User blog:Corbierr/S1, S2 and S3 comparison part two- Romance



Link to Part one

Hey guys, welcome back. Today is part two of my four part comparison series, and the topic is, you guessed it- ROMANCE. Each season will be split into three sections- Love triangles, other romances, And Friendships, because they count. Note that I will not be offering opinions of pairings today- this is to analyze how well they actually went about setting up and executing the relationships, not analyzing the relationships themselves. If theres a pairing you want me to cover later, tell me below. Also, for this, I will not do romances like Pason; simply because the romance was mainly fanon, despite all the hints.

Points from last time-

S1- 4

S2- 3.5

S3- 4.5

Season 1-

Love triangles- Well well well, first things first. Mickber vs Mickra, AKA the only plot Mickra was involved in this season. That, actually, is one of my complaints about this love triangle- it did not let Mick and Mara live up to their full potential. All they did was deal with love issues. Not to mention, this whole plot, and by extension Mickra’s arc, got rather tedious- simply because, by the end, it was no surprise they’d be together, especially not once the love triangle was over. BUT, I’m getting off topic. Thing is, the love triangle was virtually Amber and Mara doing bad things to each other to get Mick back, with Mick doing some bad things back. And they broke up a lot, and got back together a lot. That’s really it- which is why it got so tedious. I know ya’ll are thinking, what about Jara and Amfie? Well, Amfie was hardly involved in the love triangle, and Jara- well, it was pretty one sided at this point. It was basically just Jerome’s crush, and while he did interfere with Mickra, he was never much of a threat right now simply because Mara never picked up on his feelings, and instead just wanted Mick. (And yes, I am aware that Jerome did get Mickra to break up at least once- but Mick was still the one to cheat in the election, and it didn’t get him any closer to Mara. He and Mick fought, but that didn’t lead too anything but a budding rivalry for the NEXT season) Now, I’ll have you know that I have nothing against these pairings. I just found their roles in this ‘love triangle’ to be wasted potential, as they were either too tedious, or weren’t doing enough to affect anything. Though, they did do something well- they managed to keep it realistic, and kept the drama in the hands of the characters (Meaning, all the problems were caused by the characters themselves, not outside forces, forced drama or people acting OOC). In fact, it really did do a good job of making it so that it was clear all the things the characters did were because of the relationship itself and their personalities- whether or not the results were good or bad. Overall, though, I felt this love triangle was a bit clumsy and tiring, and not to mention TEDIOUS.

Other romance- You know what this means- Fabina and Amfie. (I want so badly to add Patrome to the list, but...) Well, lets see what they both did right- they kept interactions simple and rarely dramatic- they were just sweet, or humorous, but you could tell it was meant to be more of a side plot, and it worked. The romantic feelings came across clear, but it didn’t seemed forced or rushed or had too much focus, and the lack of problems helped. It was a nice contrast to the love triangle above, and while both took a while to finish, it was probably worth it- the development took time to happen, which I’m glad for. However, they weren’t exactly subtle- it was pretty obvious Fabina liked each other, and Amfie? Well, we all KNEW how Alfie felt. Neither I could really call plots, as it was more just natural development happening through the story, but as they can be considered plots, I’ll call them plots. So these plots helped move story along without removing focus from the mystery until the end. However, I do have some problems. First, it was always pretty clear that Fabina, at least, would end up together, taking away from any “suspense.” For Amfie, it was less clear, which was nice, because then there was more tension- if you can call it that. They did use the characters pretty well, as it all seemed natural and simple and had no opposition, so it was easy for the characters to just be themselves. Over all, I think these two romances were beneficial- neither really harmed or disrupted the main plot, the characters were used well and once again, you could tell the characters only real opposition were their own flaws, keeping things simple.

Friendships- Okay, if there is ANYTHING season one did well, it was their friendships. Just oh my Anubis, they rocked! You had Namber, Mickbian, Joytricia, Jelfie, etc. And each were used perfectly. All the scenes were done well- and they didn’t take away from the main plots- they added to them. The biggest one would obviously be Joytricia, because it STARTED THE MYSTERY. Just Patricia’s determination to save Joy told you all you needed to know about their friendship- even though Joy was rarely on screen. THAT is how you write friendships. My only real complaint is that characters seemed too confined into their little groups of two- Matricia, Mickbian, Jelfie and Namber, with other friendships showing up less, which is a little disappointing. Though, for all it’s worth, even the smaller friendships had great scenes and development. Seriously, the first season friendships take the cake- probably because they all actually acted like best friends, which the other seasons didn’t follow up on, and it set our expectations higher for the future. Point is, I really can’t say anything wrong about the friendships in the first season.

Over all, season one gets...

4/5, because...

-The friendships were freaking awesome

-The relationships all seemed real; all the problems came from the flaws of the characters

-The relationships mostly managed to blend in with the other plots without becoming too much of a focus. (Not including the love triangle)

<p class="MsoNormal">They are up to 8 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Season 2-

<p class="MsoNormal">Love triangles: ...So now it’s time for Fabina vs. Jabian, and Jara vs Mickra. Well, first, let’s talk about both of them. Following the trend in the first season, both triangles took up a bunch of time and plot, while still remaining mostly detached from the mystery. The obstacles seemed less about character flaws, however, and more miscommunication- a whole lot of miscommunication. Fabina and Jabian’s triangle was a lot of back and forth between Nina and Joy, with Fabian in the middle, already having chose Nina- which made things a little frustrating simply because it was mostly clear Joy wouldn’t win. My biggest problems, however, are different- first, this triangle took up a lot of time and energy that the characters could have devoted to Sibuna, or even just other things. There was just too much of it, and a lot of times, the characters seemed more interested in the triangle than the fact that their lives were at stake. Second, it really portrayed Joy as being the villain- even when she WASN’T trying to cause problems. This bothers me, because it was basically trying to make us ship Fabina, rather than making things more ambiguous. With Jara and Mickra, you weren’t sure how it’d end up- would Mara go back to Mick? Would she go with Jerome? It was harder to tell, because Mara couldn’t tell, even if Mick wasn’t around. Nobody was really the villain, as both of them were good choices, and it was more of a question of who Mara loved more, which if a good thing. I enjoy that part of the time this love triangle spent was dealing with problems, like Mick moving and Jerome’s family, which were subplots of their own that blended easily into the romance. They did well with this one. I could talk about Pifie and Amfie, but...well, Piper was only around for three episodes, after all. And there was the whole thing with Rufera and Vector, but...I’m not getting into that.

<p class="MsoNormal">Other romances: Peddie time. For starters, this romance was pretty entertaining, at least for the most part. It felt natural, and it wasn’t like other romances- aside from being Love Hate, they acknowledged that they were making mistakes in the love part. However, it was rushed. I mean, the first part where they were bantering and growing closer was done well, but after the kiss, it fell apart a little- growing into a back and forth where it was clear that many problems were due to miscommunication as well as just not being ready to date. I believe that if they had spent more time on the ‘falling in love’ part leading up to the kiss, it’d have probably worked better- but things went quickly for them. Amfie’s plot was pretty well done, though. They did well at having their problems seem natural and having their eventual reunion come with them maturing as a couple- not to mention they didn’t get too bogged down by drama like other pairings did.

<p class="MsoNormal">Friendships: ... As you can see, this season left me pretty underwhelmed with the friendship part. I mean, at the beginning, they did alright- Joytricia was hanging out, at least, and so was Jelfie. But once the mystery and the love triangles began to bud, the friendships were clearly more of an afterthought, with rare moments for any pairing besides Jelfie and Namber. Why? I mean, seriously, why? Would it have been that hard to keep friendships going, without making things like romance and mystery come first? I will admit that they did good with Jelfie, especially with the gem search subplot. Namber was alright, but became basically Amber being Nina’s guard dog and less of them just being close friends. Joytricia, well, they tried at first, but soon their scenes grew into talking about, what else- Romance. That is, when they bothered to interact. Mickbian, well, okay, they get a pass for Mick not being there. The smaller friendships were rarely even used, which stunk, because the smaller friendships are one of my favorite parts of the show. It just bothers me that a majority of the friendships were overlooked in favor of romance.

<p class="MsoNormal">Over all, the second season gets a 2.5/5 this time, for-

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">-           The Jara vs Mickra love triangle was done well

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">-           Peddie’s relationship building

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">-           Amfie’s plot

<p class="MsoNormal">They now have 6 points.

<p class="MsoNormal">Last but not least, season 3-

<p class="MsoNormal">Love triangles: First, we have to start with the obvious- Peddie vs Keddie. This one is unique, because unlike the other triangles, KT never actually made a move to get Eddie- she did try to help Patricia get him back, after all, and even though it seemed like she liked Eddie their relationship was really just a strong friendship. That means this triangle was basically Patricia being jealous and afraid of losing Eddie, despite breaking up with him- which, actually, fits in well with Patricia’s previous characterization. She’s always been easily jealous, and it worked, but was a little annoying at times. But I do like that it didn’t take up too much plot again, and was actually a subplot, despite Patricia’s obsession over it. It worked well, and wasn’t overly dramatic-in fact, the real drama with Peddie happened outside the love triangle, which I’ll get to later. However, they could have done more than have Patricia just get really upset. It bothers me, because we all know Patricia. She can kick butt when she wants to, but she gets jealous easily. Okay. But they took her jealousy and insecure side too far and that’s really the only reason all of this even happened. Then we have the tangled mess of Jerome Clarke’s love life- which, despite all the stuff that happened, wasn’t really a love triangle until Mara got upset at Joy, and that lasted only for a week. There was the Benji thing, but was only around for like three episodes. So, basically, all we had was Peddie and Keddie, which I like- kept things interesting without being too dramatic, while fitting all the real drama in all of Jerome’s couples.

<p class="MsoNormal">Other romances- Where do I begin? Season 3’s plots got kind of confusing, and these are no exception. There was a lot going on- Willome, Jara, Amfie, Walfie, Jeroy, Peddie, Keddie... I will try my best to stick to the topic. First, we need to talk about Jara, Willome, and Jeroy. As a plot, well...it was lot. Like I said above, it wasn’t exactly a love triangle, but oh my Anubis. First, it sort of messed up the characters, or at least took their personalities to extremes- like Jerome cheating. Sure, he’s an antihero, but that was kind of a jerk move, especially based on how he felt about Mara in the other seasons. Willome came kind of randomly, and Mara had been portrayed as being mean and wrong in the end, and at the beginning, just too stubborn. It was sad to watch, when I expected them to be a good, healthy relationship. Even at this point, the drama just seemed a little too much. Not character flaws or miscommunication- just good old exaggeration. It’s like they were trying to sink Jara so soon after making it an official ship, and why? I mean, really, why? What was the point? I really didn’t like this part. It portrayed Mara as a villain too easily, and seriously, what was the point of Jerome cheating on her? Season 1 Jerome wouldn’t have even done that, even IF he and Mara were having problems. He was always pretty loyal (except for the election thing.) What I did like, though, was Jeroy’s budding romance. It was cute and natural and made sense- they’re a lot alike, and their bonding seemed real. My only problems is that this, too, was bogged down by Mara drama, which got frustrating. And it kept them all from participating in the mystery, which STUNK, because they all had good chances to get involved, but were instead stuck in the romance plot. Things in the whole Jerome subplot were all a little rushed, and really frustrating. That’s all I can really say about this part- they did good on the Jeroy buildup, but poor in other areas, especially concerning the actions of the characters. Amfie and Walfie, now, were done much better, though it stinks to imagine that Amber only left for Walfie, which is entirely possible. Especially considering that their relationship was finally stable and healthy, and they did not deserve to be torn apart like that. Walfie was extremely cute. My problem? It came out of NOWHERE. Like, really. It just sort of happened. Of course, in the end, they did a great job on them- hardly any drama, matching interests, and humor- which in this season was well needed. Peddie I talked about above, but I’ll bring it up again. I believe that their break up was a way to add drama without having KT being blamed and without having the same drama from the other season. But there was really no maturing or building up- they just kind of got back together, without either of them really growing. But it said a lot that the power of their love made Normal!Patricia come out of Sinner!Patricia for at least a minute. Dang this was a long paragraph. Well, over all, they tried. A lot. But their main problem was all the drama, and the exaggeration of characters, and just the fact that it was a LOT to take in for one season.

<p class="MsoNormal">Friendships: Luckily this one’ll be short, as the above was huge. Basically, while they had a lot of romance, they really fell short on friendship. Joytricia’s friendship just sort of ended out of nowhere to make room for Mara, Joy and Willow drama. Jelfie’s moments were good in the beginning, but by the middle of the season they stopped hanging out, too. Fabicia was excellent however- they were this season’s power couple. Feddie was also good, and so was Keddie, and I appreciate the Patrome and Palfie A LOT. But in the end, while they did well on a few friendships, most of them were rarely even used, and the apparent end of Joytricia got really, really annoying for me.

<p class="MsoNormal">Over all, they get a 2.5/5 for-

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">-           Doing well on the friendships they DID choose to show

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">-           Having Walfie and Jeroy seem like natural relationships, even with all the drama surrounding the latter

<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">-           Trying HARD to make things work

<p class="MsoNormal">So far, season 3 has a 7.

<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks for reading! What do you all think? Next one is characters!

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