#this is unfortunately just the worst possible situation for me to be in wrt a relationship 😭

[derogatorydennis]

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[smokeonshadows]

We need to talk about the Bobbseys

Strap in, kids. This is going to be...a lot.

To put it bluntly, the way the Bobbseys were handled was messy, unnecessary, and probably the worst thing about an otherwise great season.

It's really disappointing because the Nancy Drew writers have already proven themselves to be not only good writers, but also socially conscious writers. They actively and publicly aim to be inclusive in their storytelling, so I think it's fair to hold them to that standard.

There was a lot of potential in the Bobbseys–they're a morally ambiguous brother-sister team of codependent twins from a rough/tragic past who sometimes lie, cheat, and steal in order to make ends meet. This is interesting, this is full of possibilities as to how they could fit in with the Drew Crew, and, most of all, this was a great opportunity to have complex representation of the south asian community that subverts popular stereotypes (model minority, traditional upbringing, perpetual foreigner, etc.). Amanda and Gil would've been great characters in their own rights...but instead they were used as nothing more than cannon fodder for an unnecessary, half-baked love square with low key racist undertones.

Problematic elements

I've already talked about the racist undertones in previous posts, but in a nutshell, Gil is portrayed as being controlling/aggressive/domineering (particularly towards Nancy and Amanda) and it's a stereotype that south asian men (and I'd say black and brown men in general) are misogynistic, aggressive, and otherwise abusive towards women. This portrayal is made even worse because he's meant to be a foil for Ace, a soft/gentle/sensitive/emotionally stable white guy who Nancy is obviously meant to be with. And for Amanda, she's also portrayed in line with the stereotype of asian women being very submissive (particularly to their male counterparts). I don't think any of this was intentional, but it's just not a good look.

This problem could've at least been somewhat alleviated if Gil and Amanda had been written as fully fleshed out characters who were going on their own journeys and were consequential to the story, but that didn't happen.

Stereotypes aside, another problematic aspect of the Bobbseys is that they both fall into the unfortunately common trope of being the character of color that the white character has a superficial relationship with and leads white character to realizing that they should actually be with this other white character who's been there all along.

Even when they have roles in the episode apart from being superficial love interests, oftentimes they don't do much aside from being useful for getting the Crew from point A to point B of a mystery.

Underdeveloped relationships

Was I the only one who found the resolution of the Nancy x Gil relationship in the season finale to be a bit abrupt?

While I appreciate that they showed how seemingly small transgressions within relationships can actually be red flags and that a situation doesn't need to escalate to full-on physical abuse in order to count as domestic violence, I found that the moment when Nancy has this realization and then breaks up with Gil lacked the emotional weight befitting that situation. I think this was the case because Nancy and Gil barely had a relationship. There was attraction and sexual tension, they hooked up a few times, but it was never shown to be a real relationship. It's not just that we didn't often see them together, but with or without him, Nancy didn't think much about Gil or what he thought of her and, more importantly wrt the breakup, we aren't shown all the ways that his treatment of her affected her sense of self or the way she operated. Nancy's relationship with Gil was inconsequential, so the stakes were low.

And yes, casual hookup situations can also turn abusive, but from a narrative standpoint, the way this particular situation was portrayed, it was given both more and less weight than it should've been given. It felt like the writers wanted the breakup to be big and impactful but they not only didn't work for that payoff, they also wanted to resolve it quickly so they could move onto more important plot points (the breakup was at the beginning episode and Nancy never mentions it or even hints at any emotional fallout from it ever again).

(Amanda was done dirty)

Actually, if anything, the big dramatic breakup should've been between Amanda and Gil. Even with her severely limited screentime, almost every time we do see Amanda, we are reminded of how close she is with Gil, how badly he treats her, how much she values his opinion, and how smothered she feels by him. And it sucks that we never actually get to see Amanda make the realization, stand up for herself, and confront Gil. All we see is Ace encouraging her to break away and then cut to her living her best life post-sibling breakup.

In the end, it's as if Amanda's pain and suffering was made to be less about her and more about Nancy/being evidence that Gil is not good for Nancy. Again, not a good look.

And Amanda and Ace's relationship is also underdeveloped compared to the impact that the writers seem to want it to have. Like, I don't understand why Ace would give her a pseudo-ultimatum ("I'll prioritize you if you prioritize me") at this stage of their relationship. Yes, they do seem to be more of a relationship than Nancy x Gil, but it always felt like they were very much in the budding romance stage. While he does talk about her when they're apart, we still rarely saw them interact with each other outside of the context of Ace needing to use Amanda's connection at the hotel or to her father or brother in order to help solve the mystery. And we don't learn more about or see a different side either character through their relationship with each other.

Poorly executed, unnecessary love triangles

The whole point of having a love triangle is to raise the emotional stakes.

It's always been my belief that if you're going to have a love triangle, you need to commit to it. That means making both legs of the triangle equally viable, developing both romantic options and both relationships equally.

As noted in the sections above, this was not the case with either love triangle, which makes the whole thing feel cheap and unsatisfying. Like I said in a previous post, I think it would've been more powerful if Nancy had two really great options, but in the end chose Ace because that’s what her heart really wants no matter how great the other guy is.

Anyone with a healthy understanding of love and relationships would choose Ace over Gil. It's no contest, no real choice, so it adds nothing to the conversation, it says nothing about Nancy or her feelings for Ace. It's inconsequential, the emotional stakes are practically nonexistent.

Literally, I feel like if you took the Bobbsey love triangles out of this season, Ace and Nancy would still end up in pretty much the same place wrt their feelings for each other. I mean, yes, the whole jealousy/green eyed epiphany thing did play a role, but the relationships with the Bobbseys featured so little and were so underdeveloped that it would be more or less the same as one of them flirting with a background character every once in a while.

And Nace still didn't end up together after all that! It's hinted that for some reason, Ace will be stringing Amanda along next season while he pines for Nancy. Which is exhausting.

This is really what we sacrificed two perfectly interesting characters of color for. I'm upset.

[bondsmagii]

Idk if anyone ever clarified wrt to Chris Chan’s pronouns, but literally they change depending on what era Chris you’re talking about. Christine doesn’t like her past self being referred to with female pronouns/as Christine. The majority(?) of 2020 as well, he was Magi-Chan, and went be he/him then too. Her pronoun situation is EXTREMELY confusing and seems to change depending on her whims, and I’m not entirely sure it will ever be nailed down.

Also, for what it’s worth, I do genuinely believe she struggles with gender dysphoria and that she may honestly just be trans. I just also believe that whatever troll is on the other side feeding her information on it is also a terf/transphobe giving her information that isn’t quite right. Or information that bolsters their agenda. I don’t really know.

yeah, like. it seems like everyone is using different pronouns for different reasons and Chris herself doesn't seem to be too consistent, which is why I just decided to go for the then most recent word about it from Chris herself, which is where she asked the court to use she/her when referring to her. I also believe she suffers with some measure of dysphoria and I do think she's genuinely trans, so this seems to be the most straightforward way of doing things.

I think you're right, though. when people were questioning if she was really trans or not, everyone is saying "she only said that she came out as trans to prey on lesbians!!" and like. word for word TERF rhetoric there. trolls like the one who have been harassing Chris are not exactly known for their left-wing politics or their sensitivity to such issues, so it would not surprise me if it was transphobes seeking to harm the trans community by making such a public figure "admit" to such an agenda. it also wouldn't surprise me if some TERFs were involved. not to sound like a conspiracy theorist or anything, but TERFs are unfortunately very smart when it comes to how they spread their disinformation, and all it would take is one of them to spy this opportunity. Chris befriends people very easily, and is far too trusting. she could be easily convinced that a) that's what she thinks and b) that it's totally alright and all trans women feel this way. this is why I'm also side-eyeing the charges against her, too. I don't outright think there's no chance, because I really do not know and I can unfortunately see it as a possibility, but at the same time she has been so gullible before and it's really not difficult for a person to manipulate her into saying or doing anything they want.

this entire story is like, the worst possible people targeting a person with the worst possible set of circumstances, and literally everyone involved is an asshole to varying degrees. I still cannot believe it was allowed to go this far.

[arofili]

🏳️‍🌈 + maeglin :)

CW: this one gets angsty and talks about prejudice and internalized bigotry :(

i had to have A Think about this one because i wasn’t sure tbh? and all of what i’m gonna say is not anything i’m particularly convicted on, i’m down for whatever with him tbh. but here’s my Thots:

so first off Maeglin is trans. this post by @daywillcomeagain is excellent and honestly changed the way i think about her? like a lot? even in verses / “canon” (whatever that means lol) where Maeglin is male I can’t really see him as cis anymore. so yeah, Maeglin is trans, sometimes i see her as a trans woman and sometimes i see him as a trans man and sometimes when i’m feeling Particularly Adventuresome i see them as nonbinary/genderfluid, but There Is No Universe Where Maeglin Is Cis.

secondly, and this is where i’m not particularly sold on any one interpretation: Maeglin is gay? question mark? usually in a situation where i want to ship a character w/ the “same” ““gender”” (again whatever that means lmao) but they have an “”opposite”” “”””gender”””” canon love interest i’ll go with them being bi, because there’s never too much bi content and i like to work with canon rather than against it (there are exceptions but that’s my general vibe) BUT-

in this case i think (trans guy) maeglin was overcompensating for his weirdness wrt idril. i don’t think he was Actually In Love with her, he was looking around for a reason to be a Normal Man, and Normal Men Like Women, Right? so he found the prettiest lady and obsessed over her…unfortunately that happened to be his cousin, but he had this fixed idea of Idril As The Embodiment Of Perfect Femininity And What Every Man Should Want. so if he’s a Real Man, of course he would be in love with her….

this is where i should bring up that it’s not until morgoth ~offers~ idril as a prize for betraying gondolin that maeglin even considers her a viable option; before then he “desired her, without hope” and didn’t even make a move. idril sensing Bad Vibes from him and “loving him not at all” is…well, at best it’s post-fall propaganda, at worst it’s idril being transphobic/racist (because maeglin is Extremely poc-coded). what i’m trying to say is: Idril is unattainable to Maeglin. He never had a chance with her, and that was part of her allure. frankly, her being his cousin only increased that impossibility of them working out. so in a way, she was a safe crush, in that he wouldn’t have to ever realize what was going on.

now, this is an experience familiar to me as an aro person. and honestly? aro maeglin is good and i stan that. but i also think maeglin being gay ties into his resentment for Tuor: he’s attracted to Tuor (and weirdly, probably to Hurin and/or Huor as well? he was mean to them too) and just Doesn’t Know How To Handle That. it’s bad enough that he’s trans (though if you want to be boring this would work if he’s cis too), that he’s an outsider, that he’s half-Sinda in a kingdom of Noldor, he can’t have this weirdness too. (because Gondolin is very Noldorin, and they spoke Quenya there, and the city is very much reminiscent of Tirion, and it’s hardass Turgon who’s the king, i think they had similar laws to Valinor. ie: LaCE (ish) and homophobia? but i’m not sold on that, considering I ship Glorthelion and I think Egalmoth is a Gay Icon, so idk, maybe not. and this all just My Personal Headcanon not canon in any way)

anyway, Maeglin is trans and gay. i also say this because i ship him with Turin and jrrt was homophobic to not have these two disaster gays meet in canon smh

I also think trans woman Maeglin could be seen as gay/a lesbian, tho? in that verse her feelings for Idril could be more genuine, and her insecurity coming from internalized transmisogyny/homophobia, like “i can’t be with idril because if i’m with a woman that’s just me using my femininity to take advantage of her, that would make me basically a man!” basically she’s got a LOT of internalized issues and Deserves Better!!!! (ETA: and like the post i linked above says, it could also be her being attracted to what she wishes she was like, confusing gender envy with attraction, or w/e)

or, if we want to go with the original thesis of Maeglin being attracted to Idril because Idril is impossible to be with, she could be aro too. and since then it would be sexual attraction without romantic attraction, she would have internalized arophobia and sex-negativity thrown into the mix, too, and the objectification fear would be even stronger.

anyway: Maeglin is trans, and probably gay, and possibly aro, and i’m open to really any interpretation that includes at least one of those headcanons. (honestly they can be All of those, not even all at once? like genderfluid abrosexual Maeglin who really just Doesn’t Know what’s going on with how they feel? yes please!) the only thing im NOT interested in is predatory straight cis Maeglin. ew. gross. get that away from me. can’t believe that was probably jrrt’s headcanon, smh