theory for why John’s ability seems to be returning a bit in recent unordinary episodes!
the ability disabler seems to reset your level to 0, but for John, his ability has the potential to go much higher (assuming Jane has the same ability). So even if you take away the 7.5 ability potential he lost when his ability was taken, because his potential should be at least 9.3 (like hers), so he should be able to gain another 1.8 levels of ability on his own (ignoring the fact that for plot reasons he and sera will defs get it back properly soon enough)
Sucked for Sera tho, im guessing her ability was so perfected that it couldn’t get much above 8.0 if at all, explaining why she hadn’t seen any signs of returning when he has.
i have convinced my girlfriend to read unordinary (currently on episode 30), and weve been reading it outloud on call, and i need to tell you some of these voices we’ve given the characters
John- the Joker but like the dc version
Sera- stereotypical posh British girl
Arlo- Alvin from Alvin and The Chipmunks
Blyke- shounen anime dub protagonist
Elaine- stereotypical American southerner
Isen- idk she gave a weird voice for him, like vaguely German maybe?
the unordinary wiki is heavy coated in ableism and bullshit; let's talk about why.
im not going to talk about john's page, because im not unpacking that today. also, im sure many already know why it's so shit. instead, let's talk about terrence.
[ill mostly be talking about the ableism and the mischaracterizatiom of him. tw for ableism, specifically against symptoms of aspd and negative portrayal of npd.]
first off, we have this "amazing" description of him. /sar
[IMAGE ID: a screenshot of terrence from unordinary's fandom wiki page. a section has been highlighted in red. it says: "His cunningness, connections and lack of empathy make him one of the most dangerous people in the school." /END ID]
now, the unordinary wiki decides that terrence, this 15 year old boy, is dangerous because he is cunning, knows people, and lacks empathy. which is just.. so absurd.
you know what, the fact that he's cunning is somewhat fair. sure, ill cut them a little slack- give them the benefit of the doubt. he's deceitful and does anything for a means to an end which could make him dangerous if he so pleases.
but "connections" .. he knows people. so what? knowing people doesn't make you necessarily dangerous. remi also knows lots of people, so does isen. they are not inherently dangerous because of this. the whole idea of certain traits making someone dangerous is bullshit. people can be more predisposed to certain things as a result of environment, mindset, etc; but he is not inherently dangerous because he has connections and that he's cunning.
which leads to the final descriptor: "lack of empathy". first off, putting past the blatant ableism [low empathy is a symptom of aspd and often associated with aspd whether aspd is present or not], terrence has never shown to be unempathetic. he appears to hold no guilt for what he's done, but this could one: be a facade, or two: be because he truly believes this is right. terrence hates high tiers and believes that what he does is for the better, that what he's doing is necessary to make a better society. if anything, a better term would be a "lack of sympathy".
also a lack of empathy isn't bad or dangerous. you can't change your level of empathy; empathy is feeling what others feel. people without empathy or low empathy aren't evil or heartless. someone can have low/no empathy and still have sympathy.
terrence is not dangerous because he is cunning, has connections, or has a "lack of empathy"; he can be dangerous because he has hurt others and has shown intent in continuing to do so.
okay, this has mostly been me nitpicking. ready for the real mess?
[IMAGE ID: another screenshot of terrence unordinary's fandom wiki page. another section is highlighted in red. it says: "Terrence’s corrupted mindset has turned him into a disrespectful and sadistic narcissist who seemingly enjoys when his classmates are endangered by Spectre, even his close friends." /END ID.]
there is NO WHERE in unordinary that describes terrence with symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder, or that states him being or even implies him being a narcissist. there is not even a reference for this statement. and even if it was semi-implied, a speculation, or merely a headcanon; this is supposed to be an informative wiki without bias. it is not stated explicitly, therefore it should not be on the wiki. if whoever wrote this thought terrence was a narcissist, then they should've described the symptoms he exibits which may be npd instead of just calling him a "disrespectful and sadistic narcissist".
OH and the fucking heavy coated ableism drives me insane. whether he has npd or not, it doesnt make him "disrespectful" or "sadistic". PLUS, you do not get "turned" into a narcissist because of a "corrupted mindset"; narcissism is a personality disorder that doesnt have a hundred percent known cause. it has factors that can contribute to its development, but a "corrupted mindset" is definitely not fucking one of them.
there is so much more i could say about this, but i think ill leave it at that. disclaimer that i do not have npd or aspd, and i am not infallible and i can be wrong. if anyone has any different opinions or something ive stated here is wrong, then please tell to me about it! i don't want to spread misinfo /gen
Ok, hot take of the century. Terrence is likely being manipulated by spectre too, just like Leilah, and we should bare that in mind rather than simply deciding he’s the bad guy in this.
Like, he is a level 4.4 who’s been convinced high tiers are inherently bad when hes litterally on the higher end of elite tiers, theres gotta be some manipulation involved to make him do the sorta mental gymnastics to think that everyone thats *0.6* levels above him is evil. Hell, im sure he even works with a few high tiers, Leilah is a god tier ffs.
I could be wrong, but he looks to be 15 at most, possibly even less. Spectre is taking impressionable kids and making them believe in their ideology and do their bidding. Maybe that’s exactly what they did to Leilah, maybe thats part of why she left. Maybe thats why all of their targets that we’ve seen so far have been school kids.
Anyways I see people saying they’re glad to see Terrence receiving the Keon treatment and I think, wow, you learnt nothing from John! Despite every horrible thing John did to the people at New Bostin, he didn’t deserve what Keon did to him. Nobody deserves emotional torture, like ???
