He Was The One All Along: Part 1

he was the one all along: part 1

one of the things i love most about portwell is that when you go back and watch the show knowing what happens, you have this realization, like “oh. ej was right there all along.” it’s so beautiful.

in all of 2A, when gina was hurting, and ej too, the writers do such a good job of developing their individual arcs to where they’d be ready to meet in the middle come 2B. their overarching character arcs are done so well and i love how much they compliment each other. how they were exactly what the other person needed. it was done in a way that you can’t help but think it was the most unexpected thing that could happen, but also the only thing that made sense, right from the beginning.

but even the little things always get me. there’s quite a few scenes where gina is pining for ricky and/or just dealing with a lingering crush on someone she knows is in love with someone else. and in so many of them, ej is present or referenced in some way. sometimes it’s obvious, other times it’s just little background moments. and in some of them, ricky’s own lines and actions serve as a really poetic foreshadowing for what’s to come.

in one of the very first scenes after the semester ends, ricky shows up with nini at the new year’s party. it’s the first time we see gina acknowledge ricky in any way and the first thing that makes us question what must’ve happened between them. but while she’s looking over at him, who’s in the same shot sitting right next to her? ej.

one of the next scenes where we see gina looking over at nini and ricky together is when they’re singing you are the music in me. who’s standing next to her singing in that moment? ej. and i wish they had kept in that shot of rini singing and portwell talking in the center because it’s so telling. she seems so happy and not at all bothered or jealous in that shot. and literally all their friends are looking at them and not the couple literally serenading each other which i find hilarious.

in episode 2, the scene that stood out to me the most was at the auditions when ricky came in late and they made a point of showing gina’s reaction to him. in this entire scene, ej and gina were standing right next to each other and put in the same frame every time they showed up onscreen. so when she looks over at ricky yet again, who’s standing beside her AGAIN? ej.

moving on to episode 3, this is the scene most of us have already analyzed in detail bc, looking back, it’s just so glaringly obvious what they were doing. gina telling ricky that every girl likes a sweet gesture, and when he says that she’ll get one too, she responds by saying SHE DOESNT NEED ONE?! bc she knows that the person she likes won’t be giving one to her anytime soon so she’s accepted that she can live without that and it’s no big deal?! PAIN.

i think what’s so interesting about this scene is, and this may not be the best way to word this but, at the time it’s just an example of how wrong rina is. gina mentions a sweet gesture to a clearly uncomfortable ricky who is stressing out about what to do for his girlfriend - so much so that he doesn’t realize what his friend is going through enough to offer any show of support or friendship, in fact just shushes her when he gets a call from his girlfriend, and acts awkward the entire time. which is why when she mentions sweet gestures he immediately goes “i think you’ll get yours too” - he knows it’s not gonna be him and he’s saying, “don’t worry, there’s someone out there for you. even if it’s not me.” but ofc gina doesn’t believe that. she doesn’t think that’s possible. so she says “i’ll live.” at the time, it really just showed us how ricky wasn’t right for her, how these two really weren’t right for each other.

it wasn’t until 2x05 that it really hit me that there was someone else out there who really could be that sweet guy that gina wanted and deserved. and it didn’t even have to be a big gesture. something as simple and small as asking how she was feeling was enough to show her that he cared. and i realized that this valentine’s day scene wasn’t just about how ricky couldn’t give that to her, but about how ej could.

and then that elusive word “sweet” came up again in 2x07, and again in 2x10, until i was sure this show was basically turning portwell into a couple from a rom-com. not that i’d ever complain. the freaking airport scene??? something i never would’ve dared dream of. the little sweet gesture of the granola bar that was wrapped up in the big sweet gesture of driving to the airport in the middle of the night to pick her up? and then saying he’d do it again tomorrow? all of it without her ever having to say a word? it’s just too much.

oh yeah, not to mention the literal plane ticket he bought to bring her back for opening night. and then told her not to pay him back for.

whereas ricky never give gina enough, even when she asked, ej gave her the things that she never dared asked for. the things that she was too scared to ask for and convinced herself she didn’t need.

they will never not make me cry.

the way her eyes light up everytime she looks at ej

You guys can keep talking about EJ making Gina happier or Ricky not deserving her, blah, blah, blah. Maybe you're right. As of right now at least. But the way she looked at Ricky last semester? EJ may love Gina more, but Gina will always love Ricky more.

first of all, thank you for acknowledging everything that you acknowledged in the first half of the ask. it makes my job a lot easier, tbh.

ej does make gina happier, anon. that would explain why she’s literally beaming around him in all of these.

see how her entire face lights up when she smiles around ej? how even her eyes are smiling?

now here’s gina smiling at ricky in - arguably - one of the “best” rina episodes.

she looks happy here. but it’s a calm, quiet happiness. she almost looks sort of resigned. her smile doesn’t even come close to matching any of the pictures from earlier. honestly, i don’t know where the idea that gina like(d) ricky more than she likes ej came from. the way she looks at ej is something straight out of a rom-com. pure, unadulterated, all-consuming happiness.

the way everyone else is ignoring the two seranading each other to look at #them

this pic… many thoughts. head full of thoughts.

I saw that you mentioned in a post a while ago that Ricky and EJ both held up a mirror to each other. Can you elaborate that idea?

yes! i say that especially about them in season 1, but i still think it's true to an extent to this day.

altough caswen's dislike for each other stemmed from their feelings for nini, i think the fact that they were ricky and ej made it significantly worse for both of them. when i say they held up a mirror to each other i always follow by saying that both of them had plenty of things they didn't wanna look at. having a mirror held up to your face is incredibly uncomfortable if you're in that position and can make you lash out at the person who's doing it. i don't mean that they're super alike and therefore "mirror" each other when i say that, the exact opposite, actually. everything one of them thinks they lack and is insecure about, the other one seems to have. so, simply by existing as they are, they piss each other the fuck off and it doesn't take much at all for things to escalate. ricky is just that person for ej and ej is just that person for ricky, it doesn't have to be on purpose.

ricky is very insecure in his talents, very insecure about trying out theater, and ej was putting out an image of himself that was overly confident, ESPECIALLY in his talents in theater, and that's the guy who got the girl he wants. when ricky tells ej "the way you dance is totally normal and not at all weird for a regular high school kid" (which i understand is a line that can be interpreted in different ways because of matt cornett's actual dancing skills, bless his heart), that's the perfect representation of what actually bothers him about ej. ricky struggled with the dancing in season 1 and just the theater of it all, and he saw ej excel at what he seemed to lack in. he couldn't insult his skills so instead he tried to act like it wasn't a fault on his part that he wasn't better at dancing, it was actually EJ who was WEIRD for getting it right. kinda like when a child doesn't get what they want so they go around saying they didn't want it in the first place.

ej, on the other hand, always knew his overconfidence was nothing but bravado. i've also mentioned before that i think while he saw nini as someone real and that made him like her more, i think he also saw ricky as someone real... and that made him dislike him more. ricky was trying something new, putting himself in a vulnerable situation for nini in many ways, and altough we as an audience know that doesn't come easy for ricky at all, ej probably didn't see it that way. all he could see was a guy who seemed to be able to just do the things he was most afraid of. let go of an image, not just "stick to the status quo". the bathroom scene between caswen is probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire show, it really puts this into perspective. ej is seemingly lashing out at ricky, but he says the lines "just stop acting", "why can't you just be real?" and "don't try so hard, it's embarrassing" LOOKING IN THE MIRROR. it's perfect! ej finds a way to beat himself up about the things he hates about himself by lashing out at ricky, as if these are things he hates about him. classic projection.

while in the topic of projection, we can fast forward to season 2. caswen's relationship is totally different now, mostly thanks to ej's growth. ej's no longer projecting an image of himself that is perfect and has everything under control, he's actually being more genuine, so, one, his alleged perfection is no longer a threat to ricky because he knows none of it was true, and two, he no longer resents ricky for being more genuine because he also took that same leap of faith and is trying to be more true to himself too. even then, in the basement scene in 2x10, we see ej admit pretty easily that he feels he has even less of his shit together than most (something he would've NEVER done in season 1, especially in front of ricky bowen) and ricky shows that his judgement of ej is still a little clouded, and to me, very obviously clouded by his own projection. he assumes ej is saying that because he's struggling to stay single, which is just not true given context, and... listen. ricky bowen? poking fun at someone because "they don't know how to stay single"? in season 2 of hsmtmts? that scene is literally under the definition of projection in the dictionary. however, you can see how one-sided the whole thing has gotten. ej doesn't really take offense in what ricky said (not that it was ill-intentioned and MEANT to be offensive, but come on, caswen acted like children in season 1 and back then that would've absolutely started something), later goes on to admit his fear of rejection and actually be really vulnerable and honest, so... ricky can project all he wants, it seems like it's just gonna bounce off ej now.

all of this is why i think ej is the perfect person to help ricky in his character development. maybe he can still hold a mirror to him now but more like the ghost of character development yet to come! i think seeing them have an actual genuine conversation and help each other intentionally for once would be an amazing pay off, i really hope we get that and i do feel like season 3 could be the perfect moment for that.

portwell in season 2: exists

risotto sellers: wondering why the hell risotto sales are so high

when I tell you this damn penguin was my childhood

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