#just act normal

Wherever she is—whatever Mum is... she's fine. She's happy, and she loves us... and she's looking over us.

I don't know what shenanigans Amos and Naomi are plotting, but they both really need to work on their 'innocent faces'.

spoilers ahead

gavin/dr. feelgood, over the course of the series, is established as a kind of father figure, but his first scene in the entire show is him choking tadika. he cares about the siblings but does not have his life in order at all, and when he tries to take care of them, he inadvertently causes even more problems (e.g. being beaten up while driving tadika home and being taking to the hospital, causing the police to ask questions)

miss jenkins is, in a way, the opposite of dr. feelgood: from the beginning, she is friendly to and cares about tadika, but doesn't maintain the professional distance she should as a teacher. she clearly has her own problems and is very sad about her own inability to have children, but this leads her to encourage tadika's behaviour of treating her like a mother. when she eventually has to reject tadika, the girl is distraught because she feels like she's been rejected by her own mother. i have much more to say about her but this paragraph is long enough already

leo, aka the kids' dad, hasn't been there for most of their lives and, while he does come around in the end, initially refuses to help them even when his own son is telling him he's the only one who can help. the fact that he listens to what his girlfriend has to say about his children rather than actually listen to them himself and forming his own opinions doesn't contribute to him being a good father, either.

the cop (whose name i genuinely can't remember) is just the worst. acab but especially this one. "i just want to help you kids" and then racially profile and threaten tionne in his own home? no wonder they didn't want anyone to call the police.

even tadika's principal fails her. in the very first episode, she assumes tadika started the fight without ever investigating what really happened. later on, when miss jenkins tells tadika that she can't give her dance lessons anymore and tadika starts crying, the principal makes no move to comfort her whatsoever, making her feel even more alone.

Just Act Normal is a show about three siblings who have been betrayed or fucked over by every "trustworthy" adult in their lives, and who, as a result, are hesitant to rely on anyone except each other.