#head high asks

[multimetaverse]

so uh are they just dropping tai and steven on hhead high?

Certainly the way that Tai's story line has been handled has been the biggest disappointment of Head High S2 but I still hold out hope that they will do something for Tai's sexuality story line and hopefully something with him and Steven at the end of the season. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we should know in just a few hours, once 2x06 has aired in NZ, whether they are actually going to pay off all the Taiven development we got in S1 and the set up in 2x01. If nothing happens in 2x06 at the pre-ball bash at the Grimstone's or at St. Isaac's during the ball itself, some scene or line regarding Tai being jealous of Steven and Nico, or suggesting that Steven would go for Tai if he came out, or someone talking about Tai's sexuality, or Nico randomly being villainized, then we're probably looking at nothing happening this season.

If something does happen in 2x06 then there is still time to set up Tai getting together with Steven near the end of 2x08, like a callback to 1x06 where after the A1 championship Tai goes to see Steven but this time he comes out and makes a move. Or at least Tai coming out to someone if they're not able to depict a same-sex relationship involving a main character (and I suspect that someone at the network did get cold feet about having a gay main character, though that doesn't entirely excuse the poor writing of Tai's story). If nothing happens in 2x06 then there's very little time to do something especially since we don't even know if Steven is actually in 2x07 or 2x08 and since there's been little set up for canon Taiven or even Tai coming out this season.

It's a stark contrast to all the straight characters: Riley dating Beatrix, Aria possibly being set up with old man Scottie, Mana banging Shardae and the future Mrs. Grimstone, Imogen seeing my man John White, Gabi and Jesse, and even Renee about to cheat with poor dead Cruz. Not to mention the fact that they brought on a secondary character who's also a talented rugby playing gay man of colour with a rugby fanatic father and an attraction to Steven Grimstone to seemingly usurp Tai's story line. Check back in after the new ep airs anon and we'll see if we have any reason to be hopeful for Tai's remaining story line.

[multimetaverse]

do you think theres any hope for taiven??

So far with 6 out of 8 eps aired in S2 there's very little reason to think that anything will happen with Taiven or even with Tai's sexuality apart from his feelings for Steven. It's also now undeniable that Nico's sexuality story line is taking the place of Tai's sexuality story line which means that every scene focusing on Nico means one less scene that could be focusing on Tai. It seems clear that there's been pressure from some executive, whether explicit or implicit, to pull back from having an openly gay main character and all that would come with that in S2. Also of note, we haven't seen Steven and Nico kiss or any same-sex kiss at all so far in the show when there have been multiple straight kisses even in S2 which was filmed during the covid-19 pandemic.

Basically the only reason I have any shred of hope for Taiven is that in 2x01 they had Steven flat out say that Tai is in the closet and they gave us two scenes of Tai being jealous of Steven and his cheerleader bf at the rugby game and afterwards at the house party which in many ways mirrored the Taiven story line in 1x06. So going off of 2x01, I would think that they are setting up a 'third times the charm' plot for 2x08 where after the 1A championship we see Tai seek out Steven but this time he finally comes out to/confesses to Steven. And perhaps the reason we haven't seen a same-kiss is because the writers know they will only be allowed one and are saving it for Tai and Steven.

But they have seemingly dropped Tai being jealous of Steven and Nico and have seemingly dropped Tai and Steven still having lingering feelings for each other. At this point the show is going out of its way to ignore the great Taiven story line they set up in S1 and unless Nico's arc is quickly wrapped up or he's written off then it's hard to see much time even being dedicated to Tai's sexuality plot. And even if they did go with some sort of Taiven getting together story line in the last two eps it would almost certainly be poorly written and rushed and probably wouldn't make all that much sense given what we've seen and not seen so far in S2. So there is a path but I don't have much hope they'll take it. And to be honest with you head high whanau, even if they did I'm not sure it would be worth it at this point.

[multimetaverse]

I just watched s1 of Head High, and wow...I can't wait for s2. It's such a good show, the end of the first episode hit me hard, I BAWLED. I'm really impressed with how Tai and Steven have been built up, considering we only had them for three episodes. It's clear that the writers have put importance on the relationship, because out of the teen romantic relationships they're definitley focused on the most imo.

Whoops thought I had answered this instead of leaving it in my drafts lol. I agree anon, Head High is a great show and what they managed to do with Tai and Steven in so few eps was a very pleasant surprise. The writers drew a clear contrast between Taiven and the other het ships. We got Mana ‘tapping and gapping it’’ with Madison and after he makes up with her he ends up tapping it and gapping it again when he thinks he’s about to leave for Australia. And Imogen is just using Scotty to cover up her affair with John White which ends in disaster.

I also really liked the contrast they were drawing between Tai and Mana. Mana isn’t a bad guy per se but he does come off as less caring than Tai: he seemingly has no qualms about leaving Madison stranded alone when the car breaks down, or sleeping with her when he thinks he’s leaving for Australia for good, or causally telling his mom and step-dad that he’s heading off to play rubgy in Australia. Whereas with Tai he really does care about people: he covers for Scotty’s steroid use, he checks in on Imogen after the JW affair comes to light, and he spends a whole evening looking for Steven and ultimately rescues him from the pole he was tied to. If it was Mana he probably would have just not bothered to go looking for Steven. It’s something that the press package for Head High S1 talks about:

‘’Because Tai’s personality has been so shaped by a sense of competition with his older brother, there are significant and more generous parts of himself still waiting to see the light of day including a keen sense of injustice, a latent empathy for others and his under-explored and ambiguous sexuality. If Tai can access and develop these areas of character he may even become the star he believes he already is.’’

I have high hopes for S2 and think the extra 2 eps will help the show develop their characters and story lines a bit more. We don’t know much although Lionel has said that S2 will have more drama, more ruby, and is spicier than S1. We do know that Steven is in at least 3 of the 8 eps, Scotty ends up back on the St. Isaac’s rugby team by 2x08 and that there’s a fancy event in 2x08 that Tai, Steven, Mana, Aria, Scotty, and Imogen all dress up for so that should be exciting. 

For those interested the press package is only 20 pages and contains lots of juicy tidbits like the tangled backstory of the Renee/Vince O’Kane/Jesse Roberts love triangle and confirmation that Riley Deering is in love with Aria O’Kane who was his dead older brother’s secret girlfriend. Here’s a link:

https://southpacificpictures.com/uploads/websites/2966/epk.pdf

[multimetaverse]

I hope tais biological dad isn't a dick about tai and Steven if he finds out that they are friends or like each other in the next episode. Im just worried cause hes kinda mr macho man; a couple episodes ago he told vince that Mana needed to harden up even though he'd just gotten over the death of his best friend like sjejjsjsks.

I agree anon that it’s hard to see Jesse Roberts reacting well if he were to find out that Tai is gay or bi (probably gay from what we’ve seen so far). I’m very interested to see what the context is for Jesse to ask Tai what’s going on with him and Steven; Tai’s face is already bruised so presumably it’s after he beats up the homophobic bullies who attacked Steven. There’s also the fact that Jesse is set up as the bad bio dad foil to Vince’s good step dad so if Jesse were to react well to Tai’s sexuality then that would likely mean that Vince would have to have a negative reaction which seems very ooc for him. I could see Jesse following the Graham Simmonds arc that we saw on Jamie Johnson with Graham refusing to accept that Dillon was gay before eventually coming around and supporting his son ( and if you liked Jamie Johnson you should really check out Head High, it’s great). I can’t wait for the finale and to see what happens with Tai and Steven and to see how clued in Tai will be with his sexuality by the end of the season