#rubystan

thank you! i think it's really easy to imagine that ending (or a similar one) for annie because the writers set up that very clear path forward awhile ago. they just completely failed to follow through in favor of giving her another unwanted love interest haha (two, actually, if we're keeping count, ugh).

ruby, on the other hand... i've gotta be honest, i have no idea how to even begin to resolve that issue. the writers have set up a very deep, complex conflict between her and stan, and it's real and it's raw and it's interesting, but it also means that i don't even know what thread to start pulling on to untangle the knot. it's why i haven't said much about them in general lately. this thing they're going through is so far outside the scope of my experience, i can't even see it with binoculars. i've never been in a relationship like theirs, certainly not one that's lasted that long. and all of my closest friends are relationships that formed in adulthood. so to see ruby be put in a position where she has to choose between her husband and her lifelong best friend? i can't even imagine it.

one of the biggest issues i see is that stan's not wrong, but he's not right either. beth does steamroll people and she is going to continue operating in a world that is dangerous. her involvement in crime is dangerous. he's right about all of that. but she didn't get ruby shot and she's not the reason stan and ruby are in the situation that they're in. she's just a place to lay the blame, because the truth of the matter is that ruby also chose this, and to some extent stan did as well. so i think that's going to have to be acknowledged in some way—that beth didn't drag ruby kicking and screaming into a dangerous life of crime. ruby walked in on her own two feet and then stayed, knowing the consequences.

but how do they do that? well i think probably they do move away and they go back to a "normal" life and they struggle to pay for sara's medication to the point that they can't and she gets sick again, because that really is the crux of it for them. it's sara's life. and i do think stan has to be the one that realizes they have no other options (and maybe when he finally realizes that and says it out loud to ruby, she just hands him a ski mask or something because yeah she knows; she's just been waiting for him to catch up haha). but even with that realization, then what? do they just go back to crime-ing full time? do they go back to detroit? and how does that fix anything? because there's no way that stan's ultimatum in the finale doesn't cause resentment. i don't know how to resolve that.

and i don't know how to give them the ending they deserve because i don't think they deserve this. i don't think they deserve a life of crime because their daughter is sick and they can't afford to keep her alive. i think ruby would do it. i think she's already made her peace with having to do it, but i don't think she should have to, and i don't think she should have to live the rest of her life caught in a tug-of-war between her husband and her best friend.

so. here's the best that i can come up with: stan and ruby do some sort of crime to pay for sara's medication. there are consequences because there are always consequences. it doesn't matter if they're legal or gang friend-esque, just as long as there are consequences. beth puts herself in front of those consequences, preferably at considerable personal risk. because yes beth can be impulsive and reckless—she doesn't always think things through—but when it comes down to it, she will do anything for her family, and ruby (and by extension, stan) is her family. and i think that's important, because all stan has seen is the ways in which ruby's friendship with beth has endangered ruby, but he is completely missing all the ways that they protect each other, and that's a big piece of the puzzle. so beth absorbs the consequences (and let's be real—ultimately wiggles out of them because that's what she's best at), because that's what you do for family.

and then stan and ruby win the lottery so they never have to crime again. and live happily ever after.

the way that ruby worried for all of a day that stan was cheating on her (and only because of mick’s influence lbr) before just coming right out and saying it and then her and stan immediately had an honest conversation about it. 

vs

i love that ruby thinking stan was cheating lasted exactly five minutes because THEY TALK TO EACH OTHER. they’re in it (it being everything) together. 

tbh i did not hate that part at all. i think it was very much on purpose. annie could’ve easily been the one to say it (and hey! she’s the one who’s been in therapy this whole season so it would’ve made sense!), but beth said it. in an episode that highlighted just how terrible the beth and dean marriage is:

beth going behind dean’s back

dean sitting there like a gormless idiot who has no idea what his wife is capable of while she threatens gayle (using HIS betrayal as ammo)

beth keeping him completely out of the loop

beth admitting that the fact that dean is her husband isn’t enough 

beth explicitly stating that she knows she has to baby dean in order to get anything done

dean walking in while beth’s on the toilet which i guess could be a sign of intimacy but the fact that he just ignored how uncomfortable she was, was like... just bad

beth acting like the scorned wife at the strip club (interesting in an episode that centered so thoroughly around the way dean has betrayed her time and time again)

beth actually being the scorned wife with every confrontation with gayle

i mean there were THREE confrontations: with dean, without dean, and then beth leveling up. 

beth saying “well there’s nothing left to lose” and dean replying “right. only our whole family.” and beth just... not reacting.

also have some thoughts about the smoke alarm situation coming up in an episode where they purposely set “money” on fire

all of that juxtaposed with ruby and stan’s marriage and the way they fight for each other and the way they’re IN it together, even when they’re fighting, the way ruby was ultimately honest with stan about how she was paying him back, the way it ended with them on their journey together. 

the way the episode ended with beth and rio starting a new journey together while dean’s completely in the dark...