#thelonious jagger

like he's so happy when he's with cyrus i might puke

april 3, 2021

TJ is charming, competitive, image-conscious and assertive. TJ puts up a tough front but at his core he’s a good person.

At his best, TJ becomes much nicer and kinder as the series progresses, largely due to Cyrus’ influence. TJ also becomes more open and helpful, as we see when he borrows the golf cart to help Buffy. 

At his worst, TJ can be mean and competitive, especially at the beginning of his interactions with Buffy. TJ also finds it hard to open up to some people and is easily embarrassed. 

When we first meet TJ, he is a bit rough around the edges and a bit of a bully. However, after he meets Cyrus and realises they have a lot in common and that they understand each other, he becomes softened. For example, after seeing how scared Cyrus is about the gun, TJ decides to do the right thing and tell the police about it. 

TJ and Buffy often clash as they both have a tendency to want to be the best. This is especially evident when they are on the basketball team together as TJ is threatened by Buffy’s skills and doesn’t want her to be better than him. However, after seeing how close Buffy and Cyrus are, he starts to be nicer to Buffy and even apologises to her. He also helps encourage her to start a girls’ basketball team.

TJ is also very image-conscious and worried about what people think about him, which we see when he gets upset about Buffy telling him about his learning disability. TJ doesn’t want to tell his teacher or anyone else because he doesn’t want to be seen as dumb. Cyrus helps encourage TJ to tell his teacher and become more open about his struggles.

TJ shows his wing 2 as he is more people-oriented and charming than a 3w4. 

Tri-type: 3w2 - 8w7 - 7w6

Some quotes to describe TJ’s motivations

“You're right about me not having a moral code. You're right about me needing help with my learning... issues.”

“Surprise. I did the right thing.”

“Classic TJ. Anything good I gotta ruin it.”

Day 3: favorite storyline

For this one, I couldn't choose. I'm a big fan of Buffy's character arc and her storyline with Marty, because it reflected my own struggle with being extremely individualistic to the point I did not look for a romantic relationship until the possibility of it blew off right in my face. On the other hand, I did like TJ's development a whole lot, too.

I can barely recognize him when I rewatch the show and get to his first episodes. He really does make up for his mistakes and turn into a completely different person because of his own efforts (and a bit of Cyrus' good influence). I especially loved the subplot with his friend Reed and the speech he gave Kyra when he realized she was manipulating him into feeling ashamed for his sexuality. I think his arc is meant to represent true repentance and redeeming and, even though it's usually a cliché, was executed perfectly.