#qualice

to add on to the previous post, the fact that Alice is so into Quentin is one of the many layers of why him cheating on her is fucked up, one of the other fun layers being what we see in ep 10 of Alice's parents' very libertine sex life - like how much of Alice's stuff (pastel sexy librarian look, lost her virginity with her clothes on, difficulties talking about her and Quentin's sex life) is consciously or unconsciously tied up in rebellion to her parents? Or a result of the damage they left her with? was dating Quentin the nice sweet shy boy (who reminds her of her brother *cough*) supposed to be another rebellion? And then he cheats on her with two people, one of them a man, so the betrayal is also of the idea of who Quentin was supposed to be, who Alice maybe thought he was, on top of everything else.

not sure if this qualifies as a hot take or not, but from my perspective in s1 Alice is way more into Quentin than Quentin is into Alice. I don't even mean in like a secret Queliot reading way or anything, just that Alice flirts with Quentin at the party when she's drunk, Alice kisses him and initiates the hook-ups in Brakebills South, Alice asks him in ep 8 if Quentin's in love with her and obviously is kinda hoping the answer is yes! and only breaks off the hook-ups because all he manages to say is, "uh, i don't know." and it's interesting that a lot of s1 au fic seems to have Alice as standoffish with Quentin as the one chasing her or being seen as needy towards her, when that's not really what the beginning of their relationship looks like in the show. And Alice does have her moments of pushing Quentin away, but I wonder if the fallout of the cheating and break-up and then Quentin's desperation to win Alice back and save niffin!Alice in s2 colors our collective idea of their early dynamic.