#emla

minor female characters that were made to be (former) love interests of major male characters

carla is often made “bitchy” and is treated more as an generic obstacle than a character; emma-may often gets the opposite treatment, being depicted as a Cool Epic Girlboss that’s about as equally one-dimensional

idk i just think a (more developed) chill recently-divorced emma-may x quirky weird carla would be a fun dynamic yk. wlw manic pixie dream girl

i imagine emma-may already had a job — fidds was tinkering w computers in his garage and was able to just Leave, so she presumably made some kind of living — but now she’s gotta worry about a bunch of other stuff. now she has to take up the household duties and provide for herself and her son. she’s gotta pay for daycare, too, ‘cause she ain’t leaving her son alone in the house for hours on end. she doesn’t feel like she could really find anyone ever again — who’d be interested in a divorced single mother past her prime?

then, she meets carla.

carla’s older, bc that’s how time works, and she’s mellowed out some. key word: some. she’s still a bit of an aimless drifter type, going wherever the wind blows. her parents are upset she hasn’t settled down and started a family yet — “you’re not getting any younger” — but she doesn’t really care. she meets emma at a bar, and they hit it off — they’re both charasmatic and funny (even when emma’s dealing with divorce depression), but in different ways. they work well off each other.

carla gives emma new and exciting experiences and perspectives she’d never had before, while emma helps carla mature some — sure, being free-spirited is good, but one day, your luck’s gonna run out, and you’re gonna need a plan. that doesn’t mean you gotta change every part of who you are — just means you’re gonna need a plan.

emma helps carla mature, carla helps emma relax. it’s beautiful. (also carla is a fun stepmom)

Definitely a red flag! From what I've heard, she was basically ghosting clients, not answering their questions, missing deadlines without communicating, etc. Here's one ref in addition to general talk I've heard.