I've Seen A Lot Of Takes Floating Around About How We Shouldn't Make Excuses For EJ/Gina/Ricky While

I've seen a lot of takes floating around about how we shouldn't make excuses for EJ/Gina/Ricky while talking about the others' mistakes. I can't help but wonder -

Am I the only one that's Team-Make-excuses-for-everybody?

Because fundamentally these characers are pretty young and that summer of firsts has put a lot on their plates.

EJ - isn't spending enough time with his girlfriend and friends? Yeah, because he was slapped with the huge responsibility of making a blockbuster musical work in a few weeks and nobody is helping him. (They are learning their lines and cues to be fair, but no one offered to help him plan for the read-through in that tent? Not one person?)

He's not telling Gina about the letter until she finds out for herself? That's absolutely bad, but he was planning on telling her after he had sorted it out. Which, let's be real, wasn't going to happen before the end of the summer after the documentary came out, so his plan really wasn't very likely to go well and even if it did, he would have still been in the wrong for not confiding in her.

But it makes sense, too. When we first meet EJ, he's a jock who gets leads in the musicals. A popular kid with grades impressive enough to make it reasonable for him to get into Duke. He's also prone to schieming and sabotage and has no clue how to sincerely apologize. We later find out that there's a lot of pressure to be perfect from his dad. You can't tell me that EJ grew up in an environment where it would have been acceptable for him to be vulnerable about something he was struggling with unless it was already in the past and he had already handled it. There's a reason this kid doesn't know how to apologize and I'd wager it's the same reason he doesn't know how to talk to his girlfriend about a something he doesn't yet know how to fix.

That doesn't make it okay, but it makes it understandable and I'm willing to make excuses for him and sympathize with him anyway.

Gina - is being passive-aggressive towards her boyfriend instead of talking to him directly? Yeah, because she's discovered that he's hiding something from her and I think the first few jabs were meant to give him the hint that he should maybe explain himself before she would bring it up. She's been busy with getting the lead in Frozen and trying to be 'a good girlfriend' for the first time, only to learn that EJ is hiding something from her and has been confiding in someone else about it instead. That would upset anybody. And I truly believe that most of her anger has been her trying to force a conversation, even if it wasn't in the healthiest way. Which is perfectly understandable.

She's also showing glimpses of old habits? Of course she is - ambition is not inherintly a bad character trait and "Gina 1.0" wasn't very long ago, so of course she has that ambition in her still. (Tbh I have a whole analysis in defense of Gina 1.0 that I wrote when I first watched that ep, so if anyone's interested in reading that I might still post it.)

And Ricky - has a crush on Gina while she's in a relationship with EJ? Yeah, that happens. It's already tough to rebuild a friendship after having had crushes even when those romantic feelings haven't lingered. Trying to navigate a friendship while having a crush on an unavailable friend is deeply complicated.

And that is what he's trying to do! He's not trying to interfere in portwell at all. We know what Ricky looks like when he's trying to sabotage a relationship and this isn't that. (I could make a whole other post about that difference tbh.) This is Ricky and Gina, who never got closure on their feelings for each other, trying to act like the casual friends they were before she ever pulled away from him. Only their casual friendship was founded on electric understanding that was likely already hurtling towards something way back then - so finding a new normal, that will actually look casual to the outside world (nevermind feel casual), is a tall order for both of them. (Not saying their attempt at friendship will leave them driving off into the sunset together anytime soon! Just saying that they've got a difficult goal here and it's bound to be awkward as they try to figure out new boundaries.)

At the end of the day, these characters are all trying to navigate pretty complicated romantic situations while also having a lot of other stuff going on at the same time. Be that the musical, the documentary, pressure from home, having to defend your ambitions to your best friends, or having to find your place in a group where some of your strongest connections were your ex, your ex-friend who you have a crush on that can't be more. (And I'd also list Ricky's friendship with Carlos here, but tbh their friendship is pretty uncomplicated so it's not relevant to my point right now.)

Of course all of them are going to make mistakes, but they're all very understandable. The discourse around not laying blame at only one character's feet feels to me a bit like people trying to justify their fave or even their ship at the expense of (more) nuance. (Which is also totally fair, I just felt like I had to throw my own take into the ring as well.)

HSMTMTS S3E7 Rant

RANT Ahead!

Why are we treating Kourtney’s anxiety and EJ’s anxiety SO differently?

Kourtney’s worried about bombing on stage, she gets a literal chorus of supportive sisters to help her climb the literal and metaphorical wall.

EJ is worried about his ENTIRE LIFE imploding, and he gets snarky comments from Ricky about how everyone knows he’s stressed, Carlos (who knows the stress of putting on a show) telling him to “just do it at night,” and literally NO ONE just taking the damn script away at the prom. Gina knew exactly where to find him after the last dance, why didn’t she go look for him DURING it? Where is the close relationship he and Ashlyn have had for years? Why is his arc just about “wow, he’s fucking up everywhere”? 

YES, EJ made mistakes. YES, he’s terrible at reaching out and asking for help. So was Kourtney. But she got support, and EJ didn’t. And I think Kourtney DESERVED the help! But why didn’t EJ?

To be clear, this isn’t about the Portwell breakup. I think Gina has some very valid points about them being in different places and feeling unsure about the future, and all those feelings are incredibly valid and real. I think they came a bit out of nowhere and wish we’d been actually addressing those issues all season instead of these GIGANTIC external factors that they keep dropping onto this couple, so it felt a bit unearned, but that part isn’t the problematic part for me.

I CAN’T get behind the way the narrative has treated EJ and diminished what HIS experience of anxiety has been time and time again.

It feels like a very gendered lens on mental health, honestly, and I’m not here for it. 

hsmtmts is so crazy for giving joshua bassett “i am looking forward to being reviled by america” as a line… like are they just. torturing him for fun???

RICKY & GINA S03E06: Color War

This whole documentary business was already making me nervous, but operation real campers of shallow lake has me feeling actual second-hand stress.

I'm really gonna miss Maddox, Val and Jet next season unless they manage to stay in the plot somehow (and the actors have time). Idk if they're more sympathetic or if it's just that they're more three-dimensional than Lily and the french guy ever were. I was worried about three new characters before the season started, but I'm really vibing with them.