be a wildflower.

I will say Rue and Nate have had the best development this season and were the only two who really saw some resolve in this finale. Rue, with her drug addiction and Nate with his dad.

This whole season for Rue was a roller coaster. She finally came to terms with her father's death and is recognizing her toxic traits and behaviors and making an effort to fix them. Not just for her sake but for her family's. I think Rue is finally gearing toward redemption. As a drug addict, she's still got a long way to go but it was nice to see her take a step back at her life and recognize what needs to change in order for her to live a happier, healthier life. She looked much more happy this episode. I loved her scenes with Lexi and their heart to heart. I think she's realizing she needs to grieve in order to get sober and stay sober. In ep 6, Ali said Rue needed to find hope and it was up to her to do it and it seems like she's found it (through watching Lexi's play). She's much closer to it than she was a couple episodes ago. The season ended with her voiceover saying she stayed clean the rest of the school year so I'm guessing season 3 will pick up in the new year and carry on from there.

I really, really, REALLY loved Nate's scene with Cal this episode. Listen, everyone can say what they want about Nate. That he's a horrible person, he should go to hell, etc. He's done some terrible things but what I like and can respect about his character is... at least, he owns them. He doesn't play the victim and accepts that he's a bad person, he has anger issues, etc. He says to his dad what his mom pointed out in 2x06 that he got all of his father's worst traits and what the two of them share in common is that they get off on when they hurt other people. I don't know if that's necessarily true since Nate does show remorse at times for his actions but he is very toxic and he acknowledges that. Tbh I wasn't expecting him to turn Cal in and after talking about him with @tommaden, it makes a lot of sense. Between, the last two seasons and Nate's nightmare last episode, all these factors triggered this climax. It was nice to see Nate acknowledge the tapes and how badly they fucked him up to the point he OPENLY admits he has night terrors about his father fucking him the way he's fucked everyone on those tapes. It really goes to show how discovering those tapes at such a young age has messed with Nate's psyche and his perception/view of sex. But not only that, his relationships. He doesn't know what a healthy relationship looks like considering the whole time he's kept his father's secrets. He explains his motivation for everything he's ever done by stating all he wanted was to protect his dad and his family since he kept it from his mom and Aaron and instead of his father loving him for that, he hated him. But Cal says he does love Nate, he regrets not being the father he should've been. Nate, however feels as though it's too late and in a way, it's easy to feel that way? Because it's like... why apologize now? Why blow up their lives, put Nate through all that trauma and doubt only to leave and admit he's happier now than he's ever been? Idk if I would believe him either after all of that. To Nate, it feels unfair. That they were subjected to Cal's mistakes and left to pick up the pieces while his dad gets to go off and live his life meanwhile they're all damaged. It's why he says he wants revenge. To him, Cal doesn't get to be happy while they're all miserable and so he turns his father in. Obviously, Nate's emotional about it. He too, wishes things could've been different but since they can't... this is his way of finally liberating himself from his father, the dark shadow he cast over Nate's life and everyone else's. This is Nate trying, imo, to break the cycle. Now will he be a bigger person? Idk, probably not. Those toxic traits don't just go away. However like Rue, I think this is Nate's turning point. This is his shot at redemption and we'll just have to see what he does with it.

In terms of Cal's arrest though... Idk what was on the usb. Nate says everything and Jules was the only one (we know of) that was underage so, it's unclear if there was a point to giving Jules the tape when another copy exists. As for the Maddy scene and traumatizing her for the disc back. I think regardless, Nate probably would've done that to prevent Maddy from being the one to out his dad. As nice of a moment as it would've been for Maddy to give the tape to Jules, for Nate's development... it had to work out that way. The symmetry of finding the tapes and Nate being the one to finally put this contest between him and his dad to rest is really interesting. I liked it. It is unfortunate though, how it had to happen.

Sadly, we didn't get much Maddy, Kat, Jules, Ethan, or Elliot this episode so I don't have much to say about them. (Maddy a little bit when I get to Cassie's part)

Lexi also experienced some growth this season and this episode. Not just with the play and taking control of the narrative through her eyes but her convo with Rue shed more light onto how Lexi copes with her father leaving. How, she feels like she has to step up and be the responsible one because that's just who she is despite being the youngest and the one that should be protected by her mom and her older sister. It's nice to see Lexi come into herself and find a voice and an outlet for her feelings since too often being quiet means she's overlooked and her feelings aren't as valid when they are.

She didn't have to do Cassie like that tho lol. Not with the carousel scene. Like there's a lot of elements in the play that weren't necessary and did seem like digs towards Cassie. Especially when Cassie is already going through it and suicidal. One thing I didn't like about that whole ordeal is that no one took her seriously. Cassie was really about to stab herself with a corkscrew and people just shrugged it off and laughed about it. It's kinda gross imo. That's not something that should be treated lightly or glossed over. If someone you love is expressing those kind of erratic behaviors and stuff, get them help! My god.

That aside.... in terms of Cassie, I kind of wished after the blowout with Maddy we would've gotten a bit more from her. I was hoping for Cassie to show some remorse. She seemed more concerned with Nate breaking up with her than her long standing friendship with Maddy ending as they're both cut up and bleeding. It was very anti-climatic imo. I started doing a deeper dive into Cassie's psyche and she went through being sad/lonely/pathetic in s1 to full fledged villain/antagonist in s2. That transition sort of needed to happen for storytelling purposes. Cassie needs to spiral in order to find her redemption and resolution. I think what bothers people so much about her this season is... they think Cassie uses her daddy issues as an excuse for her behavior. When that's not the case. The fans might but, Cassie has never said "I did this because my dad left" she hasn't even acknowledged her trauma outright. She did a little bit when she squared off with Lexi saying that Lexi judges everyone but she hasn't lived. Cassie has put herself out there. She's been used, abused, manipulated, taken advantage of, been hurt, etc. And all of that and all of her insecurities were being mocked. Its very exposing. Sydney says that Cassie's super insecure. But people look at her and see a body or label her the "hot sister" and don't let her become anything but that. I think deep down Lexi and Cassie admire and wish they had qualities of the other. Lexi wishes she was "hot" while still having all of her other qualities and Cassie wishes she was respected and loved and accepted the way Lexi is now after the play. I think this is common between siblings and teenage girls in general. You always tend to compare yourself to others and want what qualities you seem to lack.

Cassie was wrong for hooking up with Nate the way that she did. Saying they weren't together isn't an excuse for her behavior either. I feel like more people would respect Cassie if she admitted she was wrong. She did betray Maddy by sneaking around with Nate behind her back. I feel like Maddy still would've been pissed but she seems more mad about the fact that Cassie did what she did and lied to her about it. Maddy gave Cassie a chance to come clean when Rue let it slip, and again after Cassie locked herself in the bathroom. Maddy never intended to get violent with Cassie. She only did after Cassie called her a cunt and kept on with that "they weren't together" excuse. Cassie's wrong, point blank. We can still root for her and love her and acknowledge that. Sam makes a very good point at the end of the season saying that his only hope for viewers watching is for them to love and root for these characters despite their flaws and mistakes. Rue says it many times throughout the season, that people shouldn't be reduced to a mistake they'd made because it's not the mistake that makes or breaks a person, it's how they grow and learn from it and we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. We can like them and still not agree with the decisions they make.

I think thats a strong point for everyone this season. So many of the characters have done terrible things this season. But they aren't defined by that. And a lot of them are growing. While others were set back this season and have a longer way to go.