Day Four, Part 3: IMO the Most Disappointing Character Development
Before I begin today's continuation of this mini-series, I want to give a bit of a DISCLAIMER. There are times when I write in a bit of an over-realistic way, taking it probably a bit too seriously for an animated cartoon tv series hahaha🤣. Some would call it passion, I would probably lean towards a little bit of insanity😂. But here we are, hopefully I'll get better at it at some point, BUT today is not that day xD
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Soooo, from the picture on the top of this post, you probably know who I am gonna be talking about today as having the most disappointing character development in "Act Your Age". And I just want to say, the child Baljeet character in the rest of the show doesn't deserve what happened to him in AYA. While he wasn't my favorite character, and I found the majority of the "comedic bullying" thread in the show with him in Buford to be less then funny (something I'll talk more about later on in this mini-series), his intelligence intertwined with moments of panic and comedy made for some really great episodes in the series, and I felt that he was used quite a bit and used well for being the 8th-10th piece of the show.
However, today isn't about how Baljeet was presented during the rest of the series… But rather how his character is, in my personal opinion, the very worst part of AYA, and was presented in such a way that it had almost poisoned my opinion of him in the entire show…
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You see, Baljeet Tjinder in the series had a childish charm about him, where his at times overbearing intelligence was turned into comedy or at least made beneficial to the particular episode.
HOWEVER, in "Act Your Age", pretty much every ounce of Baljeet's childish charm is gone, and what we are left with is someone who is too smart for their own good, or as I was told by a friend when I asked for a word or phrase to best describe that, a Narcissistic Intellectual😂.
--- Baljeet has at least four-five major parts in this episode, three of which I am going to talk about here that particularly stand out to me. The first being when he enters the boys' bedroom, with Buford waking in behind him. After he asks Phineas if he has chosen a school yet, he goes on to mention that he has been talking to Buford about Collegiate life, and that because he (Baljeet) has already graduated and been accepted as a professor, that he could "pull some strings", and get Buford into his school, followed by him saying, "Just think, Buford. You could be my student! I would be the boss of you!"
This entire part of the episode feels like the meme, "Weird flex but ok", and it feels even more that way when Baljeet responds with "It sounds pretentious" after Buford says that he is going to film school. Ultimately I don't mind this scene primarily because of Buford's comedic "Thank you" responses to Baljeet😂.
--- Then we get to his second part, and quite obviously one of the biggest points in the entire episode, when Baljeet breaks to Phineas that Isabella has had a giant crush on him for ages. We then have the back and forth between Baljeet and Buford telling Phineas all the ways it was painfully obvious that she had that giant crush on him, to the point where Phineas' mind is broken and he has to go outside and take a walk. After he leaves, Baljeet says that he has come up with an idea to get them both together before Isabella leaves.
ANGER. PAIN. I AM SEEING RED😡!!!
I am trying to decide if I should get mad at the writers for thinking of this possibly being the right idea for Phineas to realize this, or continue to be in character of the story and completely tear apart AYA Baljeet for breaking this news to Phineas and spilling Isabella's biggest secret AS SHE WAS LITERALLY WALKING OUT THE DOOR, and then, after breaking poor Phineas' mind, thinking that he has the bright idea of how to get them both together.
LIKE WHAT. WHY?! What was the purpose of this, why was this the way the writers decided to take one of the most important moments in the history of the show??? And if we are taking this in character, who or what gave Baljeet and Buford the bright idea that it was all of a sudden ok to just spill out Isabella's biggest lifelong secret, ESPECIALLY considering there is a history of Isabella having ominous patch related threats that we know exists.
There's a lot of things one can "agree to disagree" with about how things are done in certain shows to reach an endpoint, but the entire way this scene comes about absolutely grinds my gears to no end. There were so many better ways Phineas could have found out, and fortunately for us several of those ways have been successfully written by wonderful fanfic writers, who I am very grateful for.
--- Moving on from that before I risk blowing a gasket, his third major part in the episode is split into different scenes of AYA, and it goes into his relationship with Ginger, a Fireside Girl alum who had a crush on Baljeet in multiple episodes, and who is now his girlfriend in this one.
The first scene involves them having a back-and-forth text conversation, originally stemming from a disagreement over what movie they were going to watch. Adyson (who I personally wasn't a big fan of in the series lol) tells Ginger to "manipulate the situation" to get him to agree to the movie she wants to watch. Shortly afterwards, the Adyson and the girls decide to, using the same phrase, "manipulate a situation" to get Isabella and Phineas together, an idea that we remember from earlier Baljeet and the boys had.
We switch perspectives to the boys, where Baljeet is sitting on the couch and eating sandwiches with Ferb and Buford. Baljeet receives Ginger's text and tells the boys of the girls' idea, Buford asks, "Wasn't that our idea?", to which Baljeet responds, "Yes, but now I've got to write her back in a passive way that makes her think it's really her idea. She is trying to manipulate the situation. It is how we love."
Wow this is not looking like a very good relationship, with Ginger taking advice that I wouldn't consider very wise, while Baljeet not only knows what is going on, but is in a way toying around with it to make things seem like she is the one making the decisions and choices. And this uh, less the positive looking relationship doesn't stop there…
Later on in the episode, as the group is preparing to make the surprise dinner for Isabella and Phineas, there is a kitchen scene where Buford and Baljeet are talking, and Buford mentions about how "romantic" the setting is outside. Baljeet responds to Buford, telling him that there's "one thing that would make it perfect!", before pulling out Buford's old Cupid costume behind his back. Buford refuses to put it on again, to which Baljeet responds, "But it worked so well for me and Mishti!" On the other side of the kitchen, this response by Baljeet causes Ginger to respond, possibly out of jealousy but certainly out of annoyance, "Hmm, Mishti, Mishti, Mishti!", before Adyson tells her to, "Let it go, Ging."
Woofffffffffff… this relationship has gone from less then positive looking to just straight toxicity. Ignoring the fact that Baljeet brought back an embarrassing moment for Buford, it seems pretty clear from Ginger's annoyed response that this isn't the first time Mishti's name has been brought up and overheard in a conversation. I don't know about you, but if I was in a relationship with someone I supposedly cared about, I wouldn't be talking in such a positive way about a former crush or relationship, even if it was when we were kids.
Taking this from an over-realistic point of view, while Ginger may have some issues that she has to deal with, Baljeet's character in AYA comes off to me as someone who doesn't really care what anyone else thinks or says, and likely believes that he is quite a bit more intellectual and all-knowing then the people around him, which in his mind gives him the license to say and do more without caring what others think.
While a part of this could stem from him getting over some of the stuff that negatively impacted his childhood, including possibly bullying and overbearing parents, it has gone IMO too far and turned Baljeet into someone who's ego and narcissism I personally would not want to ever be around.
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Thank you for reading! Today was the major dip on this crazy rollercoaster ride, but it was one that I needed to get off my chest, and I am glad I did. The good news is that tomorrow's portion of the mini-series will be much more positive, and deals with someone Baljeet has a lot of experience with, but whose character had a much more positive development in AYA…
Until then, God Bless, and Carpe Diem!