Sam and Freddie from iCarly are NOT toxic. I've seen that argument used so many times and even Seddie shippers feel guilty shipping them because of it but that simply isn't true.
Are they majorly Problematic? Yes. But toxic? Maybe at a few points in the show but by the end of it, definitely not and especially not in the context of their relationship.
The whole reason why Sam and Freddie broke up was because they realized their own dysfunctionality. They weren't ready to handle a grown up relationship but the intensity of their feelings wouldn't allow for anything slower. So they decided to break up because they loved each other enough to know that putting themselves and their own growth first was the best way to love the other even if it broke their hearts.
I think it's one of the very nuanced things about them that even some shippers miss sometimes. Sam and Freddie were under no pretense that they had problems too big to make a relationship work at the time when they broke up. If they were, they would have never taken Carly's speech to Spencer and Jenna so personally and applied it to themselves unprovoked. They didn't break up because they were forcing a connection. They broke up because the connection they had was volatile and needed individual stability before they could keep it stable together. Instead of ignoring it, they acknowledged it and that's one of the most important things in any relationship. To look at it unobjectively in the face and acknowledge its ugly and volatile bits.
That does not seem like a toxic couple to me.
That is a very mature couple that understands that the relationship can't be a priority if the problems it has are too big to fix and contain. It's what makes the "I love you" scenes even more painful. Sam and Freddie are so so mature and their relationship is too because instead of pretending the problems weren't there, they tackled them head on. Even fully grown adult couples who are together for decades are unable and unwilling to properly acknowledge and communicate the ugly bits in their relationship and here Sam and Freddie, who are best friends and teenagers, did it despite how much pain it caused them.
They would have been toxic if they refused to acknowledge that they had problems. They would have been toxic if they had pretended their relationship could work with all the struggles in their personal and joint history. But they didn't! That's not toxic! That's healthy! Because they acknowledged it and attempted to fix it even if it hurt.
I haven't seen Sam and Cat but from what I know, by the time Sam and Freddie are implied to get back together, both of them have matured. Are they perfect? No. But no relationship really is. But are they in a better place than before to be able to maintain an adult relationship? Yes, I do think so.
Hence ends my argument that Sam and Freddie were never toxic. Problematic? Indeed. But toxic? Never. And their complexity and maturity in handling their issues is without a doubt one of my favorite things about them that I haven't seen in any other on-screen couple to date.
vaporwave
jimmyeatworldofficial
2087
stormborns
