I want to see your thoughts! If you had full creative control, how would Eric and Donna’s couple arcs look in S6 and S7?
Hellooo!
I get into a few details on this post about things I might've liked to have seen for Eric and Donna in S6 and S7. Majority of my fics may touch on certain things from that list -- that is to say, I'll doubt I'll ever write Eric or Donna rushing to plan a big wedding, taking a year or two off instead of going to college, or going to Africa lol.
If I had full creative control, instead of Red, Kitty, and Bob being so (imo unnecessarily) irate about the engagement, I would've had them all focused on trying to cram as many life lessons into their remaining high school months as possible in order to set Eric and Donna up for success. After all, if Eric and Donna both clearly state they have no intention of breaking off their engagement, continuing to try and pressure them to do so is just an exercise in time wasting (for all parties) -- they might as well have pivoted and done the best with the time available to them.
Plus, I think the parents trying to hammer in life lessons, much to Eric and Donna's chagrin, would've been a lot funnier than the parents just being unhappy about it. It could've given us opportunities to see Red and Donna interact more (since I think it goes without saying that Donna would be the handier one around the apartment/house). Eric and Kitty could've had scenes where Eric tries to learn how cook -- especially after Donna feeds him under-cooked chicken lol.
This would all culminate in Eric and Donna navigating living together in S6 and S7. They could've had call backs to episodes like 3x11, where they both have midterms to study for but they're distracting each other and what not. Maybe they have to organize a chore schedule and Eric makes the mistake of referring to it as "Blue Jobs and Pink Jobs" (something I've heard some couples do), and the disagreement over that.
Maybe they can keep in certain subplots that exist, like Donna missing a pill in her birth control and how they deal with that (without it ending in the 'abstinence until the wedding' subplot, obviously).
One thing I do think they could've considered for a later episode (assuming S7 remained the final season as intended), is Donna getting an opportunity to study abroad. She mentions having dreams of doing so as far back as S3, and it might have been nice to revisit that only for her to want both to take the opportunity, but also maintain her engagement with Eric.
Ultimately I would end such a conflict with a compromise that is also a happy ending (either Eric says he's willing to wait for her and wants her to take advantage of the opportunity, or Eric offers to look into options for him to study abroad and go with her). Which would feel like, to me, bringing their story full circle.
At least it would've been a lot better than whatever the hell the Africa thing was.
Thanks for the ask! 💖
