Hello and what a great weekend, huh!? I know it has been for me, although my Harry Potter fun began on Thursday. For one, my Geek Gear Harry Potter Box arrived (you can see the unboxing post here!), and later that night my two friends, Noelle and Samantha, and I went to our usual July edition of Harry Potter trivia!
We go to a place in Haddonfield, New Jersey called The British Chip Shop and we always have fun! It's usually $20-$25 per person for a variety of appetizers and then an entree of your choice, and they have add-on Butterbeer and tons of baked goodies.
This restaurant usually has trivia around Harry's birthday and around Halloween. We've had a couple different hosts and versions of the trivia, but they always stick to having three different rounds where everyone gets the same questions (either given to you on paper or read aloud) and you write them down on an answer sheet. There usually are two-three nights that they host the trivia. When we went last year around Halloween, we came in first place the night we went. This year, we weren't feeling as confident but we came in first place once again! It's nice because we all have different strengths and are able to pull our weight in different ways. We ended up winning a gift card to the restaurant, two wands from a woodworker who comes and sells all sorts of geeky gifts, a mug from the restaurant and some Scottish fudge from the British gift shop they own (which is delicious and tastes like shortbread cookies!). And before we left, we had to pick up some delicious baked goods! I got myself two Butterbeer cupcakes.
As far as the Cursed Child festivities go, my friend Autumn and I went to the Barnes & Noble midnight release party. I'm so glad that we got there early and that we had pre-ordered and were able to get into Group A to buy the books. Autumn's friend who hadn't pre-ordered and came around 10:00 ended up in Group K. We got our books and were out of there around 12:10, which was good because midnight is way past my bedtime!
When I got home, all I wanted to do was go to sleep so I waited until Sunday morning to dig into the book. I blew through it in a couple of hours due to scripts being a much easier read than a novel, and I absolutely loved it!
FROM THIS POINT ON, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT UNLESS YOU ARE OKAY WITH READING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SCRIPT.
I thought maybe as far as a review goes, it might be easy to break it down into a couple different sections, so I will do a general review, and then break it down into the Part/Act.
General Thoughts
So first off, can we just talk about how adorable Scorpius is? Because he is so adorable. He was easily my favorite of the new characters, not that there were a ton of them. I knew coming into the script that he was going to be a part of it and I assumed that he and Albus would have some interactions, but I wasn't sure whether or not they were going to be friend or foe. I was so happy that they ended up being such good friends. I absolutely adored their relationship. I thought it was going to take a different turn but I was wrong on that front.
I also loved that both of them were in Slytherin and both of them were good. I think it really goes to show that time did my house well and that it isn't necessarily looked upon as an "evil" house, even though Albus certainly had his reservations. The "bad guys" (as revolving as they were throughout the play) were never Slytherins. I felt like Draco was the most level-headed of the adults and, although I'm sure Delphi would have been in Slytherin, she hadn't gone to Hogwarts so it wasn't official.
I was super surprised about the actual plot of the script. I had no idea what to expect as I had stayed away from all news surrounding the play, and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the main plot of this play would have been to prevent Cedric Diggory from dying. And it's funny because Noelle and I, who are both big fans of The Flash TV show, constantly talk about how annoyed we get when they do time travel on that show. I absolutely hate time travel because it's so messy. We were actually having a conversation on Thursday about how Harry Potter did it right since it was one-and-done and they were very careful about it. But I loved that the time travel in this play allowed us to be nostalgic of some characters that we lost, no matter how messy it ended up making things.
If anything, reading the script has made me more excited to see the play in person. Not that I wasn't before, but the stage directions in the script make me so curious to see how they do the transfiguration and when they drink the Polyjuice Potion. The entire time they were in Hermione's office with the bookcase attacking them I was just trying to picture how on Earth they could possibly stage that. And the dementors apparently flying around the audience and how it feels cold. And whenever Voldemort haunts Harry's dreams and the voice comes from the back of the theatre. It really seems like such an inclusive experience for the audience. It needs to come to Broadway tomorrow!
Part One - Act One
I was really surprised with how snooty Rose was in these books. I mean, I get it, your Mom is the Minster For Magic (go Hermione!), but get down off your high horse and just be a nice person who gives people a chance! Although I thought it was cute that Scorpius liked her right off the bat. He's just so precious.
Initially, I wasn't huge on the time-jumping with the kids just soaring through their first few years of Hogwarts, but in retrospect I'm fine with it. I liked that it helped to establish all of the new characters but also moved the plot along to the important year. I also initially wasn't so sure about Harry's dreams but once Voldemort started popping up in them, I was all on board. Is that terrible? I just like Voldemort as my bad guy. I liked that a lot of the characters that we're familiar with would pop up in Harry's dreams, although it definitely did paint the Dursleys in an even worse light. Who knew that would be possible? Even just the mention of Fred and George and Sirius trying to escape the Hogwarts Express was perfect!
I also loved the image that they gave of what St. Oswald's Home for Old Witches and Wizards would be like with all of them just using magic for fun. I couldn't imagine whether or not that would be fun for the nurses that work there. I'd have to think that there would be a lot of bad days at the office at that place! And speaking of bad days at the office, when Albus, Scorpius and Delphi drank the Polyjuice Potion and the real Harry and Hermione started coming their way, Albus/Ron's interaction with Hermione was hilarious.
Part One - Act Two
It was so much fun to go back to the Triwizard Tournament and have Ludo Bagman there commentating on everything! And then when they came back to the regular timeline to everything being a complete mess. Again, as much as I hate time travel, with these characters, it was kind of interesting to see what would have happened if just one thing hadn't fallen into place. Seeing Hermione as a mean professor teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts and still (silently) pining after Ron, and then Ron all un-Ron like and being married to Padma. That was absolutely insane. But the worst of it all was how mean Harry was toward Albus about his friendship with Scorpius. That absolutely broke my heart. The one scene (Part One - Act Two - Scene 12) where they had no dialogue but it was just them moving on the staircase and not being able to talk made me so sad. AND how he spoke to Professor McGonagall. How dare you, Harry Potter!! Calm down a little bit there. Don't be such a jerk!!
I absolutely adored all of the interactions with Draco and Harry. As much bad history as there was between them, they grew up to be so alike. The duel in the kitchen and then the heart-to-heart about how difficult it was growing up with his envy for Harry's friendships and how difficult it is being a Dad. And I loved seeing Draco's quiet respect for Ginny. For as much as his family seemed to dislike the Weasleys, he definitely seems to have a soft spot for her.
And then, just when you think everything is going to be fixed, after Moaning Myrtle(!!) helps the boys get into the lake so they can set everything straight, everything goes wrong. Terribly terribly wrong. As soon as I saw the name "Umbridge" pop up on the page, I got so angry. I thought we were done with her! But there she was, and Harry was dead and Voldemort Day was a real thing.
Part Two - Acts Three & Four
I feel like the second part was a little more fluid, I guess because so much happens in the second part. I couldn't imagine not being able to see both of these plays on the same day. Having to wait to see what happens after that cliffhanger on another day would eat at me like crazy!! Learning that the whole world is upside down and that the Malfoys are back to their not-such-great-people reputation kind of broke my heart. I love the Malfoys, Lucius especially, but I can recognize that he isn't a great person. I just like the bad guys in movies and how can you not love his drawl and his arrogance? Plus his journey in the story is interesting. That doesn't mean that I was hoping that Draco would end up like him and I was happy to see that he was seemingly on a different path. Seeing both of them on a negative path made me sad and I was so happy when they got back to normal!
But in order to get back to normal, we had to get some help from an old friend, and one of my absolute favorite characters in the Harry Potter series next to Remus Lupin, in Severus Snape. CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW EXCITED I WAS WHEN I READ THAT NAME?! CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH I BAWLED MY EYES OUT WHEN YOU SAW THAT HE WAS A TRUE BLUE GOOD GUY?! This made me so unbelievably happy. But, that was all short lived, because my God. When Hermione and Ron sacrificed themselves to the dementors, I bawled my eyes out. When Snape was attacked by dementors, I bawled my eyes out. I couldn't handle his death the first time, why would I want to relive it happening again, but in a different way?! I will be the one ugly crying in the theatre when this happens, you have all been warned.
Then everything was back to normal - for the most part. But the time turner needed to be destroyed. As soon as Delphi showed up in that Owlery I knew she was bad news, but I never would have expected her to be Voldemort and Bellatrix's love child. Are you kidding me?! That is a special kind of crazy that I wouldn't want to have to encounter.
Again, with characters from the past, I thought it was interesting to have Dumbledore coming into the story via the portraits. That was something I wondered - if Harry would seek out Dumbledore portraits to get advice. I guess now we know the answer and, I was happy to see, Harry lose his temper on him because he definitely deserved it. I didn't dislike Dumbledore but I thought he did a lot of shitty and selfish things in his life. I loved that Harry got to speak his mind. And, as if that all wasn't emotional enough, to hear Draco's story with Astoria, in the same scene, was really sad. He truly loves his son but doesn't know how to express it and show him that. And to be so upset by the rumors swirling around about Scorpius being Voldemort's son... I just thought that was all pretty terrible, but I was proud of Scorpius for turning out to be such a wonderful child in the long run.
I thought it was really interesting that the final showdown took place back in 1981 Godric's Hollow. I thought that was a neat twist, and for Harry to just have to sit there and passively watch his parents be killed was really emotional. I can't even imagine how emotional that must be when seeing it the play person. And I, of course, was happy that there was a happy ending.
So, what did you think?! Have you read it or are you holding out to see it in person? I don't think I could have that much resolve! Let me know what you think in the comments below, but please be sure to mark if there will be spoilers. I'd have to imagine people would assume there would be spoilers in the comments, but just in case!
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