I'll be doing my own thing and suddenly remember the absolute hilarity that is Douglas essentially getting adopted like a stray dog in order to get his redemption. Sure he helped with Bree's chip but the real crutch of it all was he was just so pitiful all the kids went Daaad can we keep him 🥺
I'll be doing my own thing and suddenly remember the absolute hilarity that is Douglas essentially getting adopted like a stray dog in order to get his redemption. Sure he helped with Bree's chip but the real crutch of it all was he was just so pitiful all the kids went Daaad can we keep him 🥺
not giving Douglas & Leo more plotlines together was a misses opportunity because "pathetic man who is frequently bullied by children" and "teenage boy who is mean (endearing) to everyone" is such a fun dynamic
Y’know I kinda wanna elaborate on the HC I mentioned, where I said that if Donald hadn’t found out what Douglas was doing and intervened, Douglas would’ve eventually cracked and fessed up
Mostly I wanna elaborate that he wouldn’t have fessed up because of ethical guilt (though I do think he may have something somewhere inside him that would give a damn about ethics. He did seem pretty excited to do good things after all) but more because he’s got the emotional strength of a wet tissue and would feel personal guilt after getting so attached
I’m gonna put most of it under a cut ‘cause it turned into a full on Douglas study I guess
Like... obviously I’m prefacing this with it being my own interpretation of the guy, but Douglas was a pretty emotional dude in the show. His entire redemption was rooted in his emotional attachment to his family. His morals never 100% improved, and the growth we did see was almost entirely motivated by “My family won’t like me if I’m a bad guy :(”
And while he’s not a particularly GOOD dad, he is a dad. Literally every kid Douglas gets more than 2 minutes of screen time with, he goes into some kind of Dad Mode
So, the way I see it, I don’t think Douglas would’ve lasted if he got to keep the Rats for longer than he did. It’s never actually said how old the kids were when Donald found out, but they couldn’t have been older than like... 3? Tops? Possibly even younger, technically. If Douglas actually got to watch those kids grow up in whatever messed up environment he had them in to keep them hidden (Which, I’ll be honest- based on comparing the brothers’ lab quality, was probably a worse environment than Donald’s lab) I don’t think he would’ve been able to commit. Not with the original trio, anyway
ALSO. I wanna bring up Donald, ‘cause he’s also a factor in of himself
Yeah, the brothers fight a lot, and did fight a lot. But I think it’s worth remembering that despite that, these two founded a company together. They invented things together. They work together seamlessly when they get in the zone. Douglas, despite all the animosity, was ecstatic at the prospect of getting to work alongside his brother again, and was genuinely sad when Donald didn’t feel the same, but chose not to fight Donald’s decision
Douglas cares what Donald thinks of him, and I bet he cared a lot more before Donald discovered what was happening and made his own judgement call. The two of them had to have been incredibly close, and that probably would’ve weighed on Douglas, too
But Donald found out on his own, and he didn’t waste time. He saw the children, he saw the conditions, the plans, the schematics. There was absolutely no way to rationalize what was happening here, Donald had to get these kids out and away. His little brother was using their assets to make deals with terrorists regarding the creation of bioweapons in the form of children
And Douglas was left ghosted by the most consistent presence in his life for the past 20+ years, locked out of the company he helped build from nothing, and separated from these kids who have also been a consistent presence in his life for entirely different reasons
And Douglas is notorious for deflecting and pushing back when someone else decides that he’s in the wrong. All that potential turmoil means the time between Donald finding out and Douglas “dying” was probably like. Intense. To put it mildly
All this to say: Douglas is still a DICK lmao and the point of this post is NOT to be like “Douglas deserved better” or even “Donald is to blame.” It’s more about how Douglas is a notably emotion-driven character and how it affects his dynamics and actions, both positive and negative
It’s also my favorite kind of angst- where technically, things could have turned out okay, or at least better than they did, if everyone involved hadn’t been such a mess
I hate having Thoughts about Shows because I am incapable of just saying like. 2 sentences. I have to write a mini essay to convey all of my thoughts or I will die
Answered here: S3 for favorite, S4 for least favorite!
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Favorite headcanon... I have and love so many. I guess to bring up one I've never mentioned or seen: I think if Donald hadn't discovered the Rats and taken things into his own hands, Douglas would've eventually cracked and told him the truth. But the way things panned out left Douglas scared, angry, and heartbroken, so the situation- and he- spiraled
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Answered here: Douglas for favorite, Eddy for least favorite!
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Hmm, I know for a fact I watched LR back when it was on Netflix. I had to have been... 11? 12, tops
also i've just re-read your fic and God i still love it a little bit too much! I hope you're doing fine and I can't wait for your update !
🐀 Favorite season of Lab Rats? Least favorite?
Hard to pick between 2 and 3, but I think 3's my favorite overall? I think the show really got its' footing by then and had a great balance of narrative and episodic plots
Least favorite's gotta be 4. I don't hate it, it's got fun moments, but it veered pretty far off the initial setup, which was. Well. The whole reason I started watching the show. Characterization was also hit or miss to me
❤️ Favorite character? Least favorite character?
Douglas is definitely my favorite. Trying to think of a simple way to explain it without writing a damn character essay but like. He's got the vibes of a dog who got kicked too many times. Does that make sense
Least favorite.... I guess I'll go with Eddy. He's funny at times but he tends to break the flow of things. Also a little too mean spirited overall for me to believe Donald wouldn't eventually pull the plug on that motherfucker
💥 Favorite crack ship / characters that never met in canon but would've been best friends if they had?
I think Adam and Gus from MM would've been best friends on sight and an utter menace to society at large
Shipping's trickier 'cause I'm not really in the shipping scene, especially when it comes to crack ships
👀 Characters whose relationship you wish was more explored?
Oh man, several. Bree and the boys growing up. Donald and Douglas, both in the past and present. Douglas with the kids in general, Bree more so 'cause we got the least of them together in the show. Donald and Tasha leading up to the marriage. Donald and Leo leading up to the marriage. Douglas and Marcus pre-debut. Whatever Douglas and Krane had going on. I love relationships
🔥 Hot take/unpopular opinion?
The way androids were handled in the show left me with little attachment to Marcus. Literally like 90% of his intrigue to me comes from how his existence affects other characters, and why my take on a "Redemption/Marcus Comes Back" AU involves a human Marcus. Marcus's humanity in Lab Rats didn't feel like an actual attempt at a nuanced character, it felt like the writers just didn't know how to write an interesting robot character. So they cheated and treated him like a human or an android purely based on narrative convenience
Even if it had been intentional, I just don't like when robots are practically interchangeable with humans. Kills the vibe for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I know Adam was shown to be forgetful at times in the show, but there were also times where he was super observant
I am bringing this up ‘cause please just imagine with me, Tasha taking the kids shopping pretty early into their time experiencing the world
And at some point, they realize that Adam isn’t with them. So the remaining kids split off to look for him, and Bree finds him, with all the friendliness of a golden retriever, trying to talk to some random guy who looks Very Confused
“Adam, Tasha said we’re not supposed to wander off”
“Gimme a minute, I’m trying to figure out where I’ve met this dude”
Bree, well aware that they’ve only been going outside for like a month and the only adults they’ve met outside their parents are their teachers, is just like “Quit bugging strangers,” before throwing a quick apology to the guy and dragging Adam back to the others. Adam’s protesting the entire time that “Bree, I’m telling you I’ve seen that guy before”
And Douglas, who’s spent over a decade trying to determine and hunt down where Donald’s been hiding his kids, is just left standing in the bread aisle like
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