User blog:Corbierr/Wasted Plots And Ways They Could Have Been Fixed

After a while of making these blogs, I start wondering to myself. "Why do the writers hate us? Did a group of rabid HOA fans kill their dogs or something? Why do they keep failing to deliver? WHY WRITERS WHY?"

This is another one of these times.

So often times, the best plotlines can come from tiny, simple places with a bit of creativity. Sometimes there are a lot of little tiny threads that can be connected for a bigger picture. Sometimes a good plot might have been simply been made better with a little tweaking, other times entire storylines seemed to have been missing from the story.

HOA has many of those times when plots seem to be missing or lacking in...something. Even the really good ones had a few things that could have been changed to make the story stronger over all. What were the top ten of these (in no real order)? Let's take a look.

Number one- Fabian's family backround
Umm... yeah. You all know what I mean. The fact that Fabian's history isn't actually a thing. I seriously think the most we know about his history is that Joy was his "oldest friend." That's literally it. Yes, we have Ade and Jasper, but they aren't helpful because they gave us no insight into Fabian's backstory or life. Sure, other characters lack in backstory too, and I don't think they mentioned Willow's family either (correct me if I'm wrong).

However, being that Fabian has been a main character for all three seasons, you'd think that it might just be important to get to know him a bit more, but he may as well have just appeared out of nowhere and always be the guy we saw in season 1. We were given characters like Ade and Jasper but Ade was just there to give them information and ship Fabina, and Jasper was there mostly for the Rufus plot. I understand that his plot affected Fabian a lot and served to round and develop him a little more...which begs the question.

Why give this role to a godfather? Why couldn't they simply make Jasper his father? It was already emotional. Having Jasper be his dad would just make it work better. Sure, being betrayed by a godparent kinda sucks, but by the way Fabian was acting, you'd think that making Jasper his father would have simply worked better anyways. The emotions were already strong and there was no good reason why Jasper could not be a parent, instead of a godparent.

If Jasper had been his actual dad, then everything that would have happened would have been more effective. It would have shown a lot of deep conflict- a father trying to protect his son but to do so he needs to lie and betray him, while the son tries to blindly trust him. It would have been kind of what happened between Eddie and Sweetie, had Sweetie shown any sort of remorse.

In short, Fabian's backstory isn't a thing and Jasper would have been much better as a father than a godfather.

Number two- Benji
I think you guys know by now that to me, the relationships are some of the biggest part of any story. Not romantically... but just the way characters interact and how those interactions serve to develop them and introduce who they really are.

Rivalries make for really interesting plotlines.This is why Benji could have made an extremely useful character. What happened? Writers used him only as a tool to stir up drama and justify a dodgeball game. That's all he was. His existance was only for those few episodes. During those episodes, he was shown as a interesting foil to Eddie. Someone who honestly made for an interesting interacion and emotional conflict for our young Osirian. And yet he only existed during those episodes. You see the problem yet?

He came out of nowhere, stirred up trouble, and left after making up with Eddie. Now, this would have been fine- if he stayed for the entire season. Imagine it.

He could have come to the school as a new kid that Eddie knew from his past and it turned out they were rivals. Over the course of the season, he would have made friends with Patricia, his past with Eddie would have been explored in detail and we'd finally know something about a student who doesn't live in Anubis. Eddie's interactions with him would have meant more if we knew anything about him, after all. He'd have become more than just "the rival"- he'd have been an actual character, fleshed out and rounded and all that good stuff. After the dodgeball game, he and Eddie would have finally made up, but he'd have stayed around to help out and in the end he'd have become close friends with Eddie and dated KT or something.

All I'm trying to say is, we had a character who could have been perfectly used for extra drama, development and unique plot lines, but ended up with a character who was little more than a tool for pointless drama. And that's terrible.

Number three- Patrina sharing a room
Unlike the above two, this one is more of a "what could have been cool" than a "the writers failed at everything." In the friendship blog, I discussed how Patrina was really the perfect friendship on the show, and that remains true.

I just think they missed out on a great plot/development scenario.

What the show gave us was Patricia being a bitch to Nina for the two premier episodes, and then they switched rooms and that was the end of Patrina as roomies.

Now, as the show progressed, they became frenemies, friends, and then best friends all in the course of one season. What a better way to show this happening than to show them as roomies, progressing slowly? We could have seen Patricia showing concern for a nightmare of Nina's, maybe, contrasting her feather prank from earlier. Patricia could have tried to steal the locket still, and still fail because of Amber again, but instead of sneaking around in Nina's room, it would have been more like her taking advantage of the situation to proceed.

Simply put, showing them elvolving as roomies could have shown their development as friends in a subtle way. They could have kept Namber best friends... yet kept Patrina as room-mates. Really, though this isn't significent, it could have been really great and more rewarding than any room-mate situation in the show at all.

Number four- Willow knowing about Sibuna
And by extension, the sinners keeping their memories. Because let's be honest folks, I think we were all kind of disappointed when all the sinners forgot what happened. Well, I was at least.

Thing is, the show built up to Willow becoming a Sibuna, being heroic, helping out, developing as a character, etc. Which, during her time in the mystery, she did! She was becoming more fleshed out, given a new role, put in new situations, had a new side of her shown. Then they went and erased all the progress by makin her lose all memory of Sibuna, which was completely counterproductive and served nothing. Instead, they should have let her remember- who didn't enjoy seeing Willow become a bit of a badass? They took it away to return her to her former state, make her forget everything that happened since Alfie dumped her, which really just sucks on so many levels.

The others weren't off much better, because while they didn't lose any big character development moments, they did lose one thing- the chance to become more developed characters by having to struggle with their deeds, and for those not in Sibuna, the chance to (re)join the mystery and become more interesting overall.

Can anyone think of a reason why they couldn't have remembered? I'm serious. They had no good reason to make them forget. They only did it to have to avoid writing something more complex and creative.

Speaking of the sinners...

Number five- the Sinners being useful in the finale
I have ranted about this before, so I'll be brief this time.

Simply put, after all the build up and all the suspense leading up to the finale and all the scenes of the sinners being badasses, what were we given? KT and Eddie had to put the key in the whole while the sinners did nothing but do pointless chaos.

Hello? Writers? You do realize that you need some sort of big climax, right? And that being lazy will not make for a good story? And that the Sinners had so much more use than just destroying shit?

I just have to say, if the sinners- at the very least, Patricia, Fabian and Alfie- were used to create more conflict for KT and Eddie, it would have been satisfying- them having to fight their soulless friends and dispel Ammut while Robert begs KT not to do it and they suffer between chosing to battle their own frirends. It would have been more rewarding to see them actually play a role in the end.

And that's all I can say on the matter without basically recaping the plot of my Season 3 Finale Rewrite.

Number 6- Patricia working for The Jackal
Because she did nothing despite being a member of the paper the entire time it was running.

Anyone else remember the time in season one when Patricia mentioned starting a school paper so she could reveal the teacher's secrets to the whole school? That one line made me excited when she joined the news website- I thought that, if anyone was meant to be a journalist for these papers, it was Trixie.

Unfortunately, while she was at every single meeting for the paper, her role basically boiled down to sitting there and snarking with Eddie while Joy and Mara caused drama and Eddie eventually got around to the ghost investigation which, despite being all he was seen doing for the paper, was still more than what Patricia did. Joy ignored the fact that she was there despite signing her up, and Mara didn't even ask if Patricia had an article written. Was she not a reporter? Then what was she? Couldn't they have at least claimed she did something?

I know it wasn't a hugely needed thing. But who here honestly could tell me that there would have been an issue if she wrote a story or was at least mentioned to be doing anything for the paper? Who here wouldn't have loved a badass scene where she got sick of Mara and Joy competing and, after Joy almost causes the paper to get shut down, she stepped in to become the new editor herself, pointing out that neither Joy or Mara had the skills needed to do the job?

She didn't need to do anything that big, of course. But I just don't see why they wrote her to be on the paper if her role amounted to just sitting there doing nothing! We all know Patricia could interrogate anyone into submission if needed. So why couldn't they let her use her talents for the paper?

Number seven- The Descendants
The Descendants made for one of the best twists in HOA, IMO, because it was unexpected, created drama, and allowed the four characters to gain some status in the show for once.

Too bad being a descendant meant nothing but awakening RFS and being a tool for exposition to be delivered. Instead of giving Jerome and Joy a reason to return to Sibuna, giving Alfie and Patricia more use on the team, and developing these four characters as a team, we only had them doing the ceremony, sleep talking, painting uncontrollably and saying nursery ryhmes- which, might I add, only two of the descendants actually did.

Their status could have been used to great effect. Imagine if they were being given dreams from their ancestors of the past for clues, and imagine if Jeroy used it as reason to join Sibuna, and imagine if it made them able to do something only they could do and nobody else?

All I'm saying is, imagine if being descedants actually meant something on the show for the characters and allowed them to develop and be important for once. That's what should have been done with them, because there were chances, and they were simply missed.

Number eight- The Patrome date
You all knew this one was coming.

To spare you guys from hearing me gush over my OTP, I'll keep it short and simple.

The date seemed to, at the time, promise something. It seemed to hint towards a small romance, or at least more friendship scenes between Trix and Jerry. It seemed to be finally giving us crazy Patrome shippers what we had wanted since the first season. In the end, it caused nothing and felt more like a way for the writers to try and shut us shippers up than anything. Like, they set up a date, made it into a joke, and never mentioned it again.

Gee, HOA, I feel so special towards the way you treat my OTP.

...Bias asside, I simply believe this could have been done much, much better, while still allowing Peddie to be canon.

Let's say they start dating. Well, then it would lead to some more personal conflict, Patricia questioning who she really wants and a bit of a riff because Joy needs to start Operation Jerome soon but can't if Jerome is dating Patricia. It couldn't have to be a long romance to stir up some trouble, have them break up with Patricia deciding that she really does still want Eddie and it would have made her grow beyond being the jealous girlfriend. Maybe it'd have sparked some Joytricia and Matricia problems too. And for Jerome, he also decides that he'd rather be friends with Patricia in time for Jeroy to start.

Or it could have simply lead to a friendship, leading to increased Joytricia interaction thanks to Jeroy, Jerome possibly joining Sibuna, yadda yadda yadda.

So yes. What I'm saying is, Patrome's date didn't need to be made into a joke. It could have gone somewhere, developed the characters, and created more relationship drama that isn't just a result of '''the plot. '''

Number nine- Mabian
Ya'll surprised?

I still maintain that Mabian could be made tolerable and even great if it had been given more development time. All it needed was for the two of them to talk and get close for their romance not to feel so shoe-horned.

It would have developed Mara beyond her season 3 revenge plot, it would have developed Fabian as he got over Nina, it would have made some nice scenes, etc. Honestly, what else can I say? If the two of them spent more time together, Mabian's two episode plot would have been made much stronger and more liked.

Not much to really say, but yeah, eff you for forcing the romance to be a thing when it could have easily happened naturally, writers. I'm disappointed in you guys.

Honorable mentions
Eddie and Mr. Sweet making up- Because there was no closure, damn it.

Jabina friendship- It could have actually been a thing. Why wasn't it?

Joy and Jerome in Sibuna- I could have put this on the list honestly but I just thought of it now and the next one is big so yeah. This one is a big thing that could have needed fixing, I can rant about it forever, but I'm tired of typing so bear with me, I'm not going to redo the entire list and reduce number ten or something like that.

Jason- Because I'm still waiting for him.

Victor's, Rufus's, and Sarah's backstory- Because I want to know more about it.

Finally, the final one.

Number ten- The Tear of Gold
Don't act like you weren't expecting this one. This is the big one. The plot thread so forgotten that it's mere mention can get people really aggravated.

I don't feel like typing big paragraphs anymore, so we'll go over this quickly.

After a season of building up to the Tear of Gold, and after a FLIPPING CLIFFHANGER ABOUT IT, the Tear of Gold was completely forgotten in season 3 and I guess it kind of makes some sense because they couldn't really fit it into the plot but at the very least Victor could have asked RFS about it or something. The problem was simply that they forgot it existed when one simple sentence could have fixed it.

One sentence could have fixed the broken bridge between the two seasons, one sentence could have showed Victor still having some of his former development, one sentence could have saved me from writing this paragraph. All I'm getting at is, in Season 2 it was done pretty well. Good build up, important to the characters, developed Victor, all fine. It was only in the third season that this became an issue because it was dropped after the cliffhanger.

That's why this is a big plot issue. It could have been resolved easily but instead they ignored that it ever happened, and that's why it turned into a genuinely good plot, into something worth ranting about.

Thanks for reading, guys, and as always, I'd like to hear all your thoughts below. :)