So it looks like, as predicted, they're going to shoehorn Rafe into JJ's empty spot in the gang. And of course they'll pair him and Kie up, because god forbid a female character end up single, and who else are they going to pair her with?
Which really pisses me off on multiple fronts. Namely: Rafe is actually a super interesting character to me and one that I WOULD have loved to see developed and explored, AND, him and Kie actually had way more chemistry in S3 and made way more sense to me than her and JJ ever did.
But they decided to go Kie/JJ instead. Sure, fine. But they dont get to pivot now to Rafe as though they can just unplug one boy and plug in a second like they're interchangeable. Not to mention that this means Kie will have been romantically positioned with every single main male character on the show, with not so much as a single season's break from romantic subplots. John B to Pope to JJ to Rafe, with no pause between any of them. Its so disrespectful to her as a character to structure her every personal arc each season around a boy and either their pursuit of her or her pursuit of them.
And it also feels like a disservice to Rafe's character. I would have LOVED to see this development of his character, if that was the point. But he's not being developed for development's sake. He's being developed because they realised that with JJ's departure they would soon have an empty boy spot, so they started shaping Rafe in s4 to fill it, so he's ready to fully step into the space come S5. Its SUCH a disservice to the character, his actor, fans of the show, to JJ's character and actor, to fucking everyone.
UGH the fifth season of this show is gonna piss me off so fucking bad.