Charles Alexander in The Wilds 2.02 “Day 34/12“

The aggressive one also being the caregiver of the group. 

(aka the softer side of Kirin in The Wilds season 2)

kirin o’conner #1 josh protector

Kirin O’Conner + struggling with idioms

No but there's something so validating about Josh telling an absolute stranger what happened to him and Kirin not even doubting him and ready to kill a bitch it makes me wanna cry

THE WILDS | 2.08

leatin & rafkirin parallels ⋆.˚⭒⋆.˚

KIRIN O'CONNER - THE WILDS

- @lgbtqcreators creator bingo — [ shapes & character profile ]

in.sp.

Anyway the fact that so many of the people who belittled and tormented josh probably looked and acted exactly like kirin…josh admits something so personal and horrifying and you know he’s expecting to be ridiculed…and then kirin not only believes him without hesitation but becomes his fiercest defender and takes josh under his wing and makes him feel protected…I’m emo

I love scrolling through the wilds tag because you can see ppl live-watching it going from "wow kirin is so annoying" to "GET HIS ASS KIRIN GET HIM GO GO GO GO GO"

✨ LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS ✨

struggling to understand why the boys of The Wilds S2 are facing so much hate from the fandom -- their stories are interesting, vital, and add so much to the tapestry of the show’s narrative about the terror that is coming-of-age. I love the girls the most and always will but the point of television is narrative and stakes and expansion -- besides, I really fucking loved all the girls’ shit this season!!!! We didn’t lose!! We just got even more than we wanted!!! 

I also think the intense hate for the show’s creators bc of all this is weird; assuming the people responsible for a television show you love are your greatest enemy is truly bizarre behavior bc they are the people who spend the most time crafting and thinking about and loving these characters and this story. Extremely off to just assume the worst of them bc of a plot point you didn’t like, when every interview is so thoughtful and every cast member is so clearly and visibly thrilled with their work environment and this season

so anyway, season 3 or I riot 

The Wilds 2x05: Josh & Kirin

THE WILDS 2.06 | 2.05

Captain Daddy being a Captain Dad

you being so strong. so steady. the one everyone counted on. at least that’s what the others have said. [...] i wonder if this adult quality that you have is what made josh so comfortable opening up to you.

I'm surprised by how much I like Kirin. Not saying he is flawless, but I basically like every layer he has and even his flaws.

The character's development they did for him was fast, but I didn't like this trope subversion less because of this. When I say 'fast' I mean that I basically started ep.5 thinking about how bad it was for Josh to be paired with the "Chad" after the trauma he had gone through, and I ended that episode sure that Kirin was my fav (boy) character and also my fav person on the boys' island.

So, some consideration in no particular order:

- either Kirin has a natural talent to spot signs of abuse, or he has more backstory than what we have been made aware of so far. He frowns even before he sees the red marks on Josh's chest, reacting only based on his avoidance. He says and does what's right, not only he stays 100% firm in his decision to believe Josh but he also state that decision aloud multiple times. I see backstory here and I want it.

- not straight. He has a not-straight energy that is incredibly big. He's the Sports Jock and the "Chad" but his backstory has no girls in it: we don't see him with a girl not even in a fragment; he's not pictured as an heartbreaker, which usually pairs really well with the archetype of the Conventionally Attractive Popular School Bully Captain; he could have been busy with practise, sure, but from the point of the writers I see this as a deliberate storytelling choice to hint at something (or at least I hope so)

- he's funny. I find him genuinely funny.

- he's the natural leader, but he is also kinda the group mom. And his attentions to the others are so casual and natural that you fail to notice them at first: how he hugs Bo on the cliff, how he cooks and shares food, how he always has an eye on the others. It comes so naturally to him and therefore I want to know more about the "dad part" he gets to play and his siblings

- he may be a "act now think later (or never)" kind of person, but he is not a bad person. I ended up thinking about "bad boy, good man" as the perfect quote for him during one of the episodes.

- I'm not excusing what he said to Ivan in the flashback, but I really see that moment as nuanced. He said awful things, no doubts about that, but what I see in that scene is this: a drunk and sad schoolboy caught in the middle of a breakdown whose first reaction is to firmly state he is not an homophobe/racist (not sure about which one he was going for as the sentence is cut off) and to refuse to repeat the insults Ivan is putting in his mouth. In other words I don't see him as a racist and/or homophobe who is ready to insult people and happy to do so given the chance; and I see this because he does not come up with bad words he was refraining himself from using but is glad to let out, he repeats exactly what Ivan was telling him to say; I don't see any joy in him as the words come out of his mouth, I only see a broken young boy who is being provoked in a moment of fragility. Also, surely enough Ivan and him have more backstory, otherwise Ivan's provocation is unexplicable: we haven't seen Kirin doing anything bad up to this moment, so I don't get why Ivan starts this provocation. Therefore I suspend my judgment on this moment (and on both Ivan and Kirin before the island) until I know more about their relationship and what led to that moment in the locker room.

- his interview draws a lot of parallels to Toni and I like this a lot

- I'm really praying they'll use this magnificent example of "Archetype: Chad" to subvert the 'boys will be boys' trope and to show us a boy who is stupid and impulsive and everything a 'boy' is, but is also inherently a good person.

ALSO why he is officially listed as "Kirin O'Connor" but everyone on tumblr tags him as "Kirin O'Conner"?