And yeah, there were so many red herrings like Melissa, Lucas, Noel, Jenna etc that they never really dealt with, even though there were so many hints about A being a team of people working together.
That's the thing that confuses and bothers me, because we've always had clues that there were more people involved, if not directly then definitely indirectly from their own motivations for doing whatever was asked of them by others involved with the "A" Team. Unless this is all something for the second half of the season with whoever they have after them five years later, they definitely retconned most of what has happened to the girls from other characters. At least, that's how I see it, since they never included any of the other suspected people involved in anything. I mean, what about Shana and Jenna and Melissa? Lucas and Noel? About about the entire NAT Club situation? So many loose ends still.
but literally who cared about Sara and was invested in that relationship? It felt like a poor attempt to have the kind of shock reveal and emotional impact that viewers
Exactly. Nobody really care about this new girl who seemed to have no other purpose than to be a pointless new love interest for Emily. Plus, this fandom isn't stupid. Most people knew immediately something was up with Sarah, simply because we knew nothing about her character and the show as actively forcing this random "romance" between her and Emily with absolutely no build-up whatsoever. And it just seems really random to have this girl be involved but then do nothing with her aside from that reveal. I mean, really. It was rather sloppy on the show's part. It would've been better if it had been someone the girls had known and never would have suspected would ever betray them. Someone that had already been established within the show and not just some random person like Sarah. But all-in-all, I feel like that character was wasted. We didn't even get a reason why she had joined Cece, it was like a "just because" non-explanation and that really sucked.
it's rather unfortunate that Marlene seems to feel really proud and that they did something very progressive in making CeCe transgender, yet fails to recognise that it was not a flattering portrayal.
It makes me kind of angry, in a way, because while I would love there to be a transgender story on the show you could tell that they probably decided to include this very recently due to the stories of transgender youth in the most recent years. And when there are so few transgender stories in fiction, let alone on television, it is kind of horrible to have one where their story is literally them being absolutely psychotic, worse when you have a moment where Cece was planning on committing suicide (twice, once with wanting to kill herself and murder her remaining family, and second after that plan failed to jump off the roof). I don't mind there being more LGBTQ inclusion, but only if it makes sense in the narrative and done in a respectful manner, and having a transgender storyline just thrown in there for the sake of adding an emotional aspect of the "A" story is, well, kind of cheating and also manipulative, especially if Marlene is going to be accusing anyone of not liking the reveal to being transphobic. Which seems like such a cop-out excuse, tbqh (but Marlene has always been kind of messy with her vague answers in tweets and interviews, I never listened to much of what she had to say anyway, but this was just a reaction I couldn't believe she had; I mean, like I said there are probably transphobic comments being made from some, but when it comes to the fandom I've seen nothing but legitimate complaints).
I don't know, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth how it was all handled, my overall impression of that mid-season finale was underwhelmed and wishing it was done differently.
no subject
That's the thing that confuses and bothers me, because we've always had clues that there were more people involved, if not directly then definitely indirectly from their own motivations for doing whatever was asked of them by others involved with the "A" Team. Unless this is all something for the second half of the season with whoever they have after them five years later, they definitely retconned most of what has happened to the girls from other characters. At least, that's how I see it, since they never included any of the other suspected people involved in anything. I mean, what about Shana and Jenna and Melissa? Lucas and Noel? About about the entire NAT Club situation? So many loose ends still.
but literally who cared about Sara and was invested in that relationship? It felt like a poor attempt to have the kind of shock reveal and emotional impact that viewers
Exactly. Nobody really care about this new girl who seemed to have no other purpose than to be a pointless new love interest for Emily. Plus, this fandom isn't stupid. Most people knew immediately something was up with Sarah, simply because we knew nothing about her character and the show as actively forcing this random "romance" between her and Emily with absolutely no build-up whatsoever. And it just seems really random to have this girl be involved but then do nothing with her aside from that reveal. I mean, really. It was rather sloppy on the show's part. It would've been better if it had been someone the girls had known and never would have suspected would ever betray them. Someone that had already been established within the show and not just some random person like Sarah. But all-in-all, I feel like that character was wasted. We didn't even get a reason why she had joined Cece, it was like a "just because" non-explanation and that really sucked.
it's rather unfortunate that Marlene seems to feel really proud and that they did something very progressive in making CeCe transgender, yet fails to recognise that it was not a flattering portrayal.
It makes me kind of angry, in a way, because while I would love there to be a transgender story on the show you could tell that they probably decided to include this very recently due to the stories of transgender youth in the most recent years. And when there are so few transgender stories in fiction, let alone on television, it is kind of horrible to have one where their story is literally them being absolutely psychotic, worse when you have a moment where Cece was planning on committing suicide (twice, once with wanting to kill herself and murder her remaining family, and second after that plan failed to jump off the roof). I don't mind there being more LGBTQ inclusion, but only if it makes sense in the narrative and done in a respectful manner, and having a transgender storyline just thrown in there for the sake of adding an emotional aspect of the "A" story is, well, kind of cheating and also manipulative, especially if Marlene is going to be accusing anyone of not liking the reveal to being transphobic. Which seems like such a cop-out excuse, tbqh (but Marlene has always been kind of messy with her vague answers in tweets and interviews, I never listened to much of what she had to say anyway, but this was just a reaction I couldn't believe she had; I mean, like I said there are probably transphobic comments being made from some, but when it comes to the fandom I've seen nothing but legitimate complaints).
I don't know, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth how it was all handled, my overall impression of that mid-season finale was underwhelmed and wishing it was done differently.