Can we please stop making everything political? Ugh
The disappointment isnāt because a āstraight white cis manā died, people are frustrated because a smart, generous, intriguing character that had a lot going on in his life and was in one of the few healthy romantic relationships on TV was killed off. Not to mention the great co-parenting dynamic he had with Jane and Rafael. How often do you get to see that? A happy, healthy, loyal, supportive, communicative couple who are extremely open and honest with each other, always make decisions together, work their problems out quickly and calmly without letting it become a time bomb, and, that, no matter what, are still completely in love with one another?
I think the only other time I had the privilege of seeing this kind of relationship happening was on F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Iāve personally only seen this kind of couple twice and one of them was thrown away with all of its potential like it was nothing. This is hurtful, no matter if it were warned or not, because they didnāt write Michael to be a character the public would like to see dying. They wrote him to be a character that would raise peopleās interest to see him as an individual, professional, husband, stepfather, son-in-law.
Yes, if he were a person of color, or if it had been one of Janeās relatives, it wouldāve been worse because of representation and the importance of the Villanueva family. However, even if Michael werenāt her biological family, he was her family, the one she chose to be her family. I wonāt try to compare or hierarchize Janeās relationships, but Mateo, the Villanuevas, Rogelio and Michael are the most important people to her. It will still be heartbreaking to see her grieve the one and only person she wished to spend the rest of her life with and lose part of her innocence and hope because of it. And I am not even sure if they will respectfully cover her grief because currently the show has skipped three years, but on that little clip you could see she simply wasnāt the same anymore.
And if people want to quit the show because of that, they have the right to. Stop telling them not to do this, because theyāre allowed to react and decide. It is not because a āstraight white cis manā died, it is because a good character with a lot of potential was wasted and taken away from us in the most disgusting aspects. If it had been characters like Anezka, Scott, Magda or Rose, people may wouldāve felt sad and that their potential was wasted, but they are still minor characters and some of them have killed/abused people, so it wouldnāt have been as hurtful as seeing someone who was just doing the best for himself and his family to be simply killed off. Iāve seen the same happen to great people of color and/or women before and I felt the same way, maybe worse and I also dropped those shows. And Iām pretty sure most of the fandom feels the same way, because most of us are women of color who got interested in it because of its creativity, representation and positivity. Probably people whoād been let down by other tv shows and were happy to finally see an apparently intriguing and light-hearted comedy. However, it ended up repeating one of the cheapest and most unnecessary tv tropes (along with annoying repetitions and total negligence of women and queer women like Petra and Luisa and underdevelopment of important issues such as post-partum depression, PTSD, alcoholism and psychological treatment, not to mention more). Michaelās death may not even be the only reason to drop the show, just the decisive one since they will never be able to repair this.
And please, stop comparing this to villadero fans criticizing jafael shippers for saying theyād stop watching if the couple didnāt get back together. A ship not happening and a character DYING are two different things. People kept watching the show despite their hopes on season 1 and season 2 because Michael was still there, he was still used as a detective and friend and people were willing to still support it because as much as they loved villadero, they loved him as an individual first. These are two completely separate things.
Anyway, Iām currently willing to give one chance to the next episode because I love the cast with all my heart and want to support them, but Iām not enthusiastic and am likely to drop it right afterwards. So Iām looking for new stuff to watch instead of it, hopefully with as good/better representation than Jane The Virgin. I still havenāt made a decision, but if youāre looking for names to try out, there are The Fosters, Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Iām not caught up with The Fosters, but besides one annoying relationship, the episodes Iāve seen were amazing and explored countless important issues in one season: homophobia, racism, sexism, work ethic, domestic violence, immigration, addiction and many more. It has an interracial lesbian couple starring the show, alongside a gay and two Hispanic teenagers. Two of its recurring roles are some of the few transgender people on television.
Superstore has a great cast with a Honduran American woman, a paraplegic Ā African American man, a gay Filipino man and a Japanese American woman. It mentions some important problems, although it does have some problematic lines. Due to the tone of them, I am not entirely sure if they are satirical or not (the show itself is extremely satirical, by the way), so you may watch it and make your own opinion.
I have only watched two Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes, but itās filled with Hispanic, African American (including a gay African American man) men and women in positions of power and is a light-hearted sitcom according to what Iāve read.
Anyway, just be sensitive to the peopleās feelings even if you donāt share them. And if anyone would like to add something and/or exchange recommendations, feel free to do so. :)
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