#simone abara

I was rewatching and I couldn’t stop thinking about this.

I was thinking about how Simone reminds Tai throughout the season about how she was a moral person who played by the rules. How her voters see her as a role model. And even when they argued she said

“This is not the woman I married!”

But the Tai we know from the teen timeline has constantly used rage and fear to sway people.

She appeals to their fear of losing nationals to justify freezing out Allie

She appeals to their fear of dying to get them to agree with her on the lake

She appeals to their fears of starvation to get them to go on the trip to find help

She appeals to their anger, fear and betrayal to kill Coach Ben

She appeals to their fear of jail time and public scrutiny to keep them in the wilderness

She appeals to Van’s fears of dying to rig the cards

So it is kind of interesting how it was her who had walked into this race with the intention of playing fair.

Unlike Melissa or Shauna, her relationship with Simone is completely divorced from the wilderness. Unlike the other survivors, Tai has went out of her way to be known for things other than being a flight 2525 survivor. Which is probably why she sent Jessica Roberts after everyone.

It’d be really interesting to see how this relationship started.

she starts off as a prominent politician, separating herself from the other yellowjackets by being a public figure. her son is the first link we have to other tai, and the actions that other tai takes feel a lot more sinister in nature compared to how watered down she's seemed in following seasons.

she starts off as, objectively speaking, one of — if not the most compelling character of the show.

and in s2 and even more so in s3, she seems to me more of a filler character than a main, at least compared to the rest of the adult yellowjackets (save for van, whose storyline fuses with taissa's.)

despite winning the election, she quits her job and seemingly has no more professional aspirations — drawing that storyline to a conclusion despite it being a major part of her character in season 1. she's been married to simone for 15 years, and even as we get real taissa back, her wife isn't even mentioned. sammy is set up as an intriguing character in season 1, a boy that may have a connection to the supernatural to a boy who can tell the difference between his mother and her malevolent other self — only to be near fully axed in the show. the no-eyed man is one of the most compelling themes in the show, yet we don't even see him in the second half of season 3.

season 2 and 3 strip her of her political ambition, her family and eventually even the cryptid figure that's been haunting her — yet other adult survivors still kicking, to whatever extent, do have their own storylines.

she's gone from "I NEED to know more about this character" to "oh, she's there." I enjoyed her and van in the adult timeline, but I'm sure there must have been a way to execute that storyline without alleviating 80% of her previous storylines.

in her attempt to etch herself back into the world, to chase and close the time they lost in the wild, taissa found herself drawn to simone. both parts terrified and enamoured at all she was. an english major. the only person to ever beat her at debate club. popular. well-loved. a star girl.