trash

riley:

AND THEN THAT LIL PAUSE WHERE SHE LOOKS DOWN AND COREYS STILL SMILING AT HER ????

AND THEN HE DECIDED TO MESS WITH HER AND SAY JK BUT SHE KEPT SMILING ANYWAY ????

Obviously, the biggest takeaway is that rilaya is the most important element. When Lucas tries to assert that his relationship with Riley is the most important one, he gets swiftly shutdown with an unenthusiastic response from Riley (and everyone else). And when Lucas tries to call Riley ‘Riles’ and Maya ‘Peaches’, he, yet again, gets shutdown. No one can call them that except each other. It’s something Lucas isn’t allowed to be a part of. And finally, when Farkle smacks Lucas in the back of the head, Maya laughs and Riley excuses it. “It’s for science”.

Now, ignoring the fact that dude is a literal and metaphorical punching bag in the classroom scene, it also highlights a hierarchy in the dynamics. Lucas may be Riley’s boyfriend, but Maya and rilaya matter most. Extraordinary relationship and all that jazz.

Obviously, this is a point that’s been hammered home time and again, but it’s one that I think will be incredibly important to remember through the few episodes left of season 3.

Two other things I noticed were in regard to Lucas’ individual relationships with Riley and Maya. There are, it seems, two universal truths about the Lucas/Riley & Lucas/Maya relationships, truths that exist in the alternate universe, as well as the actual GMW universe. What are they?

1. Lucas feels the need to protect Riley (basically because he sees her as a scaredy lamb, as someone who needs people to stand up for her, because she won’t do it herself.)

Lucas: But right now, you’re like a defenseless sheep. I hate seeing defenseless little animals get hurt.

2. Lucas can see right through Maya’s tough facade (just as much as she can see through his):

Maya: Hey Friar, are you as tough as everyone thinks you are? Lucas: Hey Hart, are you?

It’s interesting that these two ideas remain true, regardless of what universe the characters exist within. We’ve seen Lucas’ protective nature come out in regards to Riley(and all his friends), just as we’ve seen the way Maya and Lucas can see through each other’s superficial exteriors.

Now, it’s easy to want to romanticize Lucas’ need to protect Riley, but there’s a few things to remember. First of all, Lucas has a saving people thing. He’s all about protecting his friends and standing up for people who can’t do it themselves. He protects Zay in SOL (and obviously back in Texas), Riley in Rileytown and Farkle in Flaws. Lucas protects people who he feels can’t protect themselves because he can’t stand to see them get hurt. That’s what Lucas does. It’s not an inherently romantic gesture. It’s who Lucas is and he does it for all of his friends.

Secondly, this protective sentiment is one that Maya also expressed…about Farkle (the one relationship that’s been blatantly shot down as ever being romantic).

Farkle: I’m a bird to you? Maya: No, you just…need to be protected.

Maya and Lucas are FIERCLY protective of their friends, and this rings especially true for Farkle and Riley, respectively. Maya and Lucas see Farkle and Riley as two people who need protection, like Maya putting her life in danger to save Farkle in Ski Lodge or Lucas wanting to beat up Riley’s bully in Rileytown.

It’s especially interesting that, in the alternate universe, Lucas gives Riley this advice.

“Stand up for yourself.”

And while Riley is a very strong willed person in the GMW universe, she’s also very sensitive and I think that’s a piece of advice that rings true, in whatever universe they exist. She needs to learn to be confident in herself and to stand up for that. (Remember how Riley admired purple combat boots and the way she walked with confidence?)

So, not only do Lucas and Maya share the desire to protect those they feel can’t do it themselves, they also have the ability to see through one another.

In the actual GMW universe, Maya knew from the beginning that there was more to Lucas than met the eye and, lo and behold, she was right. He wasn’t just “Mr. Moral Compass”. He actually had a bit of a dark history.

And this ability to see through one another works for Lucas towards Maya, as well. Throughout the non-triangle arc, Lucas continually (literally every single episode) mentions who Maya “really” is. From “that’s who Maya is” to “deep down Maya is beautiful”, Lucas sees through Maya’s tough exterior. He can see through that, just like she can see through him. He knows who she really is inside and that’s what he likes about her (Cue GM Popular meta and the whole, “This is who I am inside. It’s the part of me he first fell in love with.)

While Lucas’ conversation with Riley in the alternate universe is easily one of the best he’s ever had (it’d be really great from Riley’s end, as well, if she weren’t a glorified kindergartner), that sort of interaction and honesty isn’t something that really translates to the real world, or at least hasn’t in an very long time.

And what STILL gets me is that the “stand up for yourself” conversation in WoT3 is pretty much hands down the BEST conversation we’ve ever seen between Lucas and Riley in the history of the whole show. They don’t even know each other in that universe, really, and yet they have a more equally weighted and effective conversation than they’ve ever had in the normal world. Kinda goes to show what they might be like if they’d never idealized each other so dang much.

I haven’t had a chance to watch yet, but assuming they kept the whole bit, I think it’s interesting Riley & Lucas have this legitimately great exchange in the AU and yet…Riley can’t get the vet thing out of Lucas no matter how hard she pushes. In the AU, they have a truly effective conversation, and if they interacted in the real world the way they interacted in the AU, I’d never question their alleged “deep connection” or “amazing conversations.” But they don’t.

In the real world, Lucas told Riley he might wanna be a vet 2+ years ago, they haven’t really communicated effectively since and you’d think the vet thing was the height of human communication and the be all end all essence of Lucas’s soul for the way Riley clings to it even though Lucas himself has never brought it up again (except when he was atop Tombstone and Riley told him to).

One thing that comes up over and over is that you have to look deeper. “This goes deeper” as Mr. Squirrels would say. And it’s something that Riley and Lucas consistently fail at with regards of each other, but can do very well with Farkle and Maya respectively. 

I also agree with @theowldetective in that the problem between Riley and Lucas is that they let the idea of each other get in a the way of the reality of it. They willfully do this. They never had a chance because they fell in like with the concept. In Jacobsland, love at first sight doesn’t really exist. It’s all about the work, which I think it’s important to remember. 

They confuse conversation with communication, and honestly they aren’t even that good at talking to each other about important things, like the things that scare them, or when they are worried, or why it’s important to believe or forgive. They just think they are. Think being the operative word. 

Maya: “You don’t go out with a fantasy, you just think about it all the time.”

One episode later…

Lucas: “So, you’ve been thinking about this too?”

Riley: “Yeah, I think about it all the time.”

The long and short of it here is that these two precious dumb children have waaaaay romanticized and have apparently been fantasizing about a conversation from over two years ago as if it was the be-all end-all of human communication when it wasn’t. I mean, yes, it was a genuinely sweet little getting-to-know-you moment (I don’t care who you ship, don’t front like you didn’t go “awwww” at them in that scene at least a little) but they haven’t really ever gone beyond that in any meaningful way. It’s been 2+ years and they’re still stuck on “I love IT” and “I might wanna be a vet!” In the first Ski Lodge episode, Riley’s whole fantasy seems centered around the subway and the library (with a dash of “rodeo star”). And of course in Triangle, Lucas’s reasons for liking Riley were…the subway and the library (and she’s goofy).

Hell, Riley basically had the exact same conversation with another guy not even a full 24 hours before Lucas and Riley had their get together moment. (She’s also had the “maybe I wanna be a _____ when I grow up” conversation with Maya). And she was a more equal participant in the conversation with Evan as opposed to just sitting there swooning over him like he was her favorite boy band member—which is pretty much all she did in the library, so I get why Lucas liked it so much. But as sweet and cute as the library conversation was, a good relationship needs to be based one more than “she ‘fell’ so that means the universe wants us to date!” and “I might wanna be a vet!” + swoon. And it needs to happen in the real world, not an AU.