might write some fic about nowhere boys and the family dynamics in it, or else i'll make like,,, five other tumblr posts, cause it's really interesting to me
i understand it's a kids show, and those generally either choose family or romance to focus on, but these dynamics are SO intriguing
there's felix who loves his brother more than anything on this earth, to the point he'd literally rather cancel himself out of existence than let anything bad happen to his brother again, meanwhile his mum doesn't like him and he thinks his dad is a loser, and he can't even fathom them wanting him to stay for dinner, he is convinced he is making his family's life so so so much worse with every second he spends with them and he still can't tear himself away from them, probably because he needs to SEE them doing well without him to believe it, this is a kids show by the way
jake has a single mother who was married and divorced, with a no good ex who doesn't pay his child support, and yet jake tries to extend endless grace to loser-dad even when it's clear he won't really change, that one little scene in season one where he pulls out the picture and says "this is the only proof i have that they were happy together", yeah that haunts me. and then in season two his TEACHER starts hooking up with his mum? and even though it's a background plot it's so interesting and does so much for his character because he's still so devoted to her to the point he'll stomach this drama because it makes her happy, and she still sacrafices parts of this relationship for jake
sam's relationship with his family is the MOST interesting to me and i can't really put it into words, he is clearly a golden child, he has loving parents and a playfighty but good relationship with his brothers, he learned art from his mother and sports from his father, he clearly has a wonderful homelife and it did not necessarily do him favours, and then he's thrown into the deep end of alternate universes and he realises that they have replaced him, and THIS is so interesting to me because (as people have pointed out before) he is literally the only planned kid and that's fascinating, but also it twists his world view upside down and makes him less full of himself, and also makes him value his relationship with his family that much more, because they love and care for him so much and they wanted him and that's so beautiful
and andy !! andy's family dynamics make me go insane !!! first of all i always find it interesting to see chinese families portrayed in media because there is so much to unpack in the sheer expectations of immigrant parents in another country, he's the only one with a grandma and she is literally the only one of literally every single relative (except of course for oscar) that immediately believes him and actively helps and supports him in the alternate universe even though she comes off as horrible, the thing that reminds him of his mother is a picture of his grandfather, the way they specifically are all so interconnected i'm OBSESSED, he's under so much pressure from his genius sister and his genius father and when he goes missing that second time you can see the shift in all of them when they realise how valuable andy is just for being him, he wants to prove he's worthy of being loved by being the smartest but he just had to be there and that really gets hammered in when viv is the one to greet him at the end of season two
this is a KIDS SHOW by the way, and all of this shit is technically background plot, it's never lingered on that much, and when they do linger on it !!! i go crazy !!! the mums episode and the dads getting them back at the end of season one,,, ,a auooohhgghghgh
anyway-
