Goodnight, Carmilla

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My gratitude for all involved in the Carmilla web series knows no bounds. I'm am so thoroughly blown away by this series and try to get anyone who will listen to me to watch it. Thank you all for the blood sweat and tears you put into making this brilliant work of art. The love you put into it shows. One of the many things that make this show so great is the wonderful little touches. For example facial expressions and body language can be just as important as dialogue. You can't just watch the person who's speaking or you totally miss character development and relational/emotional clues.
There are so many specific things I could praise. A feminist vampire story alone would be enough to make me happy (I'm kind of obsessed with vampires.) That it's a woman dominated cast. That there is non-binary representation. Not just representation but you grok it (probably betraying my age saying grok) In this wild and crazy web series about so many impossible things and lots of humor and gags, it's wonderful to see such things treated seriously, with respect and compassion, and indeed authentically.
There are two specific things that are personally resonant that I want to thank you all for. One is the relationship truths. For example Season 2 Episode 22. It's so rare you get post break up conversations in media, much less thoughtful, insightful ones that feel as authentic as this (having been through many a break up and a divorce, this felt so REAL.) Accolades to Elise and Natasha for putting the perfect emotion into these lines, brilliantly written by Jordan. (and of course all the behind the scenes folks that brought it to life.) I lost count of how many times I've watched this episode and I've cried every time.
But the most important thing for me was the story arc of season 2. It was a rare and much needed story of heroic failure. We marginalized people especially need this. The deck is stacked against us, and it's easy to give up in the face of failure, and only seeing stories where the hero wins can make us feel like failures. But just because we fail, doesn't mean we're failures. We can still be heroes. And we need to be told to not stop trying. Carm's speech to Laura in e36 is something I need to listen to again and again for myself. I'd like to tell you about one time in particular.
"Sometimes evil wins" were the exact words of a non-creampuff friend. She told me this one time when I was literally crying on her shoulder. I was heartsick over many friends of mine and all those I don't know who have suffered do to dismantling the safety net and austerity politics. It just seemed a final straw when a couple of particularly close friends lost their food stamps because they were only working 18 hours a week instead of the required 20. All the activism I've been doing for so long seemed fruitless. I was really in a lot of despair and wanting to quit activism, because what's the point, but not unlike Laura, I don't have it in me to stop trying to help people. Which is painful in a world where evil wins. My non-creampuff friend quoted Angel from the Joss Whedon series and I quoted back to her what Carmilla says in the final episode. And while I'm not as naive as Laura, I still find it personally helpful.
Bless all the creators of Carmilla for giving us this!
Vampyrphile (Jubi Dutcher)