#i like his conversations with jane a lot because they feel very? compassionate and honest

[demonicimagery]

homestuck reread: i actually like dirk a lot more this time

[zocrzay]

I am coming clean and admitting I've had an unhealthy obsession these past few weeks analyzing the break up of Katie & Greg, my favorite ship from the entire Bachelor/ette franchise. I went down hard with this ship as it crashed and burned. From the beginning, I loved their chemistry and even if some say they were just trauma bonding over the passing of their fathers, I felt they had so much more going for them. I just figured out why I can't shake this pair out of my head.

Here it is: Katie & Greg remind me of Lizzie & Darcy from Pride & Prejudice, one of the greatest love stories ever told. The idea that a couple similar to a favorite fictional pairing could exist in real life had awakened the hopeless romantic in me.

Greg is totally Mr. Darcy. He is a family man, adorably awkward, reserved, internally tormented, but also deeply passionate. He's willing to dance to encourage affection.

Katie is like Lizzie. She is strong-willed, proud (maybe too proud), and has a sharp tongue. She gives no one permission to insult her. She loves her family even though they're embarrassing. Katie does not quite fit in with other women, but that is why she is so interesting.

The opposite personalities of Lizzie & Darcy made their playful banter and relationship dynamic so enjoyable. They challenged each others' ideas. They expanded each others' consciousness as they learned more about each other. This was synergy at its finest.

Katie is from hipster Seattle while Greg is from fuss-free Jersey - two very different worlds at opposite ends of America. They brought these worlds together in beautiful balance. When they split, the Bachelor Nation fandom was divided like a broken family. At least Greg owned up the error of his ways, but Katie seems dead set on hating him. Eventually, the false narratives she tells herself to keep her walls up will unravel . I hope she faces the facts and owns up to her part in the communication breakdown. When Greg was most vulnerable, Katie could not show a hint of honest affection. She accused him of giving up on the relationship moments after he confessed his love for her. Katie only spoke of herself as a prize to be won, but to Greg, she meant so much more than just that. I hope she realizes the profound truth in what Greg was trying to tell her the day he left her. True love is more than just keeping up appearances for a show and more than just physical attraction. It is more than just saying the words "I love you" or handing out roses. Katie and Greg were more than just two hot people who were mutually attracted to each other. They had divine harmony when they were together... until they were burned by the heat of their own fire.

It is nice to know Greg just wants Katie to be happy, but I do not believe Katie & Blake have the secret sauce. Good for them for having a lot of sex, but from what I know, that kind of connection is not long term sustainable. If banging each other is the main reason they're together, they'll eventually get bored. Blake fell in love so easily with two previous Bachelorettes and that cheapens his affection for Katie. I'm sure he can bounce back quickly if Katie left him. Sorry man. Blake seems like a great person, but his intellect does not seem to match hers ("You don't have to be great. You just have to be you." dafuq?). I thought she was smarter, but maybe her flippant use of the term 'gaslighting' proves otherwise. It is shamefully elitist to point that out, but honestly, their conversation was drab when they weren't talking about sex. There are a lot of hot horny ladies out there that Blake might have more chemistry with than her. He was not even sure he wanted to propose and it was mean to tease her in the proposal speech with "I don't think I can give you what you came here for". The Say Anything references were also cringeworthy. We did not see their love get tested. She was like a damsel in distress and Blake just swooped in to save her season of the show just because he happened to be there. It was quite dull. The 'conclusion' of their journey was really unsatisfying. Katie describing their love story as "perfect" just shows the lack of depth in their relationship.

Lizzie & Darcy were such beloved characters because they were both flawed. They both made mistakes, but because of their love, they were willing to overcome their pride and their prejudice. They corrected course and became the best versions of themselves at the end of the story before choosing to be together. "I was wrong" are three words that make the words "I love you" so much more meaningful. True love is transformational. Feelings of attachment are not true love unless there is consciousness. The best love stories are not about lovers conquering outside forces, but conquering their own inner demons. People truly in love consciously choose to grow together in spirit, not in spite of their imperfections, but because of them.

Greg was impatient and had unrealistic expectations. He should have given Katie more chances to figure out what he was saying. Maybe she found his desperation unattractive. Maybe if he helped her off the floor and said goodbye properly, she might have flown out to Jersey to go after him. Katie was shallow when she could only say "I just love looking at you" and spoke to Greg as if he were just a contestant on a game show. It seemed as if his pain was just an inconvenience to her. She seemed untrustworthy. If she had stronger feelings for Blake or was still undecided, openly expressing that to Greg would have been more respectable than stringing him along to dump him later. If Greg was the one she wanted the most, she looked incredibly fickle switching her affection to whoever was still available. Most people have not been in her situation, so it is tough to judge.

Lizzie Bennet said a lot of mean things, but she was a strong female character because she was able to learn from her mistakes and grow as a person without compromising her core values. She was in love with Darcy for his character and integrity. He was courageous, generous, and compassionate - his appearance, his wealth and his status were least important to her. He proved his love for Lizzie by his selfless acts of kindness to her family even after she accused him of being a pompous ass.

Greg staying out of the way to honor Katie's decision and let her be happy with Blake is an act of love. Him working on himself in therapy is another way to prove the love he had for her was real. Only Katie knows the inner conflict she's been facing. If she truly loved Blake, resolving her conflict with Greg will help her and Blake in the long run - otherwise their relationship will be haunted by the past. If life with Greg was always her true heart's desire, love will find a way even in the most impossible circumstances.

It really is not fair to compare real human beings to fictional characters - especially the exceptionally (maybe unrealistically) strong characters written by Jane Austen. I am just sharing my thoughts before I watch the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie for the hundredth time. I just want the satisfying ending I could not get from watching reality TV before I move on to my next obsession.

[thank-you-phipps]

Review: The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian

I’ve read this book maybe three times now? It’s one of my favorites which basically puts is squarely in with the rest of Cat’s books. She’s pretty good at keeping it fresh with each new release, and I’m freaking out about Two Rogues Make a Right, which my libby app tells me will be ready in six fucking months. Not happy about that.

Although I’m very fond of most of her books, they all lack some subtlety. It’s not that she doesn’t “show” enough. The love is apparent, and I think Georgie’s character development was well done, if a bit ham-fisted. But the book doesn’t ask much of the reader. If you couldn’t read the hidden meaning behind a character’s actions, if a tone of voice is lost on you, Cat will jump in and make thinks crystal clear. This is a pet-peeve of mine that has lost some of it’s power since I’ve started devouring historical romances. Sometimes I actually appreciate it because it means that what I want to be true (what I want the character to be thinking, what I think such and such and action is meant to convey, etc), is actually how things are, and I can now fully revel in that knowledge. I only mention it because it’s a bit more pronounced in her books.

I like the romance in this one because it has something that sets it apart from others, and that is it’s built on familiarity. Yes, there’s an attraction at first, but that isn’t really given much attention for a while, or at least isn’t given much weight. There’s give and take, active loving with good deeds done, and a sort of exclusive camaraderie that is set before the airier feelings are laid on top. It’s a more humble romance than what I’ve read in the past, with emphasis put on companionship, and an appreciated dearth of alpha displays.

I’ve been reading all Lisa Kleypas’ books recently, so the lack of alpha males was rather jarring, but a relief I can tell you. In fact, of all romance heroes, Lawrence is one of the least testosterone drenched of the bunch. He’s a recluse due to his extreme anxiety, and struggles throughout the book because of it. But he overcomes himself when he must be a father to Simon (partly for Georgie’s sake and at his earnest request), and again when he ventures all the way to London from Cornwall to save Georgie from Mattie Brewster, which entailed all sorts of harrowing interactions, and unfamiliar surroundings. No bread and ham to be found, and he longs to be back in his hole.

That’s not something you see often in rom-coms; when someone must be better for the sake of the love interest, and struggles with it. Lisa Kleypas would never dare risk a bond with the substantiality of cotton candy on anything so trifling as self sacrifice.

I did say that it was a romance built on familiarity. They work in close proximity and with not an insignificant level of intimacy. Georgie is his secretary, so he reads all Lawrence’s notes and correspondence with his partner in science. Lawrence comes to rely on Georgie quite a bit, and soon it becomes clear that he is indispensable to Lawrence both for his own sake and as a helpmate to Lawrence’s tinkering.

Cat could have delved further into that dynamic. The two of them collaborating, together working at solutions to short circuits, Georgie getting a chance to become invested in Lawrence’s experiments, could have been a great stage to develop a more intimate sense of partnership. This is a pet-peeve of mine: rom-com authors skimming over the aspects of a relationship that actually build the familiarity and appreciation of each other’s company. It happens quite a bit in Red, White, and Royal Blue (please, God, don’t smite me) which rankled. Casey just tells us, after sampling a few measly conversations, that the pair continue these interactions for weeks and weeks. In other words, the readers aren’t privy to the freaking bonding part. We like that part! That’s why we picked up the book. But I digress.

To be completely honest, I love it when authors give one character a flaw that prompts a surplus of compassion from the other player. The fact that we get to see Georgie being soft with Lawrence when he’s panicking, or being sensitive to his needs even before he has to ask, is just uwu porn at its finest, and a total guilty pleasure. And yet I am counting it as a flaw that Cat picked for Lawrence such an easily surmountable imperfection (in Georgie’s eyes) to conduct their falling in love. I am not saying anxiety is easily surmountable. Definitely, definitely not saying that. I only mean that it is easily surmountable as an obstacle in this relationship, and in fictional romantic relationships in general. Anxiety isn’t usually something romance authors insert into their books for the purpose of creating strife in the relationship. More often it’s a shortcut to intimacy. It’s easy to be compassionate to an anxious person, relatively speaking, even prompting some co-dependence a la Mr. Rochester + Jane Eyre, and God how I love the smell of co-dependence in the morning. But it doesn’t really give us anything new, and doesn’t challenge the pairing in any real way (quite the opposite). In this case, they needn’t grow or learn anything about themselves so that they might be more compatible; there are no bridges that need building if the relationship is to be a success (at least the way Cat writes anxiety), and if nobody is challenged, the relationship hasn’t much foundation. I’m always more convinced of a pairing when it’s brought to the table with some less romantic issues that are then ironed away throughout the book. (Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn makes for a nice example.) I like to think they could be convincing by some means other than they happen to like kinky sex. Let me be clear, me pretending sex is the main conduit of feeling in this book is way oversimplifying and overstating the problem to get my point across, but in my defense, sex is an apt punching bag. The tendency is for characters to put a lot of meaning into sex because they think that they are learning all the important things by intuiting it all, while emotions are running high but not much is at stake. I’m not knocking great sex. That counts as bonding, at least in my book. But the love could be so much deeper if we got to see them arguing, crying in frustration, being resentful and then figuring it out, kissing and making up with maybe some handcuffs and rope to sweeten the deal.

[deathclawforcuties]

OC Interview!

So, got tagged by @robobrainmurdermysterytheatre to do my OC from Fallout 4.

I'm supposed to tag five other people, but sadly I don't know anyone else to tag who hasn't already been tagged by others, soooo here goes.

1. What is your name?

"The Names Celestine O'Kelly-Hancock, but everyone just calls me Celeste for short. Nice to meet you, dude."

2. Do you know why are you named that?

"Which part are you asking about?"

3. Are you single or taken?

"Very much taken. Remarried, actually. My hubby is the Mayor of Goodneighbor. Maybe you've heard of him?"

4. Have any abilities or powers?

"I've a natural affinity for swimming, and growing some of the best damn rad-weed this side of....uh....what were we talking about again? Oh yeah! I can out-snipe anyone."

*somewhere off in the distance you can hear Robert screaming out "I CALL SHENANIGANS!"*

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

"Huh? Dude, are you smoking the same shit I am? Who's Mary Sue? Pretty sure you mean Mary Jane."

6. What’s your eye color?

"My eye color? John tells me they're 'Nuka Quantum blue', but I'm pretty sure he's stoned when he says that. I think they're deep, almost grey-blue, to be honest."

7. How about your hair color?

"Currently it's purple, because SOMEBODY likes to play pranks and fuck with my soap. Deacon, I'm looking at you!"

*A maniacal cackle can be heard around the corner*

8. Have any family members?

"Well, sure I do. There's my hubby John, there's Robert who is like my little brother. I've got my fur-baby, Dogmeat, and my adopted dad, Wiseman..."

9. Oh? How about pets?

"Dogmeat, he's a dog, obviously. Then I adopted a ginger tabby I named Deacon."

*Deacon pokes his head into the picture*

"Awwww!"

"Because he, too, is an asshole."

*Human Deacon blows raspberries before slinking off*

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like?

"Something I don't like? I can't stand bigotry of any kind; you picking on a ghoul in front of me is a great way to get shot. By me. Because fuck you, that's why. I also don't like it when someone tries to fuck with my crops. Wait until it's done growing. Fucking weed-nappers."

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

“I smoke pot, I crochet stuff, and hunt raiders. Oh, and I like to bake."

*Hancock wolf whistles off from the side*

"You mean get baked!"

"Oh, ha ha babe!"

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

"Damn, that's uh...that's kinda heavy. Yeah...um...not something I really want to talk about."

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

"Dude, this is the Commonwealth we're talking about. Everyone out this way has killed at least once in their life. I might have a higher kill count than most, I mean, I do actively hunt raiders and shit...so....yes."

14. What kind of animal are you?

“A house cat. Yeah, happy, lazy fucker that naps in the sun, sleeps a lot..."

15. Name your worst habits?

"My worst habits? I sometimes sleep too much, and I may, or may not, steal the covers."

*Hancock sticks his head in the room*

"She totally steals the blankets."

"BABE!"

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

"My adopted Dad, Wiseman. No matter what hell comes his way, he faces it with a calm and compassionate heart leading the rest of my ghoul family through it all with grace. And John. He saved my life both literally, and figuratively. And my mom...I miss her."

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

"Does...does it really matter?"

18. Do you go to school?

"The school of Hard Knocks count?"

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

"Well, I remarried, so yes to that part. As far as kids go, John and I have thought about adopting, but I'm....not quite ready yet..."

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

"I don't have any strains by those names. Got some OG Kush growing right now...Just hit a blunt made from it, actually. Smoooth po-ta-to."

21. What are you most afraid of?

"Fucking rad roaches, man! I'll take a deathclaw on any day, but put me in a room full of giant bugs and I will nope the biggest nope that ever noped."

22. What do you usually wear?

*Hancock butts in*

"She usually wears my face on her lady bits! Yeah booooy!"

"OMG BABE! NO BAD!"

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

“When I get the munchies, I crave Dandy Boy apples, and gum drops. I can't get enough of them."

24. Am I annoying to you?

"Even if you were, I'm waaaay too baked to care right now."

25. Well, it’s still not over!

"Huh? What's not over? Did I just miss a whole conversation?"

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

"If I'm stoned, I'm HIGH class!"

*Giggling intensifies*

27. How many friends do you have?

"Tons. You looking to add to my list?"

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

"I could totally go for a slice right about now. Why? You offering?"

29. Favorite drink?

“Vim classic. Good shit."

30. What’s your favorite place?

"I've got two places I love: The Slog, and Goodneighbor. They're the only places I feel truly at home in."

31. Are you interested in anyone?

*Hancock butts in again*

"She's married to me. I don't share."

"You heard the Mayor: He doesn't share. Hey! I made a rhyme!"

32. That was a stupid question…

"Waaaaait.....did I think that out loud?"

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

“Both. I fear no body of water, and nothing ever bothers me when I swim, at least. Might have to do with all the Vim I drink..."

34. What’s your type?

“My type? Gotta be intelligent; if you can't carry on an intelligent conversation, you can quit right now. I like a partner whose heart is in everything they do, and who isn't judgmental, as well."

35. Any fetishes?

"I uh....um...*cough* I like role playing..."

36. Camping or outdoors?

"I adore outdoors. Being out in my garden is like a balm to my soul. Camping is meh, but sometimes when I'm on a job, it's a necessary evil."

[girlreviewsgirlmovies]

Jane the Virgin (Episode 1)

Okay, I don’t want to be that person who reviews a show based on one episode, because unlike movies, a single episode is not a single piece that can always be taken individually but...

Someone please let me know if this gets better? Because the way this episode portrays sexuality in general is kind of rubbing me the wrong way. It’s not entirely in the text, but there is some significant virginity-related actual text that comes before it so my mind was very aware of whether it would actually put effort to subvert the message it gives in the first few minutes or reiterate the message throughout the rest. Let me break it down.

Pre-emptive disclaimer: keep in mind I am a deconstructionist. If the show later does things that go against my first impression and deconstruct itself, that’s great, but this is just the messages that I felt were apparent in episode one. 

So we open up on our protagonist Jane in her childhood years, getting the good old harmful chewed-gun monologue that has made girls think that losing their virginity makes them less valuable as people from her grandmother, whose using the “crumpled up flower” version. Cut to years later when Jane is an adult whose made the choice to stay a virgin. Now, every woman 100% has the right to make this choice themselves, but the show lets us know this by specifically showing Jane has the flower framed on her wall and when her boyfriend is making out pretty heavily with her she looks at it, and when a petal drops she cuts things off. This flower is set up to represent Jane, and shows that by making out with this guy Jane is loosing something, she’s going too far. Not exactly the best symbolism to launch at us right after another character actually gives us the “having sex makes you worth less as a person” monologue. 

Now, I’m okay with the character feeling this way if the show admits at some point that her mindset is unhealthy-- because seriously, if she’s so caught up in this virgin thing that she’s got the flower framed, she’s probably too caught up in it to have a healthy relationship with sex within marriage either. The problem with the flower or gum monologue is that there is no metaphorical equivalent of getting married for a chewed piece of gum. It’s value is diminished no matter what the context it was chewed in, and it’s a documented fact that some girls internalize this teaching so much that they still feel like they’ve lost something of themselves when they have sex within marriage. And it’s okay if the character feels this way and they address it, but I’m not going to be impressed if this character ever gets married and there isn’t backlash from this teaching without a whole lot of character development between now and then. Someone tell me if the show is worth my time and addresses the psychological implications in its premise or if it just glosses over this as if the chewed gum monologue is a healthy way to teach abstinence. 

Anyways, cut to some guy having a conversation with his wife. Now, she says one line that kind of rings the, “Maybe this person is a bit greedy” alarm bell that the only people who feel guilty about taking money are the ones who have too much, but this woman is labelled as his wife and she tells him to calm down and gets on her knees... cut from blowjob to the on-screen text calling her a “maneater”. Hilarious blowjob pun on the surface, considering the show then indicates that the man is unhappy in this relationship... but we haven’t seen that much yet, so this line not-so-subtly connects the fact this girl is a bad person with the fact she gives her own husband blowjobs before she even does anything bad. I mean, maybe it was just a blowjob pun and this girl is going to be a great person, but blowjobs are not the first thing I think of when I see the word “maneater”, it’s literally a word for slut, and it’s a word for women taking advantage of men without caring about them. Considering this show has already given us a speech of “virginity good, sex bad”, this scene gives me the impression that going forward the show will be reinforcing the opinions of the characters, not just representing characters with these opinions. Because Virgin Protagonist Good, Blowjob Lady Bad. 

Next concern comes in the show introducing a lesbian character. Now, representation is great... but the first impression we get of her wife is that the wife is loose (she’s having an affair). Then our lesbian character whose been cheated on makes a huge medical error that causes problems for our protagonist. Not to say that lesbians aren’t people who make mistakes just like all other people, especially (in terms of the doctor) when they have a good reason to be upset and off their game... but I’m not super impressed that within its first ten minutes the show is 2/2 on lesbian characters doing bad things. And honestly this kind of also connects to the umbrella of “Bad Women Have Sex” because these are two married lesbians.

Next comes what I was expecting, which is the character realizing there’s a misunderstanding... and the show goes, “Alas, it was too late”. Except, it wasn’t. Plan B... like, exists. Call Jane back, tell her immediately that she was mixed up with another patient, give her the pill, and the egg would be prevented from implanting. So this kind of connects back, for me, to the idea that once you have sex you’re a damaged person that the show has shown us so far. 

Beyond that, the show loses basically all of the doubt I was giving it for happening to make a character making a mistake whose a lesbian, because instead of calling Jane right back and trying to fix the problem, our lesbian doctor starts looking for a lawyer. Sorry, you just went from “character making an understandable mistake” to “character being a terrible person”. We do get another lesbian introduced here, though, so at least it’s now only 2/3 at the moment for bad people lesbians... no wait, the ex here tells her not to say anything because she could lose her license instead of, “Hey, you know, maybe don’t wreck a person’s life to try to protect yourself from a medical malpractice suit over medical malpractice you actually committed.” Maybe I’m having a strong reaction here because I’m childfree and afraid of pregnancy, but seriously, I’m counting this as 3/3 terrible lesbians here. 

And don’t get me wrong, I get that this is jumping through loops because the point of the show is a virgin pregnancy and it wouldn’t happen if these characters did the compassionate thing... but seriously, you had to introduce four people being dicks in the first episode when any of them could have been men, and you made all of them women and one of them a lesbian. Well, I mean, there was a dude who was a dick when the sperm-sample guy mistook Jane for someone he saw at a strip club but honestly, while I get her being insulted he thought she was a stripper, but it’s honestly that much a dick move. A stripper isn’t a bad person or anything... but this show is treating all sexual women as bad women so far so that kind of fits in with all that bad impression.

And honestly it just keeps going in introducing sexual women and then indicating they’re bad women. Jane’s mom checks out a guy on the bus and then goes off about how “slutty Crystal” is cheating and sending nudes. 

And now we’re back to Shitty Doctor and she’s literally told the father before she’s told Jane and MY GOD LADY YOU JUST REALLY HAVE TO BE THE WORST POSSIBLE PERSON IN THIS SCENARIO DON’T YOU? She does at least offer an abortion pill very chill and nonchalantly, which is honestly more than I expected of this show at this point... 

Okay, so her boyfriend proposes despite their timeline, which makes me lose a little respect for him... but to be honest, I do think it’s a realistic portrayal of a virgin-until-marriage relationship for the most part. A lot of religious abstinence-only young people do marry early in part because of the no-sex-before-marriage thing. Even if he says that’s not it. There’d be no reason not to stick to the timeline, really, if they can’t raise kids right this moment (because like, he don’t know she pregnant), except so they can start having sex. 

I was ready to give this show some credit for showing Jane thinking about it and talking to her boyfriend before deciding about the abortion, but while I’m totally okay with the character deciding to keep the baby because that’s her choice... I am kind of disapproving of the fact that actually it starts right in on the idea 

Oh, and it turns out Jane’s mom got pregnant as a teenager for “being irresponsible” (Jane’s words, but still, the show has very much aligned us with her here as the straight man, and she literally says she doesn’t want to turn out like her mom) and “grandma made you [have me]”. And we’ve seriously moved into anti-abortion and punish-kids-with-pregnancy area here. Loosely, not as heavy-handed as the “sex is bad, virginity good” theme that the show has been hammering. 

And then we have the sperm-donor and his wife literally deciding they want the child before Jane even decides if she’s going to keep the child, let alone if she’s decided she wants a complete stranger in her child’s life just because it was his sperm. And now that they’d meeting, I’m realizing that telling the dad not only what happened but Jane’s name was a huge illegal privacy breech. Seriously, if this lady doesn’t get her license revoked by the end of this I’m going to scream... And like, by the time he tracks her down, she might’ve already had an abortion and he just like... assumes she hasn’t? I dunno, I’m just getting the jeebies from the way this subject is being handled. I’m glad she did actually consider it fully, it wasn’t just “Hey, I’m glad I wasn’t aborted so I won’t abort”. Like, she’s thought this through a lot. 

“You didn’t drop the cancer card”. First off, at least props to him for not doing that. She doesn’t owe him a biological child just because it’s his only chance and I’m glad that the show has kind of shown that. Given, I’m still seething about the fact that he even had the tools (name) to track her down... But in this same scene, we definitely learn Petra is a maneater in the non-punny sense of the word. And a gold-digger. So yeah, still pretty much all for all on sexual women getting a bad name here...

URG. Grandma on the other hand, did not think this through. She’s doing the whole “I’m glad you weren’t aborted so you can’t abort this baby will be the best part of your life!” thing. And we don’t address the fact Grandma was snooping in Jane’s room and feels personally fucking betrayed by what she thinks Jane chose to do with her own damn body. 

“I’ll convince your brother not to report you to the medical board.” UMMM JANE CAN/SHOULD DO THAT TOO. SHE’S THE ONE WHO’S PREGNANT NON-CONSENSUALLY. HELLO. 

“I want to support you no matter what, but I don’t want to support you with another guy’s kid.” Sorry, but this was Artificial Insemination Rape here. I mean, I’m glad this asshole showed his feathers and will be gone from her life, but seriously. His girlfriend basically has a rape baby and he’s telling her that if she doesn’t abort it he doesn’t want to be with her... god. I mean, I would break up with him and then abort it, to be honest, if I were her, but. Look, I’m just pissed that they’re representing the one pro-abortion argument besides Jane’s, who we know preemptively is going to be convinced away from because that’s the whole point of the show, by this absolute asshole just being an asshole. Jane says “Of course I get why” but like... you really shouldn’t. You really, really shouldn’t. You are the victim here of medical malpractice, and he can either treat the kid like his own if you chose to have it or he’s an asshole. DNA don’t mean shit. You didn’t cheat, so there shouldn’t be a problem. (Further convinced this guy proposed for sex, btw).

Just on a completely separate note here than the “sex bad, virgin good” thing this whole thing has going on... I’m not particularly impressed that this show broke up two interracial couples in the first episode. Nothing much to say on that, just... I dunno, with having three terrible lesbians and now this, just... not impressed. And then got them back together after we already know they’re unhealthy relationships... *sigh*

Positives: POC represent. (And I know it’s weird to put this as an end note after talking about how I think certain things the Latino characters are spouting which is probably a realistic thing... my problem isn’t that, it’s how the universe of the show in general appears to align with what they say and tell us that thematically we should be aligning with the things they’re saying.) That there are lesbian characters at all. And to be fair there is still the one thing against my read of “sex bad” in that Jane does get pregnant despite doing “everything right”, which is almost a hint of a subversion of the “sex uses you up” theme. Characters having opinions is fine, my only issue is that the show seems to be aligning us with some pretty toxic opinions, 

So just... someone tell me if the “sex bad” message gets better or not.