#this show really has me out here writing fuckin dissertations about teenagers every week smh

[canonicallyanxious]

taking a moment to think about how good i think druck new gen has been so far at maintaining character continuity across seasons... i think with a format where the main character changes every season it’s quite difficult to keep characterizations/arcs consistent across seasons as all the characters change the roles that they occupy in the story but so far i’ve been really impressed with the growth/development of the cashqueens and how much was established in s5 that is now being explored and deconstructed in s6!

Just a few examples I can think of off the top of my head:

1. In s5 it was well-established that Fatou avoids conflict as much as she can and will avoid engaging with difficult situations rather than explicitly expressing anger or frustration. we could see this in the way that she was very often the first to give Nora the benefit of the doubt, as well as the way she fully withdrew - going so far as to not go to school - after Nora hurt her at the end of ep 8. in this season this is a major part of her character arc. we see her many times throughout the season say/do what she thinks other people want to hear or need from her, which has already resulted in her taking on too much multiple times and subsequently neglect her emotional needs and internalize the idea that she should be able to stay the chill friend who doesn’t need help or support with anything. in this clip the line “i just want to do right by everyone” really stands out to me bc that’s been her main motivation basically the whole time we’ve known her. she just wants to do right by everyone, but in the process no one knows just how much she’s dealing with which means she has no support in the times she can’t do everything that is being asked of her.

[worth noting, i think, that the times we’ve seen Fatou get properly upset this season are often in response to Kieu My. “crazy that I couldn’t see how fake you are” and “you’re just too much of a coward to tell me i’m not good enough for you” are what come to mind for me. i find that really interesting because i think it shows the way her story arc with Kieu My has already helped her grow this season. in the former scene, that’s an important step in her laying down the line and saying “i deserve better than how you’re treating me”; in the latter scene it’s one of the few times the whole season she’s really put her own insecurities into words. also crucial to note how Kieu My responds to Fatou every time - with understanding, compassion, the implicit acknowledgement that she does need to do better and the consistent follow-up with her attempts to do so. so fatou has the space to express her negative feelings, but also work through them and process them in a healthy way. imo it’s a compelling way of developing their romance and giving it nuance and depth!]

2. back in s5 it was clear from social media and Mailin’s actions in the show that she is very passionate about doing the right thing [her main motivation for stealing the money from the instas was that it wasn’t right for them to waste the class’s money, for example]. she has a strong moral compass that’s quite admirable for someone of her age! but we also saw in s5 that she could be impulsive and a little careless with how her actions impact others [e.g when she broke into the campground], and also prioritize her activism over the feelings of her friends [e.g in the discussion of Thanksgiving, bringing up the fact that Thanksgiving is emblematic of genocide and oppression of American indigenous peoples when Ava mostly just wanted to recognize that she enjoys the holiday for the feeling of communion and such]. 

so to see them build on that thread here into a fleshed-out storyline properly addressing her performative activism and the way it can impact her marginalized friends is imo a really important story to tell. i feel like often when racism is tackled in mainstream media it often runs the risk of either being overly exaggerated/caricaturized or just completely glossed over, so there is a balance to be struck here with holding Mailin accountable for her actions while giving her space to grow and learn from her mistakes - she’s not some cartoon villain, she’s a teenager who’s still trying to learn how to navigate the world - and [hopefully] providing a roadmap of learning how to be a better ally. so far though it seems clear that druck is making a concerted effort to navigate that line with how carefully they’ve put in the pieces from s5 and earlier in this season.

3. for Ava, we saw pretty early on in s5 that she deeply values friendship, loyalty, honesty, and trust. this was established through the way she stood up for Fatou in s5 ep 9, as well as how she was more open to Nora as soon as Nora was more open with her. this continues in this season as well with the conflict b/w ava and fatou. the conversation bw them at the beginning of s6 ep 5 remains one of my favorite clips of the season bc i feel like it captures Ava’s character and their friendship very well - "friends always come first”, and the way that she opened up with Fatou when she intuited that Fatou was genuinely opening up to her as well. this aspect of her character is highlighted in today’s clip with lines like “have you even asked me how i’m doing?” and how she doesn’t always want to be the mature and responsible one. we’ve seen ava multiple times in this season try to put aside her own feelings for the sake of friendship, to be the “mature” one for the sake of keeping the peace, but she’s reached a point where she just can’t do that anymore. Reciprocity in friendship is very important to her in that she wants [and deserves!] the same support and energy from her relationships that she gives to them, but when characters like fatou and nora aren’t able to provide that reciprocity [for reasons that are of course extremely understandable from their point of view] that can cause a lot of hurt for Ava precisely because of the things that have already been established to be very important to her.

4. tbqh i don’t have as much to say about Nora as i do about the others but i will say that i think the way she reacts in this clip is understandable in the context of her character too, actually! we know from s5 that she’s another character who’s prone to glossing over her real feelings in an effort to keep the illusion that everything is okay. we also know that this is really the first time she’s been able to establish some independence for herself from her mother while also having a lot to deal with in terms of her mental illness and navigating a relationship with someone while coping with those things, which is probably a lot to adjust to and puts into context why she’s not been committing as much time to the cashqueens recently. like the other characters she has a lot to balance and reasons not to be totally open about what she’s going through, which complements the themes of her season and fatou’s season quite well.

mostly i just find it impressive how much work has been put into developing these characters’ arcs and making all their perspectives understandable to us in a clip like this. because their characterizations have been well-established and incorporated into their respective arcs, we are able to more deeply understand their feelings and why they’re reacting the way they do to a situation like this. it’s part of what makes conflict between them so difficult to watch, i think, but it’s also part of what makes their conflict feel so real, and i just think it’s really cool to see the writers of this show making a concerted effort to afford their characters compassion and empathy even in difficult times so that we can extend compassion and empathy to them as well.