okay this is going under a read more solely bc it's gonna be long as hell, but just so everyone knows i'm being super salty and ranting abt how much ollie's writing - as well as the writing of his and amelia's relationship - pisses me off (as much as i love him and the ship)
i've ranted abt this many times to friends in the dms, but now i'm making it the rest of the tumblr fandom's problem!
obviously, i am an ollie enjoyer
what i am however Not an enjoyer of, is his writing
like, in the beginning, it was fine. he's ~the science dude~, and he values facts and believes things he's seen with his own eyes (for example, monsters and aliens are real, despite them technically being considered paranormal/supernatural, while ghosts/spirits/cryptids are bogus). nothing inherently wrong with that, even if it does make him come off as a bit of a know-it-all jerkass in certain situations. my main problem comes from the fact that it gets taken to 11 in his writing when it's not at all necessary. and it stays there.
big example is the way he treats amelia. now, don't get me wrong, i'm a big amelia/ollie shipper, but the way he treats her in canon is not acceptable after the first 3 or so episodes.
in the early episodes, it's set up these two will have friction with each other. amelia believes in the paranormal and supernatural, and puts a lot of stock in things like psychics and superstitions. ollie thinks it's a crock, so he naturally has to be the one to vocalize his opposition. but it's never heavily douchey until everything that comes after episode 3.
the right way to have written these two would be a vitriolic best buds approach. have them rip on each other and do things that annoy one another, but have no real malice in their actions. their actions and behaviors toward one another should never be imbalanced or immediately going into the "very hurtful" zone - they should be on equal footing, always. sure, they get along, even with their disagreements on the supernatural, but that doesn't change the fact they're going to playfully bully each other.
if the writers really wanted to play into the "ollie takes his negative behavior too far and hurts amelia's feelings" plot, they should have him going from the playfully hurtful, to the slightly hurtful, to the very hurtful. this should be done over time, not within a couple of episodes. once ollie has entered the "between" area of the slightly hurtful and the very hurtful, amelia stops retaliating. she's genuinely upset about what he says and does, and as a result, she's not playing along anymore. he doesn't realize she's not jabbing back the way she used to because he thinks he's still in the "playfully hurtful" zone.
have the breaking point for her actually outright saying "you're a jerk" be when he makes fun of her magnetic bracelet. because for her, it isn't just the bracelet making her act like this, it's things like making fun of her for believing in superstitions, giving her a hard time about putting "too much" stock in cryptids, or being generally negative about her passions and interests. everything has piled up and the bracelet is the straw that broke the camel's back. he initially just thinks she's being dramatic and overreacting, because again, he doesn't think he's outside of the "playfully hurtful" zone.
have amelia be the one who gets it through ollie's thick skull that he's being genuinely hurtful, instead of a one-off character we never see again.
i like the idea of ollie being a guy who has difficulty making friends, and as a result is kind of socially inept, and copes with his friendship struggles by saying that others are just intimidated by his intelligence. there's actually decently solid foundation for him to have a inferiority superiority complex, especially with the heavy implications - if not outright statements - that he's a gifted kid. he knows he's really nothing special (without his intellegence) and feels bad about himself, so he pretends he's better than his peers (heavily emphasizing on his intelligence), which is why he's such a know-it-all jerkass.
giving him and amelia a dynamic where they give each other shit, but still care for and respect one another would make her the perfect person to give him a reality check. "something's changed, and you've been needlessly cruel to me. i know we mess with each other, but you're not just being playful, ollie. you're being genuinely hurtful. being 'smart' doesn't give you a pass to put down my interests regardless of if they're proven facts or not." or anything similar would be perfect for amelia to say to ollie to get through to him that he's been taking things too far and she's through with it. give them a meaningful conflict with a positive resolution, especially with going down the route of romantically pairing them in the story.
amelia shouldn't forgive him immediately, and ollie shouldn't apologize immediately. an immediate apology from ollie makes it seem like he's only apologizing because he's been called out, and immediate forgiveness from amelia can easily make it seem like she's not really as hurt as she said she was.
give them tension in their dynamic, before ollie finally apologizes to her. let him really think about what he's done to amelia and how he's made her feel. after a couple episodes of them very clearly making team hang outs awkward (or one not joining if the other will be there OR leaving when the other shows up because things are strained), have ollie say he wants to talk to amelia. she's visibly a little nervous, but agrees to hang back and hear what he has to say. this would be where ollie tells her something akin to "i've thought about what you said to me and now i have my thoughts together. i want to say i'm sorry for hurting you. i shouldn't have taken things so far and been so mean to you; you didn't deserve that at all. i wasn't being a good friend, and i hope you can forgive me. i want to make things right, so if there's any way i can make this up to you, don't hesitate to tell me." LITERALLY ANYTHING LIKE THAT I DON'T CARE WHAT. only then would amelia forgiving him feel justified. he's not making excuses for himself, he's not guilt tripping her, and he's not just apologizing because he was called out; he's doing it because he means it, he knows he was in the wrong, and he values amelia as a person and friend.
after that, as long as there are no signs of ollie going back to this asshole behavior, building up them crushing on each other is fine, but it definitely should be gradual. they should have their rekindled friendship last longer than a small handful of episodes before jumping into crushing, and the audience should know they like each other romantically before the characters fully accept it. once it reaches its peak, have what makes amelia herself accept/realize "oh no, i really do like him like that" be what happens in the valentine's episode; hearing ollie say he's going to ask another girl out.
from that point forward, couple away! as long as it's not rushed, feels earned and deserved, and they're mutually respecting and caring for one another, these two can get hitched for all i care.
the writing for ollie's character is really bad. i'm not saying that i'm a better writer than the professionals doing the show, but goddamn. the way romance is handled in this show is an issue. like, they know what the want, but that Cannot write point a going to point b smoothly, so it results in the clunky writing of rushed apologies and/or friendships occuring just in time for them to apply the romance plot to the characters in question. i know this is a kid's show, but that doesn't mean the writing has to be this piss poor. plenty of other kid's shows have good writing (including for the romances!) and respect the audience.
ollie is a character that starts out alright, but then has the pendulum swing back so far he becomes an unlikable asshole for no reason. if he's not being a jerk because "well, we need an excuse for the dynamic to fit enemies to lovers!" then he's tech-obsessed. the dude has no character traits outside of "boy who is an asshole to the girl he ends up falling for" and "technology" and it's irritating.
sure, sometimes he gets some good moments, like in the halloween episode where he does admit he cares about the team and doesn't want to lose his friends, but there's just so many other negative things going for his character that it almost doesn't matter. honestly, despite me loving ollie (and him and amelia as a couple) and really hating to see people hate on him (and the ship), i can't blame his detractors for feeling the way they do! even if they do tend to take their hatred too far in my experience.
ollie is one of the biggest disappointments of the show from a writing perspective because he's full of missed opportunities and made into the most unlikable character in the show.
ollie could have been a great character who learned to be a better person and break out of his borderline jimmy neutron level egotistic smart guy persona to embrace his true self who actually cares about other people and does want to have friends and meaningful relationships with others, be they platonic or romantic. he could have been one of the best written pr characters in the last decade, but instead we fall into the same bad writing holes that have been ingrained in this series since 2011 because SOMEBODY though kids couldn't handle maturity and substance above a kindergarten level in a show that was originally tv-y7 and had decent writing.
i know i didn't talk about much regarding s2 but it's a damn slog to get through bc i keep losing interest!!! anyways, if you read to the end, thanks, you're awesome and also qualify for so many discounts at every restaurant and store you go to because this was fucking ridiculous!!
after getting through this you may be wondering "holy fuck xander, do you even like this show??" and the answer is i don't know anymore. it has its good and bad points, and i find catharsis in screaming into the void about the things that piss me off. maybe next time i'll talk about something i enjoy when i make a long ass post like this who knows.
okay, i'm going to bed now bc it's almost 4am thank you again for reading my deranged and unhinged ramblings about a show for kids <33 hopefully this makes sense when i reread it in the morning
