Hope you’re feeling okay! The weather changes where I am isn’t being friendly to my migraines.
This episode just wasn’t good. I get that it was fine to some people and it made sense to some. For this one, it’s as if we don’t like it, we automatically get called for bad takes. I’ve seen a couple things today where people said that we could keep our bad takes inside our brains. That doesn’t fly, we’re entitled to an opinion too.
I thought we were making progress and we were getting some of the old Tim and Lucy back as individual characters.
I was wrong. Tim just didn’t seem like Tim. I know him and the subject of fathers don’t get along for good reason, but that doesn’t excuse how little he tried to help Lucy. Like “call your mom and have that hard conversation”. That’s common sense and Lucy probably already thought of that. Prickly!Tim during Isabel’s downfall would have been more helpful and supportive! He could have gone with her for moral and emotional support when she went to talk to Aunt Amy! He could have volunteered to help Lucy dig for info on social media. There’s so much more that Tim could have done. As a friend, he did the bare minimum.
Lucy broke my heart this time. That’s understandable considering the situation. Yet, no one picked up on it. Yes, Tim asked her if she was okay, but outside of that, no one really tried to be comforting towards her except Tamara.
All of this makes me miss Jackson more, he would have at least been there for Lucy.
Then we get to the whole Patrick thing. Seriously? The same name?
Thank you for checking in! Weather certainly knows how to mess up a brain.
Honestly, the thing that is most import here - is that we are all adults and as such, should respect each persons autonomy to have their own opinion about how they are feeling. Instead of just calling something a bad take, why not create an environment where discourse is both fun, and a little bit persuasive! I like a lively discussion, and really do think that most (not all - use your common sense to draw the line) takes, are a valid. For me, it all comes back to being critical of the media you consume - that absolutely includes understanding your perception, and your biases, as you take it in.
Feel free to quote me on this, telling someone to leave a take inside their brain is rude at best, (based on feedback I have decided to change a word here - this was done in the interest of transparency) needlessly antagonistic, dismissive and a whole host of other problematic things at worst. Genuinely, we could all stand to be kind to people, and I try (and fail) to do that in my life. I didn’t see anything like this, but I am not always in the tags these days!
One cool/fun/super shippy take-away that I haven't seen discussed yet happened in the little conversation that Tim and Lucy shared when she got Patrick Walsh's name. I don't know if anyone else had caught this specific detail, but I did see it giffed (thank you gif makers!) - Tim, in the show, on duty, called Officer Chen, Lucy. I still get a kick out of this. Obviously, this sticks out to me the most! In an episode where I was not blown away by Tim, this little use of her first name was a nice surprise.
Tim was not his best self this episode, in a show where we have seen him make himself vulnerable, and seen him push the limit with Lucy, a half joke about Dilbert didn't move me. This is not a shipping issue, this is a character issue, because Tim has been radically inconsistent in season 4. He is soft one moment, buddy buddy, dismissive, eye-rolling - and yes, everyone can interrupt those actions differently, but for me, Tim has consistently missed the mark, and lost his edge. Not in a character growth kind of way, but in a writing discrepancy way. This may not be surprising as by season 4 some of the actor would have bled through into the character and in how the writers might view Tim. Not cataclysmic, but annoying.
Had the writers wanted, it would have been an easy insert to have Tim be in the Tamara roll - which leaves me wondering, do they not want that level of intimacy with Chenford now, or are they building something more with Tamara? Lucy lost her best friend this season, and her biggest emotional highs and lows have been with Tamara. I think there has to be a reason for that, even if I don't know what.
Is this the end of Patrick Walsh? Does this springboard us into a real Vanessa and Lucy conflict? Why do both of Lucy's dads have the same name? As always, I have so many questions.
Here are some of my Tamara questions - is she a surrogate sister, or best friend? Is Lucy reparenting herself through Tamara?
Thank you for this lovely, thoughtful, kind and honest ask. This made my day. As always, be critical if the media you consume, and be kind!
