simon/maddie parallel

okay so love the whole simon/maddie parallel. my heart SHATTERED when she entered the theater like i was lwk waiting for her to see simon and relive their s1 finale convo but i'm not complaining about the s1 e1 parallel in the classroom I'M CRAFTING AN EDIT AS WE SPEAK.

and ik she has a lot more to be distressed about than s1 simon did (she actually knows the ghost world intimately, everyone thinks she's crazy at school and home, everyone keeps pestering her for answers in both worlds that she doesn't have answers for) BUT i still found it insanely interesting that s1 simon was able to plan and cope with the whole "talking to ur bff who's now a ghost in public" thing while maddie seems to really be struggling. which, again, is understandable and fair, it's just interesting to see unfold.

for simon, he pushed his grief and pain down, he ignored it bc maddie's not gone ! she talks to me at the school ! and he threw himself into solving her murder bc he felt guilty for not being there for her in her final moments, what's one last act of love, right? but then the whole janet thing happens, he's scared he's crazy and the grief comes crashing down. but then maddie proves she's real, just...separated from her body. so then he can shove his grief down again and become hyper fixated on solving the case of the body snatcher. all in all to say, he "handled it well" bc he was actively repressing his feelings to play the role of the detective. 

but with maddie, she not only lost simon, she also lost wally. she can talk to them, sure, but it's not the same. and obviously she has nicole, claire, and xavier, but again, it's. not. the. same. additionally, she just went through months of trauma and hell that she can't explain to her mom, her mom doesn't trust her and all of a sudden is helicopter parent #1, the school doesn't trust her, everyone's always watching her and talking about her, reprimanding and grilling her. she wants so badly to bear down and focus for simon, the way he did for her, but she can't bc simon, for one, seems to be naturally good at compartmentalizing his feelings (my kinnie frrrrr) but also bc while simon's second nature seems to be detective crap (based on his intelligence and inclination toward solving puzzles), it's not maddie's. while simon can switch to detective mode and shove his feelings down bc that's an essential part of who he is, maddie isn't in tune with solving those puzzles and handling overwhelming emotions. we've seen time and again how she can lash out or shut down when her emotions get to be too much (her friendship break up with claire for one)

and again the whole thing of her being genuinely overwhelmed with everything. especially since simon seemed to have a relatively normal home life yet maddie doesn't catch a break at home, she struggles everywhere and nowhere is her solace. she can't even talk to wally without looking crazy.

i will say i often wonder why she doesn't use the simon method and pretend she's on the phone while talking to the ghosts but whatever, i suppose it's just a plot device to push the "crazy maddie" storyline.

charley/yuri plot

unfortunately the elephant in the room is this plot bc...what. the. fucking. fuck. was. that. 

like actually chat. i need to rewatch the episodes but, correct me if i'm wrong, did that not feel insanely biphobic to anyone??? like my charley would never, this complaint goes to the writers unless they send me an apology video RIGHT NOW.

i'm paraphrasing from memory here so genuinely ignore my rambling if i'm misremembering. but, from what i remember, charley was being super critical of yuri admitting he also still likes girls. it wasn't a quiet acceptance of "oh i didn't understand your grandson thing until you said you liked girls, okay cool." it was giving girl meets world farkle admits he has autism. like "you don't >:("

and not only that but his words felt a little slut-shamey, for lack of a better term. like i get that it's moreso jealousy, right? charley's upset that his bf has more experience, a whole list of other people he's shared himself with, whereas charley just has, what? emilio and yuri? and i fully understand that's a valid plot point for couples. however comma, the way he said it and his whole non-apology that resulted in another awkward fight thing just gave me more 2000s biphobia of thinking bi-people are inherently nymphomaniacs or smth and are constantly under risk of cheating.

again, i could be misunderstanding or maybe the writers have a bigger plot intended for this. but to me, it just felt so judgmental and the exact opposite of what charley always preaches. which i would lowkey expect from yuri after he's been kind of isolated for the past like fifty years but not from charley, mr "not made for my generation" who's been surrounded by teenagers for thirty years and overhearing the way their social and political views have evolved regarding queer people. 

so personally, it was super ooc and i really hope there's some valid explanation or, at least, an extremely well-written apology scene with a whole open conversation between yuri and charley bc what we're not doing here is pulling a cobra kai in which they just say "sorry lol, we cool?"

quinn/rhonda come out

quinn nonbinary canon !!! we won !!!!! i love quinn with all my heart and rhonda sticking up for them the entire time was so dear and special to me (also rhonda soft-launching her lesbian coming out?? i'm so sat and impressed).

i also appreciate that we didn't get this whole giant makeover scene right after they came out. i love queer rep obviously no matter what, but it's always kinda bothered me when characters come out as trans then suddenly do a 180 in two hours. not to mention it's always the most gendered 180 too. like if they come out as a girl, they're wearing full heels, a dress, full face of makeup, movie star hair, looking like they walked out of a premiere. which, don't get me wrong, love those divas, they're all gorgeous and iconic. and with guys, they'll show up in like a crew cut, magically flat chest, a 2000s little boy-type graphic tee, and baggy jeans. which again, love, my gender envy fr.

but idk, i always kinda wished there was a more slow or even less of a dramatic shift in trans characters. like for me, after i started experimenting with my gender identity and such, it wasn't such a shift from the way i always looked. it mainly changed the way i presented myself, i was more comfortable wearing whatever i wanted instead of what i thought i should be wearing. instead of feeling like i should wear make up and tank tops and dresses, i started wearing button ups, even at school dances, which helped me feel a little more like myself. and even then, i wanted to wear a dress and wear make up to prom so i did. clothing doesn't necessarily equate gender and neither does gender expression. i love makeup now, but i don't feel pressured to wear it, just when i want to.

and that's what i kinda loved about quinn and rhonda's conversation. rhonda admits that her clothing was an outlet for her to express herself, which yes ! perfect ! then she apologizes for making quinn feel like they had to change to be considered valid or taken seriously, which again, perfection ! bc even if someone "doesn't look" the gender they tell you they are, doesn't mean they automatically aren't that identity. people don't transition for various reasons and all are completely valid. what matters is that they are who they know they are. it's not for them to "prove" or for anyone to "believe". 

so quinn admitting that they like the way they look (at least for the moment) is how they're most comfortable was so so so so special to me. and yes, absolutely that can change as they become more comfortable and sure in their identity. hell it changed a million times for me and still changes all the time. but just having that scene after the shit show that was stranger things really healed something in me. i'm gonna be thinking about this for a while, give me a moment to myself guys, no one understands how important this is to me.

monster thing

okay hello? WHAT is going on under this fuckass school bruh? ToT

okay so, my thoughts, superintendent is a part of that monster, either literally as a physical manifestation or a possessed puppet OR through a fear street-type multi-generational curse on the school that, since everything happened with maddie, is now at risk of being exposed and so to keep everything under wraps, she needs to destroy the whole school, get some profit out of it with claire's dad's company, then she's home free.

if the fear street thing is what it is, i like to think either livia knows nothing about it and tries to help the characters fight against her mom or she's reluctantly a part of it (a la young nick goode)

but either way, even if that family isn't supernatural at all, i am so super intrigued by this monster thing and how mr. martin's childhood friend is tied into it. like did he see the monster? did the monster drag him under when mr. martin ran to get help? WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS FREAKING KID BRUH?

also, kinda related but kinda unrelated, wtf was quinn's scar? omfg no wonder they're so avoidant with thinking about their death and the other band kids wtf ToT that was an actual haunted house ass room bro

all other thoughts

all that being said, there were things that i am thinking but don't necessarily have anything to say about it.

i'm sorry guys but i fear i must confess that i don't like wally and maddie dsksjfksj. they're cute but idk just as friends? not that i really want maddie to end up with someone else, i just don't want them together. super duper hot take: it feels so forced just to keep milo mannheim in the show and like fan service for all the people that signed on either for milo or just to see wally and maddie...sorry, please don't flame me. there's nothing wrong with shipping them btw!! i'm a multi shipper, I love a lot of the ships, even theirs, but in the show i really hate seeing them constantly pushed together idk, don't hate me

i'm really interested in this sort of mr. martin redemption they're pushing, especially after quinn forgave him for accidentally causing the crash that killed them and wally's trying to figure out how to forgive him too (as well as the others). i'm just gonna mourn the fanon irredeemable, actually evil and reprehensible mr. martin edits lwk...

I'm living for all the pairings this season, which is mentioned in my last post. i'm really excited to see this weird simon/wally beef be put to rest. i was so excited to see it go away between simon and xavier (which bless, bc now we have the joy that is baxroy) and now i'm even more excited about simon and wally, especially since xavier already broke maddie's trust and lost his place in her life in s1 but wally and simon are still currently the two most important people in maddie's life, so that makes the dynamics infinitely more interesting.

i'm super curious about jennifer tilly and livia developing as antagonists or even just complex characters throughout the season, super interesting. 

lizzy mcalpine being rhonda's gay awakening, oh i'm sure...

are we actually going to have kyle and maddie's dad play an important role this season or were they just plot devices for quinn to come out and the maddie/xavier friendship rekindling?? need to know now before i become emotionally attached to xavier x kyle...

all in all, very impressed with the direction of the show and them wrapping up certain plot holes. again, st5 messed me up so bad that my bar is now so low, but ya know, this is genuinely a pretty good season so far, so so super excited to watch everything <3