i found brooklynn's arc in s4 extremely... underwhelming, unlike a lot of people. and what it comes down to is that the narrative loses a lot of interest in truly addressing the complexity (or implications) it wanted to established in the last two seasons. and it isn't something that only applies to brooklynn (the yasammy break-up, for one) but it's something extremely apparent with her.
take brooklynn and kenji. we've been in kenji's head trying understand how he feels about brooklynn, and what he feels about brooklynn is that she basically reminded him of his dad. this is directly what he expresses in season 3. he felt like she prioritized literally everything except her relationships. there is one meaningful conversation he has with brooklynn, and it's him making a huge emotional leap that is never really justified by anything we're shown.
kenji frames brooklynn's actions as rightfully morally gray. brooklynn's ambition for journalism, even before the attack, lead to her isolating herself from her friends and even buddying up to a child abuser. that's objectively bad. what she did in the aftermath has justification in what the end goal is, but in doing it she re-traumatized her found family and several bystanders. that doesn't make her a bad person, but it does make reframing the kenlynn relationship as "they just aren't compatible people. she needs someone okay with her self-isolating and harmful (to herself) behavior. like yaz, ben, and darius" as... weird. it's an odd message to send. what brooklynn did is NOT healthy, but it's implicitly being endorsed under the guise of forgiveness. brooklynn was missing calls with her family, forgetting about important events, using her friends as access points, and, again, buddying up to her boyfriends abuser.
when the narrative tries to both sides it and have brooklynn show accountability, it's only half of the story. yes, brooklynn should've been there for kenji and not missed the date. but she also shouldn't have missed the call with her friends. she shouldn't have been so obsessed with following a lead that she let her boyfriend's abuser back into his life. she shouldn't have caused harm to her OWN mental health by being so obsessed with "the story". her career is framed as a very neutral thing despite how much it isn't.
but i think the most irking part is this line. this is... an extremely weird choice. this dialogue makes it seem like brooklynn is apologizing to meet a quota rather than really meaning it. which is extra weird because she does VISUALLY seem to mean it before. i get the sentiment of she thought it would be harder, but it's ultimately a very bad execution that makes the last scene so much cheaper.
and i do see this as a pattern to how brooklynn's "apologies" go. take sammy. sammy resents brooklynn for abandoning her, like everyone else in her life seems to be doing. she's glad brooklynn is okay and fine, but she also needs some kind of proof that brooklynn is a friend she can rely on. these are not problematic set-ups. these are good set-ups! the problem is the execution is terrible.
brooklynn is forgiven because she functionally attempts suicide in rapid succession to someone else nearly dying. she jumps into danger to distract the rampaging herbivores. she saves their lives by putting her own life into danger. she does what is by any definition reckless self-harm. this is, again, a fine plot point. it's realistic. it's meaningful. but her nearly killing herself and their friend being injured in the process is the crux of why they forgive her. it's nothing she actually meaningfully does to prove she's changed. this is not resolution. this is an emotional firebomb that distracts from fundamental issues.
sammy forgives brooklynn immediately after they get ben to safety. there are only two reason sammy would realistically be "forgiving her" at this point: 1) she's realized how mortal they all really are and that they could die at any moment. this is not forgiveness. this is guilt that they could die mad at each other. this is something that will wear off the moment they're back to safety or slowly build into resentment, because it just means that the argument has been shelved until sammy can be mad again. none of their issues have been addressed in a meaningful capacity. 2) she's realized brooklynn cares because brooklynn nearly killed herself. also not forgiveness. this is arguably the worse option because it portrays the lesson that someone being self-harming is a reason to forgive them for harm they caused. it's not. it's something to be sympathetic to, but forgiveness rooted in this will only harm both parties long-term. it teaches the suicidal party that acting on harmful thoughts will gain the attention they need rather than teaching healthy solutions. there's a reason why kenji's arc was them telling him NO instead of dotting on him. i also don't accept the idea that sammy realized that she was holding a grudge over nothing because, well, she's valid for feeling like that. brooklynn can have a valid reason and sammy can be validly upset. erasing either of those things is erasing one complex woman to uplift another. bad message.
darius is probably the only good way this is handled because his forgiveness is rooted in brooklynn doing right by earnest. who is an asshole, but who she did objectively scam and manipulate. that is real forgiveness that can last. that is an action speaking louder than words, as he requested. it also cuts to why darius was so mad to begin with. he realized brooklynn used him to get closer to a lead in her investigation. she was there, but she wasn't there. and it hurt everyone involved. and the fact that they can do it right makes it all the more apparent that it's only done right when someone is only mildly peeved at brooklynn rather than deeply upset. sammy and kenji have the most valid reasons to be upset, but the narrative didn't know how to make them forgive her within a 9 episode time frame. so, it half-assed it. there's the building blocks of something, but it's incomplete and shielded by the bombastic death fakeout. and for most casual viewers, that's honestly fine. it's only really annoying for people who truly want the profound narrative the story dangled then forgot about.
titsay
theartofmadeline
jbbartram-illu
turnnoffyourmind
