a while as I think after that, I think I may want to take a break from this show. Peace! 

Back In Time: My Thoughts on Back To The Future: The Musical

Musical adaptions of popular movies are nothing new.  Just this year, we saw two film-based musicals nominated for the Tony for Best New Musical.

Now obviously,  part of turning a beloved film/franchise into a musical serves a rather profitable purpose as they are selling a name of something that an audience is already familiar with, in a way to bring them in to see the show.  A perfect example of this is the Spongebob Squarepants musical.  I'm not the biggest fan of Spongebob but I have seen how that musical has brought in a young audience and introduced them to the world of musical theater.   So, that's a good thing.

Where am I go with all this?  Well, one of my favorite movies is being turned into a musical.  Clearly, you can see what it is as I have brought back my Back In Time series to discuss.   In February of  2020, Back To The Future: The Musical will debut in Manchester.   I believe Pinkie Pie can sum up my feelings here.

Let me explain, I'm excited to see one of my favorite movies adapted to a new medium that I love but I'm also nervous about this movie being turned into something that it was not originally.   I truly have nothing against musical adaptions of films as one of my favorite stage musicals is Newsies.  However, there is a difference there as Newsies already was a musical and had a base skeleton to work with concerning the music.   Sure, BTTF has The Power of Love, Back In Time,  and the dated  Johnny B. Goode sequence that may not play as well as in 2020 as it did in 1985.  While I have not seen it, I have heard complaints that that sequence can be read as Marty, a white kid inventing one of the most popular songs and genres.   Consider the end of that scene for a moment.






While I may have not seen it, I feel it would be disrespectful to not acknowledge that there are people that have taken umbrage with that one moment. Does that make the move as a whole, problematic?  No, but we live than the '80s  and if you need proof that, I suggest looking at the complaints that Tootsie has received of being called transphobic with its musical adaption.  I am perhaps not the best person to speak on either of these issues but they should be addressed and not dismissed as saying people can't take a joke. 


Moving away from these issues, the music is another key component of any good musical and so far,  two songs sung by the show's Marty have been released.  The first is just The Power of Love.   






It's decent and one might say safe at first but I get why this would be the first song released in promoting the BTTF musical.  It's a song that BTTF fans know and love as it's one of the two flagship songs of this franchise.  So, I think starting with this song shows the fandom that this is still Back To The Future and the crew behind this show are taking good care in working with this property and hope to deliver a quality product.  The next song that was released was the first original number so to speak from the show and I have a few thoughts on this.





First off, thank goodness, this show is not a jukebox musical as that would have lessened my interest in the end product a little bit.   And while I'd love to hear it context,  I like the idea of Marty singing this to George as a way to help build up his confidence.  I've seen some people say it sounds generic but I don't see that to be the case. To me, it sounds really good.

Along these lines, this brings up something important to acknowledge,  I am more than open to new actors taking on these iconic roles.  I love Micheal J. Fox & Christopher Lloyd as Marty and the Doc but accepting new actors in these roles has honestly been the easiest process in hearing the news of this musical happening.   I'm more interested in how they're gonna pull off the DeLorean.  It baffles me a little but then again, I've seen Elphaba fly onstage, so suspension of belief is usually needed for musicals.

Like I said, I'm excited and nervous for this production and I know that it'll be a while before I get to see it but I will most certainly be following the news of this show as it's debut crawls near.   At the end of the day,  I really hope and think that this show can live up to the BTTF name and honor it.   Let me know what you think in the comments. Peace! 

The Brokenness of Dear Evan Hansen Pt. 4: The Hardships of The Mothers

In the first three entries in this series, we looked at the brokenness of the three main child characters with how Evan feels lost and invisible,  Conor just needed reaffirmation that he was loved but he had a huge barrier put up around him that made it hard for people to connect and Zoe, the innocent bystander was hurt by two people she loved.   Starting today,  we shift our focus to the parents of this story and I have decided to put them together as they represent two similar sides of a coin.   And seeing as Mother's Day is approaching (as I write this) I have decided to start with The Hardships of The Mothers.  

Both Heidi and Cynthia are mothers that are trying their best to give their kids what they think they need.   Much like Conor's entry, I feel that it helps to first look at a song that was ultimately cut from the musical and that is quite a crime. 

I chose this video specifically as it highlights that this song was cut because they felt it was giving too much characterization to Cythina and I think that is part of a problem we should be allowed to see her grieve.  She is a mother that has just lost her son and you really get a great sense of that here and the musical does go out of its way to show that Cynthia is going out of her way to make Evan feel like a part of her family as she wants to fill the gap left by Conor's suicide and in her mind,  his "best friend" is the closest thing she has to her son.  Which makes what she goes through all the more heartbreaking.  Which can be heard in Cynthia's section of the song,  Requiem.

Take a look at what Cynthia says here during this number.  

I hear your voice, I feel you near
Within these words, I finally find you
And now that I know that you are still here
I will sing no requiem tonight

Cynthia has truly bought into what Evan is selling her because she wants to have good memories of her son.  Which ties back into the idea that somewhere deep down, the Murphy's needed Evan's lie.  I'm still iffy on that idea myself but I do see what this was attempting as Cynthia is probably the one of the family that is hit the hardest by Conor's actions.  She would do anything to have her son back and that is seen through those words.  

Now,  I feel that we need to rewind a bit and go back to the very first song from this musical as that shows Heidi and Cynthia in mom roles as they are really trying.  

In many regards, I feel if people listened to this song not knowing it was attached to Dear Evan Hansen, they would think that it came from a lighthearted musical.  On a surface level, this song is a cute number about two moms that want to do the best for their children but they don't know how to do this.   This ties into something I mentioned about these two moms showing similar sides of a coin.  Consider that Cynthia is part of a typical nuclear family, there's a mother, a father, a son and a daughter.  To the outside world,  that may seem perfect and idyllic but as the musical shows us anyone can have problems.  Heidi is a single mom working as a nurse and going to school at night to better herself.   Her family may seem messy to the outside world but as she states, she is trying to make it work.   Which brings us to her character and her hardship, just as Cynthia lost her son,  Heidi feels that she doesn't know her son and is losing him to another family.  This is best exemplified when the Murphys offer to pay for Evan to go to college and that makes Heidi feel worthless.   This moment makes Heidi feel small and worthless.

Just take a look at what she says.

I'm just, we do have money. So, I'm sorry that you were the impression that we didn't And whatever money we don't have, Evan will either get a scholarship or go to a community college and that's... I think the best thing for us to do.

Those words hit hard as they speak to Heidi realizing that her son isn't the person she thought he was and he had been living a life she had no idea about with a family that in her eyes is better off than the two of them.  

Right after this scene, Heidi and Evan have a huge blow-up and I don't want to quote it as that would make this blog extremely long but I want to look at something that is said towards the end. 

Evan: I know I'm such a burden. I'm the worst thing that ever happened to you. I ruined your life. 

Heidi: You are the only... the one good thing that has ever happened to me, Evan.    I'm sorry I can't give you anything more than that. Shit.  

Now,  I could include what Evan says right before the number Good for You starts but something interesting to point out is that Heidi realizes that she has lost her son to the Murphys as she points out that they act like they have adopted him and Evan tries to rebut by saying they're nice.  You really get a sense of heartbreak throughout this whole sequence that leads to anger from Heidi's part and it is a little justifiable.  

Now, while this song does include other people partaking in what TV Tropes would call a Reasons You Suck speech/song for the sake of this article,  I'm only interested in Heidi's part as I have seen some interpret this as Evan's psyche calling him out but I prefer the idea that these real people are actually calling him out as he needs to own up for what he did and with Heidi's part,  we get  a sense of heartbreak that cannot be understated.   Look at these words.

Well I'm sorry you had it rough
And I'm sorry I'm not enough
Thank God they rescued you

These words echo the sentiments of Heidi's anger from the fight that preceded this song and wow, it packs a punch as these words indicate how much a failure Evan has made his mother feel like because of his actions.   But he is still her son and she will always love him because...

Your mom isn't going anywhere
Your mom is staying right here

Those lines come from a song in the show that I would equate to Baby Mine and phew, waterworks are coming. 





So Big/So Small brings us full circle back to how we heard mothers admitting that they're trying their best as we hear Heidi open herself up and admit that while she knows that she'll fail as that is a part of life as she will always be there for her son and she understands how easy it is to feel lost or invisible in this big world or as she puts it small. 

When it all feels so big
'Til it all feels so small

This speaks to Heidi being a good mom that will do whatever it takes to make sure her son is afforded every opportunity to know that he has value and worth in not just her eyes but on this earth.    It's a beautiful message that more people could use.




Both of these mothers face hardships of losing their son in one way or another, sadly Cynthia cannot get her son back but Heidi is able to come to understand her son and everything he had been going through as that song comes after she finds Evan's letter and realizes it was a suicide note.   That is what she meant by making everything feel so small, once she saw that her mom instincts kicked in and realized that her son needed her support.   Which again is something that sad to say Cynthia and the rest of her family failed to give Conor.   That does not make her a bad mother as she wanted to help her son and she loved him but after he took his life,  she wanted to live with this false memory as it made the pain go away.   While that may seem nice, that is not something one should do.  Both these mothers face extreme hardships that make your heart break for them and you want to help them but it's hard.   I guess the biggest lessons to take away from this article is to let your mother know you love her and don't ignore her love either.  Peace!  

The Brokenness of Dear Evan Hansen Pt. 3: The Innocence of Zoe

In some musicals, not all but some there is usually a character that I describe as the innocent and typically, these characters are the love interests of the main character. Examples include Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors and Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

 



I apologize up front as this could seem sexist considering that all three of these characters are women and they are in situations that make you feel bad for them such as Audrey being with an abusive boyfriend and Penny being with a man that only cares about his ego.   One has to ask, is that the case with Zoe?

Well... no, but she does fall for Evan under false pretenses.

Evan... convinces her that Conor--in spite of all appearances--cared deeply for her, and she buys into his version of history, she finds herself falling for her brother's "best friend"

The quotation marks around the words best friend indicate the lie that is being told in the book, Through the Window.  And that is perhaps the one issue I have with this show.   Let's return to this quote.

"... a lie that was never meant to be told"  

This is something that we have discussed throughout this series that Evan didn't mean to tell the lie that was the catalyst for the story but he does take advantage of the lie in order to get closer to Zoe as he has had a crush on Zoe for quite some time and that is seen in perhaps my least favorite song from the show, If I Could Tell Her. 





If you listen closely to this song, you'll see how Evan is taking advantage of Zoe's dead brother in order to get closer by feeding her lies about how Conor cared for her by twisting the words to be things that Evan has always admired about Zoe.  I get what the show is doing and yeah, I get why Evan would do this but it just leaves me with a squicky feeling.   However, that brings up another quote from Through the Window that we should look at.

[Zoe] doesn't allow herself to be a victim... and she easily could be

This is such a strong point as from what he hear, her relationship with Conor wasn't the greatest.  This is best exemplified in the song, Requiem.  







Thankfully, the Dear Evan Hansen YouTube page has a solo version of this song that focuses on just Zoe's part and here you can hear the hurt and pain that she felt from Connor and in a way, she doesn't seem to mind that her brother is gone.  That can best be seen here.

'Cause when the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep

The way that Zoe describes her brother as a villain speaks volumes to how rocky the relationship they had was as if we are, to be honest, Connor wasn't the greatest guy and there are hints that he was verbally abusive towards Zoe but as the show ends, we learn that it may have been Zoe hiding the pain of losing her brother as a year after the events of the show, Zoe and Evan  meet back up and she lets down her defenses and says this to Evan.

Evan: They never told anyone about Connor's, about the note. About... who really wrote it. They didn't have to do that. They could have told everyone. What I did.


Zoe: Everybody needed it for something

This is interesting to consider but this is something that has been brought up numerous times that the Murphy's needed the lie as it brought them closer together and we see how it actually hurt Zoe but if we go back to the events of the story and when Evan reveals the truth, we have this breakdown from Zoe and her parents right before the lie is revealed.

Zoe (to her father):... you wanted to punish him.

Cynthia: Listen to your daughter, Larry

Zoe: You treated him like a criminal

Cynthia (to Larry): Are you listening?

Zoe (to her mother) You think you were any better? You let him do whatever he wanted

Larry: Thank you

Cythina (to Larry): When he threatened to kill himself the first, do you remember what you said?

Cythina: "He just wants attention"

Now,  I cut it down a bit to focus on the important parts but this boiling point speaks to the relationship that the Murphy's had within their household and how Zoe was an observer to how Connor was trampled by their father and coddled by their mother.   And it almost seems as though, she might have felt a little invisible.    Which becomes very clear with this line.

I'm the dead kid's sister

This line is important because throughout the musical that is how Zoe thinks the rest of the school and everyone involved is viewing herself.  Let's take a listen to one of my favorite songs from the show, Evan and Zoe's romantic number, Only Us.







And let's look at some of Zoe's lines here.

I don't need more reminders of all that's been broken
I don't need you to fix what I'd rather forget

Here, we can see that Zoe wants to be more than the dead kid's sister and doesn't want to build the relationship that is starting with Evan off of the memory of Connor and this takes us back to how Zoe is the innocent within the story of this musical because everyone is so focused on what happened to Connor, that they never stop to ask how is Zoe doing through all of this?   And through the two male relationships that we can observe in the story with both Evan and her brother, we see that it's a rocky relationship for her from both Evan and Connor.  So, let's go back to how this makes Zoe an innocent.   It's because she remains strong and these things happen to her but that doesn't make her naive as she is also the observer of this story and is willing to call people such as her parents out on their bullshit.   Perhaps, not the strongest entry but I think this makes sense.   I hope that you enjoyed this entry. Peace!