June 21, 2026

1.30 DramaWave - Cheerleader and The Beast

Show Notes
Transcript

Most modern retellings of fairy tales stay safe — this one flips the script with a dark, revenge-fueled twist on Beauty and the Beast, blending horror, drama, and deep character transformations. Megan unpacks how a high school rivalry turns into a story of shattered identities, scars both seen and unseen, and the redemptive power of love in this gritty, modern fairy tale.

This episode dives into the compelling evolution of James Ashford, Essex High's star quarterback turned revenge-driven monster, who is reborn as Xander Thorne after surviving a brutal attack orchestrated by enemies from his past. Meghan reveals how this transformation reflects themes of beauty, scars, and self-protection — including an analysis of the knightly symbolism of roses and thorns woven throughout the series. You'll discover how the series cleverly updates the classic Beauty and the Beast with a modern-day setting, high-stakes rivalries, and layered storytelling that questions what makes someone truly beautiful inside.

We break down the series' inventive approach to trauma — from visible scars to unseen emotional wounds — illustrating how past pain shapes our identities and choices. Meghan explores the clever use of flashbacks to deepen character motivation and reveals how subtle symbols, like Belle’s necklace and the recurring rose motif, enrich the fairy tale parallel. Plus, she examines the unexpected twists: a betrayal, a near-death experience, and a high school showdown that echoes the legendary story’s core themes of redemption — and whether true love can conquer revenge.

Why does understanding the deeper layers of this modern fairy tale matter? Because missing these clues risks overlooking a story about resilience, transformation, and the complex nature of love. This series challenges perceptions and invites you to see beyond scars and surface appearances, asking: what if "beauty" lies beneath pain? Perfect for fans of dark fairy tales, psychological thrillers, or anyone craving stories that reimagine familiar myths with grit and heart.

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Welcome to my vertical obsession. I'm your host, Megan, and

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today we are talking about Cheerleader and the Beast on

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Drama Wave. So this one stars Blake Lewis as Xander

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Thorne Slash, James Nila Jolie as Belle Harper, Shane Dorns

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as James Ashford, Josh gat Cross as Lennox, Daniel Mellecher

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as Trevor, and Connor Rubin as Aaron. Again, hopefully I

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pronounce those names correctly. If I didn't, apologize, I try

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my best. So the synopsis for this one is a

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star cross cheerleader and rival quarterback go public with a

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forbidden kiss, only for him to be portrayed, left for dead,

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and reborn as a scarred, ruthless beast who returns to

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destroy everyone who's wronged him until the girl who broke

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him becomes the only thing he can't ruin. So the

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overview I had for this is James Ashford was Essex

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High School quarterback and he happened to be dating Bell Harper,

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the cheerleader from his school's biggest rival, Riverdale High. After

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he wins the game and everyone finds out they're dating,

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this upsets Riverdale ha's quarterback Lennox. So Lennox, along with

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his friends Trevor and Aaron, tricked James by sending a

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message from Bell's phone saying meet him in the gym.

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They end up beating him up, making him believe Bell

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helt and left him for dead. They all thought he

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was dead, only he was brought to the hospital and saved. Sadly,

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when his parents found out, they rushed to get to

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him in the middle of a storm and ended up dying.

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When James found out, he lost it. So after many

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surgeries and a total transformation, he was a whole new person. Now.

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He goes by Xanderthorne and he's starting at Riverdale High

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as a new student. Only he's out for revenge against

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those who wronged him. That means he's going after Lennox, Trevor, Aaron,

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and Bell. He just doesn't know that Bell was never involved.

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He blackmails Bell to be his girlfriend and ends up

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seeing maybe she isn't who he thinks she is. First,

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he takes out Aaron by exposing his use of drugs,

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which gets them kicked off the football team. He goes

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after Trevor, who is Princeton bound, but after truth serum.

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He ruins all that. Xander finds out Bell wasn't involved

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and that she was set up. Bell starts to piece

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together that Xander might be James. Now she wants answer,

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but Xander is just out for revenge. Sander finally goes

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after Lennox and sets him up like Lennox did to him,

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only Xander isn't going to kill him. He just wanted

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Lennox to confess and tell him how he took everything

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from Lenox. He wanted Lenox left with nothing, and he

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was able to do it. Lennox wasn't about Lennox wasn't

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going to let Xander win. So during the game between

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Essex and Riverdale, Lennox not only bribed his way on

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the Essex team, but had Bell kidnapped. He had Dander

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told that Bell would be safe if he lost the game.

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He just didn't realize Bell wasn't going to stand by

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this time. She fought back and saved herself. She was

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able to get Xander to get up and fight to

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wish ended up getting them the win. Sander got to

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expose Lenox for his role in James's death and tell

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Lennox he was James, but who would believe him. Zander

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and Bell got their happy ending. So now onto the

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talking points, because I had fun with this one, both

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with some of the talking points and then my overall thoughts.

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So first point I had was James's transformation. One of

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the things that I really enjoyed about this series was

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it gave you an explanation of not only why James

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looks like Blake, but about his tattoos too. That's always

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one thing I find funny in series they tend to

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ignore the tattoos, especially when it comes to the whole

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who was it that I had the one night stand with?

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When they have very distinctive tattoos, it's hard not to go, hey,

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can they not recognize this person? So I love that

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they made it part of the character and he got

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the tattoos to transform himself into Xander Thorne, the beast.

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That they gave this description of how he would be

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unrecognizable and he worked to become this new version of himself.

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It also goes along with how the Prince was turned

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into the beast. He transformed into a bigger version of

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himself as a way to show the ugly was big

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than the beauty he shows. So going from Shane the

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Prince to Blake the Beast. Fits the Beauty and the

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Beast's story, which is something that this whole series is

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kind of based around. Is the Beauty and the Beast themed.

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It's a more modern day story, which I get into

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that as we continue with some of these talking points,

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and my overall thoughts is basically a modern day telling

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of Beauty and the Beasts. It just wasn't a witch

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who cursed him, but Surgeon's trying to save him. His

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fun take on the fairy tale. It helps keep it

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more modern and human now. I thought it was a

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very good job of explaining how James becomes this sander

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Thorn based character. So the next point I had was

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about the flashbacks we have. The flashbacks were nicely done

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in both showing James's pain and his love. They served

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as memories of his father and memories of Beal. It

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helped show what was driving him. He had lost his

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parents due to what happened, so he'll never get to

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see them again. The pain is what pushes him to

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get his revenge. The same with the memories of Bell.

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You see these two kids in love, but it's really

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a reminder to Xander of how she played him and

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betrayed him. He believes she manipulated him into falling for

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her so she could stab him in the bat only

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it wasn't the case, and when he realized that, those

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memories became a connection that pulled them together so they

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could get their revenge and get a possible happy ending.

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They showed two sides to Xander and help keep his

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motivation front and center. With the flashbacks of his father,

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it helped us get to know his father a bit,

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since we didn't get to really know his parents. Gives

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a look into who James was before everything happened. The

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same could be said about the flashbacks of Bell too.

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You see the person he was is now gone. So

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they did a lot of flashbacks for both his parents,

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especially his father, and then for him and Bell, and

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I know some of those slashbacks were actually Bell's flashbacks

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of James. Seeing how Xander connects with James and how

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she's figuring out that they're the same person, that some

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of the mannerisms and some of the things he says

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are some of the things that James used to do

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and say, So it helped her connect those dots too,

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which is something I didn't write down and forgot to mention,

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but there was that is that the flashbacks that Bell

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had were what helped her figure out Xander was actually James.

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Back onto the theme of the Beauty and the Beast,

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we have Bell's rose, which was a necklace that she

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was wearing. I love how at the party at Xander's mansion,

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Bell was wearing a rose necklace that was a symbol

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from Beauty and the Beast. In the original version, it

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was Bell's dad who had stolen a rose from the

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Beast's garden, and in the Disney version it was the

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final pedal would fall. He would be a beast forever

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unless he found true love. So it was a nice

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little nod to the original and the Disney version for

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Bell to be wearing the rose necklace. It helps with

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keeping the story with the same material that it's based on.

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It was also used in a scene where the Beast

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scares Bell. Even though he wants to him off as

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this monster, he still can't let Bell get hurt, so

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to have her wear it in the moment in the

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scene really spoke to the fairy tale. The rose is

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also one of those flowers that might have thorns, but

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is still beautiful, which is a good metaphor for the beast.

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He make him off as mean and nasty, but deep

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down he is this caring boy. He just needed a

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way to protect himself from the pain, so he put

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up the thorns to keep those away from his true self,

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which is the rose. One can also say that his

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last name is also part of the theme because it

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is thorn and roses do have thorns. It's a bit

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of a theme when it comes to giving the fairy

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tale reference in the series. So I kind of love

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that they still had the rose theme in the series.

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It might have been just like a minor necklace that

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was a rose, but also to the fact that Sanders's

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last name was thorn, so it still had that theme

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in that mention, which connects to both the original and

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the Disney And on a somewhat deeper note, my next

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point is scars. One of the things in the series

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talked about is scars. Bell makes mention that Bell makes

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mention of how scars aren't just ones you can see.

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You have Xander who's scars are on his face and

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his back, while Bell has scars from everything that happened

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and watching Janmes die. Those are the scars that you

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don't see, the ones that affect you in ways that

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no one else can understand. I love that they had

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this as part of the story, is that it's something

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that does affect people, but since the scars can't be seen,

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people will dismiss your feelings or trauma. So it's a

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nice way to add to the story that just because

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you don't see something doesn't make it any less real.

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That everyone has their own struggle, you just might not

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see it. For this, it was Belle trying to tell

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Xander that James's death left her with scars too, that

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she was trying to make it through the day with

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all she feels, while Xander deals with his scars on

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both the inside and the out, scars of the loss

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of his parents and the feelings of betrayed by the

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people he loved. The scars from his attack that were

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left on his face and back. He uses them as

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a reminder of what he's fighting for. I love how

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they brought that into the story. There was more to

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this part of the story, but it was still a

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great use of the struggles people can deal with day

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to day. So at the end there I was just

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saying that I kind of wish that there was a

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little bit more to this because I feel like it

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could have dove in a little bit deeper into this

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theme that was in the story. But I really loved

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that they added it to the story, and it was

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kind of a big theme for these two characters. So

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one of the questions that I had, which I feel

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like they didn't answer it, but I just might have

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missed it, and that was James's death. So the question

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I had was how do people think James die? It

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was mentioned by the doctor that he was found at

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the bottom of a querry freaking of alcohol. So did

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he get pushed, was he in a car? What was

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the story that was put out on how he died?

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Because everyone thought he was dead. As I said, people

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think he died, so there had to be some story

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on how it happened. So I know, we know what

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really happened, and Bell knows what happened, but it's just

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kind of interested to know how the rest of the

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world thinks James died. And I tried to look on

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the board that Sander had put together with Aaron Lennox

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and Trevor, but I didn't see anything, be kind of

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interested to know what the story was of how James died,

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and also how long has James been dead, because at

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one point Bell mentions it's been years, and I'm just like,

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so it has it been two years more? I was

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just very curious to know how long James had actually

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been dead for. And then for the last note I had,

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it was a little bit of a error that I

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noticed that kind of annoyed me, so I had to

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point it out. So it was Trevor's interview, and I

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had said how this one annoyed me. But to be fair,

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it doesn't matter the series, show, or movie. If this

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doesn't match up, it annoys me. So that's one thing

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I wanted to point out is it doesn't matter what show,

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movie or series. If I see this and I actually

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notice it, I sit there and I just go why

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because it annoys me so much. The camera that was

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set up to film Trevor during his interview in the

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video feed that we see are completely different angles. So

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the camera that was set up it was set up

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from above and to his right. The video feed shows

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the camera at desk level and to his left. There

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is no way that the angles would work basically they

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were on opposite sides. There's no way that camera angle

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would work for that video. I said that it's obvious

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the two aren't even trying to match, and that just

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annoys me because it doesn't even look good to me.

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It sticks out. It makes you wonder did they even

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try or just go this looks good, no one will notice.

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I mean, I still love the scene and found it

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to be funny and well done. And it was an

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important moment too, because that's also when Xander finds out

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Bell wasn't involved. But it was just the camera angles

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drove me crazy. If it had been the same side,

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it wouldn't have been as bad. It might have worked

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a little bit better. This just didn't really match. And

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I'm not a fan of how the shots at angles

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were in the scene at all, But I said, doesn't

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matter any movie scene or TV show series. If they

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don't match the camera angles to what they're doing. It

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annoys me so much because they also what they could

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have done is flipped it so that way it looked

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like it was coming from the right side instead of

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the left. But honestly, that was really the only thing

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that bothered me the most about this series. Everything else

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I love, so now to go into my overall thoughts.

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So what I said was I love the series so much,

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loved how it was a modern day telling of Beauty

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and the Beast. I didn't fully pick up on that

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it was a retelling at first. It was only when

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I saw the trailer for the series that it dawned

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on me. And I love how you can see which

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characters go along with which Disney version, and I'm sure

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there were some notes of the original as well, but

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it felt more like the Disney version than anything else.

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So it's like how I kind of saw it was.

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James Ashford was the Prince, Xander Thorne was the Beast,

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was even called that in the series. Belle Harper was Bell,

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Lennox was guest On. Trevor and Aaron were Lafo. James

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Xander's butler was kind of like all the servants in

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the house because he only really had the one servant,

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and then the school was basically the townspeople. It was

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kind of how I saw each character matching up with

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the characters and the Disney version, and then I kind

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of go through some of the scenes that matched the

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movie too. For the first one, you have Xander blackmailing

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Bell to be his girlfriend to protect her dad, which

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is similar to Belle staying at the castle to free

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her dad. And we've got Lennox trying to stop the

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Beast and telling the school to kill the beast, is

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similar to guest On getting the townspeople to try and

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stop and kill the Beast. At Sander giving up Belle

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and trying to walk away from her like the Beast

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did when he let her go free and home to

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her dad. Then you have Bell being kidnapped and breaking

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free to help Sander win the game against Lennox, which

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is similar to Gueston locking Bell up to go after

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the Beast, but she breaks free, goes and saves him.

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Then Bell is able to save the Beast and bring

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him back to life as the Prince by her love.

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And one of the last things I said was finally

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Lennox getting his just dessert, just like Gueston got his

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in the movie, and you could really see how well

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it went along with the story even though it was modern.

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And I also again pointed out that you have all

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these thorns and rose symbols throughout the series that helped

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kind of keep it on theme of beauty and the Beast.

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I know Cinderella has been able to do modern day movies,

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but you really don't see it with the other Disney

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fairy tales. There's a whole bunch of movies out there

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that are very modern day Cinderella. In fact, there's a

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whole series which is called a Cinderella Story and it

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kind of continues where it has different ones where it's

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like if the shoe fits another Cinderella Story, kind of

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on theme with that. There's like four of them that

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start off with Hillary and Chad and then continue with

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not really spinoffs, but they kind of stick to that

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modern day theme with the same title of a Cinderella Story.

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But I also know they kind of incorporate it in

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some other things too, because I think it's a little

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bit easier as a Disney movie to do that with

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Cinderella than some of the other ones. But it's always

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fun when you get to see a modern day version

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of a Disney fairy tale. And that's what I said,

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is that it's nice when a series is able to

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do that. This one did a great job with it.

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There are some things I would have loved to see

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more of or expand on, but all in all, it

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was very well done. Think the cast was perfect and

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really did a good job with this one. So for

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this one, I gave it a reading of eight point

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two out of ten, and that is because there was

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a bunch of nines, because I loved this one. I

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thought it was very well done and I thought it

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deserved the nines, which again is not always an easy

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to eat with some of these series, so high praise

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for that. But I do love this I recommend it

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to watch this one, not the other one that is

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basically the same story but with cats. Why they did that,

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I don't know, but just stick to this one with

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Blake and Nila, they were fantastic, amazing and I love it,

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such a good story. And as always, would love to

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hear your thoughts on the series, what you liked, what

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you didn't like. Did you see the whole modern day

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beauty in the Beast theme? And yes, I know it's

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in the title Cheerleader and the Beast, which you'd think

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I would have realized it, but it was a little

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slow on that one. And also, if you are enjoying

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this podcast, please leave a review. We'd love to hear

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your thoughts on that this has been a cheerleader and

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the beast. I'm your host, Megan. This has been my

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vertical obsession until next time.