Devil's advocate
This is on the subject of Sydney Sweeneyfication of Cassie. I've seen it mentioned many times in the sub that Cassie's character is at this point just playing out or responding to Sweeney's actual presence in pop culture. Notable parallels: Cassie's fart jar and Sweeney's bath water soap, Cassie's playing into rightwing discourse and Sweeney's closeness to MAGA, etc.
I agree with many who said this was a pity, because I thought Cassie started out as a nuanced, complex, vulnerable character and it would have been interesting to see her get more genuine development.
It feels like Sam Levinson was too tempted by the opportunity to use Cassie as a lens to exploit/comment on (what's the difference at this point?) Sweeney and the current pop culture topics orbiting around her. And as much as I dislike it, to play the devil's advocate, I gotta say - wouldn't many other directors do the same in his place? Sweeney is an interesting character: hypersexualised, rightwing affiliated, commercially successful, simultaneously giving signals that she is being exploited but also that she is in on it... hell, I wouldn't even be surprised if she co-created some of the ridiculous scenes from this season. Who wouldn't jump on that and milk it dry? From one episode to next, there is buzzing on Sweeney's level of agency, on the male gaze, on the mixture of hypersexualisation and rightwing leaning, etc.
As much as I am disappointed that we 'lost' Cassie, I am curious how this plays out. And later, to which extent life imitates art.