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sothischickshe · 3 years

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#And s4 is kind of a question mark currently#Rio's behaviour currently seems batshit#But if fitz is alive.... Rio might not be stupidest person to ever live?#But like.... This show has wronged me re rio's behaviour making sense too many times for me to expect that.#And personally I think that's one of the most egregious things about the show#And I'm not sure that it is getting worse#I think it might just be getting more noticeable over time and how the plot has escalated#But I am holding out a little hope that there is some reason for his behaviour

I cannot explain how much I felt this. Rio's dumbassery is making this season so hard for me and like - if they gave me even the smallest hint that he was playing along and not actually stupid I'd probably feel so much better about the season

❤️

I have a feeling this is going to get long haha (idk if im capable of making anyone feel better, but i can poss offer a contact numbing...?)

so i like the show. i enjoy the show. i think it’s pretty silly, but so am i so that’s not necessarily a complaint. i am very attached to the show, bc i found it (only s1 had aired back then) at a time when i was dealing with a lot of EXTREME physical and emotional trauma (of which topic some more below) and then thrown into a grief hole, and as a result im not sure there’s a shark big enough for it to jump that would make me abandon it. it’s like...yea, literally my comfort show i guess! and i will always be grateful to it for that, and for leading me back into fandom and into writing fic!

large swathes of the plot do not stand up to scrutiny, and that bothers me not at all. if i wanted to watch a proper crime show, i’d go watch a crime show. and frankly if a person’s still watching this show expecting the concept of time to be treated as existing, that’s on them right?

ultimately i think the two things i love most abt this show: i. the acting is incredible & seems to be allowed to lead the plot reasonably organically ii. i cant predict what’s going to happen bc it’s batshit (which i can understand why a lot of ppl see as a flaw haha, but as someone who watches a LOT of american films/tv & can generally tell what’s gonna happen i fucking love) are often at odds.

anyhooo...i like s1 fine BUT there’s a lot of exposition and dialogue which i find v clunky. i can tho forgive a lot for first seasons (which are rarely-never my faves). i think the biggest issue i have with it/i guess the show generally is the mm lack of historicity btwn the 3 main characters? which is probs its own post but def ties into:

the point at which i went ‘oh this show is made by white ppl’ was s1e3. i was on a lot of codeine lol so idk if i wouldve clocked it earlier otherwise, or if i was just seeing deeeeeply through space and time but as @nakedmonkey has said since day dot basically: ok if something has the only latinx character as the only violent gang criminal character...like....i get what ive signed up for. and im Old so im pretty desensitised to racist tropes wandering in and out of things. and i honestly find it almost quaint how this show seems to manage to avoid stereotypes sometimes by simply not knowing abt them ahaha

but... rewatching s1 after s2 finished and having that context (particularly but certainly not only the s2 finale, of which more below)... idk. rio’s behaviour just seems pretty fucking random?! take: yea yea i love making noise let’s go bang some pots and pans blah blah blah im on facebook too vs. SHUTDOWN!!! like i didnt care when this show was fun and silly, but once youve upset me and im combing through trying to work out if he’s the stupidest person in the entire world, stuff like that sticks out?? and yes, i can find reasonings and explain it to myself (and i can have fun doing it!) but in the context of his batshit behaviour in s2: a lot of his behaviour generally seems wildly inconsistent, like the plot purpose of it is SO visible, and i think that is a flaw! but i have to acknowledge im MUCH more interested in character than plot.

i definitely think his behaviour being bananas inconsistent is casually, callously racist and as the show’s gone on it’s found a bouquet of harmful tropes to play with (what fun) but i can also acknowledge that the beth/rio dynamic wasnt an original part of it & im not sure rio was sposed to survive s1 & im almost certain he wasnt sposed to be as much a part of the show so ive got a lil sympathy for some awkward pivoting, & i think they retooled bits of both beth and rio’s characters to get matchier, which im pretty into.

nonetheless, i think s2 is probs the worst offender for nonsensical rio behaviour. the finale takes the top prize (of which more below) but like... ok can anyone explain to me what’s happening in s2e2? the ending of that ep (im going to teach you) was when i went ‘oh this show is stupid stupid’. like... am i sposed to believe that beth gave rio back the gun & then (he?) thought she was going to..... what beat boomer to death......? yea of course i can explain this to myself! he never thought she was going to manage it! it’s a test! but there’s a LOT of this.

what the fuck is he doing in s2e6? all ive got is: he REALLY wants beth to smack him in the face & doesnt know how to use his words (& also he’s very drunk.)

s2e10! park bench scene! what is happening?! episode before she threw him out! episode the next he throws her out! why??? is??? he??? being???? so???? nice???? (again! of course i can find some way to explain this to myself: well if *i* had some vague leverage plan over someone this is exactly how sweet and nice i’d be to them hahah)

but the overall thing is the whole season i was waiting for him to work out they didnt kill boomer (and try to get marry pat’s number off beth, haha). and then that he had the wrong body. and like......?????

look!!!! i love ambiguity!!! i do!!! omg do i!!!! hi!!!! BUT i love it when it’s INTENTIONAL. when it leads to SOMETHING. and im not sure that’s what the show is giving me...? and also!!! look!!! knowing what your non-pov characters are doing/thinking is a lesson *i* had to learn! i love it when stories have a grasp of what characters do/n’t know!!! s2 has annie realising that noah is fbi cos she sees him meet up with turner....who she’s not met...? and sure of course - she’s seen a photo or the girls have described him well enough or he has giant fed energy...maybe....? hmm

and then the s2 finale. ok. on a character level the thing that most annoys me is like.... kidnapping someone & handing them your only weapon & asking them to murder a fed presumably on camera IN YOUR HOME is STUPID. it’s STUPID. am i sposed to think he’s an idiot? like: it’s fucking dumb.

and from a story point of view: when the fuck did he find out about jeff? is rio omniscient but extremely drunk??????

and from a personal point of view: the knowledge that i wasnt going to quit this show. and that i was going to have to walk my rec back! me!?!?! my recs are fucking perfect

s3! the beginning of s3 i think is pretty good on rio’s behaviour making sense! except he tells a person standing outside to get in his car for some fresh air. but ok, he’s driving drunk again! fine! fits the rest of his characterisation, sure. it felt to me like they made a conscious effort to write him consistently!!! i was very into it!!!!

& ive got a LOT of time for stuff like the hitman or boring dave -- when the plot machinations are externally-generated rather than rio-generated, his behaviour doesnt end up seeming so random bc he’s reacting to things and/or doesnt need to turn up to do something to make the girls do something else.

but the latter part of s3 into s4. hmm. look, i dont know what the original intent with wrapping up s3 was. there is really no point at which i thought rio was going to reveal he knew abt the hitman. like, i wouldve happily eaten my words! but i spent so much of s2 waiting for a reveal that he knew...anything really. burn me twice? pff good luck.

i suspect the original resolution to the hitman plot was sposed to be...better? rio apparently being a magical gps who doesnt ask qs is... dumb. i can handwave it, i can handwave a lot, but i suspect covid shooting restrictions probs played a part here?

rio’s behaviour this season seems pretty dumb to me. but it’s seemed pretty dumb and inconsistent to me for v long time. my expectations are not high lol. i think there’s a pretty reasonable chance that fitz is alive and/or rio’s put it together abt the hit (and thinks it’s romantic cos he’s a fucking idiot), but im not certain on that.

i was pretty on the fence abt the fingering scene (there were aspects of it that i really liked, including the No Dick TIll I Actually Trust You energy), but ive gotta super rec Be Good To Me by @blizabrth cos BOTH the povs like super sold me on it (and yea, should i need fic to sell me on the show? hmm idk but im used to it from the s2 finale, so)

i think a large part of what’s fucking me off is that BC of the time in which i found the show... it hurts me seeing the trauma (physical and emotional) & grief not being given due weight. it’s probably a bit silly to expect it from a relatively silly tv show (that’s literally what fic is for! haha) but... idk, i can put up with a lot when something is fun, but if you’re going to drag me into violence and angsty shit i need it be handled like that has fucking weight, and especially when im constantly being slapped in the face with SPECIFICALLY only black and brown bodies as sites of violence, my patience is extremely thin.

most of the damage ive taken personally is due to my own recklessness (so i do have a lot of empathy for this fucking idiot lol) but like.... there are certain ppl Involved who if i saw them, i think i’d straight up punch them in the teeth without thinking. im not proud of that necessarily. i dont think that’s a good thing. but... it’s accurate man. like, i wouldnt be all oooh hey wanna see the combo to my magic car safe yknow? (and not just cos i dont have a car). [and no... i did not care this much when they werent super paying attention to dean’s recovery/remembering his scar and that is bc idc abt dean. but!!! i still did sigh at it!!!]

the glee with which i will eat my words if rio is revealed to not be being an idiot is... gigantic. i dont need a lot. i dont particularly WANT rio pov (i think a lot of the desire for it is obvi bc his behaviour...is so...batshit), though i’ll take weary irritated mick pov with fucking pleasure. i dont need a tearful apology from beth, the further we get from the s2 finale, the less i can imagine anything like that happening and feeling even remotely in character/true to their dynamic/the tone of the show, though i’d take a drunk grudging ‘im vaguely glad you are alive’ with pleasure. i would v much like them to talk some stuff out, but i can cope without it. i dont need them to touch, though give me a hug and i’ll die. i just.... want... to feel like....they’re being written internally consistently? and maybe they are! i felt relatively positive abt it when s3 started, and i can see how stuff mayve been derailed by the pandemic restrictions & the cut short season. and i think the fact that they’re introducing rio’s family & backstory is potentially a positive thing, as well as the fact that he’s getting frankly too much screentime considering he’s not had a single scene with dean (I DEMAND MY TAX!!!! NAME A BAD RIO & DEAN SCENE, I WILL FUCKING WAIT)

but i am firmly at I’ll Believe It When I See It bc theyve wronged me & I Do Not Forget

(and most of all what i want is for both beth and rio to be written off the show. like. im not joking. theyre both fucking me right off.)

that all said: if you (even if temporarily) accept that beth & rio are canonically just as stupid as we keep being told they are, and tilt your head to the side..... this might be THE greatest absurdist comedy of all time.

like: writing them as morons is absolutely hilarious, im having a great time but.... that’s how stupid i have to think they are, yknow?

also, since coming back to writing fiction/starting to publish ff:

- i think ive become a leetle less judgemental abt like all fiction/storyelling including this show. bc writing is fucking hard & ppl have different strengths/weaknesses & collaborative writing/storytelling certainly has its own challenges & i mean....creating art/media in capitalism certainly has its challenges & the fact that the obsessive attention to detail/depressing realities im looking for from the show are missing may well be a positive thing for the ppl involved in it haha

- i’ve definitely become less frustrated. bc i have somewhere to....put my emotions? it’s genuinely therapeutic, and i strongly recommend it to everyone, even/especially if they dont (intend to) publish it

also also, i really stand by: this is not a show you are supposed to watch sober.

#nbc good girls #tv #tw for discussion of racism trauma violence substance abuse #and also i guess criticism/yelling #and positivity/yelling too? idk #im pretty sure those are the right eps i refd #i generally have no idea what happened in what episode #but my irritation with rio's nonsensical behaviour in s2 not only lives in my mind rent free... i think *I* might be paying it a fee for so #e godforsaken reason?!#anyway in conclusion: rio fucking wishes he was on my grudge holding level lol #Something

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