I am going to need something studied. What is it you ask? A scientific reason a man in some low slung grey sweatpants is instantly hotter than any other man in the room. I don’t know what it is – it just is. Shirtless or not – they just are hot. This is just something that has been proven once again in First Love, First Sin With My Stepbrother.
Jake Lively and Shanna Sinow star in the Drama TV vertical, which really frustrated me. Mostly frustrated me because the app kept freezing, but also because of some of the taboo moments that verticals really love to hang onto. The slapping, the bullying, the popular girl that is basically the spawn of satan.
Shanna plays Mia – the nerdy girl at school that has been invisible. Jake plays Daniel – the quarterback at the school. The two become step-siblings and you’d think that is where the story begins. But the backstory is important.
Daniels Dad had cheated on his Mom with Mia’s mom. This drove Daniels Mom to kill herself and he is the one that has been living with the pain of the affair, loosing his Mom, being forced to live with the woman that drove his Mom to taking her life, and then the feelings he starts to develop.
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At first, Mia wants to just get through senior year and get into UCLA. However, when the popular girl finds out that she’s related to Daniel she wants intel. Lots of it. Mia doesn’t feel comfortable with that, but ends up doing it after getting bullied more and more. So when she finally has had enough and goes in his room to find something about him – she finds some kinky stuff (not that we’re against handcuffs – we’re not shaming). He catches her and drops his towel.
Normally in a vertical world, people get embarrassed when the towel drops. Daniel embraces it and is basically like take it all in. The reason that I think that this is worth mentioning is that it does show his confidence and sets the tone for who Daniel really is. He doesn’t care what people think and nor does he want to hear any of it. He’s dealing with something – and at this point we don’t know what it is.
Jake Lively and Shanna Sinow manage to keep propelling the story forward through their on screen chemistry. The whole thing is pretty soft-steamy. Like look kiddos some of us older peeps don’t even know how to do some of this stuff.
Could not bend that way.
One of the most beautiful scenes is when she has paint sprayed all over her by the bullies in school, he takes her hand and brings her to the showers. They don’t speak, he just helps her wash off – scrubbing the paint off her skin and hair with his hands. They just keep looking at each other and their eyes say it all.
I know what you’re thinking – something beautiful in a vertical? Yes. I said what I said. I believe that these days we’ve grown to learn that the most intimate of things don’t have to be with people naked and having sex. The most beautiful of things come from vulnerability and allowing people close. Mia was able to let him close and trust in him to protect her.
She hasn’t really had that. Daniel had every intention of being with her for one purpose – to hurt her to pay back her Mom for what she did to his. He’s fallen for her and he didn’t expect that. Both Mia and Daniel know that all of this is very taboo to others. However, Daniel didn’t expect to fall for her.
The popular girls may not like her because of him, but Mia is learning that doesn’t matter. What is an issue is the guy that her Mom set her up with. He’s a creeper and a boy who uses girls to take their virginity. He’s with Mia for that purpose and that alone. When she gets talked into letting him take her to a party – I screamed at the screen and wanted to know how dumb she was for doing that. He’s already tried to force her to have sex with him once.
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She definitely needs to not leave her house because the popular girls – well brake lines are cut and there accidents happen. It’s been one thing after another with this wanna be Regina George. She’s done everything to make Daniel hate her and she thinks that this will make it better? Delulu.
The other thing that I will not get when it comes to verticals is men showing their face and being like “i am sorry i wasn’t there, no one will ever hurt you again,” but Daniel is one of those men. I get it – there is the want to protect those you love.
In the end – she ends up with Daniel. Their parents are divorcing, but his Dad has made sure that the two of them are taken care of. The two stay together and end up at UCLA together.
Jake Lively has established himself as an actor to be reckoned with. The actor/model (and we’re sure he does a lot more) has range. He also has better hair than most of us, wears grey sweatpants well, and has one of those quirky smiles to fawn over. But he’s talented and has range. He can make you believe that he’s happy, sad, heartbroken, or any other emotion. You want to crawl into the screen and tell him it wil be okay.
I have yet to see a vertical that he has done where he hasn’t been the one that steals every scene he is in.
Shanna Sinow, I have to admit this was the first vertical that I watched (and remember) her in. Through her portrayal of Mia, she’s managed to remind me of what it is like to be young and insecure, but also find the strength to believe that it will get better.
First Love, First Sin With My Stepbrother, may be taboo, but it’s also really good. You can thank Lively and Sinow for that.
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OTHER THOUGHTS
- Why is it that we’re always drugging people in these things? Like stop. Just stop
- The bathtub scene 😳
- Mias mama is cray
- Can’t get over how good of an actor Jake Lively is
- I wouldn’t survive high school
- Why does everyone look like they go to catholic school or want to star in a Britney Spears video?
- I’m left wondering if her Mom went to her graduation
