Oh yeah! We did finish the last 3 episodes. It was 2 weeks after the first post. But it was with how late we finished: her reactions were more mellowed, I was tired when I got home, and life was crazy in November so I never made post number 2.
But from what I recall there was a lot of bafflement on her part. Both at the idea of Five x Lila. And the ending as a whole, where everyone died.
I do think I remember asking her if she hated Five x Lila more than Luther x Allison. And I think she hated them as a couple more, but that it wasn't by a large margin. And that speaks to how much she disliked them as a couple, that they'd rank as worse. But the lack of a large margin between the couples is also telling because of her bone-deep hatred of Luther x Allison.
But with how late it was, she was mostly like "Go us! We finished a thing! I'm sad this show is over." And a lot of me ranting about how frustrated I was with the season that she generally agreed with as we decompressed afterwards.
Luther did really grow on me by season 2. Your description of him as a loveable himbo is spot on. But my friend and I have sort of learned to agree to disagree on things like that. She's more gut reactions, "does this character or arc spark joy" and if it bugs her (and himbos are not usually her jam), it's a hard "nope". I'm an English major at heart. If I can defend a character or a arc even if I don't like them, as long as I can make sense of it (like why the character would do that, it's worthwhile to the narrative even if frustrating, etc.). But if what's happening on the screen doesn't make sense to me, like 80% of season 4, then I'm more likely to be all up in arms than she is about the big picture.
I will also add that she has a long-running theory that people we'd be friends with (generally neurodivergent) are drawn to the more colorful (side) characters in every show, while neurotypicals are drawn to the more classic leads and this conversation started with TUA. TUA has less of a main lead than most shows, but Luther and Allison best fill that typical lead type, while Diego, Five, and Klaus have more in common with the side characters on other shows. Overall, she's the type to dislike the leads, I lean more baffled whenever that lead is someone's favorite character.
And I like all the Brellies in some way, Luther is no exception. Diego is pretty great - he's definitely in my top 3 siblings (though I think his writing was at it's best in season 1 - I have some notes on later seasons). Five has always been my favorite though - this was to zero percent surprise of my friend upon her discovery, just like Klaus being hers' is deeply on brand for her.
I couldn't agree more on the dance scene. In a season with 10 episodes, sure, maybe we could do that. But with such an abbreviated season, it seemed like a waste of time, other than to give a reason G&J weren't paying attention to Jennifer's breakout. I'd argue most of this season was breaking traditions, which is why it was so bad. Like how the hell do you both do a half a decade time jump with all the characters are acting wildly differently because of the last 5 years? And then break tradition of doing any flashbacks to explain literally any of those character changes? And I truly couldn't tell you a genuine arc anyone had with a beginning, middle, and an end. Stuff happened and then they died. (God, I made so many posts ranting about things issues like this after I watched season 4.)
But yeah, nearly everything in season 4 can go. But I will say I don't hate the core concept of the Baby Shark van incident. Like yes, put all these characters in a pressure cooker while they feel miserable and have that figuratively blow up - that tracks. But have it crescendo with something else. Like they finally get fed up, pull onto the side of the road and physically fight. Except they all feel like death and are so out of practice with their powers it's a comedic disaster. The vomiting we got, it's not just 100% disgusting and unnecessary - it's a cheap gag and lazy writing.
@sweetness-and-the-sour TL;DR I'm glad you enjoyed my post enough to ask for a follow up. Though you may be regretting that now - give me the option for saying 20 words or 200, and I'll always pick 200.
titsay
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