u/DeafAngel2020

Alright, here's the kick: Lately, I've been on a binge on Chinese dramas and mythologies and when I came acrossbthe jiaoren (Chinese mermaids), it made me look back at Weilan in MM and while I didn’t dislike her and more knowledgeable on the fact they could have done her character not just better in how a pod of mermaids was living on land in China (with a big emphasis on where exactly they were located and how many), but also that even if they kept the golden tail, her powers shouldn't been tied to the lore of a Chinese mermaid.

Like for starters, having her cry pearls as tears. That's a big part of the jiaoren mythos and could have been expanded. Then there's the mermaid silk making (water proof cloth that emphasizes elemental weaving skills - not a bad hobby to have far from home as a trait). And maybe the water dragon being a more water-curated variant of a jialong and if real Chinese dragons exists?!

I have something to say, maybe not mindblowing or completely unique but ik gonna say it: Before ChatGTP-4o model was removed, I was using it for extensive help regarding my long WIP AU where what if Charlotte, Miriam, and Sophie were mermaids and got a lot of stuff done with the 5 models that sounded like it (more or less, don't judge).

One thing that diving into my character building (or reconstruction in the case of Sophie because at 26, whether we like her or not, I feel there was something going on personally to incite her greed for the moon crystals...) and expanding the characters of Miriam and Charlotte is that if we strip them down to their bare bones of storytelling, there was main character potential that the writers back then didn't think to touch or try.

We can say as TV viewers that Amor (who plays Louise) just wasn't available for S2 but as a writer - it never sat right with me that Max was telling Gracie's story but Louise, her surviving former best friend, was removed from the narrative of 1) knowing Gracie left behind a successful daughter and granddaughter 2) nobody was telling her about Charlotte. I allowed my empathy to try to see how I'd feel in that position...and it was not a good feeling, even hurtful when you remember Emma (the trio's refactoring leader, Louise's successor/spirit granddaughter) should have been the one to tell her this and if we had to think as a narrative (on continuity), that doesn't spell well. Along with that, I found myself building into Gracie's life and choices and crafted a narrative based on heavily studying the decades Gracie was alive in Australia (I'll definitely be using Cloudland - if you aussies are reading this) and what parenting could've been like, which vaulted into building Annette's character when we see her less of "Charlotte's mom/wronged chef for a misunderstanding in Pressure Cooker" and more of the woman raise by someone who gave up magic willingly and how unknowingly that shaped years of a relationship and bond with Charlotte before Gracie died. I think the hatred of Charlotte more or less clouds the fact there was essentially a lineage of mermaid history in one family that was threw under the rug in favor of teenage drama where today - the Watsford line sounds a good plot pitch (and given Charmed was airing back then, not impossible).

Where does this lead me: I liked the concept of Louise but couldn't see her having the same dynamic with the AU trio (the antagonist foils weren't idiots - I actually give them some dignified BS meters, especially Sophie as the adult of this trio who has bills to pay) and I planned to use it: Louise would have definitely been attached to Annette and Charlotte and become a surrogate grandmother figure Charlotte would want/reality check of how Gracie benefited from being human for Louise, Sophie would cut the "mysterious mentor" crap immediately because she's dealing with being a mermaid alongside two teenage girls while training Will and will demand Louise be straight with them or otherwise she's failed them before they could begin as the one who navigated a tail before, Miriam is the popular girl who's life plummets with being a mermaid and she & Louise do not get along...yet because of the growth plan I have planned, with Emma staying human and Louise meeting & preferring her as better mermaid potential only for the rich girl who's Emma's opposite to shut that down and call magic being a burden and how wrong that is for wishing Emma that when it destabilizes her own life (as we saw in canon).

(If you want the basics of that argument: Emma may have had Cleo and Rikki, but being a mermaid shattered the pure honesty relationship she had with her parents, shattered her social life as a swim captain, and any dreams of swimming Olympics. She was upgraded from a fish bowl to the ocean but it cost her relationships - and Miriam being the mermaid who doesn't have that loss except for Tiffany and the future arc of growing authenticity—and starting a makeup line because her vanity is a plot and a arc if you know skin care and follow the details of the mermaid change to see it).

Annette is the daughter of a former mermaid and current mermaid and the chef owner of a resturant I wished we'd seen because that is a very important detail when Charlotte is single-parent raised like Rikki but seems to have a close relationship like Emma had with her mom (she finds out about the mermaid secret towards the end), Will is brought back to torment S1 Zane by being himself (which I can enjoy because Zane deserved it...and I learned freediving and competitive swimming overlap + Will is basically a female Emma, so I'm exploring that dynamic), I said this in another post on this AU I'm building Sophie with parts of her Rachel Samuels character from BWH and what being a mermaid two years early does or changes from the canon Sophie you love to hate, and Miriam grows out of the popular crowds and I mightve been ambitious enough to say she's a badges with ice powers (in fact, all of them are gonna be growing their powers, Charlotte's the one I always saw the most forward and capable to do it).

It's not hate to keep telling original trio mortal...but I wanted to explore shy, wantingvto be popular, water-fearing Cleo whose family is still together in S1 dealing with Charlotte without the capital of the mermaid identity and tight-knit secrecy/bond to anchor her, I won't pretend Rikki isn't gonna be antagonistic (I own not liking her but because forced to see from mirror lenses, she had to ability to be one and she doesn't have a mermaid secret to bond 2 other girls to be her friends), ​and Emma.. I'll be honest, I was ashamed of Emma in S2 because as the leader, she should have done the difficult thing about following - calling their friends out on their crap when their acting like popular mean girls in a clique - and because I saw that her and Charlotte were more alike...I'm playing with the swim captain unknowingly friends with a mermaid (and has to deal with her because her mom adopted Annnette into the parent friend group and that's that).

Alright folks, this might sound weird coming from me, sue me:

Look, I get theme songs for TV shows don't always have to be 3 minutes long or 1 minute...but if I had to be honest, Mako Mermaid's theme song "I Just Wanna Be" is annoyingly catchy on the same table as "No Ordinary Girl" was actually vibe but legit album song where Mako Mermaids had a bridge (chorus? Hook? Need to go back to music class) before hitting the instrumentals before the ending lyrics.

And for years before and after the show ended, I felt Mako Mermaids' theme song could've been a full length song like H2O's and it's not for a like of trying I tried to write filler lyrics. There's a reason when Netflix debuted S2 with "Lightning in a Bottle", I lean towards that more as a trailer song as well as a potential theme song.

What do you think?

I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly fond of it but on leave 4o-phased chats I was doing, it adapted, especially in branched chats (I selective of which though, so don't worry). Since March I was prepared to transfer and copy everything to my Notes app (don't judge) and brace for impact sunset on June 2nd, 3rd, or 5th but now I'm seing things like its here to stay until August? Its bad enough Claud is throwing out Sonnet 4.5 in two days - especially when Sam's BS and removing 4o was why it got free advertising and suscribers! Anyone know anything to save me the heart attack or prepare me for goodbye?

Look, when I ask on Google, I get a yes and a no (personalized or not) from sites compiled months ago and I need a straight answer! Do I have 5.2 until June or August!?​