#jorla

I hope you enjoy my box of assorted fanarts chocolates, lol

With love,

Thanks for the question! First off, that’s not what I said. I consistently have stated that James/Orla do not make more sense to be canon than James/Erin which is an objective statement.

James/Erin are the canon couple. James/Erin have at least one episode centered on developing their relationship per season that makes it abundantly clear as well as background moments within the show that it was the intent. They also have passages in the tie-in book with romantic intent both front-and-center and in the background of the text and they have Lisa McGee’s own life story backing up their relationship and that is before they even kiss. After they kiss it isn’t even an argument, James/Erin just both fancy each other and that’s sort of the end of it as far as ‘what makes sense’.

So what I’ve always said was that I don’t understand how anyone can claim in good faith that James/Orla makes more sense than James/Erin on the basis of what has existed in the text which is the claim that many people have made. It was common discourse that James/Erin was forced because James/Orla had background moments when, no, it wasn’t. James/Erin was always the intent it wouldn’t have made more sense to sidestep that just because James/Orla have some side interactions that appear romantic if you want it to.

You say they ‘look like a couple’ and my question is… do they though? Cause I don’t think so, if anything what I see is are characters who are friends being friendly. And if anything, I’m going to be so fr, James and Orla aren’t really as close as people think. Sure, Orla is touchy with him, they are a fairly affectionate character, tbh Orla is just as mean to James at the others can be and was the most willing to replace him other than Michelle in the prom episode. Also, I feel this kind of ignores that James doesn’t really seem to know what to do with Orla at times. Now this isn’t me dismissing their friendship, I think it’s cute and in the future they will be family and I find an incredible amount of satisfaction in imagining James and Orla as cousins-in-law, it’s more just that I don’t understand where the idea really comes from that James/Orla moments are much more interesting and intimate than his interactions with Erin - or even Clare.

I maintain that excluding the obvious exceptions, you can make a case for any ship within the group. (Hell, I still maintain that if James is transfem or Clare ends up being bi (albeit with a female preference), James/Clare could very well be the most functionally perfect ship in the group other than James/Erin. I think Michelle expected them to get together first and is still a little shocked that she ended up being so off the mark since Clare is a lesbian and James is in love with Erin.) So that includes James/Orla in theory.

By all means ship them, shipping is an important part of the fan ecosystem. Just be honest about it, y’know? Because from the outside looking in, it feels as though some people just don’t enjoy Erin as a character and want to ship James with the closest compatible person and claim it superior because it’s not a ship with the main girl. Or because they personally identify with Orla and those people consider it cringe to selfship/write Reader content.

I honestly would like to see a take on James/Orla that feels authentic to both their characters, I have no problems with the ship itself, they’re friends and I’m sure it would be fine: I headcanon that one time Orla gave James a valentine that said ‘Valentine, you are a horse’ and James didn’t understand that it was Orla making a move until the James/Erin wedding where Orla offhandedly mentioned that she had a crush on him and he put the pieces together and Orla just says ‘and this is why we wouldn’t have worked out, you don’t get me.’ - I just hate the take that it would be make more sense than James/Erin based on the material we have.

You ship James with Erin

You ship James with Orla

You ship James with no one/want everyone to all just remain platonic friends

So here is my 2 cents on each category (not that anyone asked)

James and Erin - I like it, I’ve been picking up the subtle vibes they’ve been putting down for a while and I think they’d be quite cute together HOWEVER I wouldn’t be like angry or upset if they were to remain just friends.

James and Orla - I’ve personally always thought Orla was aro/ace just kinda due to the fact she’s never shown an interest in ANYONE like that. She loves her friends to pieces but doesn’t really show an interest for anyone beyond that. I’ve always just kinda seen her and James relationship as a sibling type one. However upon rewatching the season 2 finale I can’t help but notice how touchy she’s being with James when he comes back. Most of the touches still fit into the realm of could be a sibling type touch but the holding his hand and resting her head on his shoulder (and the way she looked at him when she did that) did give me pause.

James and No One - I don’t hate this at all. The thing I like most about the show is the groups friendship. So if James were to end up with no one in the group that would be completely fine with me as long as everyone remained good friends. Plus it would be a good way to show that heterosexual people of opposite genders can in fact be friends with nothing else going on.