saw someone post a fic on the rivals subreddit a few hours ago so i ask you: do you read rivals fanfic? and if you do, what are your favourite ones? both canon and au, i read everything! recommendations are very welcome since it's a long road til November!
i found the development of several female characters a bit lacking after the first three eps, much of the space is given to maud (which is meh, i don't care for her much but that's my personal opinion) and cameron/taggie/sarah don't get their time to shine, i loved the focus on monica in ep 5/6 but overall i must say i do miss a female pov in writing, s1 writing team was almost completely made by women and i can really feel the difference in s2.
my biggest issue with this is 2x05, written by a man, and i was so disappointed in the dismissal of taggie's birthday as a mere plot point. no introspection on how she felt, no reaction, just a couple of scenes that don't match in anyway the one in the book! s1 had beautiful scenes of taggie feeling left out/misunderstood by her family (patrick's birthday party, her row with maud in 1x08, i could go on).
in the same episode, we learn that cameron has been feeling neglected by rupert, but we never see it properly, there's no depth to it, it just serves as a way to introduce declan/cameron, we know nothing of cameron's feelings first hand, which is a shame because cameron in s1 was a perfectly rounded character, i loved how the writers in s1 tackled her being a single, black, powerful woman in a setting where there was no space for women like her!
(side note for daysee bc she's not a main character but i think she had far more screentime and depth in s1, i'm sad they sidelined her especially after suffering such trauma for what? i do hope this is going to change in part two)
now, i know half of the season has yet to come out and im really hopeful bc all things considered i liked this season so far, but i do hope to be proven wrong! what do you think?
(side note two: this is not to say that male writers aren't talented but i do think there are certain hues and facets that only women can understand sometimes when it comes to write female experience and that reflects into the writing!)