#which is why they immediately collapse during the merge ig

[pigspeetsandhooflikefeets]

I already brushed on it in my Wemma suggesting post, but I really like as a whole, Emma and Wayne are essentially the heart and soul leaders of The Frogs of Death, with Emma relying on pathos and Wayne relying on logos (surprisingly)

It’s surprisingly most highlighted in the two challenges with a Nichelle focus, episodes 1 and 3. Nichelle is essentially carried metaphorically (and literally in ep1) somehow being a fascinating character springboard for the others.

For Wayne, despite the obvious ease Wayne would have doing a blindfolded challenge with Raj, they go with someone else, because he probably just wanted everyone to get a fair turn and not just hang out with his best friend the entire show (and the belief she’s an action star, but it is all off-screen). When she protests running, Wayne decides to risk his health because of faith in himself, her safety, and the group. Despite doing probably the least wrong, he still proceeds to blame himself after the challenge.

Emma falls into the emotional side of the team, forcing a sense of positivity around the group to help with Nichelle’s self-doubt. She gets aggressive when Bowie and MK’s negativity affects Nichelle, letting her spiral further. While the rest of the team are shocked by the reveal, Emma is never shown to care and simply want her in a mentally stable state (mostly to win the challenge, yes), asking to talk to her about her emotional crisis later, while the others proceed to just hound her further (or have no idea what’s happening). While it’s based off the team’s agenda, Emma focuses on Nichelle’s inner strength and desire to prove herself. You cannot convince me Emma voted for Nichelle. She 100% voted for MK, considering how mad she looks at her during the ceremony. She was also the only one to react that Julia was drowning and went back to help her, despite her being annoying. Later in ep4 despite having beef with MK, she still praises her and believes her somewhat unbelivable story, looking hurt when MK snaps at her regardless (as if Emma couldn’t just mention it again later...?)

Notably in ep2, while the two contestants have very different styles of leadership, they mesh remarkably well. When Emma lets her emotions lead her style of competing, Wayne swoops in not to tell her to go with his original plan, but modifies his plan to apply a logos approach, justifying her behaviour and sharing the role of captain, metaphorically. Neither view their sense of leadership as “my way or the highway”, but rather channeling certain negative feelings into proper behaviour. Like, ya know, an actual leader.

tl;dr Wayne and Emma really said team dad and team mom