Ok, so I said that I wasn’t going to post anything until the season ended, but I just need to get it out there. Aside from the more glaring issues with how the sexual assault storyline has been handled thus far, I think there was a real missed opportunity for Skam NL to actually address and fix the problematic-ness of Noorhelm.
I can totally see that some of where they were trying to get at with the conflict between Liv and Noah post-sexual assault is to show that her not telling Noah about what really happened was a manifestation of Liv’s longstanding trust issues and difficulty with being open about her feelings. But here’s how I would’ve done it-
Liv (after she comes to terms with the fact that it was still sexual assault) finally, in a moment of frustration (perhaps while in the wedding dress to make it ~aesthetic~), tells Noah about what Morris did to her.
Noah is shocked and then starts to get angry at her for not telling him in the first place, for letting him believe the worst of her this entire time.
Liv yells that it’s not her fault. She breaks down crying and tells Noah that she was afraid that he wouldn’t believe her or that he’d blame her.
Noah would say that he would never blame her and that it was ridiculous of her to even think that.
Liv would tell him that he already blamed her- Noah knew intimately that Morris was a bad guy but all he had to do was show Noah her bra and a text message and Noah believed him, no questions asked, didn’t even want to hear her side of the story. Liv would say that she imagined that he would tell her that it was her fault because he warned her, even though there was no way for Liv to fully understand the extent of how terrible and dangerous Morris really was.
Noah is rendered speechless because the truth hurts.
Liv then goes on to say that she remembered when they were first starting to become a thing. She kept telling him to leave her alone and he wouldn’t let up.
Noah tries to argue that she liked it…she liked him.
Liv then admits that yeah, she did like him, but he didn’t know that. She was telling him ‘No’ and he should’ve listened and left her alone until she said ‘Yes’. This is when she draws the parallel- she tells Noah that if he didn’t take her refusal of him seriously, how could she believe that he’d take her refusal of his brother seriously?
Noah finally gets it and embraces her in tearful remorse. He tells her that he’s sorry for everything and that he’s going to be there for her and help her through this if that’s what she wants.
This would’ve been the perfect way to handle this season and all the messy incongruencies of the original by drawing a parallel between the casual violation of boundaries with romance as an excuse and the ultimate violation of boundaries- sexual assault. And you know, pointing out that this is something people think of as no big deal, but it actually has many far-reaching consequences such as victim shaming/blaming (why victims/survivors are afraid to come forward) and like, actual sexual assault. And you don’t even have to change any of the original storyline, in fact, the very flaws of the original storyline would be used to highlight all of this. Moreover, we get to see the characters learn from their mistakes and problematic behavior, thus setting a good example for it’s impressionable audience.
ngl, it’s a little disheartening that the solution is actually really this simple and yet…
