#e1.2

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This was requested donkey’s ago, but finally posting it:

Favourite ship Day 22:

Nathan/Simon

Nathan reads pretty bi, tbh – he’s easily the most hyper-aware of gayness as a concept (’so butch!’), constantly using it as part boogeyman (‘we’ll be getting gangraped in the showers!’) and part tease (‘come on, buddy, it’s not gay if I wank you off with the grabber!’), perhaps because he seems to be used to being sexualised from a young age (his story about his first time, or ‘if you weren’t getting fiddled with, you were one of the ugly kids!’) or perhaps because he’s very performative about masculinity and sexuality in general (‘I’m not gay – look at me!’)

Likewise for Simon; who comes off as hugely repressed about sex with crippling trust issues (understandably, considering his experiences with Lucy and Sally.) Simon cringes at physical interactions with both genders, although he becomes comfortable with Nathan touching him physically before Alisha – he grins affectionately at Nathan’s slapping his arse in 2x6. It’s significant however, that his panick-y, self-loathing gesture of pressing his hand against his forehead usually appears when he has to interact with women, particularly when they’re showing romantic interest in him - he does it around Sally, Lucy, Jessica and Alisha.

We know that he’s not uninterested in sex, though (in the first season it’s hinted he gets off on voyeurism, power dynamics and humiliation type porn) and he expresses interest in recording and spying on both men and women (aside from observing Kelly, Sally and Alisha without their knowledge and touching Kelly in 1x4; he’s also following Matt in 1x1 and Nathan mentions in 1x5 that he’s repeatedly told Simon to stop filming him.)

On a meta-level, the extras material is referred to as either Simon or Superhoodie’s phone recordings/surveillance footage; and the character was also promoted with accounts on Flickr and Twitter.  Almost all of the footage is Nathan-centric (including several of him masturbating), and the photo of him on Flickr is Simon discussing his ‘good bone structure’.   https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonmisfits/4153011356/

Rudy and Nathan also pick up on how implications of homosexuality bother Simon in a way Curtis, Nathan and Rudy can laugh off; and Simon is insistent on clear binaries of sexuality (when Curtis tells him about transforming into a woman and having a same-sex experience with another girl, Simon is scowling and pointing, bothered: ‘Are you a lesbian? Is she a lesbian? …They think differently from us. Girls.’) and becomes embarrassed and angry whenever the topic is suggested.

His healthiest sexual relationship is arguably with Jessica (in terms of being a relationship with normal progression), and it’s significant that he finds the courage to ask her out by what he sees as Nathan and Alisha’s goading him and implying that there would have to be something ‘wrong’ with a girl who likes him. Likewise, his asking out both Sally and Alisha is connected to manipulation (in Sally’s case, she encourages his interest by pursuing him online under a false identity; in Alisha’s case, he first invites her on a date after a villain has taken her form to touch him. Their eventual dating starts only when Alisha has told him of her interest in him and that it’s his future destiny, something hugely influential to Simon’s decision-making; as we see when Sally returns in the third season, Simon can be persuaded to do anything, if he suspects it’s fated to happen.)

In fact, I’d argue that Sally and Nathan are the two people who influence his character’s progression the most in some ways – it’s interesting to see him revert in 3x8 in her presence - both on an individual basis; and within his relationships.

It’s Nathan whose perspective is mostly fixed on during the Jessica episode, with Alisha echoing his sentiments about Simon, not vice versa: ‘What, and you are (big friends)?’ ‘Maybe I do (like him more than I let on), too!’ Simon doesn’t engage much with Alisha – at her attempts to ask him: ‘Why am I here?’ he just replies ‘I don’t know’, and turns back to Nathan. It’s also Nathan’s jealousy he picks up on (‘You’ll find your own girlfriend’, ‘Maybe you’re jealous.’)

Likewise, Simon and Alisha in the first two seasons are often framed with Nathan providing context (when Alisha uses her powers on Simon, Nathan both times has to comment on what Simon’s said to her under the influence) and it’s Nathan who first recognises that Alisha likes Simon, and who provides the resolution to Simon finding out Superhoodie’s identity, as Alisha seeks him out to find Simon in 2x6.

Nathan and Alisha are often compared and paralleled (both are rescued by Superhoodie to a confused: ‘Who are you?’, both tease Simon, asking ‘Are you asking me out?!’, and both constantly simulate sex, to the bafflement of the others.) In 2x3, you even have the two mirroring up in their plots, with Nathan pursuing the current Simon, and Alisha the future version.

The few future events Superhoodie mentions (learning how to make love, community service as the best time in his life) end up being portrayed onscreen as experiences he shares with Nathan (it’s Nathan he goes to after his first sex with Alisha, and it’s Nathan the Simon POV shot focuses on as he tells the group how much he’s valued their time together.)

A huge part of the iconography of Simon/Alisha’s relationship is their trip to Vegas, which ends up being portrayed via Simon and Nathan’s twitters detailing the trip (‘We’ll do the girlfriend stuff in the day, then go to the bars…at night’) and Nathan’s send-off ‘Vegas Baby,’ which ends his show run with him repeating his refrain: 'Save me, Barry!’

There’s also an undercurrent to this relationship – besides it being literalised as potentially sexual in 2x3, there’s hints at some kind of mutual repression going on there from both sides (the camera takes in reactions in 2x2 when Nathan is stripping: Kelly’s delighted, Alisha and Curtis, filmed as a duo, are disgusted, closing their eyes; and Simon looks…ambiguous, unable to turn away, with the shot at one point framing his face between Nathan’s legs. Likewise, Nathan’s teasing of Simon taking a sexual turn swiftly: ‘It’s not gay if we’re not touching!’ ‘Are you asking me out on a date?’)

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Day 11 Favourite Simon Moment: 2x1, fo sho.

In S1 his arc with Sally separates him from the others and the direction of his character wavers in real darkness; the Superhoodie plot goes the other way and blands him up to being more like your classic nerd wish fulfilment.

2x1 is a focal episode for him which walks a great line where you see how odd and broken he is (‘I’ve never been so happy!’), but also how devoted and loyal he can be. Here, he’s active - Simon was generally quite a passive guy, but I felt there were times where this meant there was less dramatic tension, particularly with Sally (like the fight in S1.5 where she hits him, or her filming their kiss in 3.8… You need Simon as your primary character to really make a choice here, not just react to Sally’s.)

He’s also vulnerable, which I think is underestimated – the Superhoodie plot didn’t work for me in part because it erases a huge portion of vulnerability from Simon. Part of what was endearing about him was his social ineptitude, and the S!H plot tilted the power dynamics to the point where he’s manipulating the lives (and deaths!) of everyone around him. Taking away the awkwardness of earlier Simon meant Superhoodie didn’t really have much personality.

(I also found it hard to warm to Alisha for much of the show for the same reason – she’s rarely shown as socially vulnerable. There’s suggestions in the earlier episodes of S1 that there’s hidden depths to her: ‘You’re so messed up!’ – but in general, the show seems more invested in showing how men feel about Alisha than about how Alisha feels in herself.

We see her nervous around Simon post 2x4, but there’s no real dramatic tension about whether or not he’ll return her feelings, so this mainly gets reduced to her dislike of Jessica in 2x5 and no-duh moments - apparently Simon wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with her, and thinks she’s pretty!

I think some of the reason Nathan and Kelly were so memorable is that they too could be very vulnerable – they were aggressive, but the show wasn’t presenting them as cool or even attractive a lot of the time. It’s interesting that Curtis never really had much in the way of vulnerability either until S3, and seems by far the least popular character.)

It’s also nice as an exploration of gender – Simon here isn’t particularly fitting into the mould of the ideal male by his own terms e.g. strong, stoic, dominant, protective. Kelly’s protecting him from Curtis. Lucy is neutralised not by physical aggression, but by Simon apologising to her and showing compassion and understanding.  The resolution of the episode is also in some ways an opposite to 2x4, which presents that Simon and Alisha’s relationship could never begin independent of manipulation (‘If I don’t die, she doesn’t fall in love with me’) and a more traditional gender approach (‘I have to save her!’); by showing that, in contrast to Simon’s expectations, emotional honesty and telling the truth, even if reveals his own self-loathing is what truly solidifies his place within the group, shown in the ‘I just want to be your friend’ scene: Nathan and Curtis are totally blindsided and unable to retort for once, genuinely flattered by Simon’s sincerity.  

Honourable mention: 2x2 is also sweet, I’d have liked a little more exploration of the power reversal, but there’s a real sense of group membership - Kelly and Simon chatting in the club, Simon being first to try and cover for Nathan. 

2x5 again had potential not fully realised (Jessica is probably the healthiest relationship Simon ever had a chance at) but you see Simon has developed a real spine, even standing up to both Alisha and Nathan – I’d probably pinpoint this as the most equal Simon becomes within the group, prior to the change of direction in 2x7 after the time jump.

2x7 I hate the corny ‘gonna kill Jesus!’ bit, but this is probably the last moment of self-acceptance for the Old!Simon (‘it will always be part of me’) which thematically works so much better than the tell-don’t-show-y: ‘I’m not that person anymore !’

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The Youngs + healthy family dynamics.