I would've been so much more okay if the nuggets 'jokes' didn't come up. It felt personal after all these years of defending it.
&I would love to ship them post epilogue....but they really gave us nothing about how Nancy feels. They SHOW us these looks, these moments, these smiles, but then they practically tell us through indirect dialogue that she has never seriously considered him an option, so it really just feels like Steve was a stepping stone. Hell, it even feels like Steve was a stepping stone for Robin as well, she seemed closer to Jonathan on the rooftop than him, is thriving away from him. To me what made Steve's character great was his connections to other people, and apart from Dustin it feels like all those connections are superficial now.
Ugh I just hate how ambiguously lonely both Steve and Nancy are there. And I find it hard to imagine a happy ending for them post series bc it felt like the writers went out of their way just enough to crush any stancy legit feelings enough to make me feel stupid
Hey anon! Sorry for the delay in replying. I had completely forgotten this in my drafts.
Yeah, ngl, I don't understand what was their obsession with mocking this line this season.
I'll keep shipping them because a ship being endgame isn't everything and the epilogue is just open ended enough that anything can happen. We all saw that there were looks all around. So yeah. I'm sure we'll get some really good fics out of it.
I do understand your frustration. They made a lot of weird choices that didn't need to exist in s4 and even in s5.
Like for most of s5, it was a bit like they kind of purposefully kept entertaining a bit of an ambiguity like with that manual scene (that I have no clue what we were supposed to make of especially now lmao) and at the same time, all throughout the season, they do everything to keep them from interacting unless it's a group setting. The only exception being that gun/duck hunt scene which on Nancy's side felt weirdly flirty (which goes with what I was saying about entertaining a bit of an ambiguity). Then, we just get that line in her break up scene that does imply, as you said, that it wasn't that serious for her and I understand why it might be frustrating for you and make it hard to ship post epilogue... But personally, that won't stop me lol. "It was never like that" is just vague enough that it can mean a lot of different things tbh. I do know what they intended for it to mean but I just don't care ? I'll keep shipping. I'll keep thinking Stancy had mad potential after s4. I'll keep enjoying content I see for them (gifsets, fanvids, fanfics). Hell, I'll even make my own content for it (gifsets because while i'd love to write fics and even have some ideas I just do not have the skill to do it lol) . In other words, I'll keep having fun because that's all we can do now.
I don't really get why you said it makes him a stepping stone though. I mean, in what capacity ?
"Hell, it even feels like Steve was a stepping stone for Robin as well, she seemed closer to Jonathan on the rooftop than him, is thriving away from him. To me what made Steve's character great was his connections to other people, and apart from Dustin it feels like all those connections are superficial now."
I disagree. To me, Robin didn't look closer to Jonathan in the rooftop scene. However, the dynamic of the quatuor did feel off. Mainly, because they didn't really do enough to build up to it and make it feel truly genuine and earned. Especially on the Robin/Jonathan and Steve/Jonathan front. I do love how connected he was to most of the other characters too. I wouldn't call all these connections superficial now but I can kind of see where you're coming from. They did put a lot of focus on him & Dustin this season but, to me, that doesn't diminish his other connections.
Personally, I see lots of potential for a post series happy ending : there's the monthly meet ups they're supposed to have that can be a good start for example especially when paired with all of these epilogue looks between them. And I'm positive Stancy fanfic writers will capitalize on the potential and have plenty of other ideas as well. We'll be well fed. They're still young, plenty of things could happen in their life that end up bring them back together.
Also, nah don't feel stupid. Just because it's not the story they told doesn't mean there wasn't potential for it to be. The potential wasn't out of nowhere either because, as mentioned above, they'd made choices that clearly could have led to Stancy endgame. So there's nothing to feel stupid over. And, as I said, we can still have fun and I'm sure we will.
