#nf talks

I have SO MUCH BEEF with the amount of unpaid labour Bitty does for people who can well afford to pay. so much beef, anon, you have no idea. also, anyone else get a distinct feeling that Bitty uses baked goods to get people to like him because he’s afraid of rejection and violence? because I sure do. honestly, Bitty is doing all the heavy lifting in his relationship with Jack, and it makes me so mad because Bitty has needs, you know? sometimes you don’t want to cook and sometimes you want your boyfriend to listen to you, anxious NHL player or not. some relationships are fundamentally unequal but is not an excuse for the way Jack treats Bitty. not to mention the fact that Jack has never apologized for the way he treated Bitty in y1, and that Bitty probably still has unacknowledged trauma over checking and possibly other stuff, if the way he treats the people around him is any indication. Bitty is desperate for people to like him, and goes the fuck off when they don’t(Whiskey). he has a real problem with unchecked racism (Nursey and Chowder) and, as a friend pointed out, he fails to take into account the dietary restrictions that may apply to people (they used the example of Holster, who is Jewish and probably keeps kosher, and the fact that a lot of characters are pro athletes who are on strict diets ffs). but it’s never used as a point of conflict or growth, or even called out. we’re supposed to believe that Bitty is just ✨that special✨ but I don’t buy it. idk, it’s really disturbing. any of bitty’s friends (who by the way are all Jack’s friends first) could’ve asked Bitty what was up with the way he bakes to the point of a breakdown in order to get people to like him, feels awful when so much as one slice of pie is left uneaten, and they just…don’t. because it’s convenient to have somebody around who bakes for you without asking for anything in return? is that we’re supposed to think the SMH and Jack are like? or is that just in Bitty’s head? (he is an unreliable narrator). any of them couldve called Bitty out on the way he behaves with Holster and Nursey and Chowder. and they don’t. I wonder why. (hint: this is a happy story! Bitty wins!)I hope that at some point the way Bitty stress-bakes is addressed, but going by 4.2, I’m not holding out much hope. if we’re unlucky, it’ll just get waved off as a weird quirk (if it’s acknowledged at all). if we’re very very lucky, we’ll get some meaningful conflict and character growth out of it (both things that y3 did not feature at all)

right?? to be quite honest, check please isn’t good rep at all. we have zero queer people of colour, and zero queer women. only one character has confirmed his sexuality in panel. Jack could be bisexual or demisexual or pansexual or gay–we just don’t know (yet?) as of y3 canon, Kent is the only closeted character, and he’s villainised by half the fandom. it would not be inaccurate to call check please queerbaiting; a comic that’s praised for it’s queerness and diversity, and only barely passes the bechdel test? give me break. but don’t you know, it’s a happy story. bitty wins. blah blah blah 🙄