rinaS5endgame!

Let’s start from the beginning, Rina has always been set up... it’s always been there in the script, the show, etc. Tim might have not thought it would be big but he definitely planned it. Gina being intrigued by Ricky, Ricky not being scared of Gina. They naturally get each other. Their connection is deep and organic doesn’t feel forced unlike some of the other pairings.

Now onto the beauty and the beast theory... I believe the story of Belle and the Beast are being played by Gina and Ricky.

It’s quite obvious why Ricky got the Beast, bc tbh his audition was rocky— he had to get the beast because theorically he is the Beast. He doesn’t like change and has attachment/abondment issue but we will get into that later.

Now Belle is Gina even though she doesn’t play Belle in the play she is still the Belle- the girl everyone wants to be, be with, the one who has one of the biggest storyline this season except for Nini/Nina. Gina is very important this season, she wants to leave Salt Lake City because she feels there is nothing there for her... she misses her mom, she doesn’t have Ricky in her corner, none of her friends are seeing that she is sad— no one is asking her how she feels and is doing. Belle misses her dad and wants to leave the castle. It hurts Gina to see Ricky and Nini happy together because she could have had that if she knew she wasn’t leaving. That’s the main reason she wants to leave. Gina’s input on a lot of things matters... mostly to Ricky that’s why he went to her multiple times this season about Nini. Belle is the one who helps the Beast through change, which Ricky needs to do. Gina does help him through that as we seen in Season 1.

Now Ej is playing Gaston, I personally don’t know much about Gaston except he is in love with Belle and wants her to love him back. The thing is Ej and Gina are getting closer in 2B... In multiple scenes it is shown that Ej is showing feelings for Gina (weird but anyways). It’s becoming very one-sided as of right now, we haven’t seen future episodes so I can’t really speak on Gina’s feelings because we haven’t seen her side. She only has stated they were friends and co-anchors which is normal- she wanted to get back to normal after the fake dating act... she wants the best for him, she wants someone to talk to and not feel lonely. Same as Ej, they are both lonely and seek the attention and “friendship” they both want. I feel like portwell is a stepping stone for Rina, they will realize they aren’t it for each other they don’t “get each other” the way Ricky and Gina do. Plus Ej is confusing this friendship for feelings because they are getting closer but he doesn’t realize that he needs to focus on himself and preparing for college instead of looking for a girlfriend in the last 2 months of high school. Like what does he even want to do? Does he want to go to college? He didn’t get into Duke but what does he now want? he said his life had been planned out for him— now it went left so now he should be figuring out what to do now.

As of now we have just seen Gina tell Ashlyn about her telling Ricky “I wouldn’t quit on us if I wasn’t leaving” and how they never talked about it since then. Which makes everything make sense (kinda) Gina ignoring Ricky, Ricky being like why isn’t she speaking to me, the awkwardness, the romantic subtext, the freaking flashback- which was filmed in 2019??! and was kept a secret helloooo?!! She asked Ricky to find someone else to confide in about Nini, now they are speaking. But the thing is they have to speak, especially about “opening night”. If they don’t that will be left unresolved and that whole thing is from 1B and 2A combined.

Now Nini/Nina who is now free from a relationship and has rebranded herself as Nina. She is thee Rose, the Rose that has been confined in a glass- the Beast’s Rose. Who literally plays the Beast’s Rose in the play. Nini’s whole arc is about finding herself outside of boys— finding who she is as a person without being defined by someone else. This has been happening since season 1 but her character along with Ricky had regressed backwards when they got back together at the end of season 1. She was done with boys then see Ricky move on with Gina and now she wants him back. But now she is realizing she won’t be confined to the Beast’s POV (Ricky’s POV).

The symbolism is crazy on this show I swear. The dog tag and guitar pick also show symbolism of the Rose being confined in glass. The dog tag coming off two seconds into the breakup is showing how Ricky is realizing he has to let her go and start accepting his change and his relationships changing. Nina still has hers on maybe because she has fully grasped that they are over and that she had to let go— even if she has already mentally did it. She emotionally hasn’t. Her head mind she wants to be her own person but she still loves Ricky deeply. Yes, she is doing great and moving on to bigger and better things... but we have to see her physically take off the guitar pick like we seen from Ricky.

Also the lighting this season has been very dark, compared to last season. The theme is darkness because the Beast was keeping himself in his castle in darkness— Ricky nothing wanting anything to change. The Rose still being confined. Gaston still wanting Belle. Belle being sad and wanting to go back to her dad. As soon as the character arcs start developing more - Ricky accepting change and his parents divorce (every relationship isn’t meant to last forever), Nina accepting that she can break out of her shell and do something that truly makes her happy (her songwriting and music), Ej accepting that his love(feelings) for Belle(Gina) are taken for kindness same with Gina most likely and that he will be fine without a girlfriend and should focus on the future that he has and that he should do something for him and not his dad (maybe NYU or community college), Gina accepting and understanding that she wants to stay at East High and that she has friends that truly care about her and want her there, and speaks her truth with Ricky (they finally have that conversation about opening night). The lightning will lightning back up around episode 11 or 12 when most of these story arc wrap up.