So anyway I'm officially feral for Lucas and Edie now and I need to scream about it đ
I know the WCTH fandom on here is basically crickets but I just HAVE to yell about how well the show is handling Lucas/Edie (or Lucedie if you want a portmanteau ship name) because I am honestly floored at how good the buildup for this couple has been. One of my main frustrations with the show (although I do still enjoy it) is that in the past they've sometimes struggled with how to properly pace the will-they-won't-they romance arcs. For example, Lee and Rosemary had some great tension back when they were first introduced in season 2, but I've always felt like the show moved the development of their relationship a bit too fast and didn't let the audience sit with that tension for awhile before officially pairing them up. On the flip side, the Lucas/Elizabeth/Nathan love triangle era had me tearing my hair out because the show dragged it out for so long it got ridiculous. By the end of however many seasons that took to resolve (I lost count) I was so frustrated that I just wanted it to be over đ
But Lucas/Edie? Now this is some ELITE ship development right here. The show took all of season 12 to gradually build up their connection, giving them the time to get to know each other and determine whether they could trust each other. There were hints that they might be attracted to each other, but that's all they were. Hints. And that was enough at the time, because if the show had rushed it, then it wouldn't have felt believable or earned. They needed time to grow into their friendship first, and that friendship was a great way of laying the foundational groundwork for a potential romantic relationship.
Now, in season 13, the show is dialing up the romantic tension. But again, it's not rushed. It's definitely more intense than it was last season (especially with the way Lucas and Edie keep staring at each other and raising the room temperature by several hundred degrees every time they do so), but the show is still breadcrumbing the audience. Slowly turning up the volume instead of blasting the music right away. It gives the audience just enough to feel fed but also withholds enough so that we still don't feel fully satisfied. So we want more and demand more. This is exactly how you execute a proper slow burn that neither moves too quickly nor too slowly.
And what makes this even better is the obvious yearning from both parties. Lucas--normally calm, collected, in charge Lucas--turns into a blubbering mess when he's around Edie, especially when he's messed up and she's mad at him. When he does mess up, she's the catalyst for him to fix his mistakes. He misses playing card games with her at the saloon. He literally runs a red light because he gets distracted by her walking on the side of the road. He desperately wants to be near her so he invites her to share his office. He runs up to her farm in the middle of a forest fire so he can help her save her animals. He flirts by showing her his coin trick. He does THIS even though there is literally no professional reason to do so (very Fox Mulder of him to forget that she's he's co-worker and not his wife lmao)
And Edie, who is usually too consumed with her work to socialize, is now suddenly following this man all over town like a lost puppy. She's at the magic show he puts on for the kids. She's at every meeting and every interview, even when she's angry at him initially for not staying in touch over the summer. She's constantly checking him out when he's not looking. She attends his press conference even when she thinks he's betrayed her. It's almost like she can't help herself. She's drawn to him like a moth to a flame and can't stay away no matter what the circumstances are. And anytime they meet at some public event, they just maintain eye contact for so long that it's a wonder that they haven't gotten stuck that way
Every interaction with them is so charged with tension that I'm spending every episode mentally screaming at them to kiss. But while they're driving me up the wall with all of the yearning and the pining and the not kissing, I still love that the show isn't pushing it too far too soon. The gradual buildup is phenomenal and it's adding so much to their dynamic. So that when they finally do kiss, it's not only going to feel earned, but it's going to be explosive. And I couldn't have asked for anything better đ