#john kipling

lemons on a plane is SFTH's first one scene longform! lemons on a plane has three and a half characters. this is going to have vague spoilers and odd musings.

jane franco and john kipling are sitting next to each other. they do not know each other. but they end up having a conversation, and john learns that jane is afraid of flights. she acts a bit odd (is she a part of the mafia? he wouldn’t know. this is fleeting), but he’s heard there will be some turbulence. he is kind to her, and she is nice back. she offers him some melon. he explains lemon cakes.

the turbulence hits. they hold hands to ground jane, who is clearly trying to not have a panic attack.

and then the turbulence gets worse and she wets herself. she is understandably mortified, and this man who normally sits in first class gives her a jumper to cover herself without a second thought. he defends her to the flight attendant. she pays for his snacks. the plane lands, and they go their separate ways, albeit jane with john’s business card. she is running from the mob, but is intelligent and has her routines. he is running a business, and has his sister as his lockscreen. they might never see each other again.

what a fun story this is to me, because this is where an odd division happens. the fandom decides they are in love.

when i watched this, i found nothing about the play romantic of sorts. i am not a fan of flights, personally, just because of the “hurry up and wait” of the airport and getting onto the plane AND ALSO MORE CRUCIALLY i get terribly airsick. but! i have had people help me on flights, a great many times. people taller than i help me put my carry-on onto the shelf. a woman sitting across the aisle offered me dramamine when she saw me realizing i forgot mine (she gave me her business card when i thanked her after the flight; she was a doctor). a fleet of people around me offering me advice when i start overheating; my seatmates turning AC towards me and someone politely asking the child behind me to stop kicking the seat.

i hate flights. but there is so much kindness from people, i have found, on them, and this single-scene longform reminded me of that. this is fleeting kindness at its clearest; they may never see each other again but they offered kindness at vulnerability, and that was lovely to see.

so the fandom’s response of shipping them made me want to sink my teeth into the why of it all. not because i dislike it, but because it was so profoundly out of my mind. first, aj’s response!

he didn't see romance in there at all, which isn't too relevant to personal interpretation (although i do wonder what luke's opinion is on john!), but is interesting to me and does provide detailing to the characters. i think there is something to be seen here with just. people's expectations of goodness. Sometimes someone does something kind for someone else, and nothing else comes of it! the two of them go on past this clip to say they don't want to rely on romance as a big crutch, to head towards it just because they know romance will get a big cheer, which then raises the question of why does romance get the big cheer, and not the fact that these people were just kind to each other? they don't know each other. this is a slice of life! why did people laugh when he took her hand, instead of cheer?

i did bring this up with people when i watched this lf initially. they said that they didn't have these kind experiences with people on flights, so romance is where their brain jumped to for the acts of kindness! there is something very amatonormative about shipping, inherently, obviously, but the focus on pairing even more visible when it's literally just these two characters kind of having the worst times of their lives.

because theyre just people. jane doe. john doe. just regular names. assigned to anyone without exact identities. just people.

jane franco and john kipling are just people. people from two different walks of life, people with two different world views, people with different knowledge. but just people, like everyone else. their story is one of connection, the kinds that happen everyday. whether it be making small talk at the bus stop, making small comments to someone in a store, or nodding at someone walking past the street. it just so happens that their story goes… a little more absurdly, to put it lightly. but theyre still just people.

theyre real.