fixing bella hartley’s character
-she wouldn’t be a carbon copy of season 1 cleo. (who was bubbly, naïve, etc.) she’s been keeping the secret of being a mermaid since she was nine, so she would be much more brooding and secretive. and she’d be damn good at keeping the secret. but still, give her flaws! she doesn’t have many in canon, making her a bit of a mary sue. maybe being a mermaid for so long has given her a sort of complex that she has to unlearn. maybe she can’t reconcile her humanity with being a mermaid, and maybe she struggles to tell people anything about her life because she’s afraid of being discovered (to the point where it’s unhealthy). music however, could be her main outlet for expression, where she gets to voice her true feelings
-her parents would make an appearance on the show. (why do we know almost nothing about them in canon? every other mermaid, including charlotte, has at least one on-screen parent.) as hotel managers, they might be too wrapped up in their work to adequately pay attention to their daughter, explaining how she has kept the mermaid secret from them. maybe bella and her parents could have a story arc where her parents learn to take more of an interest in bella’s life, while acknowledging how their constant moving around has affected her. on the flip side, bella would learn to open up to them more, and stand up to them when they discount her feelings
-bella would learn the importance of female friendship and community with the other mermaids, without a guy being involved. because she’s never met another mermaid before coming to the gold coast, and has been constantly uprooted by her parents’ jobs her whole life, she’s probably never had best friends before. she also needs to figure out who she is, outside of being a mermaid! if she has to have a love interest, her arc isn’t too focused on him. and he doesn’t only value her because she has a tail
-as for bella’s power, it could still be gelidkinesis/water to jelly/glass. but let’s see it be put to use more often! if she’s been honing this skill for half her life, she should be the most powerful. let’s see her literally walk on water (she does this in 3x02 but to a limited extent). let’s see her make more cool glass shapes out of water, like she does with rikki’s mermaid figurine. let’s see her explode things. fandom intellectuals like @hoziersgf also suggest that bella’s power should be connected to an element—earth. i wholeheartedly endorse the idea of earthbender!bella, because it makes sense within the context of rikki, cleo, and emma’s elemental powers.
-instead of connecting bella to eva, who has nothing to do with seasons 1 and 2, give her a 1950s counterpart like the other girls. i don’t even think it would be that much of a retcon. louise (or even julia) could have easily met a mermaid with gelidkinesis powers in the 1950s.
-finally, instead of becoming best friends with rikki and cleo right away, maybe there could be some resistance on both sides. (this would be consistent with how they treated charlotte in season 2.) perhaps bella would stick to her loner thing, and rikki and cleo would be hesitant to allow an outsider into their group. but then, some external threat would make all three of them realize that they’re stronger together.
