#anti rules

I feel like...

Okay, obviously I love Rue. Obviously. Goes without saying.

And I really like Jules as her own character, or in relationships with other people, but in the context of her and Rue, she bothers me? And it’s not a “She wasn’t there!!1!” kind of thing; I’m glad she had time away this past episode. I find her energy around Rue weird. They seemed good together at the carnival, especially when they were both freaking out about Nate’s dad, and she did come when Fez called her about Rue, but besides that I don’t see a lot of moments where she even seems to really like Rue, or at least not in a way that exceeds the way she likes her other friends.

I’m not saying she’s a bad person or anything, but it seems like when Rue tries to joke with her, she gets upset; when she tries to joke with Rue, Rue gets upset. Rue compliments how pretty she looks in her Halloween costume; she says nothing positive to Rue in return. Forgivable, since she was going through some stuff, but I feel like it wasn’t a singular incident. She didn’t want to get the “Rules” tattoo (and yeah, it was pretty bad that she was talked into it). Characters who observe that Rue likes Jules never observe that Jules likes Rue. Rue was the one to seek Jules out first, and as I watched the show I was waiting for any moment that would indicate to me that Jules returned Rue’s feelings, and I kind of never saw it. I saw it in Lexi when I was looking for it in Jules. Ironically, this recent episode in which she was away from Rue is the most convinced I’ve been in a while that she likes her; at least she texted saying she missed her.

And the TVTropes page says that Jules is “taking far too much on herself”, with regards to their relationship, and...I can maybe see it, because of course Rue is extremely emotionally reactive to Jules, but also she doesn’t often make that Jules’s problem, so far as I recall. As I recall, except for the one time when she comes to Jules crying about how Jules got mad at her (and, depending on how you read the scene, her coercing Jules to get a tattoo; I think that was supposed to be comedic, though), she mostly walks away with her feelings. She banishes herself at the Halloween party, for example. She doesn’t make her feelings about Jules known (outside of snarky comments and recommending caution) when Jules is getting all excited about texting a guy. She helps Jules text a guy! I'm not saying Jules doesn’t take a lot on herself in the relationship; I’m saying I don’t see it. When stuff is too much for Jules, she leaves. I think she’s taking care of herself well enough that the TVTropes page needn’t paint her as a singular love martyr; both she and Rue are suffering in this relationship.

I know that “Their relationship is unhealthy” isn’t exactly a hot take, so I guess my real point is that I don’t know that their foundation is strong enough that they could ever really get healthy. Basically, I’m not convinced they’re compatible; the vibe I get is that Rue got attached to her due to a combination of romantic/sexual feelings and as a convenient motivation to be sober and Jules felt obligated to be an entity in Rue’s life for that reason (and because Rue is a friend and showers her with praise). And I feel like Rue deserves someone who loves her and Jules deserves to be in a relationship she actually enjoys, or no relationship if that’s what she prefers.