I love me a mouthy girl and I especially like it when she can shut someone down with a look. Bad ass high school students, I salute you!

10 Things I Hate About You gets its name from a movie that starred Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. Those who know me know I’m not a big fan of Julia Stiles, so the girl that plays Kat now I think does a much better job. She is a good mix of strong and vulnerable that goes well with this character. Much more than being the re-telling of a movie, it is the 2009 version of the Taming of the Shrew.

Little known secret? The Taming of the Shrew was my favourite Shakespeare story when I was 9 years old. No, I didn’t understand Shakespearean English. I read it from a book that re-told the story in plain language. Even when I migrated to Shakespearean English in 7th grade, I only read the comedies and TotS was still my favourite. It wasn’t until I read Hamlet for class that I started to appreciate Shakespeare’s penchant for the dramatic. As if Taming of the Shrew wasn’t high drama!

So, with the 10 Things season finale upon us, here is MY 10 Things list:

10 Things I Loved (& Hated) About You, Show

10. Ultra Feminism – Kat was so feministically angry that it was a bit off-putting. Yes. That is Katrina from Taming of the Shrew, but at least in the play, her anger was funny. Not off-putting. Because I’m not a suitor. I’m a viewer. And while I like my shrews abrasively funny, they don’t have to put me off of the character to be so.

9. Chastity – God is she annoying. Could you please stop her from using that annoying, I need to get my way, baby voice. GACK! Everytime I hear it, I want to put my fist through the screen. Please give her some redeeming quality and let us see it a little more often. She is just a one dimensional villainess with hints of good quality that you would need a microscope to fully see. Other than that, I think that Dana Davis has moments of evil genius playing Chastity, so she is great for the part but, for god’s sake, make her a real person.

8. Being punished for sister’s crime – Having to do with the previous, in the first episode Kat hits Chastity’s car without remorse and when Chastity finds out that her new friend Bianca is related to Kat, she punishes Bianca instead of facing off against Kat. Yes, Kat is scary and I know we all like that, but get some balls Chastity! Stop letting vengeance do your dirty work!

7. Cameron’s friend – Whatever that little guy’s name is, for I can not remember at this moment, he is an unnecessary part of the whole. It should have been Patrick Verona giving Cameron advice the whole time anyway. C’mon, even Gossip Girl would have gotten this right! Maybe the show will atone for its sins next season.

6. Contrived conflict between Patrick and Kat – Now, we all understand that Patrick and Kat should get under each other’s skin. That’s the way the story goes. If it could have gone better, the Bard would have written it so. So, yes, it must happen. But it is the most contrived, most irritating conflict I have ever witnessed on television that didn’t involve drinking too much and having sex with your best friend’s boyfriend, banishing yourself from your friends, and then coming back once you were clean and sober (am I talking about Gossip Girl again???). The only time the conflict seemed real was when they started getting close, after the kiss on the roof, when he congratulates her on the very thing she’s fought so hard to show about herself (she is not afraid to be outside of the gender bonds society has placed on her) and she suddenly gets all girly because she thought he wanted a relationship. Which is why I talk about the over-femininity.

5. Wanting popularity so damned badly – First of all Bianca, understand that you’re cute as hell and upbeat as hell and that those things are captivating. Of course, when I was in high school and a weirdo, I didn’t know that I would come to embrace that weirdo-ness. I hated how much emphasis she put on popularity, even though it was not a bad plot point for the story.

4. Having Bianca think Cameron was gay for so long – Wrong. Just wrong. Cameron’s a nice, sensitive guy who is so in love, he would wear tight pants, an extra medium shirt, and a scarf. I thought it was cute that he would go to such lengths. But it should have ended with that episode.

3. Kat’s kick ass attitude – Loved, loved, loved this aspect of the show. Yes, it could make her off-putting (as I said in #10) but it could also make her cool as hell. Like I said, I love me a mouthy woman, and someone who speaks their mind. I don’t like them quite as selfish, but I do think that the actress, Lindsay Shaw, did a marvelous job portraying her.

He ain't bad to look at either

2.Patrick Verona’s voice – Ethan Peck, would you please read the phone book to me? Every word out of his mouth was delicious. I had issues with his hair – though I like curly, it was like it was styled by Tasmanian Devils. And sometimes he looked like he was 18 and sometimes he looked like he was 22. There is a difference. But when he opened his mouth, I wanted to write a letter to ABC Family to have Kat tell him the only reason she is dating him is because she wants to hear him talk.

Larry's the one in the middle

1. Larry Miller – Ahhh, Mr. Miller. Pure, understated, comedic gold. I like your tentative steps into dating, how you felt about your late wife as told in a grand total of 5 minutes in this season. A great picture is worth a few words. Also, your part is probably the most believable because you make it so. I have no problem with the excessive lengths you go through to make sure your girls are safe, even if it is from themselves.