Despite not shipping Rina, it pisses me off a little when someone tries to claim that the show did nothing to set them up and the literal only reason they happened was Olivia's departure. Because it's an easy argument to refute, especially if the person making the initial argument brings in S3 (the season where Tim took out a giant baseball bat with Rina written on it in huge red letters and started bashing the audience's skull in with it).
But because it's so easy to refute, it leads to a false sense of security and distracts from the ACTUAL issues with Rina's execution, which have to do with bending other characters (and Rina themselves) to suit a Rina narrative even closer than they already did -- far too close, I would say -- and refusing to hold Ricky and Gina accountable for their flaws and misdeeds.
There's plenty to criticize about Rina without sticking to Olivia's departure as the main reason. I'm not saying you can't use it as *part* of your reasoning if you feel strongly about it, but make sure to include the other problems as well.
if you're not too busy, can you give your thoughts on season 4??? been missing your analyses!!
hey anon- i popped into this blog to post something completely unrelated, but seeing this ask i'll just do a semi-brief response to this: (news flash to the me who started this answer- this is no longer brief)
i haven't watched season 4. i've seen clips. i know the spoilers. i don't know that i will actually be watching it, sad as that is for me when there are certain things i wanted to watch develop properly... i might at some point, but it doesn't look to be something i necessarily want to actually properly watch start to finish...
before anyone comes at me for having strong opinions on a season i haven't watched top to bottom- don't. i don't need to have seen every shot to have a very solid understanding. i've seen a lot via socials... i "know what i'm talking about" to the extend i need to here. people are going to have their own subjective opinions, myself included, whether they've seen every second or haven't.
i told my friend on the phone when it came out that after seeing everything it seems like season 4 is more like retcon: the musical: the series...
if anyone has anything Specific they'd like talked about, i'd probably be happy/willing to do so, but admittedly, i'm not super keen on enduring the disrespect that was done to the early two seasons of the series...
also similarly- if anyone wants my thoughts on specific aspects of an alternative season 4... like things i could've envisioned for it pre- like- us getting any content... whether it's end of season 3 compliant or even like- conceptually compliant... i'm down to perhaps talk about that kind of stuff? or a sort of five season thought process... since obviously ending the series in the middle of the school year... pretty odd... especially with how they were acting like oh no this is the End...
my thoughts on this show are largely based in my understanding of the series format and arcs based in season 1 and season 2... season 2 is a very grounded season for all it tries to accomplish with limited degrees of success... i know people dislike it for various reasons, i think i actually like it for some of the reasons some people dislike it. and conversely a lot of people like season 3 for the reasons i dislike it. (and i'm not talking ships here folks- i'm talking stories and i'm talking style)
also for all i'm saying here- and this is definitely not to the degree of a traditional analysis post i would make... i would be willing to get into certain things if i am asked about them specifically.
before anyone comes here to scream at me- the thing i dislike about the season was the way it was done- not certain things being done in general. also i think it's a bit sad that they didn't think the story they were telling in season 4 couldn't stand on its own legs and needed all the associated retcon to make sense... there were ways to pull off a lot of what they wanted to accomplish- while still respecting the series and its roots
i think the conclusion i've come to in large part is that season 4 is not the same show as season 1. this is in a lot of ways, and for a lot of reasons. some out of the writers control. some just- due to changes in climate and in process. i know there's been more effort in the latter two seasons to listen to actors more with what they want, which changes things too. this can be a good thing in some cases and less so in others i tend to think (and this is an opinion i hold beyond this show)... i think there's been some disrespect done to different characters in different ways. i think characters have been somewhat reshaped to fit the narrative the show now wants to follow rather writing a narrative which fits the original characters. (and yes this can be done while having character growth/progression.)
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one thing i'm very happy with, to end this post on a positive note: kourtney and her story. from all i've seen- she was handled very, very well this season, and it's wonderful to see how far this girl has come. she was only supposed to be a one episode character in season 1 initially before dara auditioned and changed the game, and i think that shows in kourtney's lack of initial depth that first season. she's gotten so much more to do, and i think dara's talents being showcased in the latter two seasons even more has been a wonderful thing. i'm thrilled- and i also love that kourtney got a very solid college arc, i think that was important to do with at least one of the characters, and i'm pleased it was her. she deserves it.
Because I can already feel the angst rising in the Portwell fandom...
I think there's way too much focus in fandoms on "endgame," particularly in teen content. The journey is as important as the destination in coming of age stories.
And so much is out of even the creator's control… if a show is cancelled before they reach the end of the story they had planned, the default "endgame" is just whatever fixed point in the narrative where things got cut short. Who knows what would have come next? (Girl Meets World is always the one that comes to mind for me.)
And even if you see a story through to its expected end, character development in canon freezes at the end of one narrative period. These would be people who continue to evolve, ESPECIALLY with high school/teen shows. Even "endgame" canon ships are still high school relationships (with very few exceptions that flash forward). I'm old enough to know how few relationships go straight through from 16 to forever. I have so much fun writing aged up fanfics imagining characters as adults and different ways they might connect, disconnect and reconnect throughout their adult development. If the ship I prefer (Portwell obviously in this case) isn't "endgame" at the end of high school, I can have fun down the line imagining the what ifs that come later. Heck, there are plenty of people writing and creating for non-canon pairings all the time.
All that to say, ship who you want, get excited about the stories that they can tell and the evolution of characters you care about. I know I do! But try to let yourself get lost in the process rather than laser focused on an outcome… that's where the real fun is!
fighting the urge to yeet myself out of the hsmtmts fandom bc of all the drama
Aww anon. It's okay. 😅 I know the drama in this fandom can be overwhelming at times, but you just gotta find ur ppl! It's also okay to walk away and put the phone down or stay off social media when it all gets to be too much. Just come back when ur ready. No one is allowed to judge you for that. Just know that regardless of all the drama (which is mostly shipwars in this fandom) there's plenty of us that support you and ur well-being, anon. ❤ Try to focus on the positives, like canon S3 content being around the corner! 😚🤞🏽🕯
(Tagging PW just so anon see it. Also figured we could all use the reminder. Nothing wrong with taking a break from a fandom when it's not enjoyable anymore. 🤷🏽♀️)
One of the strangest issues in HSMTMTS discourse is Gina fans who are just allergic to admiting she did anything wrong ever. And not in a "I support women's rights and women's wrongs" type of way that I could get behind, but in a 'propagating and attempting to uphold factually inaccurate information about the show to evade engaging in discussion about the show not holding Gina accountable in the same way it did other characters' sort of way.
The specific example in this case is trying to claim that the letter was just sitting out on the piano and Gina walked up to it innocently which...that just isn't what happened. You can take ten seconds to go watch the scene and observe what the facts of the scene were.
And if you're trying to rewrite scenes in the show to better suit your narrative...I have to ask, how much of a fan are you really?
tbh i really don’t like how horrendously cruel some people are being on twitter but- i do think it’s a bit hilarious when we know there’s only 8 episodes to make up a leak for a supposed tenth episode.
like besties- idk if you’re being lied to / tricked with fake material and you’ve just decided to believe it against all evidence pointing to the contrary or if you’re trying to somehow make people upset bc they can’t see your ‘leaks’ but- either way i find it amusing at best.
there is no episode 10. i can say that pretty confidently...
