Emma Giordano's Reviews > Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two

FULL VIDEO REVIEW IS LIVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNTYG...
I have a lot of mixed feelings on this book. Am I happy we got another Harry Potter story? Yes. Am I satisfied with some aspects? Absolutely. But am I disappointed as well? Unfortunately, YES.

L I K E S :
Characters:
I was so happy to feel like the characters were authentic. Throughout the entire novel, these felt like the children I grew up alongside and their development over the last two decades into adults felt REAL. Everyone was who I wanted them to become (ESPECIALLY DRACO) and even the kid's had their own distinctive voices I really enjoyed. The dynamic of the characters (Harry & Draco are a perfect example, as well as Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione) were consistent with the books, yet still developed over the years into what I felt they should be. Also Scorpius is my everything, he is one of the purest characters in all of literature and if you disagree, bye.

Things that were addressed that needed to be addressed:
(view spoiler)[.FINALLY WE SEE HARRY SUFFERING FROM THE TRAUMA OF HIS CHILDHOOD. It bothered me to no end that in the books, the only remnants of his abuse were Harry being surprised when people were nice to him. Here, Harry is obviously suffering from flashbacks from life with the Dursley's and as much as I hate to see him in further pain, I've been wondering for years why this never came up before. Consider me satisfied. (hide spoiler)]
(view spoiler)[ HARRY CONFRONTS DUMBLEDORE ABOUT KEEPING HIM THE DARK ABOUT ALL HE KNEW. Let me start off by saying I LOVE Albus Dumbledore. He made mistakes over the years in how he approached Harry/Voldemort and what not, but overall, I think he was a great man, a talented wizard, and had a good heart despite his questionable actions. That being said, Harry did gain more nerve over the years as he was growing up, and his mini-heated moments with Dumbledore never really did the situation justice in my opinion. I'm so happy Harry finally called Dumbledore out on how little information he shared with Harry and Dumbledore was forced to respond. I really really loved this scene and I'm so glad it finally happened. (hide spoiler)]

Minimal moments that made me happy: Basically, I think there are so many people that loved everything about this book, but as I read this book very critically and found a lot of faults, the parts I loved seemed pretty minimal so I've grouped them here.
-Beginning: I loved that the story started at the epilogue of Deathly Hallows. I didn't even think this was a possibility, but I think it was the perfect way to mesh these two stories into one another.

- Draco & Harry's Dynamic: These two developed exactly as I wanted them to. While there is still an air of distaste around both of them, they've truly grown and come to terms with each other. (view spoiler)[ We have classic Draco/Harry like the duel in Harry's kitchen, the fact that Draco still refers to Harry as Potter, and especially that wonderful line "Keep up old man." "Draco, we're the same age. "Well, I wear it better." But we also have beautiful moments like when Draco admits he was always jealous of The Golden Trio or really opens up to Harry about Astoria & wanting to protect Scorpius. It was truly one of my favorite relationships in the book and I'm ecstatic it turned out the way I wanted it to. (hide spoiler)]

-(view spoiler)[ The transition of the timeline changing was done REEAAAALLLY well. When Harry tells Albus he has to spend all of his time in the Gryffindor common room and claims "he knows what house he is", I was truly confused being like "Harry Potter are you even trying to change the housing system? You're not THAT famous." but I very quickly realized it was the timeline slowing changing everyone but Albus/Scorpius and I thought it was a clever way to set up for the next scene of UTTER CHAOS. (hide spoiler)]

-(view spoiler)[ Albus's idea to write a message to Harry in demiguise to react with the love potion he spilled on Harry's blanket was BRILLIANT in my opinion. While I'm still questioning how they got a hold of the blanket so easily without Lily knowing, it was a very classic HP Solution moment to me, and I was super satisfied. (hide spoiler)]

Humor: I personally really enjoyed the humor in the play! The jokes coming from the cast felt really true to their characters and this book had me laughing out loud all throughout the books. I'll go over specific lines in my video review for the sake of length on here, but I don't think there was a single intentional joke that didn't have me howling of laughter.

Scorpius & Albus: Okay listen, I am one to respect anyone's sexuality, so if these two claim they're straight, they're straight. But seriously, there is so much queer baiting in this script that it pains me to know it was never going to amount to anything. I don't understand why it's so bad to have two gay wizards as the main characters. If you're going to throw lines at me like "He doesn't like his friend talking to a girl" and "They hug each other with fierceness. They hold for a beat." IMMA SHIP THEM TOGETHER. And that's not to undermine their love as friends; regardless of their sexuality, they have a beautiful relationship and their dynamic is a pleasure to read. It's clear they love each other so much, even if it is just as friends. I just think I would have loved this story on a whole 'nother level if their friendship became something more at the end of the story.

D I S L I K E S :
Lack of characters: This goes into my feeling that this plot was FAR TOO LARGE to be limited to the time constraints and physical space on the stage for a play. There is an absence of every character who is not Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Albus, Scorpius,and Delphi.
-Hugo: Does not appear ONCE. What REALLY confuses me and goes into the contradiction to the books, is that he was at Kings Cross in the Deathly Hallows epilogue, yet he's not in the first scene. He starts Hogwarts during Albus/Scorpius/Rose's third year, yet he. is. never. there. He's Ron and Hermione's child for gods sake! He should have been in this book!

- Rose, James, & Lily: While we do see these three in the beginning for a few scenes, all three are virtually absent from the entire play after about Act Two. How on earth do you expect me to believe these two groups of parents are off on another CRAZY adventure, but don't show any thought about their children, other than Albus? It's just unreasonable and does not make sense. I'm going to say this a million times throughout these reviews, but if you use the argument that "it's a play, they don't have enough time," then they should not have made this story a play. Lack of room for a plot is the biggest reason to NOT include it and putting out something incomplete is just sloppy and amateur.

- Neville: Neville is mentioned COUNTLESS times throughout this novel. He's a professor at Hogwarts and you bet your ass he would coddle The Golden Trio's children like they were his own, but again HE DOESN'T SHOW UP ONCE. (view spoiler)[ I mean the world literally "rests of Neville Longbottom" at on point, and we still don't see his as an active part of the play? (hide spoiler)] I'm purely disappointed.

- Teddy Lupin: Teddy is obviously a very minor character but HE WAS ALSO AT KINGS CROSS (which still confuses me because he had left Hogwarts at this point, but whatevs) HE WAS STILL THERE. They made a big deal that Teddy was a "part of the Potter family" and came over for dinner frequently, but he isn't even mentioned in the books. Also, his CHARACTER ITSELF was made a big deal by Jo, who wanted the story to end on another child being left an orphan. But nope, there's no space for anyone who wasn't a main character (which is a large fault in the author's planning because side characters are still hugely important to a story) so we don't see him at all.

- Hagrid: OK WHERE THE HELL IS HAGRID. Someone suggested to me that he may have wrongfully passed, but if McGonagall is alive, I'm betting Hagrid's giant blood gives him a different lifespan than most wizards. HE WOULD LITERALLY DO ANYTHING TO SPEND TIME WITH HARRY&GINNY&RON&HERMIONE'S CHILDREN WHERE IS HE. We go through like three or four alternate timelines of Hogwarts and he is absent in all of them. Seriously, it's a straight up disservice to his character.

Harry & Albus's relationship: (view spoiler)[ I really disliked how Albus treated his father. People are on here saying Harry is a terrible father, and all I can think is why none of them touch on how terrible of a son Albus was in the beginning. Albus is so angsty and resentful that his father is famous (most of which, he didn't chose to be famous for) and completely denies any effort Harry makes. Albus MOCKS HARRY OF HIS CHILDHOOD AND ABUSE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! He makes fun of Harry for being an orphan (not his fault) and being abused by the Dursley's (not his fault.) Yes, Harry's response was not okay either. But we have YEARS of Harry attempting to help Albus and connect with him that fall to pieces with one comment. We also have years of Albus treating Harry like shit. It took me a really long time to like Albus because of this, and I'm glad the ending implies that they are finally starting to connect with each other and build a better relationship, the beginning of this novel was painful to read because of it. (hide spoiler)]

The scene in the Ministry: okay I got a looooooot of issues here.
1. (view spoiler)[ Hermione, the goddamn Minister of Magic, would allow her office to be opened with a simple "Alohomora"? Preposterous. (hide spoiler)]
2. (view spoiler)[ THIS WHOLE BOOKCASE PLOT IS SO STUPID. Why on earth would she leave a trail of riddles leading to the time turner if A. No one but herself and select Ministry employees are meant to know about it. B. WHY WOULD THE RIDDLES ACTUALLY LEAD TO THE DAMN TIME TURNER!? In previous HP riddles (i.e. Sorcerer's Stone & Goblet of Fire), the riddles are meant to be tests to prove if you are worthy enough to move on. The riddles here are meant as "protection", yet it doesn't protect them at all, it literally leads anyone who could figure it out RIGHT TO WHAT SHE WAS HIDING. Hermione knows where she hid it, she wouldn't need to go through the same scavenger hunt over and over again when she wants to retrieve it. The protection should have made it IMPOSSIBLE for anyone unwanted to find it. I despise the idea that the brightest witch of her age and the most (politically) powerful witch in Britian would so poorly protect a highly dangerous and illegal object. (hide spoiler)]

THE TIME TURNERS:Oh lordy, lordy. Prepare for the longest rant of this entire review.
1. To give you a run down, the system of time travel established in Prisoner of Azkaban is essentially a "fixed timeline" meaning that the time traveler's actions would not alter the timeline at all. (ex. it's Harry who creates the Patronus to save himself & Sirius because as Harry himself claims "It was easy, because I'd already done it.) In Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, it follows the timeline known as the "Grandfather Paradox" (aka used in Back to the Future) which is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF TIME that is more flexible and allows people to change history by their actions. YOU. CAN'T. HAVE. TWO. DIFFERENT. SYSTEMS. OF. TIME. It's made clear that creating a paradox is possible in POA (an example given is that one can kill their future/past self if they are recognized by themselves), but that doesn't change that fact that there is no evidence of the fixed timeline that has been established for 12 years in TCC. Paradoxes fucking everywhere and The Doctor is sobbing from his Tardis.
2. (view spoiler)[ It's stated in this book that the time turner Albus & Scorpius use DOES allow them to go back further than hours. (If you didn't know, time turners are virtually an encased HOUR reversal charm. Using a regular time turner, Albus, Scorpius, and Delphi would have had to turn the object over 200,000 times to go back to the TriWizard Tournament.) Since it's established that it's different, we are never told how it actually works? Do we still twist it back to choose how far we want? Is it a yearly-reversal charm now? (which also doesn't make sense, see point #3) You can't introduce an entirely new magical object without giving any explanation. If Prisoner of Azkaban can teach us about time turners in a 2 1/2 hour movie, The Cursed Child could explain how this new one works in a 3 hour play. There's literally no excuse for this gigantic piece of missing information. And again, if you think "they didn't have enough time in the play to explain it," IT. SHOULD. NOT. BE. INCLUDED. (hide spoiler)]
3. (view spoiler)[ Since when do time turners allow you to pick the exact date & time you want to arrive in time at???????? They travel back to tasks #1 and #2 of the TriWizard tournament at LEAST twice over the course of MULTIPLE days, meaning they don't need to be on the exact date they want to travel 23 years back. They somehow have the ability to pick the DAY, YEAR, AND TIME they want to travel to with ZERO explanation. For a prototype, that's pretty extensive, and most likely, IMPOSSIBLE. (hide spoiler)]
4. On Pottermore, (here's an image as a source https://twitter.com/LIBassBunny/statu... - the original post I found it from is from 3 years ago) J.K. Rowling admits that she left a ton of plot holes in the system of time travel she created. She claims to have fixed that over the years, ending the solution with destroying all of them during the battle at the Department of Mysteries. And I think this is great, this is what authors should have the incentive to do when they make a mistake. BUT if she wanted to fix it, why would she approve a script that is built on the foundation of something she tried to erase in her books? It truly makes me question either how genuine her approval is, or the integrity of her character to turn her back on her previous decisions.
To sum up, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child BUTCHERED the system of time & time travel created by Jo and I have no words to describe how detrimental this is to the plot.

Big secret plot twist I don't want to spoil: (view spoiler)[ BELLATRIX WAS PREGNANT WITH VOLDEMORT'S CHILD, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?? THIS IS RIDICULOUS.
1. Not only is it upsetting to me because I always imagined Voldemort to be asexual in a sense because human emotions other than hatred, like love and happiness and lust always seemed so beneath him (Yes, lust is a human emotion, for the most part. Humans and other mammals are virtually the only species that have sex for pleasure and not strictly procreation.) So first of all, I'm amazed Voldemort having sex is even canon. (hide spoiler)]
2. (view spoiler)[ We see Bellatrix Lestrange throughout her pregnancy during the books, despite her never being pregnant???? I'm gonna assume here that wizard pregnancy is the same as muggle pregnancy and she would carry her child for 9 months. In Deathly Hallows, we see Belltrix at the beginning of the book (July 1997) at Malfoy Manor, and later we see her at Malfoy Manor after Harry breaks into Gringotts (May 1998). She is not pregnant in the books at either of these times. Yes, that's 11 months and she CONVENIENTLY could have brought her pregnancy to term within those 11 months we don't see her. But when something is this conveniently timed after the fact, it destroys all evidence to realism to me. (hide spoiler)]
3. (view spoiler)[ With the Malfoy Manor being basically Death Eater HQ at this time, I'd like to think Bellatrix spent a lot of time there surrounded by Death Eaters. ARE YOU TELLING ME NO ONE NOTICED SHE WAS FUCKING PREGNANT?! I guess we apparently now have a spell to reduce a baby bump or some other convenient explanation here. (hide spoiler)]
4. (view spoiler)[ To go along with #3, Draco LIVES at Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix was definitely there multiple times over the 11 months. Bellatrix is his aunt, whom I would assume he would see more than other Death Eaters considering she and her mother always seemed relatively close. Are you trying to tell me one of the main characters from this story would just "happen" to not see/forget his aunt's pregnancy happening in his own home, right under his nose? (hide spoiler)]
This is ridiculous. This is far too convenient. There is too little information on when this actually happened. I refuse to accept this as part of the plot.

Random little things that bother me:
- First trip back in time: (view spoiler)[ Albus asks if they're certain the dragon won't kill Cedric without his wand, Delphi replies "This is Hogwarts. They won't let damage happen to any of the champions." YOU REALIZE YOU ARE THERE BECAUSE A BOY ACTUALLY DIED IN THIS COMPETITION AND YOU ARE TRYING TO CHANGE THAT. YOU ARE LITERALLY IN 1994 STANDING WHERE YOU ARE BECAUSE A CHAMPION DIED. LIKE WHO LET THIS LINE PASS THROUGH EDITING!?!?! (hide spoiler)]

-The Trolley Witch: (view spoiler)[ Okay serious what was this nonsense. Absolutely ridiculous. I have no idea who's executive decision this was, but it was terrible. This is the wizarding world. We could have had a much better and fitting obstacle to prevent Albus & Scorpius from jumping off the train. I couldn't even laugh at it's ridiculousness because I was cringing too hard. (hide spoiler)]


T H I N G S T H A T M A D E M E C R Y :
-Harry in Godric's Hollow: (view spoiler)[ I have seen the deaths of Lily and James Potter quite a few times throughout the series, but nothing compares to the pain of watching Harry have to watch. As much as this hurt me, I think it was a wonderful addition to the play. (hide spoiler)]
-Hagrid meeting Harry for the first time: (view spoiler)[ "My name is Rubeus Hagrid, and I'm going to be your friend whether you like it or not." Tears. No explanation neeed. (hide spoiler)]
-Draco opening up to Harry: (view spoiler)[ When Draco visits Harry at work and they talk about their sons, Astoria's death, and Draco's life, I was a mess. "It is exceptionally lonely being Draco Malfoy" hit me SOOO hard. I also love how much Draco loves Astoria and Scorpius. I just thought this scene was so deep and true and I'm forever grateful we got to see it. (hide spoiler)]

There are a million more things to say in my video review, so stay tuned for that on my YouTube channel. All in all, I'm happy we got this book. I'm happy I read it. I'm happy that some things stayed true and somethings impressed me. But I'm super disappointed that it's so dissociated from the rest of the books plot-wise and that it was very underdeveloped. I will stand by my opinion that this should have been a full novelization of the play, and that would have fixed a lot of the inconsistencies and plot holes. I will absolutely go to see this play when it hits New York, and I would recommend it to any Harry Potter fan.