annabeth trying to dismantle a GOD's unbeatable machine because her fatal flaw is hubris and percy just knowing he was going to sit on the machine because his fatal flaw is loyalty THIS FUCKING WRITERS ROOM PLEASE SPARE ME
ricky thinking that gina was “embarrassed” of him during their small angst era this season makes sense to me. due to the fact that i always assumed ricky thought of gina to be too good to be true. he thinks so highly of her. to him she’s way out of his league. (“you’re good at like everything”) the thought of her having feelings for him felt foreign and he couldn’t fathom that. which is why i think it took him more time to realize and accept his feelings, and accept the fact that she could reciprocate them. when he mentioned that to ej in episode five, how he couldn’t believe she reciprocated his feelings during the summer, made it full circle #tome.
Gina telling Ricky “but with you I feel so seen. And so understood and so known.” basically destroyed me. It hit me so hard. Like, that’s just beautiful. It’s better than any love confession. Because like, that’s ultimately all that you want. A lot of people can give you so many things but the feeling of being so utterly you, so at peace with a person. That’s priceless. And that’s what Gina deserves. The reason she felt in love with Ricky is because she could be herself instead of the made up versions she pretended to be. And you could see this season how herself she was.
And for Ricky to hear this words coming from her, someone that is constantly struggling with not knowing if what he gives or has is enough for people to want to stay (his mom, Nini…). Someone that is “always too late” (but never when it counts) it must have felt so validating. Ricky’s biggest quality is that when he loves, loves deeply and unashamedly. And that’s everything Gina needs from him. His unconditional love.
I started watching hsmtmts when s3 was still going on and while watching I tried SO hard to ship portw3ll because I would see blogs talking about Rina and how bad it is only for me to end up shipping Rina. Portw3ll was too forced. They were trying too hard with their dialogue and it never came across as natural.
I could describe Gina and EJ’s relationship as lackluster and shallow. It didn't feel genuine and much more like a filter. I don’t think the writers were taking it that serious and didn’t expect people to ship them so much (but I did because there’s a reason PWs are mostly just Rinis).
Gina and EJ’s dynamic made sense on Season 1 because it was two competitive people having a common goal. EJ wasn’t interested in Gina and Gina wasn’t interested in him. I still laugh at Gina’s complete bored face at EJ’s audition. PWs claim their romantic arc started on Season 1 but that’s very debatable. Their understudy plot only served as a way for Gina to connect with Ricky. She didn’t even care about EJ getting the role of Troy. She wanted the role of Gabriella with Ricky as Troy. And once she connected with him she didn’t care about EJ. EJ buying her that plane ticket wasn’t a romantic gesture. It was about him fixing his wrongdoings because Nini inspired him to it.
EJ and Gina were barely acquaintances. He came into 201 saying he finds them all so young and then suddenly had a crush on Gina on 205 (coincidentally when Mazzara told him to focus on other things and Gina had a fallout with Ricky). Not only did it scream plot device but it seemed like a romance that existed because they wanted to push through on their problems. Gina from Ricky and missing her mom, and EJ as a way to cling into high school.
And that could’ve been fine if it wasn’t because their writing was so uninspiring and boring, it was as if the writers were trying to force them down your throat to the point their dialogue felt superficial. Of course, everyone takes what they want from romances but they lacked so much romantic chemistry that I think the writers were trying to compensate that by the overly cliche dialogue. The differences between Ricky and Gina’s dialogue and PWs is super noticiable, while Rina is full of nuance and they didn’t need much words to convey the moment — PW felt overly exposed. Their only attempt at angst in the finale was so incredible lackluster. Like, they couldn’t come up with anything better.
I’ve seen so many ships that work even as a plot device but PW just wasn’t it. People that try so hard to convince themselves they had a natural chemistry and were the “best relationship” of the show feel like they’re trying too hard because their hatred for Rina (and desire to have Rini back) was stronger. I’ve seen ships I don’t like where I admit their chemistry is good.
Season 3 left in shameful evidence that Ricky and Gina have the superior chemistry. The worst mistake the writers did was putting EJ and Gina together to push a plot point because they didn’t just work and I am a firm believer EJ worked best when his character was sassy.
Can I just say that when Rini happened in s1 and Portwell happened in s2 I just moved on and went on with my life. Yet all I see are people so upset about Rina they just can’t seem to let go. I mean I could have also complained about the writing of the show considering Rini getting together destroyed any individual character development they had in season 1 and EJ randomly liking Gina halfway through the season made no sense with no lead up. Yet I decided to wait out and see how the ships progressed.
I don’t understand the constant need for people to try to discuss why Rina wasn’t supposed to happen, it only happened because Olivia left, etc… Like I’m sorry to say but does it really matter at the end of the day? You can voice your opinion to make yourself feel better all you want but it isn’t going to change the fact that Rina did happen. In the end it’ll just remain an opinion, not some concrete fact only you’ve discovered. I’m sorry that your ship was collateral damage in the process but I’ve also suffered through Gina moving away for Rini to get together and Rina not interacting at all in 2b for Portwell to get a chance. Not to mention 3 seasons of forced chemistry between Rini and Portwell with unsubstantial forgetful scenes.
Real fan service would’ve been giving Rini a long distance relationship so we’d have to see the whole change story once again with another potential breakup. Or keeping PW together in s4 just for us to go through the same themes of not being on the same page as a high school graduate versus junior. Because let’s be honest that’s the most obvious trope for teen shows it was basically inevitable for those two. Only difference is it would have been more than 2 weeks.
Rinas were called delusional all along and honestly some other shippers were pretty smug/rude about their ships becoming canon and Rina not. People would say we’re reaching but at the end we clearly saw the lead up so we’re not surprised Rina happened.
TLDR: It’s time for Rina to get their chance. If you think your ship is superior just trust it’ll prove itself. Thats really all you can do. That’s what I did.
the homecoming episode is truly one of the most episodes of all time. building up ricky and gina’s romantic arc. having ricky apologise and tell gina she actually isn’t what he initially thought. having them come to an understanding as they both have troubled home lives. having gina acknowledge she does genuinely believe in ricky’s potential. having gina kiss ricky on the cheek. having them introdue the rina cue. having gina basically say pw was a tool for her to try and get the lead role. having kourtney tell the audience that nini is less herself when she’s with boys, particularly ricky. having kourtney be the one to remind nini of her passions, after feeling wronged by the boys in her life. having nini and kourtney’s scene be directly weaved together with carlos’ scene of acceptance and community. truly the episode ever. if you even care
every time anti rina shippers come up with a new reason why they don’t ship them or whatever it just proves more and more they don’t understand ricky or gina. the creator saying gina is going to be the one “setting the rules” and that the their relationship “will be on her terms” is because her entire life nothing has been on her terms she’s just used to change after change and having to move all the time and having no choice in things that goes on in her life. it’s a good thing that their relationship will in many ways be on her terms. it in no way means she’s going to be doing all the work in it???? you guys can just say don’t ship them without making it obvious you don’t understand them as characters all the time. hilarious that the person i read say what they said about gina having to do all the work and it not being an equal relationship conveniently ignored the creator saying gina’s world in general is finally going to be on her terms before even mentioning her and ricky’s relationship.
jbbartram-illu
jacobvanloon
dailybridgerton
romaincrisis
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