Karmy’s Kastle: Amy and Karma are gushing about how cool it is to be roomies! They’re brushing their teeth together and they don’t have to go home at night!
No, I’m TOTALLY into trying it out with electric toothbrushes!
Plus, they can have late-night dance parties to stock music played through iPhone speakers! The only problem with that last thing is that when Karma busts into Amy’s room ready to do the Tango Maureen to Eclectic Afternoon, Amy’s crying on her bed.
Guess who just ordered a stuffed crust pizza for two using her new GrubHub app!
It’s just — Kristen and Soko —
Oh No
“How could I not see through her lies?” Amy sobs. She says that she really felt like she was falling for someone who loved her back and could give her what Karma couldn’t, and laments that she was crazy to think anything that good would ever happen to her. In this moment, the friend-type love between these two kiddos is radiant as a summer’s day, even in its ultimate sadness.
Except for the part where Karma kinda knows that Sabrina actually meant it, but isn’t saying so, because everybody on this show is a liar!
New Year’s Eve Bash Party Wild Party Time: The lovely ladies remark upon the giant crowd gathered for this stupendous ball! Everybody in the whole school must be here! Karma prods Amy regarding whether or not she’s really READY for Felix considering her deep lingering feelings for Sabrina. Amy explains that Felix likes her and Sabrina was a liar, so she owes it to MTV to see where it can go. I MEAN she owes it to herself. Karma’s clearly upset about this ’cause she wants to dip Felix’s nacho in her guacamole bowl.
Okay sure, yes, you’re right, Diane did make me these earrings
Can I lick them
Lauren and Liam show up just in time to see that Old Lisbeth is the evening’s special guest, apparently she was discovered at a Ren Fair and has her own reality show now. What does this have to do with a shiny glitter New Years Eve ball? I don’t know. Liam thought Lauren killed Old Lisbeth. Lauren loves the idea of people thinking she is a murderess! She’d be the first intersex murderess on MTV!
Hey is there any vodka left in that purse-flask?
“You know, this was probably not the best idea for a date considering I’m an alcoholic and we both hate dancing,” says Felix, that joker! Amy tells him to keep it in his pants ’til midnight, and ensuing conversation and facial expressions convey the following message to the audience: Amy doesn’t wanna kiss Felix at midnight.
Hey it’s me, your last chance at not being a lesbian
I’M GONNA GET SOME PUNCH NOW IS THAT COOL
Lauren feels jealous of Old Lisbeth’s success so she gloats about her boyfriend Liam Booker until Old Lisbeth melts into a little pool of caramel and dies. Just kidding, she gets jealous.
Oh honey, I signed up for A-Camp the day registration opened and paid for my shuttles on the spot! I don’t need a ride.
Karma makes Liam feel like a total douchebag for pretending to be in a relationship with Lauren. Boy bye.
Meanwhile, Shane has stolen a jacket from a Contempo Casuals sale rack circa the ’90s. Pretty sure Claire Danes wore that in blue on the cover of Seveteen in 1995.
That’s not cool man, I thought we decided on matte blazers tonight
Well EXCUSE ME I just woke up feeling a little bit glossy!
Noah’s saying he should probably leave the band when Noah is distracted because HEY-O, look who’s here!
Hey I’m here for the “Stonewall 2” casting call? Anybody?
It’s Noah’s Brother, straight out of Homophobic Relative Central Casting! Noah’s brother is an asshole. He calls Noah by his given name, calls Noah his little sister, and says Mom and Dad will take Noah back if he just drops “all this.” Noah says he cannot drop WHO HE IS. Noah’s brother remains an asshole. Then Shane shows up!
Shane: His name is Noah!
Noah: Shane don’t—
Noah’s Brother: Who the hell are you? This is between me and her.
Shane: My name’s Shane and I like butting into* other people’s business, that’s who I am. And he’s Noah, he’s a dude, and he always has been and you know how I know? Because I am super fucking gay and I couldn’t be more gay for your brother!
*at first I thought he was gonna say something about buttsex and I was so excited! But he didn’t. :-(
No I am not about to audition for the Tin Man, thank you for ASKING
SO TAKE THAT, ASSHOLE. “You two freaks deserve each other,” says Noah’s brother. I think he’s talking about Shane’s jacket! Noah says he needs some air. Shane looks sad! He just did a good thing for once! Too bad Noah’s brother came all the way out here just to get dissed by somebody wearing that jacket.
LOOK LAUREN, I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE. MY NAME IS LIAM AND I DON’T TELL LIES. THIS ISN’T ME. BUT LIAM I NEED THIS BECAUSE IT’S ALL I HAVE ON OLD LISBETH.
Here when you hold it all the way far away it protects you from demons
OK FINE LIAM WE CAN BREAK UP JUST LEMME FRESHEN UP BRB JK NEVER COMING BACK
Karma’s outside texting somebody and that somebody turns out to be SABRINA! She’s eaten, she’s sleepen, probably somebody took that bitch to Red Lobster. So Karma marches back into the party with her hot friend Sabrina, who thanks Karma for “doing this” for her. Karma says she’s not doing it for Sabrina, she’s doing it for Amy. (And also obviously for herself, come on Karma!)
Please don’t make me dance the hokey-pokey alone!
Amy spots Sabrina and Karma and Sabrina says “AMY. LISTEN TO ME. PLEASE,” like she’s a child actress playing Oliver Twist (her root). Amy explains that she is on a date with Felix, and nobody is allowed to ruin her date with Felix! This is a lot of pressure on poor Felix. No seriously guys. Poor Felix. This guy, right? He’s going to refuse to make friends with lesbians in college at this rate.
![Don't tell them ANYTHING about [SOMETHING]](https://develop.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FI310-00205.jpg?resize=960%2C540)
Don’t tell them ANYTHING about my yeast infection.
You know I can hear you, right
Lauren’s dodging Liam when Old Lisbeth shows up to say a series of terrible things, concluding with “A girl like you dating Liam Booker? What’s more inspirational than that!” I wish I’d been serious about her melting into a puddle of caramel and dying.
O sole mio!
Shane and his jacket find Noah outside being sad. Is their band ever playing or what? “Hearing him misgender you like that, I lost it,” says Shane. Also! He meant what he said about liking Noah a whole bunch in a gay way and is sorry for seeming like he didn’t see Noah for who he really is. Noah forgives him. Shane asks what happens if he says something wrong again and Noah tells him “you’re Shane Harvey, it’s pretty much a guarantee.” Also this show got cancelled, so, SAVED BY THE CLOSING BELL, HARVEY.
I think Michael Jackson wrote “Man in the Mirror” about you and this jacket
AMY’S READY. Put her in, coach! She’s ready, she’s got her breath mints and her lip gloss and she’s ready for that midnight kiss! Felix isn’t sure that Amy’s ready. Amy is SO READY FELIX. Yeah, no, Felix isn’t convinced. Neither am I. (She’s not ready.)
Okay fine, just follow me, the veggies and dip plate is back here
Luckily, neither of us have to wait another minute because you guys YOU GUYS. Karma gets up on the microphone and says she needs Amy’s attention, please! Karma tells literally everybody that even though she, Karma, “hates Sabrina’s guts,” she wants Amy to be happy.
Okay, yeah. I’ve got an apology. So, I have this friend, Sabrina, who is a new student this year. And I convinced her that it would be fun to mess up Amy Raudenfield’s life. So I had her pretend to be girlfriends with Amy, and then she would come to my house after and we would just laugh about all the dumb stuff Amy said.
Everybody is totally entertained by this. What A New Year’s Treat For Us All. Well, it’s Sabrina’s turn:
Sabrina: Amy, I am so so sorry. I was pretending to be questioning to get closer to you, to beat Karma, really. But then I realized why I really did it. Amy Raudenfield, I’m in love with you, and I think I have been since camp, and all the lying, the possessiveness has been about that. And I know it sounds weird but lying about my sexuality made me see the truth. But I know what I want now, I want you. Is there any way you could find it in your heart to give me a second chance?”
AWWW. See! I knew it. I knew from all those camp videos that Sabrina was really a lesbian who just needed to see Amy in her donut shirt and then come out. Also though she obviously is still a bitch, I hope she works on that.
Good news, everybody: Amy CAN forgive her!
If anybody here drives a white Toyota Prius with a “Gal Pal” sticker on the bumper, I think you left your lights on
Okay, fine, WHOEVER claims the car can also be my girlfriend.
IT’S MY CAR!!!!
I cry, WHAT NO I’M NOT CRYING, everybody cheers, they kiss! Karma looks sad, and Felix ducks out.
YOWWWWW
After an invigorating commercial break, we return to the weirdest New Year’s Eve Party ever, where Old Lisbeth is reminding everybody that it’s almost midnight and she still has an Israeli bodyguard.
Who wants another apple-tini???
Everybody counts down together because they love math. Lauren and Liam kiss and it turns out that they liked it and so their whole world flips upside-down.
ok sure
Sabrina and Amy are the happiest clams at the cookout!
No of course I’m not mad that you and Karma did anal while we were on a break
Karma and Shane and Noah sing “Auld Lang Syne” while casting various meaningful glances around the room.
I’ll get you some day, my pretty…
I know.
Karma apologizes to Felix for ruining his date with Amy, she just really wanted Amy to be happy. Felix says that’s okay, even though him and Amy do have a lot in common, like that they both wanted to kiss somebody besides each other at midnight. He kisses Karma, and then Karma kisses him right back! Everybody loves somebody!
Neat!
And that, my friends, is all she wrote. That’s it! That’s the end of this story. AMY FINALLY GETS A GIRLFRIEND WHO GOES TO HER SCHOOL AND NOW THE SHOW IS OVER FOREVER. Well, at least nobody died.
Asked if he felt the finale offered closure, Carter Covington told The Hollywood Reporter, “That will always be my sole regret: that I never got to explore Karma and Amy together. I never got to look inward at Karma and have her question her friendship and why it’s so intense and her affection for Amy. I’m sad that I won’t get chance to do that. I felt like fans really deserved that and I’m sad they won’t get that.”
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Oh Riese. Thanks for three great seasons of your recaps. I’ve read every single one pretty much the night it came out. Can you recap another show?! I don’t even care what it is, I just love your recaps.
Also Carter Covington you had AMPLE TIME for that exploration.
Maybe he spent two years trying to work out how lesbians have sex and failed?
My feelings exactly!!
awww thank you so much!! i hope to jesus we get another show on the air that i want to recap, too! also you can read every recap i have ever written here if you ever wanna like, catch up on the real l word. who doesn’t, honestly.
I can’t help but wonder how the show would have done if they’d just done this back at the beginning or at least middle of this season. Oh well, at least I can finish the third season now without being QUITE as frustrated with it.
Dang! I didn’t know it was canceled. I haven’t seen any of the new season yet, but I kind of liked the show. Except for Liam aka Finn Hudson, pt. 2. And I know it had quite a few problems, but it was mostly fun and I was holding out hope that it might sort its shit out. I was looking forward to catching up on it, but I’m a little less excited to do so now that I know there’s only ten episodes left for me to watch.
Wow. It’s really over… I’ve never watched a single episode of this show, but I’ve read the recaps religiously because the commentary Riese has spun in and around the show’s actual content has been so engaging.
I feel like a bunch of Straddlers should go write alternate endings and/or continuations of this series that give it a chance to actually explore bi and lesbian lady relationships in progress, more or less for the sole purpose of a future Autostraddle Fan Fiction Friday roundup.
Yeah, I’m one of those queer women that loved the show initially and then stopped watching (somewhere in the middle of the second season) because the show focused too much on a bunch of dudes that didn’t interest me. And also that Brazil episode was racist and really unfunny. That Hollywood Reporter interview w/the showrunner kind of ticked me off though, specifically the part where he said:
“That will always be my sole regret: that I never got to explore Karma and Amy together. I never got to look inward at Karma and have her question her friendship and why it’s so intense and her affection for Amy. I’m sad that I won’t get chance to do that. I felt like fans really deserved that and I’m sad they won’t get that.”
Like, okay??? You had THREE SEASONS to explore this! You HAD the chance, you just didn’t do it! And like, that was kind of the whole premise (promise?) of the show! And you didn’t follow through. You have no one but yourself to blame.
That said, Lauren was consistently awesome and I am sad that television has now lost her character.
I think I’ve discovered the secret of why the show was axed- Riese’s recaps were loads better than the show itself. Reading about it was way more fun than watching. :-)
Petition for Autostraddle to have its own sitcom.
unicorn planit?
Isn’t that what “Steven Universe” is?
I’ve been ragging on this show a lot this season, especially because it’s up against Person of Interest on Tuesday nights and that comparison does Faking It no favours, but I’m sad to see it go. Faking It could have done great things, and if Karma and Amy had eventually gotten together, they could have gone on to be one of the great queer female tv couples. Alas, it won’t happen, but I’m not unhappy with the show ending with Amy ending up with Sabrina. At least she’s not with Felix, or UGHHHH Liam. Everyone happy and in love is the best way to end a series. I hope Rita Volk and Katie Stevens and Bailey De Young all go on to have brilliant careers.
Riese! Thank you so much for three seasons of amazing recaps. I am sad that this show has ended but I am sadder that your recaps of it have ended! I also really wish there had been a chance for Karma’s feelings for Amy to be explored. But it was a good show and hopefully it has opened the door for more queer lady led teen sitcoms and intersex characters!
I had a love/hate relationship with this show but now that is over I have to say that I’m really sad. I loved its humor most of all and I’m going to miss Amy a lot (?).
I’m sad that we are saying goodbye to the only intersex character on tv (and I hope to see Bailey in many other things ’cause she is really great!).
And I’m really going to miss your recaps! Watching the show without them wouldn’t have been the same thing. Thank you.
@ Carter Covington: you had ONE job and three seasons to do it, stop pretending that you were actually going to explore the Karmy relationship in the way we all wanted. Just, stop.
“@ Carter Covington: you had ONE job and three seasons to do it, stop pretending that you were actually going to explore the Karmy relationship in the way we all wanted. Just, stop.”
THAT.
nooooOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOoo it’s over :(
This episode made me actually laugh several times and also cringe because it’s just SO teenage and I’m close enough to being 15/16 that I remember all too well what it’s like for everything to be so g-ddamn dramatic. So I think that’s what I’ll miss about this show the most.
“It was always my intention to make “Karmy” happen during our final season.
…
How satisfying it would have been to finally see Karma and Amy as a true couple! There would have been lots of kisses, none of them dreams! But slowly it would have become clear that in becoming a couple, the two of them had lost something that made them … them. Eventually, they would both realize they’d have to sacrifice their relationship to save their friendship. The series would have ended with Karma and Amy’s life goals intact: roommates in college, houses next door to each other, best friends forever.”
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/faking-what-would-have-happened-894311
So, Carter…
From a writer’s perspective, I get WHY you’d do this ending and I can rationally respect the choice, even if it would have pained me. It makes sense! It’s realistic & bittersweet. We don’t always get our happy ending, especially with our straight best friends. Hell, sometimes, we don’t even get a happy beginning or middle. Sometimes, it just blows up and there’s no saving it. At least they’d have come out OK and been besties forever!
But stories are supposed to be a way for us to explore lives not lived, and a lot of times (in my opinion) the JOURNEY is more important than the DESTINATION. Yes, endings matter, but I personally am much more willing to forgive a tragic death or a bittersweet ending if the journey was incredible.
Because this is serialized TELEVISION. It is a unique, intimate medium where we invite characters into our homes week after week for years, and we get to know them. To live vicariously through them. To see ourselves in them and hope that things go better for them than they may have for us. And even if it doesn’t work out in the end, if the journey is interesting/engaging/moving, then it’s usually worth it.
But you waited & baited waaaaay too long, on screen and in the press, and people turned away in droves. Look, I get it. You don’t wanna burn all your plots too quickly, but when the *core* of a show is driven by the relationship of two very strong characters (ala Dawson’s Creek, etc) and when the plot of the series hinges on their relationship, exploring that HAS to be the priority, because THAT is what the audience is invested in. You can’t keep baiting for too long. It’s 2016. People, especially LGBT folk, are tired of being strung along.
Honestly, Karmy really should have at least been *ignited* at the end of season 2 & explored during season 3… And that being said, given how BAD lesbian representation is on TV right now, and given that you said, “Amy’s journey was my chance to relive all of (my teenage) feelings from the safety of a script. She could be brave enough to take the risks I never could. Amy could tell Karma she loved her, and I could rewrite my past.”… Just, wow. What a way to piss everyone off along the way, and also at what would have been the end… Despite losing the brilliant recaps (THANK YOU, RIESE!! ♡♡), and missing seeing this wonderful cast every week, maybe the cancellation is for the best. The ending we got is decent to moderately good, relatively speaking.
Soooo… I’m gonna go rewatch South of Nowhere(‘s best parts) for like… the milllllllionth time. And maybe re-read Annie On My Mind, too. And dream of one day having another great teen soap with two lesbian/bi/queer women as the lead characters…
These writers and show runners (I’m also looking at you “The 100”) don’t seem to realize that we, the ladies of the LQBT community have BUYING POWER (or should I say, watching power).
When “The 100” killed Lexa, ratings plummeted. When Amy’s story went from being interested in girls to sleeping with guys, ratings dropped. Why don’t these people see that we are a force to be reckoned with!?
We don’t have a lot of shows, so when those few shows do pop up, we all race over to watch it. When it disappoints, we say “oh well” and move on to something else. Maybe one day these people (guys) will get it.
That’s a very worthwhile regret, but — you created three series of a show with Shane and Liam and Regan and let’s be honest Karma in it and that’s yr *only* regret?
I mean, I think this was the most satisfying way it could have ended all around. If it wasn’t cancelled, it would have been great to see Karma deal with her feelings, but with only one episode left, a sudden realization would have felt really abrupt.
As frustrating as it was, I will always love this show for hitting me in some of the realest places of my high school coming out experience. There’s definitely a lot that could have been edited out for me—Reagan’s biphobia, the obsession with Amy/Liam hooking up…. And Amy definitely should have had a girlfriend for more than 5 minutes. But also, I appreciate that Amy with Karma or Amy with other girls wasn’t so easy, because that was really complicated for past-me too, and I think those complicated questions of identity and the line between friendship/romantic/sexual attraction are a lot more interesting.
Riese was very diplomatic about the showrunner’s comment at the start I feel. I mean yes, we queers are a smaller demographic numbers wise. This is mathematically true. But it still pisses me off because we are expected to watch hetero after hetero romance on TV and not complain, but straight people are just put off by queer romance, so too bad, no more shows that focus on the gay! I know this is the current cultural milieu but it is just frustrating and upsetting and I DIDN’T EVEN WATCH THIS SHOW but now I am sad it is cancelled ;_; thank you, Riese, for all the hard work recapping though.
This show has constantly gone back and forth from unicorn spring to train wreck and I’ll kinda miss it but not as much as the recaps. I’m sobbing extremely grossly that this is the last one because Riese dearest these are the bee’s knees.
Amy ended up with a girl, and Karma didn’t end up with Liam. It wasn’t the best ending I could’ve imagined when I started watching the show, but it certainly could’ve been a lot worse.
I wish I could like this comment more than once!
As much as I was annoyed at the lack of queer content, am I the only one who nefur really wanted Karmy to happen? I just think Karma is such a lacklustre character and I nefur really felt like they had great chemistry. But maybe that’s just bad writing / acting.
There was tons of queer content. Gay, trans, bi, questioning, intersex.
The only thing it really lacked was good lesbian content. It sucks that they turned the only lesbian who appeared for more than a few episodes (Reagan) into a biphobe. Before that happened I shipped Amy with her a lot more than I ever shipped Amy with Karma.
Sorry I meant satisfying queer content – as much as I was happy that they did have a lot of queer representation, much of it was eclipsed by boring / pointless storylines or lack of storylines and some of it felt like it was shoved in to distract from really bad lesbian representation / the show just never being what was promised. I was pleased though that I felt they handled the Noah plot a lot better than I expected.
I’m bi myself, really didn’t mean to claim other representation isn’t impawtant, but when I was reading the article about characters on the LGBTQIA rainbow I felt like this show was technicatly doing a LOT but was also really lacking in other ways. Apologies saying there wasn’t queer content!
I’m with ya. Amy deserves better. :p
You’re not the only one. I didn’t care if karma and Amy ever became lovers or not. I thought there was good story potential either way. My beef with the show was about the crap choices they made, which have been enumerated already, so I won’t list them again. But I would have been ok with not seeing Karma and Amy as lovers if not for all that other crappiness.
I am most sad about not being able to see Shane and Noah pan out in any way whatsoever :(
I’m not upset this show is over but I’m VERY sad your recaps are ending.
Riese was born to recap. She shouldn’t deprive the world of her talent. Please find something (anything!) else to recap. Even if it is just photos + captions.
Hmm. I feel like we’re starting to see some shows like this, which try to represent several flavors of LGBT+ experience, and some LBT-inclusive shows that are really focused on the women in their cast. And I feel like the latter are better at cultivating and keeping a queer female audience.
Faking It seems to have struggled both with tensions within the LGBT community (especially the historic tendency for gay men to have the power to create stories, and then do them badly for everyone but themselves), and with a need to attract a straight audience. (To be honest, I never watched it because as a bi woman I didn’t need to more biphobia on screen, and I felt like this was going to be yet another example of a bi woman whose dating life revolved around men, which I can’t identify with unless it’s really really well written.)
Whereas the female-focused shows (Jane the Virgin, Orphan Black, Orange Is the New Black, etc) tend to benefit from the fact that most women can and do relate to well-done female characters of any sexuality–I know I love all of those shows partly for straight characters. I also remember the data that showed how popular The L Word was with straight women who loved watching a show that was all about women (in contrast to the creators’ expectations that they would survive because of a straight male crossover audience looking for porn).
But if what I’m saying is true, and the gender divide (especially behind the camera–not a coincidence that the female-focused shows tend to have women creators) persists so strongly, what happens to the trans and intersex and asexual characters? We don’t have enough of any of them, and I haven’t yet seen a show that seems fully committed to them. (Maybe Transparent?)
I’m going to miss this show – it definitely made some mistakes but I think there was room for improvement. At least it ended fairly decently – Amy got a girlfriend, Karma moved past her possessiveness of Amy and nobody died. Thanks for all the great recaps Riese – I hope you actually enjoy the next show you recap!
I know this is all make believe, but I always knew there was something else going on with Sabrina. I mean, why else would someone act so thirsty for someone else during camp?
I admit I don’t know much about teenage girls anymore, didn’t know much when I was one;
But I thought she was a little extra for someone who supposedly just wanted a friend in Amy. Seemed a little too jealous of Karma.
I actually reserved judgement of Sabrina considering she seemed to have actual feelings for Amy instead of just using her to get popular…
I know what you mean. Although it was obvious that Sabrina was faking it at first, I always considered that it was possible that she wasn’t really faking it, she just thought that she was. And since faking it only to discover that it wasn’t really fake was pretty much the same thing Amy did in season one, I too refrained from judging her before all the facts were in.
“I admit I don’t know much about teenage girls anymore, didn’t know much when I was one”
That made my laugh so much. Totally relate.
oh for sure. i mean i think i recapped it that way, too, mostly? like it was obvious from the camp flashbacks that she was queer, i just wasn’t sure whether or not the show was gonna let her realize that or not
+1
Karma faked attraction to Amy so she could get closer to Liam. Sabrina faked attraction to Amy so she could get closer to… Amy.
If you only fake it at parties then maybe you just want some attention. When it dominates your social schedule, you’re only fooling yourself. How am I one of the 5 people who feel this way?
Did Carter Covington go to the CBS school of public statements. Too LGBT, really?
comment award.
Thank you Riese for the recaps, you are the best!
I hope Faking it opens the door for more representation on the media, specially for younger audiences, since homophobic people tend to call gay relationships “adult topics” -although at the same time I kind of fear that producers will claim that LGBT stories “don’t sell”, instead of realizing that If the rating falls it MAY be related to the writers not being consistent and respectful of their characters.
At least no lesbians were shot (maybe they would’ve 6 seasons from now)
Thanks for keeping up the recaps all this time! Even when the show started making me too uncomfortable, I still kept up with these.
I am kind of sad this show is over, but I haven’t watched this season yet though. But Riese all of those screencap captions are glorious and I hope you find a new show to recap very soon.
I am eyerolling even harder now that I’m hearing about how Karmy WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ENDGAME. They were supposed to date and break up. That was the Karmy he wanted to explore.
I AM SO BITTER RN
I always enjoyed reading the recaps and I’m definitely going to miss looking at Amy’s face.
Also, HOLY EFF I just looked up Sabrina’s actress’s IMDB page and girl is only 20 YEARS OLD!!! WTF