it’s literally canon on the show that gina had to leave town for ricky and nini to reconnect back on episode 8 of s1. for portwell to start getting close, they literally cut off any interaction between ricky and gina. to further this narrative, the moment rina started talking again in s3, the romantic undertone came back like it never left.
so if we’re talking about getting rid of characters so a ship can happen, that has canonically happened twice on the show. they’ve separated rina twice on the show so rini can get back together and for portwell to be built up. and the thing is; ricky and gina will always find their way back to each other because that’s just what happens when two people are meant to be together!!!
the highlighted part just gave me the biggest buzz! just the way people watch old shows like dawsons creek or oth for the first time; it's mind blowing that some people will watch hsmtmts for the first time in 5 to 10 years and will experience rina? rina endgame is forever etched in history, that's insane to me!!!
or, breaking down ricky's love (confession) for gina
we're a little under three months out from the series finale of high school musical: the musical: the series. I've spent those months freaking out over rina and appreciating the beautiful arc they got in s4 that closed out their story over the course of the series. there are a million special moments that rina has in s4 (I mean, a rain kiss? can I have this dance? a duet together about their commitment to each other despite uncertainty? we really got it all) but one definitely stands out among the rest. love you forever is ricky's declaration of love for gina that he sings to her at her press conference for her new movie that, as far as he knows, is about to send her across the world. this post is gonna be a line by line analysis of the lyrics, as well as talking about everything that brought them to that moment and that made it special. enjoy <33
I've been wishing on a falling star for too long
this line opens the song and is such a beautiful callback to when there was me and you, the song ricky all but serenades gina with in 1.06 (the lines it references: I thought you were my fairy tale / A dream when I'm not sleeping / A wish upon a star / That's coming true). wtwmay is a song that gabriella sings after troy's betrayal in hsm and when ricky sings this line, to me, it represents a callback to his past relationship with nini. he was holding on to nini and that relationship too tight, wishing on a falling star. as gabriella says, wishes on stars just "don't come true" and for ricky, this relationship ultimately ended in failure. however, as much as this line signifies the crash and burn nature of that relationship, it's also a reference to the start of his relationship with gina in that bunker room as he strummed on a guitar, in a similar fashion to love you forever, to these lyrics.
I've been running, I don't know what from
this line references the conversation that ricky had with ej in 4.05 when ej forces ricky to reckon with the fact that he runs away from those he loves when faced with hard realities and that this tendency hurts both those around him, but also hurts him. it's incredibly full circle when you pair this with the fact that ricky is singing the song on the guitar ej gave him after they sang speak out, where ej tells him that "you'll probably get more use outta this than me" (4.05). i think it's really cool that this line also references gina's similar character flaw of running when things get hard, which she also sings about in second chance (Maybe I'm safer when I'm on the run / No time to open up my heart / Maybe I'll hide behind my walls again / Instead of tearing them apart) (also important to note that second chance is non-digetic and ricky has never heard gina sing these lyrics). so fascinating that ricky and gina have the same habit of running, with ricky running back to things that are familiar and gina pushing forward to leave things in the past before they can hurt her.
But you and I've become a sacred kinda home
this is one of my favorite lines of the song, especially because this theme of finding a home is such a critical cornerstone for both ricky and gina's arcs throughout the show. ricky's home life in s1 turns on its head when he discovers that his parents are separating. pairing this with his breakup with nini nearly sends him into a spiral, but he finds a new home of sorts in the theater program, telling gina "it's just nice to have somewhere to go after school every day, y'know" (1.05), which she herself resonates with, affirming his feelings.
of course, at the beginning of s2, we find out that ricky and his dad are moving to an apartment after his mom moves out. this drastic shift, the loss of his childhood home, is again disorienting, and again paired with changes with nini, what with her moving to denver. in 2.02, he tells nini that she is his home, which is really interesting, placing that kind of pressure on her. but what's even more interesting is that he knows he's moving, knows from the beginning of 2.01, and yet nini does not find out about his new home until 2.03 on valentine's day, months later. this is juxtaposed to gina showing up to his apartment that same episode. it's especially special that ricky is placed in the same situation that gina typically faces, the unpacking and getting accustomed to a new space. it is those undertones that serve as the undercurrent for their conversation. the apartment is in disarray when gina arrives, and remains that way for much of the season. gina, however, is endeared by the messy environment of the apartment and jokes along with ricky to put him at ease. by the time we return to it in s4, it's (naturally) much more lived in, with clothes strewn about, pictures of gina, and aptly placed posters lining the wall of ricky's room.
as I mentioned earlier, ricky calls nini his home in s2. this line says that he and gina together have become a home of sorts for each other. singing this to gina is important for ricky, but it also speaks to the unpredictable nature of gina's childhood, where she moved from city to city, never staying in one place for more than a few months, which she tells ricky in 1.05. by the end of s1, we think that she has to move again, something that's harder for her now that she's made connections with the wildcats, namely with ricky. as we see in the flashback scene in 2.06, she tells ricky that she wouldn't quit on them if not for her move, that they would essentially remain close if she weren't leaving salt lake. of course, she doesn't leave and instead moves in with ashlyn. it's her first taste of stability that she can really remember, but as she tells carlos in 2.04, she feels out of place living in a house she doesn't own and with a family that isn't hers. these feelings culminate in gina wanting to leave, a subplot we see primarily in 2.05 and 2.06. after revealing to ashlyn what she said to ricky opening night of hsm, ashlyn sings home from beauty and the beast to gina, telling her that she has a home with ashlyn, not just physically, but within their friendship. there is so much symbolism in that one scene that we don't have time to get into but this moment definitely shifts gina's perception of what a home can look like. in s3, we learn that her mom is moving back to salt lake city where she'll be staying long-term to allow gina to complete her time at east high. in fact, it's in this very house that we get our first scene of rina in s4, with ricky sneaking into her window. one's room is a reflection of oneself, and ricky and gina are all over each other's rooms, both literally and figuratively, throughout the season. combining this with the connection between the two that only strengthens over the course of the season, it comes as no surprise that ricky sees his and gina's relationship as a sacred home.
I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love and I know it / No net, no fear, right here in this moment
my twitter account was littered with theories and thoughts and hopes for ricky's love confession to gina, but whether it was public or private, planned or spontaneous, the one thing that I knew I wanted was for ricky to say that he is in love with gina. so on august 9th when ricky got to the chorus of love you forever, tears started pooling in my eyes because the confession, which was already literally perfect, delivered my biggest wish. one of my favorite aspects of the song is how much it reflects their journey because these are all the words that ricky would tell gina in some big speech, evidenced by him practicing all throughout 4.07. but when it comes down to it, after references to moments between them and beautiful metaphors, it builds to him telling gina not only does he love her, but that he's in love with her. there's no doubt in his mind of this fact. the sky is blue, the sun shines, and ricky bowen loves gina porter. so much of ricky's love for nini was tied to fear, especially a fear of change. that his love for gina transcends fear, that he is confident in what he tells her both shows his growth in romantic relationships but also in how much gina has redefined what it means to love someone for him.
I've never been more sure of what I got, yeah / Cause this is so much more than puppy love, so
continuing with the theme of confidence, ricky tells gina that he's never been more sure of what he's got in their relationship. I know I'm bringing rini up a lot but that relationship is a perfect frame of reference for how much ricky has changed when it comes to love. both his singing of I think I kinda you know in 1.01 and his love confession to nini in 1.10, while genuine, are riddled with stuttering and uncertainty ("I think", "I don't know", etc.). when you compare the ricky of 1.01 and the ricky of 4.08 and how he attempts to use song to profess his love, the differences are stark, and that's the point. as he all but said in 3.08, everything he's known about love has been changed by gina and that is reflected in love you forever. I love the puppy love nod and think it's narratively important for so many reasons. for one, it's a reference to their first date, as well as to gina's childhood. in that vein, it seems to mirror what gina tells ricky in 4.02, that mack was a crush of her childhood. calling what they have "more than puppy love" also nods to their growth, not just over the course of the series, but even throughout the season. from dealing with scrutiny in the fallout of the documentary to gina's increasingly busy schedule to their temporary pause to gina nearly moving across the world, they've been faced with many problems, and while they didn't handle all of them perfectly, they handled them together and came out that much stronger.
I'll say it first, no matter what the cost / Here I am full heart, full stop / I love you
in 3.05, ricky talks to jet following the fallout of the real campers of shallow lake drama. he asks jet what he's running from and tells him that sometimes when feelings are hard to articulate, it helps to sing instead. with love you forever, we see ricky taking his own advice. I love that ricky is insistent that he tells gina "I love you" first, both because he wants to rectify mistakes from his last relationship, but also because gina says, in a talking head, that she doesn't want to be the first to say "I love you," (4.06) further cementing the connection that rina has. it also affirms that there is no doubt in either of their minds that they love each other and want to say it to each other. it's also important to note that ricky understands the risk of singing this song at this point in time. for all he knows, gina is about to board a plane that will be taking her to the other side of the world for six months. however, he sings this song, affirms his love for her, no matter the cost, because he just wants her to know. he loves her in salt lake, he loves her in new zealand, and he loves her forever. ricky sings that he is there with a full heart, full stop I love you. in an interview after s3's finale, tim federle, the showrunner, states that while nini will always have a small part of ricky's heart, gina has a way of making hearts race. this line, to me, symbolizes the notion that gina is his heart, that his love for her encompasses it. there's a beautiful analysis of ricky being gina's heart canonically that I think helps tie all of this together, establishing that gina is ricky's heart, just like he is hers.
of course, I would be remiss to not talk about the full stop of it all. as we see in a flashback in 4.06, ricky opens up to gina in their first meeting about how he struggled saying I love you to nini, his ex. after hearing this, gina presents him with a possibility you can tell he's never considered: "maybe you just don't love her, full stop." ricky stutters in response, but doesn't fully negate gina's statement, in fact telling her that he's "kinda" planning on telling nini through song later that night outside her window (ironic that this plan doesn't pan out for him twice in the show, both here and in 2.03). that he brings up this notion of full stop, where there's no room for doubt, in his confession for gina further proves how deep and real and true their love is for each other. super small thing before I move on but I love how "I love you" gets its own special moment of pause in the song to fully communicate the gravity of such a statement.
I never knew that I could feel so sure and so strong /How can three old words feel so brand new?
Again, this idea of being sure comes up again in this second verse/buildup to the chorus. ricky has done the love confession before. he's been in love before. but again, with gina, it's different. it's deeper, more strong, more secure. and so when he says these words, in a situation that mirrors his audition for hsm, of course it feels different. in that auditon, he was singing nini's words back to her. love you forever, in contrast, is all ricky. those three words do feel new because now he's singing them to gina and for gina, where previously he sang them for himself. also a really cool note about the parallels between ricky's audition and love you forever is that tim federle released the initial script for love you forever, and one of the descriptions writes that ricky "launches into the audition of a lifetime." this song, this confession, is the start of his forever with gina. of course these words feel new.
Mm, so rare, so real right here in this moment / And I'm starin' at the only thing I want, so
I tear up hearing ricky say that the love that he has for gina is both rare and real. both ricky and gina, at different points throughout the show, cast doubt on love. ricky says in a talking head in 1.01 that love is dead (fun fact: ricky is wearing the same denim jacket from that talking head during love you forever teehee). gina, in the 4.06 flashback, calls love lame. their faith in love ebbs and flows throughout the show, but once they are together, there's no question. it's why ricky encourages the seblos reconciliation in 4.06 or why gina tells jet to confess his feelings for kourtney in 4.08. if they've found this beautiful love in each other, where they got a second chance on love in every sense of the words, why wouldn't they want that for everyone else, for the people that they love?
the second half of this lyric, of ricky "staring at the only thing he wants," is my absolute favorite line of love you forever. ricky's eyes are naturally drawn to gina in nearly every episode of the show, whether she's looking at him or not, whether they're speaking or not. even before he recognized those feelings in himself, we could see it because she was always the apple of his eye. this rings especially true during love you forever, where ricky does not take his eyes off of gina the entire song, except when miss jenn turns the lights on. gina is the center of his universe and who he has been drawn to since she entered his life. there was a tweet after s4 aired that stated that ricky looks at gina as though he's falling deeper in love with her every time and this line captures that.
I wanna finish what we started in the stairwell where we met
the bridge opens with this line and it's so fitting. to suggest that committing to loving each other forever is finishing what they started when they had that first conversation in the stairwell is so insane and will always make me spiral when I think about it. this line all but confirms that ricky and gina began to fall for each other in that moment. that their conversation in the stairwell is what catalyzed their respective character arcs also all but confirms that they're soulmates, that there was an invisible string that connected them, inexplicably tying their fates together forever.
I wanna live like I have never even heard the word regret
both ricky and gina have instances that they look back on and wish they had done things differently. gina says so explicitly in 2.05 when speaking to kourtney. she alludes to her goodbye to ricky after hsm's opening night, stating that it was something she wishes she could take back. in 3.06, ricky tells jet that he wishes that he didn't let color war gina slip through his fingers, suggesting that he would've done things differently if he were more cognizant of his feelings for her. ricky never wants to feel like that again, that he's missed his chance with gina due to fear. he wholeheartedly embraces his love for her because he knows what it was like to live without it and doesn't want to live in a world where gina isn't his reality.
I wanna scream what's in my heart and I won't ever take it back
ricky and ej's duet in 4.05 is about speaking your truth and speaking even when it's hard. the song even has a line about "screaming out." where in speak out, screaming out solicits no sound, ricky singing this line in love you forever is him being able to vocalize the feelings in his heart. he also commits to never taking these words back. his feelings for gina are eternal and everlasting. this is important for gina to hear because words have always been unreliable to her. people that she cares about, whether her mom or jamie or even e.j., have made verbal commitments to her at one point or another, and each one of them has later reneged on that commitment, whether intentionally or not. ricky can say these words, can say "I love you" to gina, because he's been saying it through his actions the entire show. gina doesn't always trust words, but she trusts actions. ricky has more than proven his love for her, and it's this continued declaration through his works that allows these words to ring true for her.
'Cause I love you feels a lot like high school and forever after that
I made this observation a couple weeks ago but this line is so fascinating. when the season first dropped and I heard the line, I was a tad confused. what does it mean for love to feel like high school? I was listening to the hsm3 soundtrack when it all clicked for me. in high school musical, the final song they sing in hsm3, the last line is "I want the rest of my life to feel just like a / High school musical" with this line, ricky is basically saying that he will love gina for the rest of his life. throwing in a hsm reference is also incredibly fitting given that they've just completed the first night of their run as troyella, further cementing their legacy as the troyella of the show. i love that, even when the bridge is repeated, ricky and gina are the only ones to sing these lines. when the bridge is sung for the third and final time, ricky and gina are now together on stage singing the words "I"m in love, I'm in love, I'm in love" to each other in between the lines of the bridge. the song closes with ricky singing "I love you feels a lot like high school" with gina singing "and forever after that." I love this ending for two reasons: ending the song with rina singing together re-emphasizes that they're in love, and in love together (for the first time), as tim mentions in an interview. I also love it because even as the wildcats join to sing the bridge near the end of the song, ricky and gina are the only people to sing the lines "I'm in love x3" and "I love you feels a lot like high school." even though their friends step in to sing some lines, ultimately, the song is a love song for gina, about gina, and that's why it ends with her. as tim (love how much I'm referencing him) mentioned in an interview, rina is the beating heart of the romance of the show, and their friends coming in to sing along to ricky's love song for gina fully solidifies this.
There are no words to describe how perfect this analysis is! it's still hard to believe that there are people who are rina antis bc how could you not root for a love story like this? the layers of storytelling that went into building this ship over four seasons; just pure perfection. rina is definitely my most fulfilling endgame ship so far.
nowadays, when i see rina anti posts on any platform, i just laugh and move on! like we literally got canon endgame and no amount of hate is going to change that. ricky and gina are happy together! ricky feels so whole being with gina! gina feels so seen, known and understoood with ricky! endgame doesn't get better than this! whether they were planned from the beginning or not; you can tell that once tim discovered them, he was never letting them go and he stuck with them until the very end despite the s2 hiccup( but in hindsight, it's all part of their complex beautiful story)! not many ships out there have the kind of chemistry, storytelling and love from the writers that rina had despite being on proper teen drama shows! rina will always be loved by me and dare i say; one of the buzziest and best ship to exist in recent times! no amount of hate from pws/rinis or even people outside of the fandom can change the fact that rina was a beautifully written ship especially for a pairing that wasn't the original plan and all they had was their chemistry & a car scene🥺 a big thank you to Sofia and Josh for their contribution bc their dynamic was a game changer! once again! Cheers to RINA ENDGAME!
i have had to say goodbye to some of my fave girls on tv this year and now tabitha and bess have joined the list! some fictional characters just end up having a bigger impact on you than you ever imagined! like it's just a tv show but why does it feel deeper than that? I'll be holding on to my best girls as long as I can😭🤎
this is the most roller coaster shipping ride I've ever had on a tv show! from the rinas who saw the vision from s1 to those who joined us along the way! thank you for making s2 hiatus bearable and analyzing every little detail along the way and cheers to all our fun & not so delusional theories especially the chocolate theory!!! rina endgame still sounds like a dream but here we are! from the highs of s1 to the lows of s2 to the build up in s3; we deserve this season so much! enjoy this and don't let the antis get to you! xo
Is anyone here watching swagger on Apple TV+ ... also I think everyone should be watching swagger on Apple TV+ ... a great cast, detailed and amazing storylines, characters that feel like home, found family and everything in between! bonus point; also has one of my fave ships in it🫶🏾
rina antis especially portwells writing thinkpieces about gina? i promise you no one needs those unsoliticited opinions especially since most of you don't even know the first thing about her character and growth! I know y'all are so bored and have nothing else to talk about but please leave gina alone! gina looks the happiest we've ever seen her on this show but bc she's with ricky, y'all are trying so hard to invalidate her happiness? please rest!!!
'gina is so different now and they're trying to ruin her character' and all she did was have a high ponytail😭 and embrace all of herself without any compromise! the funny thing is that people are trying to attribute this difference in her personality to who she's with and not the canon plot on the show! gina has had to put on a persona bc she's always the transfer student that has to appear tough and make zero connections to everyone but everything has changed; she's starting a new year at the same school for the first time in a long while and she gets to live with her mom again! how can she not be different??? not to mention the fact that she's growing and evolving as a character and yet some people want her to be just like she was in her sophomore year!
i know the show didn't do a deep dive into how gina was coping while staying at ashlyn's but regardless of how comfortable they made her feel, we all know that it's never the same living away from home so again, there's that limitation of not completely being herself which is something we saw a lot in s2; she compromised a lot of things to accommodate others but camp shallow lake gina realized that she doesn't have to be a certain kind of way to be herself.
and again, these changes are more about who gina is becoming and less about which boy she's paired with so regardless of whether ricky is in her life or not, the gina who is used to moving away & everything changing will be a lot different from the gina who is finally getting to enjoy some much needed and deserved stability for once in her life!
in honor of people saying that gina doesn’t deserve to be gabriella because they aren’t similar, I’m gonna do a post celebrating gina + showing exactly why she’s fit to play her. I wanna say that these arguments are pointless because it doesn’t matter if gina is like gabriella or not because at the end of the day she's acting. however, gina and gabriella are cut from the same cloth so onwards!
starting with the obvious, at the beginning of hsm and s1 respectively, gabriella and gina are new girls who have moved to east high. not only that, but they've moved schools several times with their single mother, never staying in one place for too long
gabriella encourages troy to do musical theater. after singing with him on new year's eve and then coming to east high, she sees troy's potential and passion for the theater and pushes him to do it. with gina, though her intentions are initially cunning, it's her words that keep ricky in the theater club, not his desire to win back nini.
gabriella is pretty resistant to forging close relationships because of being used to moving all the time, but meeting troy helps her to get out of her shell. the same happens with gina and ricky
both gabriella and gina have incredibly impressive accolades in their past (gabriella with scholastic decathlon and gina starring in annie as a child)
people often say that gabriella is very sweet and almost passive, the latter of which does not describe gina at all. however, gabriella never allows anyone to walk over her. additionally, gina is very sweet and I would argue is the kindest character on the show. below are just some examples of that.
the way that gina is with ricky deserves a whole post on its own, but the way she encourages his talent constantly throughout the series, supports him and helps him process his feelings surrounding his mom, and is generally one of his biggest supporters is so sweet I love their love :’)
her baking gluten-free cupcakes for the theater kids at ashlyn's thanksgiving party and for opening night, despite flying across the country in the latter scenario <333
speaking of s1 opening night, stepping into the role of taylor to help kourt's anxiety despite not being an east high student anymore
constantly affirming ashlyn when she cast doubt on her casting as belle
joining kourt and ashlyn to audition to counter lily's bullying, even when she could've auditioned alone and accepted lily's words that didn't disparage her. also her defending all of her friends!
helping to calm everyone down during the storm and organizing their response to ensure that they'd be okay
this one is kinda sad, but putting her hopes and dreams aside (starring in the musical, living with her mom, choreographing the show, her feelings for ricky) to make her friends and loved ones happy
planning carlos's quince for him and choreographing a whole dance as a gift for him
helping ej with the morning show thingie + encouraging him about himself post-duke
connecting nini with her music producer brother to help her friend with her music career
the grace she extended ej during their relationship throughout s3 (and with the whole date scenario in the s2 finale), including organizing a camp prom-posal for him
the mentorship role she kinda fills for emmy
supporting ashlyn throughout her ensemble crisis
changing the camp movie night to kourt's favorite film to soothe her anxieties and homesickness, helping to fix the stuff backstage for let it go after channing messed with it, and just really all of kourtgina's friendship
there are probably a bunch of other examples but gina is an angel and I'm sick of people acting like she's some awful person for the couple of things she did in the first half of season 1, things that were no worse than all the other main characters' actions. wrapping this up by saying that gina deserves to play gabriella because she's incredibly talented and will knock the role out of the park.
the outsider to east high and the outsider to the theatre now have each other for life! there are levels to this stroytelling! the rina diaries almost in session!
