#sh couples

So we’ve moved to comparing/making a rant on Lucelyn and Maruke. (this will be a lot of rambling probably.)  First we shall talk about Lucelyn, whom we all shipped for like one season, but that’s because we wanted Luke to be happy.  Anyways, what’s the problem with them and why they didn’t work. i had a little post on it while i was rewatching “The Mortal Cup” episode and have decided to expand on it.  Let’s go- we begin with the writing because no shocker there that the writing is the main reason why they didn’t work but that’s only on one character’s fault, Jocelyn! Luke seemed to have nice relationship building but Jocelyn’s a mess. So in the pilot we basically shown that Luke and Jocelyn are in a relationship, which is confirmed by Luke’s boss, telling him to marry Jocelyn, I know some might say oh it’s a coverstory but from how Luke acts and how they wrote the relationship from his side, they were in a romantic relationship. But with Jocelyn, they never really wrote her feelings for Luke, NEVER. From the beginning of her character to the end in s2, she’s never shown any romantic feelings to Luke, tbh whenever they interacted it was all about Clary, never about their relationship, it was always about Clary and the memory blocks/erasing she had Magnus do. They showed that Luke really loved her, but Jocelyn never showed that she loved him back as much as he did, makes you wonder if she really ever did love him romantically. Or if she settled for him as a substitute for Valentine.  (Get to that in a bit)  It really doesn’t help that development that Lucelyn had was all from like I said before Luke’s point of view and the fact is she was in a magical sleep for whole 13 episodes of season one.  And also doesn’t help that Jocelyn is a shit character with the writing she had, the show in the first season tried to tell us she was like savior to the downworld(ers), she saved them bah, bah, she’s pure of heart etc. When in reality she’s a selfish bitch and is just as racist as the Clave or as her husband is, just shows it in  a different way and never really grew and they just continued to write her that way. I’m basically dead set on her blackmailing downworlders into helping her, because she had the mortal cup so yeah there. Luke didn’t deserve her, when she acted like a racist half of the time to downworlders, he deserved someone who didn’t treat his kind like shit, which Jocelyn showed her true colors in s2, they were there in s1, just they really showed in s2.  (Jesus Christ Alec and Magnus were the only ones to call her out on her bullshit)  Anyways, she’s a shit character, who didn’t grow. Instead  put Alec’s life in danger, to find her daughter!  Who is someone’s fucking child. (Still angry)  But back to what I was saying the development  for them was all one sided, and now I feel like Luke could have been a substitute for Valentine... why? Oh boy let me explain this.  Remember 1x06? The episode that explains Luke’s/the Circle’s backstories? When Luke awakens and explained everything to Clary in Magnus’s (guest?) bedroom, he describes how Valentine was before he became a mass murderer. She basically says “He is Mom’s type, just like you.” And boy it rubs me the wrong way and made me realize holy fuck, Luke could’ve been just a substitute for Valentine??? Because this quote makes it seem like it. I mean- look, Valentine was Luke’s parabatai at the time, and when he started to pull away, and she noticed signs of him murdering downworlders, turning evil, she knew it would make her look bad (even though she’s racist herself, she denies it but she is) so she turned to someone else who was basically feeling the same thing: Luke, in a way reminds her of Valentine, I guess, while Luke fell for her, she just fell for the fact he was her husband’s parabatai and had the same qualities.  But if that’s not true, I don’t think she loved him romantically as he did her, Valentine’s crazy racist actions against the accords and Downworlders, supposedly pushed her and Luke together, to lean on each other’s shoulders, meanwhile it’s clear Luke hadn’t loved anyone before or at least he thought to himself, he fell in love. With Jocelyn, she loved Valentine, and it seems to be clear that they were meant to be (the alt world is proof) and maybe she thought she did but reality either got it confused with platonic feelings or she used Luke as a rebound which is probably more possible here. Because Jocelyn is just a bitch.   Either way it’s clear with the writing Jocelyn had, that she didn’t really love him the way he did her or whatever, just seems to be that she used him for a lot of things.  Anyways, now the second problem chemistry or as I should say the one sided chemistry just as there was one sided writing with the relationship.  Isaiah is not the problem, in fact he’s what made half of them work but it wasn’t enough.  Maxim was the problem- like okay she’s what I pictured Jocelyn to look like, she acts pretty good, but her chemistry with Isaiah is just eehhugh. She didn’t even try tbh, she didn’t try to ever give me emotions, never. She just stood there with the same expression her face when it came to somewhat romantic scenes she had with Isaiah, who did give you Luke’s emotions towards Jocelyn in that flashback in 1x06, that scene where he finds Jocelyn in 1x11, the standing by her side scenes in 1x12/1x13 and catching her at the end of s1? You felt it, you even felt his one scene with Jocelyn in 2x04 like he did it, but with her? Zero emotions! Like even if the writing lacked, improv exists.  Just everything with them was one sided and Jocelyn continued to be the worst character/mother alive.  The best change they ever did was killing her off, Luke got himself a sexy ass woman.  Oop- let’s move onto everyone’s favorite even though we weren’t sure about it at first, Maruke!  Now Maruke is everything Lucelyn wished it could be, with the writing and the chemistry.  So first we will begin with the writing- you could always tell with what little writing we got for Maruke that they cared about each other, and could be romantically in love with each other one day, which really lacked with Luke and Jocelyn’s relationship, Luke and Maryse isn’t one sided. And also some who still like Lucelyn are like Maryse is/was the same as Jocelyn!!! EVEN WORSE. Lol she had something Jocelyn didn’t.  Character development, Maryse’s development is also what makes Maruke works as well. In s1 yeah, she was racist, a bad parent, reminded you of Jocelyn in a different way, we disliked her, in s2 it continued for a bit up until she left and came back for Max getting his first rune, you notice she’s trying to change there, she’s trying to gain back her children’s trust, and also trying not to be so racist with Magnus, (Nicola mentioned at a con that 2x08 is when Maryse started to change her mind about Magnus because he saved Alec’s life when she couldn’t something along those lines) and she makes up with her adoptive son, and Alec brings  up their father, which caused her to break down because the whole cheating thing, and we get her sobbing and Alec confronting her, and you feel bad for her, and you see she’s trying to make up for what she did to her children and we were all like “is this the beginning of a redemption arc??? if so i’m fucking up” and she returns in 2b to continue making amends with people and how she treated them before hand, Luke and Izzy, which are both heavily important because she did sl*t shame her daughter, made her feel less compared how she treated Alec and Luke she treated differently because he turned into a werewolf, and honestly good shit, then they continued with making her own up to her mistakes by de-runing her and making full amends with Magnus (3x03 is really fucking important) and fully accepting Alec’s relationship with him! She had the character development to be with Luke.  And Jocelyn, was just lol nothing but undercover racist to showing in fully s2, when she died.  Back to what I was saying before, with what little we got with Luke and Maryse worked perfectly. Hell even the talk in 3x06 which I love because Luke comes in after Maryse has been deruned and she’s like “Lucian” and they sit down to talk about how they have been ripped away from being a shadowhunter, etc etc. and Luke goes right into how he fucking remembers the last time she had her hair down and that was like twenty years ago ( listen if you remember the last time she had her hair down, you’ve feelings for them okay) and they’re making hearteyes and shit its *chief’s kiss*  Their first kiss was oof, like it was damn good okay, they bond over shit and it fits them where you didn’t get to see that with Lucelyn.  Also not to forget that Maryse tells Magnus that her and Luke used to be rivals at the Shadowhunter academy and than in the Circle (I believe? I have watched it once I think she mentioned the circle too) which is like holy fuck, one of my favorite tropes is Rivals-Enemies-to -Friends then Lovers, because they really don’t hate each other, they like each other, whoo.  With the littlest things in their set up and writing, makes you ship them (along with Nicola and Isaiah’s chemistry which in a minute), and also makes you wonder, did they like each other back then and realize it but couldn’t act on it because they didn’t think the other liked them that way, just with little things you see it in their writing, with Lucelyn’s you didn’t.  And now the chemistry, tbh their chemistry is good shit. Like on the top tier as Harry and Matt’s, for Malec. You can see the emotions in the romantic scenes, which lacked with Lucelyn’s, it’s not one sided chemistry with one actor, both actors are showing the emotions, the hearteyes, and probably things that aren’t in the script.  Isaiah and Nicola played their strengths with each other, hoenstly, just honestly, even little eye contact was enough for you to be like woahhh.  All of their scenes never lacked anything, you could see they were a building romance, even though I don’t know if they were just planting it to see our reactions in s2, so they could build on it, or our huge interest in them and how they could be a romantic relationship made them do it, someone should ask this question.  Together, being able to show us the emotions along with the little writing they got, is how Isaiah and Nicola made Maruke work.  Bottom line: Lucelyn suffered from one sided writing/chemistry and Jocelyn’s shit character, who never grew, continued to be a racist, selfish woman, while Maruke worked because Maryse had the development, so did the relationship as a whole and were able to show me that these two care a  lot about/like each other and eventually will fall in love. Even with little writing. 

Here we go, comparing the reunion scenes between Malec and everyone’s basic white ship c!ace.  Now i talked about how 3x12′s c!ace moment fell under both bad writing and zero chemistry, i decided to expand on it, by comparing how Malec nailed it and how c!ace didn’t.  So, the whole build up to the C!ace reunion from 3x10 to 3x12 is just lacking, just lacks, even though Jace believes that Clary is dead, he really doesn’t display the emotions for it, like he throws things around and yells, then goes to see Luke and suddenly believes that Clary is alive, this part falls on the writing and zero acting skills. Because this is supposed to be an emotional thing for c!ace and yet just lacks. Meanwhile Clary tries to get back to everyone and sorta falls flat there as well, because I can’t feel anything from her on that, they kinda show it but never really just made me feel it, when writing you’re supposed to do both so that way readers/viewers can feel it, that’s what I try to nail with my writing and  with this, it’s just nothing. Barely any emotion, I felt more emotion from Luke trying to prove that she’s alive. And that’s because Isaiah can just somehow nail the littlest writing he gets.  Anyways, to Paris, now this just makes me laugh because what the hell- most romantic city in the fucking world and yet you make it so lacking. I remember this clearly- another thing is laughable, is that green screened scenes of Matt and Isaiah. *clears throat* So they confront incesty burnt toast boy and Clary, she stabs herself he runs off, and  Jace goes to her. While Luke and Alec just disappear from view.  Now, they get all touchy-touchy and shit, kiss blah blah, meanwhile Paris in the background looks fake as shit, now I don’t feel any of the emotions, it just feels like blend bread, we get lines like “can’t believe i’m holding you,’ “always wanted to take you to paris.”, about how its some how better this way? What the fuck is that.  But they fall flat because they can’t do line delivery, chemistry is off and the writing is shit.  And also we got zero, and I mean zero feel! Emotions/passion just lack, if the lines lack,  than as an actor you gotta do it on your own, Harry and Matt have done it, but Kat and D*m just didn’t do it and can’t.  In this scene they don’t even act like they’ve been apart, like I want heavy breathing, sighs of relief, hugs, PASSION, and shit you know? But none of this is there, just nothing!! Like they just did one take and were like “that’s good, that’s  a wrap on s3!”  I also expected the scene to have some sort of declare for their love, but just nothing, they kiss, touch say some random lines and that’s just it. No emotions, no passion, nothing to show that they’ve been apart for a while and he thought she was dead, gone forever.  Compare this supposedly romantic as fuck scene to the Malec reunion scenes? It looks like shit.  In 2x09, they had Malec fight, it’s a stupid reason but fuck it worked anyways, so we would’ve that trope of one thinks the other is dead and the last words they said were angry words to them. In 2x10, was an action packed episode from beginning to end (its one of my favorites) Valentine takes over the Institute, and is on his way to getting the soul sword to its full power to kill the downworld, and we have Magnus over here worried about Alec, because he most likely can’t get ahold of him, because either is phone dies or is fucked up from the circle member attacking him from behind or he has it on silent not to alert the circle members that he’s alive and trying to stop them. And Alec’s worried about Magnus too, since the soul sword will kill him. And Magnus doesn’t care what happens to him, as long as he knows Alec’s safe, and we feel their fucking emotions even though the scenes are short, just more effort was put in by writing and the actors. Magnus has got the desperate breathing, feel to him, worried about Alec, which is something that’s failed by C!ace. They’ve got the feels about being worried about the safety of the other.  So moving on the soul sword is turned on, Valentine murders half of the pack, vampires and seelies, and like ten seconds later Alec comes running in out of breath, like he most have heard what went down and saw/felt the angelic energy from the sword. (he looks way more upset by the downworlders’ deaths then some others *coughs* another time for that)  And then he remembers, that Clary was under Magnus’s protection, and she’s there but Magnus isn’t, and it hits him like a million bricks falling down on him. You can hear fear, worry in his voice when he asks “Where’s Magnus? He wasn’t here, wasn’t he?” While he looks around at the dead bodies making sure that he isn’t here, as he’s told  nobody knows where he is, the way he says “oh god” and runs out looking for Magnus?? Emotional bitch there, you felt his need to find Magnus, to make sure that he wasn’t dead, you felt the fear,  desperation, you feel it, Matt rarely gets emotional scenes but when he does, he knocks it out of the park.  Now you skip forward and it’s fucking like mid-morning, you realize Alec’s been looking for Magnus all damn night into the morning hours, he doesn’t find Magnus dead but you can still feel the fear he has, once they show him rushing out of the Institute, he’s breathing heavily, he looks like he’s on the edge of a panic attack, because Magnus, where is he, than Magnus comes running to Alec and just touches him, the look on Alec’s face seeing Magnus? *chief’s kiss* he’s so relieved and throws himself into his arms, hugging onto him so tightly. You feel their emotions, as they come back together, thinking that the other could’ve been hurt or killed.  As we get close to the declaration of their love, we get Alec trying to catch his breath as he explains how not knowing if he was alive or dead, made him more terrified than any of his missions he’s been on, and Magnus feeling the same way, and than the little breathing gasps as Alec says he loves him? Just stab my arm. Than Magnus saying he loves him too? And then the kiss, they have, where Alec keeps his eyes open to make sure that Magnus is really there, and than him closing his eyes as they rest their foreheads together, feeling so relieved as Magnus smiled and then they bury their heads into each other’s shoulders? Fucking top tier, baby.  the C!ace reunion was supposed to be like this and yet fell flat, when you’re supposed to be in the most fucking romantic city in the world, and you think that the love of your life is dead, and is suddenly alive, but you just er i can’t believe you’re here. You talk so fucking casually, meanwhile Malec’s is how it’s supposed to be Why did Malec nail that scene? Was it the director? The writing? Or Matt and Harry’s emotional acting skills? Answer is all three. Again compare that C!ace reunion to Malec’s in 3x21? Just  lacks!  In 3x21, we had that emotional cliffhanger of Alec crying as he watches the love of his life basically just leave after they got engaged (originally Alec and Maryse’s scene was supposed to be in 3x20, but got moved to 3x21), so we have Alec being all  desperate and determined to get Magnus back, even though everyone tells him it’s a lost cause because Magnus can’t come back ever. But it doesn’t stop him, he legit stays up until he passes out from lack of sleep looking for a way to get Magnus back.  Magnus is over here depressed, thinking that he will never see Alec or his family again, while looking over his engagement ring? Sobbb those emotions you feel, that lacked with C!ace at the beginning of 3b.  And then we get him wanting to become a fucking vampire just so he could be with Magnus to face down Lilith, because he thought there was no other way.  We get the scene of him getting pissed off to where he loses control over his magic because he wants to find Magnus, then the ring grounds him?? Fucking hell babyyy amazing. The reunion, Magnus looking out at Edom, to hear Alec’s voice, because at first he thinks he’s imagining it, but Alec keeps calling out his name until he reaches him, and Magnus turns around to see him there, with a relieved smile at seeing his fiance there. The way he says “Alexander” as he rushes, actually fuckin, skips to Alec until they clash into each other in hug, the way Magnus clutches onto him, Alec’s smile, as Magnus says he thought he wouldn’t see Alec again, and Alec pulling back to saying it’s only Edom, (boy is basically saying hell couldn’t stop them from b eing together) and that they weren’t gonna let him fight Lilith alone, (lets ignore Lorenzo’s ass always creepin in the background).  You got Magnus saying, if we do win, then what and Alec revealing that he’s gonna stay with Magnus in Edom, leave his whole life behind for him and the look in Magnus’s eyes as he said that? *Chief’s kiss*.  The whole time you got a beautiful sing  playing in the background and the emotions again, the way they breath and shit just they nailed it.  Basically the scenes are supposed to be the same type of scenes, and yet Malec nailed it where C!ace failed, they did the emotions where they thought the other could be dead/gone forever/they never thought they would see each other again. You felt the emotions.  Meanwhile C!ace just talks really fucking casually during their reunion scene, it’s just like???? And Kat and D*m just couldn’t feed us emotions if the script lacked it.  Lack of script handling and just unable to act out emotions made C!ace’s reunion suffer. 

i totally forgot to add these: Clizzy is in the couples that work spot, Izzy/Meliorn is in the one that works/but doesn’t. R!zzy is in what the fuck where you thinking spot, and whatever other short/long canon couples i forgot. 

Yeah, rewatching s1 scenes again and honestly I never really see any C!ace milestones and when I’m supposed to, what’s written doesn’t make any sense...