I'm not even to S8 of this show yet, which I only started watching because Tiktok edits convinced me to give it a go, but I had one thought based on spoilers I've found which was actually important enough to me that I wanted to dust off the old Tumblr post button, on an account that mostly dried up when I stopped writing, to say it.
I don't find the "will-they-won't-they"/"obvious shipbait" aspect to be too horrendous in and of itself. It does kind of suck to fall for it again, but I grew up in fandom spaces online where anything can be fanon, even if it's never canon. Falling for another one doesn't really faze me. The amazing writers in this fandom will continue to push fics to fill the void left by canon.
What I do find really upsetting is the fact that a lot of people involved in the making of/behind the scenes for this show either partook in the involvement of, or at the very least supported the act of, using non-confirmed (and, I would label as shipbaiting, even if it were to go canon later) Buddie to save ratings they knew would suffer because of Bobby's death.
Because that is what this was.
I don't intend to cast my prediction one way or the other on whether Buddie will be canon next season. Personally, I find it irrelevant to the issue that I feel is the most glaring problem of how this season (based on my understanding of spoilers, to be fair, so take this worth a grain of salt) went, which is the sheer and blatant disrespect given to the fans who support this show. Maybe canon Buddie post-Bobby death would have been a little less than ideal, too. I'm sure it would have evoked similar feelings about abusing a portion of the fans' desires to save face following a bad writing decision. I won't lie and say it would have been met without criticism if they had gone that route.
But what I find truly disgusting in this situation is that they knowingly did utilize tactics of queerbaiting (tactics I am all too familiar with from the trenches of Johnlock, Destiel, Merthur, ect.,) in order to shipbait as a means of rating protection. The joint press tour, the questions about being in love and accusations of competition, the acts of devotion and demonstrations of knowing one another so intimately, just to name a few.
In summary (and because I am very sleep-deprived and trying not to be too rambly for anyone who happens to read this), I think the most glaringly disgusting aspect of Buddie this season isn't that we didn't get it, but that it was teased to us because some of the creatives involved in the show knew it would help soften the damage done by one utterly horrendous writing decision. At its core, it's the way in which the showrunners and creatives involved have shown that the fans do not matter which bothers me so deeply.
Not because we didn't get Buddie, but because when they upset and alienated one large portion of their base by killing off Bobby, they strung along two other sides of their fandom (because yes, the Bucktommy shippers were also victims of this treatment, and it wouldn't be fair not to acknowledge it in this post) to make sure they kept themselves afloat for the rest of the season. This was more than just people doing their jobs, because even if they had no control over losing Bobby they did have the power to not do some of the stunts pulled to keep grabbing for Buddie-dependent viewer engagement. These were conscious decisions that showcased how little regard there seems to be for the fans.
baratheonpilled
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
vaporwave
romaincrisis
