u/Sketchy_Turtle

I know AS and TDPI are generally considered the bottom two seasons, but TDPI is honestly better. I don’t agree when people say All Stars is slightly less bad than PI. The difference between PI and AS is that AS has a cast comprised of mostly unlikable/unentertaining portrayals aside from like Scott, Alejandro, and Courtney imo. (They have their flaws but the good outweigh the negative with them.)

With TDPI, people say there are only like 3-4 good characters but the cast isn’t as bad as people say. People point to Jasmine, Shawn, and like… Samey/Sky(?) as the only good characters… but Max, Leonard, Scarlett (EPS 1-9) and hot take… Sugar are all great. I don’t love Ella and Dave by any means but I do like them too. (Sky does kinda suck though tbh) This gives us a cast that isn’t as good as TDI, ROTI, or Reboot but has at least half enjoyable characters.

This comes from me liking some of the less popular characters from this season. I used to HATE Sugar but on rewatch I realized she’s actually quite funny if you don’t take her seriously. Also people overestimate her gross out humor, it doesn’t happen as frequently as people say. She’s not so much the “female Owen.” She is so cartoonishly mean and dickish that it’s funny, like when she implies she was ready to hit Ella with that bat for no reason 😭 as well as just DESPISING Ella in general when Ella did nothing wrong. And thinking Leonard was a wizard 💀 I also think she’s not that bad of a villain. Yes the show fluctuates heavily on who the villain is and it is pretty unfocused, but as a comedic side-antagonist, she has her moments. People are just focused on how the show didn’t really highlight Sugar as the MAIN ANTAGONIST, and yes she could’ve been better if she had more villainous moments, but she’s also just… funny. (Or you find her annoying which is fair. IMO I enjoy Sugar but she still has her cringe moments. However she has more funny moments than cringe.) I also think Max is hilarious and enjoyed his dynamic with Scarlett as I thought they were quite cute. (Non-ship way) EPS 1-9 Scarlett was MK before MK and had so much potential imo, and her character was oddly charming and subtle in a good way. And Dave being the straight man to everyone else’s antics as well as delving into incel-ism could be pretty funny too.

Also another major difference is that TDAS wants you to take it seriously, but is completely ridiculous and poorly written. Like Mal is a joke of a villain but the show wants you to view him as a genuine threat. On the other hand… TDPI really just plays up the comedy aspect. It prioritizes being funny and doesn’t try too hard for you to take it seriously. If there is any aspect of its writing that you don’t like, at least it’s played up for laughs. And TDPI in general is… pretty funny tbh. It is one of the funniest TD seasons

And also, Shawn is actually quite solid as a finalist. His zombie bit was funny (it did become a bit too much sometimes but it was still funny usually). However he also had a bit of an arc, learning to compromise/tone down his fear of zombies so he could be with Jasmine.

And lastly, TDPI isn’t even the second worst season, imo I think Reboot S2 is the second worst and Pahkitew is the third worst.

I know it was part of their archetype, but Tristan's dialogue/humor reeked of "quirkchungus"/"band kid" type of humor. Like the type of person that watches Steven Universe. I guess they nailed it on the head, but I found Tristan to be pretty cringe and was happy they left. Imo Ren is a similar archetype/vibe to Tristan (and no it's not just because they reject gender norms) but better and actually enjoyable.

It’s no secret that I don’t like Anastasia’s writing in either season. I’m also a HUGE fan of Lynda, to the point where she’s probably my first or second favorite character. IMO Lynda was a very sympathetic, rootable, likable, and well written character. She was funny and very versatile too, as she could serve as a hero/underdog and a villain at the same time. I think the way her character ended is kinda depressing. Her arc is about wanting to be recognized and respected for once, but nobody really ended up giving her that. Even at rescue island/the hotel she’s kinda treated as a bit of a nuisance by the other players. However I wouldn’t say her writing is bad by any means, and I do like how being able to survive alone on Exile Beach was an accomplishment she could be proud of.

But all in all, after watching the entire season and what Anastasia had to offer, I really feel like Lynda would’ve been better in a similar role. Anastasia’s arc is overplayed imo, we’ve seen the “aGgReSsiVe gIrlBoSs” plenty of times. And wow it turns out she’s mean to people because of “Meh trust issues.” Very original. Lynda could’ve entered the merge and served as the outwards, kind-of-annoying strategic figurehead that gets out in third place due to lack of jury management. (Or hell, she could’ve survived the jury vote and it would serve as a great end to her arc: finally being respected and recognized) Lynda’s story and personality was much more entertaining/original than the thousandth girlboss!

It is also kinda jarring to see Lynda portrayed as the “villain to be defeated” in this dynamic because EVEN THOUGH LYNDA STARTED THE BEEF, I feel like after that point, Anastasia was the one perpetuating/spreading it more. Lynda is by no means a saint (and I love that for her) but I feel like Lynda was trying to fit in and be helpful while Anastasia was less respectful as a teammate. And on top of that, Anastasia saying that Lynda is the “most recent cause for our divide” as if Anastasia isn’t constantly mad at everyone is hilariously hypocritical. Watching the out of touch older woman struggling to fit in lose to the younger model girlboss is just kinda sad to watch. Like Lynda feels like the underdog in that scenario but Anastasia ends up winning.

Now back to the post’s title; how would you go about this? Well, as much as the tug of war scene is iconic, I do think that Lynda being saved by it would be a bit plot armory. I know it’s a scripted cartoon, but there are PLENTY of twists in DC4 that end up working in people’s favors and flipping the script. It’s more realistic and balanced if some twists end up “failing.” Lynda randomly getting a chance to duel the next* *eliminated player and then beating them out is a bit much. So in the version where Lynda outlasts Anastasia, maybe that twist is just replaced by another reward challenge. (Idk what the fuck you’d even come up with but whatever) Or this final showdown can be repurposed elsewhere in the plot? Who knows…

ORRRR you could have Lynda be eliminated, not have the Tug of War chance, but eventually come back to the game from Rescue Island and either 1. Eliminate Anastasia as revenge, essentially “boomeranging” their rivalry or 2. They find common ground and end up creating a truce, working together to run the game. This would keep both Ana and Lynda in the merge but their dynamic is evolved even further.

Anyways I did get kind of off track cause I’ll never miss the chance commit Slanderstasia, but those are some reasons why Lynda could’ve taken a similar role to Anastasia in the story.

Sometimes the way kisses work is that there’s just an unspoken vibe that ends up sparking the kiss, and there doesn’t need to be a spoken “Yes I consent to kissing you!” (Now obviously it is very possible someone misreads the vibe and it leads to an uncomfortable situation)
Even though Spencer was a bit nervous, he clearly enjoyed/reciprocated the kiss and it was consensual. Logan didn’t sexually assault Spencer or force himself on him, that was clearly not the intention of the scene. People spread this scene as one of the reasons to hate on Logan but I think it’s kinda overblown.
IMO it’s more weird that this entire plotline kinda just implied that Logan was using Spencer as a means to experiment with his bisexuality. I don’t think Spencer was that hurt or bothered by it but the conclusion of this arc does come off as kinda odd. Like I get the story that they were telling… Logan likely had more experience/familiarity with women and the thrill of kissing a boy was new to him because he was questioning his bisexuality. That’s why he ended up overestimating his feelings for Spencer and realized they should just stay friends. But idk it wasn’t a story that really benefited the season and just felt like they were trying to reach the twink x himbo yaoi quota of the season.

I don’t hate her by any means but my overall thoughts on Amelie as a character are… “eh.” I really feel like she didn’t have much of a purpose aside from aura farming to feed the girlboss edits on TikTok. (This is what I like to call “queenslop characters”) Her personality doesn’t feel like anything too new and not much comes out of her character.

Her first elimination was fine, she gets a 3 episode mini arc from Hannah where she learns to be a nicer teammate. Imo they could’ve just left her as an angry woman instead of trying to “close up” her character, especially cause atp she was just fodder. She comes back into the game having already developed from Hannah’s assistance in eps1-3, imo it would’ve been better to leave her on a “bad note” in ep 3 and then when she comes back, she’s softened up a bit from Rescue Island but still has some work to do. This way her character actually has some kind of arc to overcome. But maybe that would just be a rehash of Karol’s comeback.

Either way, I feel like Amelie’s character really just goes nowhere after she comes back. Similarly to Anarissa, she just joined to be support for Hannah. But this “support” wasn’t even that good. Hannah begins to develop a colder, more stoic approach to the game, and Amelie grows concerned about this shift. The writers also seem obsessed with this “Hannah iz becoming more like moi!” thing and not-so-subtly bring it up like three times. I promise you this parallel isn’t as clever as you think it is 💀

This direction could’ve been a cool Hannah villain arc where Amelie later brings her back down and redeems her or something, but instead we got the tree scene in the clown challenge. This moment is notoriously weird because Hannah was unable to help Amelie without Logan winning, so she understandably leaves her behind… and then Amelie gets super pissy and brings up her dead mom? So weird.

Does Hannah end up realizing Amelie is a threat and votes her off to showcase Hannah’s descent? Do they end up disagreeing and voting diff ways at an elim? Does this relationship serve any real purpose to the story? Not really. Amelie ends up aurafarming by helping vote off Zaid, isolating Jade and Isabel for a round, and then she ends up being blindsided 4-2 by Logan after trying to blackmail him.