#andsmile

my 84yr old auntie is watching one tree hill for the first time, and i'm catching episodes here and there and rewatching with her when i can, and lol 1) she's a brucas through and through so we love her for that; 2) i never add s4 to my rewatches but she's on s4 now and god... acting really changes everything because lucas can say whatever he wants and do whatever he wants, neither me nor auntie can believe that he didn't settle for peyton like lol it's def the way chad acted, i do think hil and chad had good chemistry in general but watching s4 right after s3 is such a blatant difference even in his friendship scenes with brooke like.

well. they forced the text to push for lp so hard too, but the build up to it was just not.good. their dumb attempt to 'level the playing field' with what brooke and peyton had done to each other was also not it. anyway i digress! s4 remains poorly written, lucas' hair remains ugly, and my 84 year old auntie knows what's up.

That's totally fine with me! Actually, it makes me happy because I don't have many Brucas friends LOL

Okay, I love your aunt. I used to watch One Tree Hill with my mom and she was team L*yton. Needless to say, we did not agree on that. I know how you feel about season 4. I struggle a lot with it. The first 8 episodes are garbage and extremely agenda driven. Even when the season picks up, I still resent a lot of what's going on and hate how they get there. RIGHT?! The funny thing about Chad and Hilarie's chemistry is that it works very well when they have to be angsty and are circling each other with the knowledge that it's inevitable they'll come together. But when it's time to be cheesy and very genuine about being in love? The chemistry is severely lacking. Everything Lucas says to Peyton in season 4 feels fake and like he's decided to settle because he managed to fuck up his relationship with Brooke again. I have no idea why the writers were obsessed with making Lucas in denial about Peyton all the time, but the big "reveals" didn't land as intended. Apparently because he flashed back to the pilot, it's supposed to mean something. But yes, with Brooke it all comes across as genuine. Their chemistry is palpable. Brucas is typically reduced to being about lust, but there's so much softness and emotional intimacy that gets overlooked. Even during scenes where Lucas is supposed to be emotionally distant, it still feels like Lucas is in the moment with Brooke because Chad and Sophia vibed too well together as actors. So while I understand that LP was allegedly meant to be the plan all along, the show was never able to recreate that chemistry with Chad and Hilarie.

girl me too 😭

seriously tho, I'm so happy you enjoy it!! ❤️❤️❤️ Right now I am trying to finish a post 7x19 oneshot. When I'm done with that, my plan is to write the last chapter of the weddings fic. I don't really love what I've written of it already, unfortunately, so I might just scrap it and start over. but I've been imagining some scenes I want to write and I'm excited to get back to it.

In the meantime! Here is a snippet that I hope stays in bc I love Jug & Reggie friendship:

i feel so lucky to have you as a friend, and for all the beautiful bugvarchie solidarity we’ve created over the past year as a community. we are so lucky to have your voice-of-reason takes and beautiful writing in our fandom! as a bday gift, here’s a preview of the first full varchie scene from my newest WIP, an O.C. bugvarchie AU appropriately titled right back where we started from. 

Outside, Archie ambles down the driveway to smoke, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and letting out a deep sigh of something, maybe relief. He’s just prying a cigarette from the carton when he notices a teenage girl standing at the end of the neighboring driveway, her flip phone in hand and arms crossed, as if waiting for a bus. (Do they even have buses here?)

Face flushing, Archie focuses on lighting up, not wanting to betray the fact that the raven-haired girl standing six feet to his right is quite possibly the most breathtakingly gorgeous woman he’s ever seen.

She must notice him at the same moment. “Who are you?” Her voice is curious, almost inviting.

Archie smiles, so thrown off that what comes out of his mouth next is: “Whoever you want me to be.”

He cringes internally, grateful that the girl snorts appreciatively before walking a little closer.

“Hey, can I bum a cigarette?”

Surprised, impressed, and a little turned on, Archie nods, his cig still perched between his teeth. He offers the butt of his own cigarette in lieu of a light, and the girl smiles at him, the kind of coquettish look Valerie used to give him when she wanted something. Maybe all the girls here always want something. After all, look at the houses they live in.

Hello gorgeous! 

You know what? I’ve never written varchie smut but I’ve always been under the impression she spiced up his life!👀

Riverdale loves their parallels! That’s why I’ve always said that I wouldn’t hate a Jeronica friendship. I love the idea of them actually spending some time together. 

The couples really do parallel each other. I think that’s at least part of the reason they work best when all 4 of them are together. We saw that a lot more in the earlier seasons, and I think it’s what made season 4 feel so disjointed - the core four spent functionally no time together, as a foursome. They’re so strong together and it’s such a delight to see them. Seasons 2 and 3 really put at least a bit of time into regrouping after an event with all of them together. Season 4 really put none of that in. 

The friendships, especially the ones between the Core 4 are one of the most strong, genuinely sweet things about the show. Too much infighting and you have a situation like Glee. It was thoroughly unbelievable that any of the main characters in Glee would be friends after three years of constant petty drama, much less the “family” they claimed themselves to be. But Riverdale has risen above that, at least before all of this. I’m one of those people who demands more attention be paid to the friendships (in specific, the Betty/Veronica friendship) because I think the actors and the show shine in those moments. However, again, in S4 these tended to get tossed by the wayside. I’m hoping for reparations this season, but I’m not holding my breath.