Twelve Reasons I Love Hanna Merin
Nov. 27th, 2013 07:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokifanI just rewatched the first season of Pretty Little Liars and I need to talk about how much I adore Hanna Merin. She’s just so great.
This is season 1 focussed, btw, but comments about everything that’s aired are welcome (and spoilers abound up to the end of S2). Because Hanna is always fabulous.
1. She’s so ferociously protective of her friends. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool my best friend, you’re dead frikkin meat.” Or one of my absolute favourite Hanna moments, when Wilden outs Emily to the other Liars in the library: “Give her the letter back. Give it back to her now or I swear to God I will rip your head off!”
2. She’s “Rosewood High’s new It-girl” and feels she has something to prove - but even when she was shy and overweight, she asks Sean out. She asks him to come to a party “...with me”. She is so brave.
3. Her close, protective relationship with her mum. One of the things I love about Liars is that the OT4’s families are present and important, rather than inexplicably absent, and all the relationships are specific and well-defined. Hanna and Ashley’s partnership is really lovely - the single mum and only child are mother and daughter, but they’re also partners against the world in a way that makes total sense post-divorce. Hanna selling off her stuff to help her mum - and fashion and material possessions are so important to her - and doing A’s bidding to save Ashley - it’s gruelling to watch but I do love her for it.
4. She’s a great ally. She never wavers in her support for Emily and tries to help Maya get with her. And, while secrets are a way of life for the girls, I really love that Hanna doesn’t tell Aria and Spencer. She tries to persuade Emily to tell them, knowing they’ll understand, but she doesn’t well-meaningly take that choice from Emily.
5. What people think of her matters, but she is unflinching in the face of the public. Throwing up on the trampoline then taking a bow? I would’ve wanted to be Hanna’s friend, too.
6. Hanna’s the only one of the OT4 (except perhaps Emily with Toby, later) to maintain a friendship outside the group - Lucas, and especially Mona. While Mona’s often left alone or feels left out, and obviously her secret jealousy is revealed as this monstrous force later - Mona is important to Hanna, the time they spent as BFFs matters to her, they have a connection and in-jokes and Hanna doesn’t abandon the friendship once the very intense OT4 relationship resumes.
7. On that note: SUCH a great friend. Do I ever love the OT4 more than when Spencer, Aria and Hanna set up Emily and Maya’s last night together in Spencer’s room? It’s just so lovely. And the girls are so insanely adorable all giggly and grinning and thrilled when they send Emily up. On the angstier end, talking to Caleb after he broke her heart because Spencer needs her to? HANNA.
8. She tells Aria the truth about what happened with the ticket to the museum and the almost-disaster of Ella seeing the date with Fitz. Aria didn’t believe A’s hints and Hanna could have got away with it (well, eventually A would probably have shown Aria proof, but Hanna didn’t know that). She told her anyway.
9. She’s sexually assertive; she’s clear about what she wants with Sean, and I love the first night with Caleb. And omg, Hanna is so cute checking out Caleb’s arse in the shower (and then hurriedly raising her eyes when he turns round). That raised-eyebrows smirk is so adorable!
10. Hanna is so compassionate and good-hearted. “Sean’s a good guy and he should be happy.” Suggesting they give the last of the stolen money to charity. Sneaking Caleb into her house so he has somewhere to stay. <333
11. She’s observant and clever. One of my favourite things about the programme is that it doesn’t devalue the traditionally feminine, and that’s especially evident with Hanna - she’s not academic, and she’s a popular blonde with a passion for fashion, but she’s not stupid. And that interest in clothes and make-up is how they’re sure the hoodie in the video isn’t Alison’s, it’s how she and Mona reconnect in hospital.
12. She is so so sweet when she’s in love. “Everyone should be as happy as I am” with that little giggle, practicing her surprised face, all dimples. I AM OVERCOME WITH LOVE.
12A. So pretty. So so pretty. The hair, the lips with her signature shade of pink, the blue eyes. SO PRETTY. And actually really well-cast for a teenager - because Benson still has that teenage thing of slightly rounded cheeks despite being very very thin, I find her a more convincing sixteen-year-old than 90% of American TV “teens”.
So yeah. Brave and compassionate and clever, with my favourite love interest on the programme. HANNA. <3
I do love Caleb, and their relationship. Especially how in a relationship with a bad boy hacker from a scary background and the popular blonde with all the right clothes, the sometimes-homeless hacker is the one constantly going PLEASE DO NOT DO THE THING, IT IS DANGEROUS and the fashion queen going SORRY BABY, DON’T WORRY, DON’T COME AFTER ME WHILE I DO THE DANGEROUS THING. It’s so great. And the school dances where the boys are the ones left hanging round and getting really hurt and pissed because the girls have their Secret Lives to attend to and bad guys to chase and they can’t explain or they’ll put their love interests in danger - well, it’s sad, but it’s also such a nice reversal.
Ashley’s my favourite parent on the programme too, although I do have definite affection for Spencer’s mum. But Spencer’s parents do protect one daughter over another even though they want to be fair and love them both, and that hits way too close to home for me. Emily’s parents are again well-meaning but their reaction to their queer daughter is another thing that makes me go NOPE. (The bit where Emily’s mum is silently crying during the dinner with Maya? I get that it’s meant to be a sympathetic moment and I see why it would be for lots of people, but I just go NOPE NOPE NOPE.) And Aria’s parents… well, I like Ella (Byron, not so much) but that whole “we’re a very informal family”, wanting to be bohemian in a very safe way? I find it cute and a bit funny and very recognisable (there’s a reason my profile describes me as ‘a cliche of the middle-class bohemian’) but also a bit eye-rolly. Whereas Ashley is fabulous and fun and she tears at my heart regularly. Every time she swears to Hanna that she will always find a way to take care of her, through police trouble and money trouble and more police trouble and other police trouble, I go all wibbly.
What’ve we learnt from this? Hanna is so great that just being around her makes people more great. You can tell because Ashley and Caleb and the other Liars are all so brilliant. Mona is brilliant in her own cracked way. Lucas is the exception that proves the rule.
HANNA GIFS, I MUST HAVE YOU.
This is season 1 focussed, btw, but comments about everything that’s aired are welcome (and spoilers abound up to the end of S2). Because Hanna is always fabulous.
1. She’s so ferociously protective of her friends. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool my best friend, you’re dead frikkin meat.” Or one of my absolute favourite Hanna moments, when Wilden outs Emily to the other Liars in the library: “Give her the letter back. Give it back to her now or I swear to God I will rip your head off!”
2. She’s “Rosewood High’s new It-girl” and feels she has something to prove - but even when she was shy and overweight, she asks Sean out. She asks him to come to a party “...with me”. She is so brave.
3. Her close, protective relationship with her mum. One of the things I love about Liars is that the OT4’s families are present and important, rather than inexplicably absent, and all the relationships are specific and well-defined. Hanna and Ashley’s partnership is really lovely - the single mum and only child are mother and daughter, but they’re also partners against the world in a way that makes total sense post-divorce. Hanna selling off her stuff to help her mum - and fashion and material possessions are so important to her - and doing A’s bidding to save Ashley - it’s gruelling to watch but I do love her for it.
4. She’s a great ally. She never wavers in her support for Emily and tries to help Maya get with her. And, while secrets are a way of life for the girls, I really love that Hanna doesn’t tell Aria and Spencer. She tries to persuade Emily to tell them, knowing they’ll understand, but she doesn’t well-meaningly take that choice from Emily.
5. What people think of her matters, but she is unflinching in the face of the public. Throwing up on the trampoline then taking a bow? I would’ve wanted to be Hanna’s friend, too.
6. Hanna’s the only one of the OT4 (except perhaps Emily with Toby, later) to maintain a friendship outside the group - Lucas, and especially Mona. While Mona’s often left alone or feels left out, and obviously her secret jealousy is revealed as this monstrous force later - Mona is important to Hanna, the time they spent as BFFs matters to her, they have a connection and in-jokes and Hanna doesn’t abandon the friendship once the very intense OT4 relationship resumes.
7. On that note: SUCH a great friend. Do I ever love the OT4 more than when Spencer, Aria and Hanna set up Emily and Maya’s last night together in Spencer’s room? It’s just so lovely. And the girls are so insanely adorable all giggly and grinning and thrilled when they send Emily up. On the angstier end, talking to Caleb after he broke her heart because Spencer needs her to? HANNA.
8. She tells Aria the truth about what happened with the ticket to the museum and the almost-disaster of Ella seeing the date with Fitz. Aria didn’t believe A’s hints and Hanna could have got away with it (well, eventually A would probably have shown Aria proof, but Hanna didn’t know that). She told her anyway.
9. She’s sexually assertive; she’s clear about what she wants with Sean, and I love the first night with Caleb. And omg, Hanna is so cute checking out Caleb’s arse in the shower (and then hurriedly raising her eyes when he turns round). That raised-eyebrows smirk is so adorable!
10. Hanna is so compassionate and good-hearted. “Sean’s a good guy and he should be happy.” Suggesting they give the last of the stolen money to charity. Sneaking Caleb into her house so he has somewhere to stay. <333
11. She’s observant and clever. One of my favourite things about the programme is that it doesn’t devalue the traditionally feminine, and that’s especially evident with Hanna - she’s not academic, and she’s a popular blonde with a passion for fashion, but she’s not stupid. And that interest in clothes and make-up is how they’re sure the hoodie in the video isn’t Alison’s, it’s how she and Mona reconnect in hospital.
12. She is so so sweet when she’s in love. “Everyone should be as happy as I am” with that little giggle, practicing her surprised face, all dimples. I AM OVERCOME WITH LOVE.
12A. So pretty. So so pretty. The hair, the lips with her signature shade of pink, the blue eyes. SO PRETTY. And actually really well-cast for a teenager - because Benson still has that teenage thing of slightly rounded cheeks despite being very very thin, I find her a more convincing sixteen-year-old than 90% of American TV “teens”.
So yeah. Brave and compassionate and clever, with my favourite love interest on the programme. HANNA. <3
I do love Caleb, and their relationship. Especially how in a relationship with a bad boy hacker from a scary background and the popular blonde with all the right clothes, the sometimes-homeless hacker is the one constantly going PLEASE DO NOT DO THE THING, IT IS DANGEROUS and the fashion queen going SORRY BABY, DON’T WORRY, DON’T COME AFTER ME WHILE I DO THE DANGEROUS THING. It’s so great. And the school dances where the boys are the ones left hanging round and getting really hurt and pissed because the girls have their Secret Lives to attend to and bad guys to chase and they can’t explain or they’ll put their love interests in danger - well, it’s sad, but it’s also such a nice reversal.
Ashley’s my favourite parent on the programme too, although I do have definite affection for Spencer’s mum. But Spencer’s parents do protect one daughter over another even though they want to be fair and love them both, and that hits way too close to home for me. Emily’s parents are again well-meaning but their reaction to their queer daughter is another thing that makes me go NOPE. (The bit where Emily’s mum is silently crying during the dinner with Maya? I get that it’s meant to be a sympathetic moment and I see why it would be for lots of people, but I just go NOPE NOPE NOPE.) And Aria’s parents… well, I like Ella (Byron, not so much) but that whole “we’re a very informal family”, wanting to be bohemian in a very safe way? I find it cute and a bit funny and very recognisable (there’s a reason my profile describes me as ‘a cliche of the middle-class bohemian’) but also a bit eye-rolly. Whereas Ashley is fabulous and fun and she tears at my heart regularly. Every time she swears to Hanna that she will always find a way to take care of her, through police trouble and money trouble and more police trouble and other police trouble, I go all wibbly.
What’ve we learnt from this? Hanna is so great that just being around her makes people more great. You can tell because Ashley and Caleb and the other Liars are all so brilliant. Mona is brilliant in her own cracked way. Lucas is the exception that proves the rule.
HANNA GIFS, I MUST HAVE YOU.
