u/thatoneurchin

Idk if this is unpopular or not. I usually see people say they don’t like Klaine cause of toxicity or how it went in later seasons, but for me, I could just never buy into the setup of the ship, and I was wondering if anyone else felt this way?

Kurt is getting bullied, then suddenly finds a super progressive school with a great arts program and a no bullying policy in his homophobic, small town. There, the very first person he meets is a hot, single, openly gay boy who takes his hand for a slow-mo run then practically serenades him. This guy is super nice and accommodating to the point he looks past Kurt spying to offer him a cup of coffee, then starts helping him stand against the bullies. Through this, they find out they have all of the exact same interests and become friends. That’s a little much to me. It’s like if Mercedes walked into a music store and met a hot, Christian producer, who wanted to wait until marriage and help sell her music. Or Artie met a hot actress, who loved Halo and wanted to star in all his movies.

I’ve heard Sam was initially going to be Kurt’s love interest. That makes a lot of sense to me, cause S2 Blaine feels like he was written last minute and solely for Kurt. Even in S3, he doesn’t really bond with the other characters on his own and is mainly just there for Kurt. I think one of the biggest examples of this is him transferring schools. The only way that decision works is if Blaine only exists for Kurt. You’re telling me a gay teen, who was hate crimed in the past, left his safe environment for somewhere where gay kids get death threats? His parents were cool with that? He didn’t have any fear walking back into a hostile environment like McKinley or sadness over leaving Dalton after years of loving it there? No bad past memories? No friends he was missing?

Obviously Blaine had to get to McKinley somehow, but they easily could’ve come up with a better excuse. Maybe one of his parents lost their job or something, so he had to move to a public school, and he picked McKinley for Kurt. Idk. I think a lot of their scenes are cute, but I kind of just felt eh about them overall, cause it felt like Blaine was there to give Kurt a dream relationship and nothing else. By the time we got to the later seasons, I didn’t care. Weirdly, Sam and Kurt are more interesting to me on paper cause they have more differences, and I don’t think the connection would be as instant

I always see so many posts from people saying they rewatched the series as an adult, and they now think it’s shitty for one reason or another or they’ve been turned off a ship they previously liked.

Whenever I see those posts, I kind of don’t get the complaint because it’s natural to not like things, once you move out of being the target audience for it. A Disney movie might be the best thing ever when you’re 7, but not when you’re 30. That doesn’t mean Disney movies should change, it means you’ve naturally outgrown the media.

Sometimes, when I’m watching TVD I’ll be thinking wow, these brothers kind of suck and do nothing except stand around brooding/drinking... but then I remember how much excitement I got, when I first watched the show as a teen, and that fades away. I realize it’s kind of pointless being harsh and judgmental to a show aimed at 16 year olds. So, then I put my teenager glasses on and instead think wow, they did a great job of creating something really buzzworthy and popular that appealed to so many of us at that age. Obviously, it has its flaws, but it knew what it was doing when it came to hypnotizing teen girls.

I’m not saying it can’t be criticized at all ofc, but whenever I criticize it, I try to keep in account it’s not made for me anymore. As an adult, I’d run from these boys, but if I was the same age as the target audience I’d be obsessed with them, and ik this because I was. Half of me watching is me laughing fondly at how into these storylines, ships, and characters I was. It’s more enjoyable for me that way. Does anyone else like to look back on the show with a warm sense of nostalgia, despite its more questionable parts?

I feel like Alicent making this post, but Rhaenyra annoys the hell out of me.

Just from the start, I don’t get why she wanted to be heir so badly. If she didn’t want to be held down by duty or responsibility, that’s the worst position to be in. She gets upset Viserys wants her to do things like marry and have kids, when the whole point of being an heir is carrying on the family line. Viserys was extremely generous to her by making her heir in the first place, then setting up a whole marriage tour for her to have her pick of the litter, and she just rolled her eyes. It’s hard to have sympathy for her complaining about being given the option to choose, when we see how other women (like Alicent and Sansa) get treated in this universe.

If Rhaenyra actually committed to the marriage mart, maybe she would’ve found someone she actually liked and not had to have bastards. Who knows? Instead, she marries a gay man, has an affair, and has three illegitimate children. All of which is totally avoidable with a little thought and planning. Once Jace came out looking like Harwin, she should’ve been on the hunt for a Laenor-looking man. Having two more bastards is pure recklessness and puts her whole family in danger.

But okay, she did what she did. At that point, why not step down as heir? If she truly loves her children, and she knows she’s put them in this precarious position with their parentage, why not save them from the scrutiny/eventual war? She’d already built a life away from KL, but that wasn’t good enough for her why? Because she saw some mystical animal in the woods a decade ago? You’re telling me she’s cool letting her kids die, so she can sit in a room getting pestered by smallfolk? And I’m supposed to care about her?

I just don’t get it. It’s not like she does anything special as queen or even enjoys the position. I understand the show is going with the theme of being careful what you wish for, but it’s not like she’s Rhaena, who made one stupid decision one time. This was a series of stupid decisions made over the course of many years. Rhaenyra was warned about this war fifty times over. She ignored everything she was told and literally left the throne behind to the Greens, thinking… what, she’d just return and they would hand over the throne calmly with no threat to her family? She comes across very stupid, selfish, and entitled to me. It’s worse with her as an adult because she no longer gets the free pass of being a dumb teen, and she’s lost that fiery charm that made her more entertaining.

A lot of the scenes with her now are boring, cause it’s just her talking to Alicent. Two shitty, dumb moms standing around looking sad, complaining cause their actions led to war and children being murdered. They can both go cry me a river

Maybe it’s just me, but I was always taken aback in the special episode when Jules talks about deeply loving Rue. I feel like we never really see that in the show.

To me, Jules always seems like she’d rather be with someone else. S1, she only goes to Rue as a second choice after Tyler doesn’t fit his picture, then she hooks up with Anna and has such a good time she’s texting Anna while attending the dance with Rue. S2, she cheats very easily and quickly. She could’ve talked to Rue about faking an orgasm or neglecting her, but she went to Elliot instead.

Now in S3, she’s still not pursuing Rue exclusively. She’s being honest to Rue about seeing someone else at least, but she’s not being honest to the guy about sleeping with Rue, so the whole thing still feels icky. Like she can’t just be upfront about polyamory, she has to tell lies and keep it so there’s always someone dangling on the sidelines for her.

In the most recent episode, when they did a callback to the scene in S1 where Jules asks why Rue won’t kiss her, I was rolling my eyes. In S1 alone, that scene is frustrating. Rue had a crush first, initiated the first kiss, and tried to casually kiss Jules on Halloween, but Jules pulled away. You can’t pull away from kisses, hook up with someone else, text them throughout the whole date, and then ask, hey Rue, why won’t you kiss me? Ofc Rue wasn’t going to make a move with all those mixed signals. In S3, it’s doubley frustrating because they’re adults now, and it’s been years. If you want someone who is going to grab and kiss you hard out of the blue, and Rue has never acted that way in the 5 or so years you’ve known her, move on. Either accept Rue for Rue or find someone else.

Anyway, it’s just hard for me to believe that Jules actually loves Rue because she’s always looking for someone else and always asking Rue to act differently than she normally does. I think Rue was right, when she said Jules just loves being loved. It feels like she wants attention from Rue more than anything else. In the latest episode, I really wished Rue was a snarkier person and just flat out told Jules “you cheated on me, I’m not chasing after you.”

I’ve seen a few posts where people express confusion about why Cassie is so hated, when other characters are morally worse than her. A lot of people just chalk it up to hate for the actress, which might be part of it, but I don’t think that’s totally it.

So, for one thing, I don’t think Cassie was ever very interesting as a character to start. Of all the characters on the show, she’s always seemed the most basic to me. Her story is that her dad left her, so now she looks for that lost love/validation in the guys she dates and will do whatever she can to please them. To me, this seems really played out and done before. It’s the basic girl with daddy issues who dates assholes storyline, and the show never really does anything too interesting with it.

Cassie isn’t only basic but stagnant. She repeats the same behavior with no growth in each season. S1 she fools around with Daniel behind McKay’s back and never apologizes. S2 she sleeps with Nate behind Maddy’s back and never apologizes. She does humiliating stuff for attention like swallowing a fish for frat boys in S1, letting Nate dress her at school in S2, dressing like a baby in S3. She never really changes, gets better, or takes accountability for anything going on in her life.

S3 is following the same pattern. Cassie has nothing going on except her wedding and her OF. So, the focus for her is sex and a man again. It’s the same old patterns for her (except now she’s also become super materialistic and demands $50k flowers). When she meets with Maddy, she doubles down on how what she did with Nate wasn’t wrong because they’re now getting married, again dodging any accountability or growth.

This isn’t something you see with the other characters. Lexi used to be more quiet, then became more outspoken, took up writing, and is now an assistant at Warner Bros. Maddy got out of an abusive relationship and landed a job she’s using to help her mom out with rent. Jules may end up in a dangerous situation with her sugar daddy (we’ll see), but she at least has some idea of what career she wants to pursue. Rue is consistently a trainwreck, but at least has apologized to people and/or tried to make amends many times. I see effort with her that I don’t with Cassie. Hell, even Nate gave Jules her tape back and seems to have mellowed out for a minute.

Now before anyone freaks out, I’m not saying Cassie is anyway on par with Nate. What I’m saying is that the other characters behaviors change or attempt to change, while Cassie stays in the same spot. Nate is acting off and doing something I haven’t seen from him before, which is something Cassie hasn’t done imo. *I am in no way saying Cassie is morally equal to Nate.* Moving on - there was one scene early S2 where she said she was going to try to be a different type of girl, and she fucked Nate within the hour. I start to wonder, when has she ever had any kind of character development? She takes up so much screen time but hardly ever does anything new with it. After S1, they seemed to move her up to being the most important girl after Rue, but I don’t feel she’s done anything to justify that.

Finally, I think the way that she’s framed has an impact on how she’s viewed. The script wants you to laugh at and look down on Cassie for her bad actions, which is something it doesn’t do for the other characters. For example, in the most recent episode, Nate gets attacked, while Cassie just sits there crying. They were going to have her defend Nate, but thought it would be more funny if they did a crying shot with him flailing in the background. The point is to get you to laugh at how vapid and narcissistic Cassie is.

Now, think about all the terrible shit someone like, say, Rue has done. Even when Rue is screaming her head off and verbally abusing her family, she’s portrayed sympathetically. You’re rarely invited to laugh at her. She’s shown as a terrible person at times but never as someone to be mocked by the audience, even at her lowest. Meanwhile with Cassie, some episodes feel like I’m tuning into her breakdown extravaganza. Scenes like her hysterically sobbing while getting dragged out of a hot tub with vomit all over or screaming during Suze’s Million Dollar Match Maker are there for the audience to laugh/cringe at her.

So, yeah. I think people get confused about the Cassie hate because morally she’s not worse than the abusers, drug dealers, human traffickers, etc. we see on the show. But imo where she falls short is her depth, development, and framing within the script. And it’s so much so that it feels purposeful. Maybe Cassie was meant to be sympathetic once, but now it seems like part of the fun of the season is meant to be laughing at her at least a little