AND ANOTHER THING i also actually need to talk about the flashback family scenes in season one and why those specifically got chosen because hhhhhhh
jake's scene is a tender little moment with his mother, of course showing how much they mean to eachother and she takes care of him as much as he does her, and in one way firmly establishing gary as the ultimate loser dad, classic trope but look i'm a sucker for a momma's boy it's very endearing to me
i also find it interesting that, since jake is the only one without siblings, this is really ALL he has, it's football and his mother, those are his only driving forces and that little flashback is so fun because yeah, you could have figured out this part just from watching the rest of the episodes, but you need to know just HOW important she is and how angry the possibility of a better dad makes him in the alternate universe, she is truly his one lifeline
andy's scene also kind of lives rent free in my head, again because that dynamic with his grandma and his dad is so cool, his mother clearly loves him but she's not a main player in that family (i'll forever love you though mrs lau i would give my life for you), it's his dad and grandma that really set the tone, the constant theme of not being able to live up to her expectations radiating off the both of them, but his father made his peace with it and andy is still stuck in the thick of it, because every time he looks at his sister or at his father he's reminded of not being good enough
also the talk of ghosts and traditions being respected mirroring andy's aversion to magic until he can prove it definitively and just treat it as another subdivision of science that he can study and understand and control? mmmm i love that so much, very excellent little bit of characterisation, where does that need for control come from huh do you need to sit with that for a bit bud? also those dumplings looked great and i want some
i started writing this cause i was thinking about andy's scene and the about the others and i realised i forgot what sam's scene actually is, i think it might be him playing with his brothers? unless the mia scene is actually his flashback, which i am going to go with because that's more interesting actually
he has a whole loving family like i discussed in that other post, but the thing he is reminiscing on is mia, he is obsessed with her through the entire narrative and tries constantly to improve himself for her, it's really cool that that kind of disregard for others comes through in that flashback as well, when pressed, sure, he can tell you what his mum's favourite paintbrush is (OBSESSED with that) but really? he's thinking about himself, and it's one of the first flashbacks as well so it really immediately centers sam's character around, well, sam, and allows him all that wonderful room for growth
and felix, ohhhhh dearest felix, his flashback scene is clearly something that is always on his fucking mind, this bitch is tormented by guilt and he is constantly thinking about that moment no doubt, it's tragic of course to see and a logical choice for a flashback, but it really does SO much. we get a lot of jake's parents both real and au, and they are well established characters, same with andy's parents, we don't see a lot of sam's but it's clearly implied they are incredibly similar both in au and in real world
felix on the other hand, we hardly see any of his parents until the damn movie, and all of mrs ferne's character is in the alternate universe. it's around this time as well the boys start calling attention to felix being the only one happy to be stuck there, and then BOOM the flashback hits and the entire narrative shifts, your entire view is switched upside down cause not only is felix the one responsible for oscar's accident, but his parents, or at least his mother, clearly deeply blames him for it, and all of a sudden you're both angry at him for hiding this for so long and you understand him, because how awful to be fifteen and have that weight on your shoulders? i've felt guilty for so much less, and it makes mrs ferne's character so much more compelling to me, she's hurt and trying desperately to love both her sons but she is struggling, and it must fucking suck for felix to see her happy again when he's literally Not in Existence
