#2x06 mention

[lovecolibri]

Wake up babes, new review dropped!

Some highlights

I have answered a personal question. See, I thought Michael’s mustache was growing on me, but it isn’t. I was just distracted by his pretty pretty eyes.

In reality, Mimi had to go, so Maria would have a storyline this season other than whining about her absent powers.

I so badly want to say that Maria’s had more of Alex than was necessary or palatable, but I won’t because it isn’t necessary.

I don’t want to talk about Isobel and Anatsa. They should have established and ended their relationship last season instead of having Isobel violate her mind and gaslight her. Everyone knew Kyle and Isobel was coming. And now here we are, in the show's final freaking season having wasted four of thirteen episodes to end Isobel and Anatsa's relationship.

Truthfully, the corny line about the turquoise should have gone to Michael and Alex. Perhaps the writers forgot about Michael giving Alex turquoise at the drive-in last season...Turquoise doesn’t have any significance for Max and Liz. It was clearly done because the two of them need to have a “romantic” moment in every episode even when it doesn’t hold any resonance.

Cameron brings Michael a cool tracker ring. I wonder if it reminds him of the cool tracker necklace he gave Alex? Does he know it can be used as a tracker? Do they need Rosa for that? Where is Rosa?

[meneatyoghurt]

Just for my own curiosity...

Times malex have interacted in front of the other main characters:

Season 1

Prom flashback (Max, Liz and Kyle)

Caulfield (Kyle) - maybe the most screen time they've shared with another main character?

Honourable mentions: Maria disappearing for exactly the length of time it took for them to talk in 1x09, Max and Isobel both being at the drive in but seemingly not paying any attention to Michael hanging out with Alex, everyone else who was there and saw them on a date

Season 2

2x01 at the school/lab (Liz, Isobel...Kyle? Was Kyle there?)

2x06 (Maria - Michael, Alex and Maria had literally never been in the same scene before)

2x10 in the diner (Isobel for like 2 seconds)...do they kind of interact for a sec when getting out the car?

2x13 in the diner again (Isobel), kind of at the pony as well if staring into each other's eyes counts as interacting (Isobel again)

Honourable mentions: Forrest, Greg and Jesse

Season 3

3x08 in the barn (Liz and Isobel), then later at the pony (Maria and the other women for like one second - Alex gets to say one line to Michael which is him fighting over who loves Maria best, obviously)

3x10 - bringing the lockhart machine to the junkyard, in the barn with Dallas (kinda? they're in the same scene together anyway)

Honourable mentions: Eduardo, Jones, the statue/ghost of Jesse Manes

Not only is the bubble alive and well, I think it might have got worse in s3...

(did I miss any?)

[prouvaireafterdark]

Hahahahaha look I don’t know between whom… I just know the last time Alex didn’t have a car, it didn’t work out well for anybody.. 😬😬😬

fair enough 😬

[winged-fool]

Anti Maria promo anon back with a few final grains of salt. It's bad enough they're putting in all this effort into as you said rehabilitating her character, but what's worse is the actress seriously undercut this yesterday by saying the episode with THAT scene is her favorite??!! Lady did you not read the room when that episode aired?? Are you not reading the room over a year later when people still can't talk about it without getting nauseous? Just why would you do that?

Welcome back my friend! Oh my god I just cannot deal with Heather, the woman lacks so much tact. I cannot believe she said that!! I didn't watch the panel and hadn't heard this but jeez not surprised. This is the same woman who responded to criticism about the threesome and how it was triggering to assault servers as "noise" 😣😣😣

[lovecolibri]

Between Kyle getting the Alex treatment with getting the rug pulled out from under him after a series of emotionally charged moments with his person for a bare bones relationship with know won't go anywhere involving M*ria's insanely hypocritical advice and Michael bleeding out again without Alex ever getting the chance to be the one to take care of him, this finale had major 1x13 energy. And it wasn't as bad as 2x06, but I am feeling similar levels of rage and frustration after and more ready than ever to give up on this show as a Kylex and Malex person.

I feel you on that! It's been said by a lot of people that Anatsa is the new Forrest and it's a shame because it didn't have to be that way. Especially because Kybel don't yet have that epic romance that Malex had, so her dating someone else right now actually makes some kind of sense. If they had brought Anatsa on early and had her involved with Isobel the whole time (instead of having her sleep with Max which still weirds me out), they could have built up a really sweet relationship all season while showing that Isobel still doesn't totally trust her with the big stuff and had it be a fulfilling short-term thing that ended with the season, Anatsa getting a great job opportunity that Isobel is really happy and proud of her for, and they remain friends after Anatsa leaves. During all of this, we still see Isobel and Kyle getting closer and we get to hear Alex and Kyle talking about it and Alex offering some actually good and helpful advice. Like, the set up this season for Alex and Kyle to share SO MANY SCENES together, and work together at Deep Sky and talk together about their love lives is RIGHT THERE. It was built into the plot by making Eduardo head of Deep Sky AND Kyle's uncle! Like, HOW did they manage to miss something this easy that already had the groundwork laid?! That takes work. The RNM Finale Curse continues and it could be the thing that keeps them from getting renewed, which is unfortunate because this story and these actors, and us fans deserve better. I hope whatever you decide, stick around or not, that you'll still always find joy in the Malex and Kylex brotp we did get and all the moments that could have been that live in our heads.

[lovecolibri]

I'm not getting excited about this "love making" stuff until the episode is over and done with. 206 was traumatizing enough 🤢

MOOD. It's probably about Echo anyways or is the "twisty" Malex thing so it's not them or only happens in their minds or it's a flashback and we've still gotten nowhere in present day.

I'm trying to keep my expectations LOW so I can be pleasantly surprised and delighted instead of filled with crushing disappointment. I'm hoping all the Vlamis/Vlambase hype is because we're getting something good and not as a consolation prize for sticking out this season so far with nothing but crumbs but I guess we'll find out soon! *vibrates nervously*

[lovecolibri]

I'm only a gneral viewer of RNM and I honestly had no idea malex was still simmering. I seriously thought they were done with. I heavily shipped them in S1 but lost all interest in them during S2. Even the song scene at the end felt more like the Buffy/Angel goodbye of Buffy S3 than a new beginning. I came away with the impression they'll always care for each other but that was it. I'm not even sure if I want then back together. I don't see how they'll work now when they didn't in S1?

I'm sorry nonnie that you feel like you've lost hope in them. Season 2 did a number on all of us to be sure, and most of us are only holding on to hope because Vlamis has been banging pots and pans and shouting that Malex are cosmic and forever and Tyler helped him release a line of Malex Forever Lovers merch with domestic Malex photographs as promo and since about the middle of filming season 3 they have both been practically vibrating with excitement so I think there IS hope, that the characters are going to grow and address some of the things they've been through and their personal traumas and learn to work things out between them because they WANT to work things out between them. Season 1 was bringing up a decade's worth of trauma all at once and then heaping more on top of it so it's no wonder things fell apart. I think we are going to see them moving back towards each other but I can absolutely see how a casual viewer might not see the gears turning for all of that because the show isn't giving us a lot to work with yet. Plus, as you said "I came away with the impression they'll always care for each other but that was it." which is exactly the impression that scene at the end of that cursed 2x06 episode implied because it's a scene that's been done before. It's the couple that were together when the one person's fated romance came back into their lives (kinda makes you think of how things with Jenna and Max went down doesn't it?) and the other partner has to learn to let them go and they have a bittersweet parting of the ways where they smile softly and make comments about "if things were different" before the close that chapter of their lives. I hated a lot of things about 2x06 but the way they framed that morning scene was definitely one of them.

Anyway, I hope for all our sakes we get some good Malex content soon and hopefully what is actually shown on the screen without having to add in 5 additional layers of media consumption will show a re-building of friendship and trust and an eventual romance.

[lovecolibri]

The time to explore M*ria's feelings was in S1 with everyone else. Now it just feels like the show is trying to make me sympathize with her without ever having done the work, and it's just not working for me. I am also pretty confused about how the theme of this season is consequences and facing up to what you did to the people you love, and somehow no part of that includes the M*luca mess. Because I honestly don't understand either M*ria's or Michael's actions from last season to now. M*ria finally said something nice about Michael even as she was dumping. Now she's back to being shitty to him, but she's also lonely? (This doesn't even cover the fact that Rosa was right there for her to spend time with. Why is she complaining to Isobel?) Michael spent so long clinging to M*ria and told her he wouldn't stop caring about her. Then he barely went near her for a year because they don't have much going on unless alcohol is involved? Now he's back to worrying and thanking Max for looking out for her because the plot needs everyone to prop her up. Why couldn't they settle into some sort of friendship? Why can the show write good things for everyone else, but M*ria's has to be an inconsistent mess? I refuse to believe not one person involved with the show sees how problematic this is.

IYeah it's not working for me either. Having the fan-favorite characters from last year trailing around and propping her up after everything that happened last season is not a good look, but especially when those fan-favorite characters are 1) The "BFF" she screwed over all season while pretending she has never done anything wrong ever, manipulated, and made sexual advances towards after he made it clear women were A Bad Thing for him, 2) the brother of said "BFF" who she is now ALSO pursuing romantically who previously was the only one to stand up for his brother, said he wished he stood up for him more, and was one of the only people besides the villains to acknowledge that Michael is deeply important to Alex, 3) the man she knew her "BFF" was previously in love with and was currently feeling hopeful about that she dated anyway and forced Alex into doing all the emotional labor to keep that relationship going because she couldn't be bothered and then broke up him with all while never saying a nice thing to or about him and is currently still berating, talking down to, and being catty towards even while he's saving her life and thinking people for looking out for her wellbeing, and 4) the actual BFF of the guy she screwed over who also knew how Alex feelt about Michael (and probably has an inkling about how Michael feels about Alex because the man is neither blind nor stupid). How did they think this was going to go? How could they think for a minute that approach would work? And having her still acting like she did last season?! It's like they're not even trying!

"I am also pretty confused about how the theme of this season is consequences and facing up to what you did to the people you love, and somehow no part of that includes the M*luca mess." Exactly! Having every character in season 2 look the other way including Alex while m*ria threw herself at Michael after he withdrew when Max died, and after everything that happened, now that c*rina's gone we should have gotten to see Alex being allowed some emotional space to be angry. I did not expect they would actually have them fight or anything, but given the way Kyle (and Rosa) called out Liz, and his lectures for Max and m*ria about their health and Max's issues with Liz and keeping him out of it? The whole theme being about personal responsibility? And they still had the unmitigated gall to have Alex worshiping at her feet and begging for his brother to get with her and calling her his "dream girl"?! I just...

"This doesn't even cover the fact that Rosa was right there for her to spend time with. Why is she complaining to Isobel?" YES!!! If she's so "lonely" why doesn't she go hang out with her newly resurrected BFF who also might understand something about thinking you're human but finding out you've go alien powers and need to work on controlling them. ROSA IS RIGHT THERE.

If there way anything they needed to leave back in season 2 it was this idea that m*ria was perfect and could do no wrong and every character needed to verbally put her on a pedestal even as her actions did not match with all the glowing praise people were heaping on her. And unfortunately that stuck around and they have gone even harder on the m*ria/Alex friendship which is...deeply, deeply disappointing and hurtful. Like you said, everyone else is getting called out, this was the perfect opportunity to at last make an attempt at burying the hatchet from last season. And the fact that they aren't is...big yikes.

[lovecolibri]

Things that did NOT Spark Joy-3x03

This is all the salt gremlin thoughts, good and happy vibes are here.

*blows out pent-up breath* I have really struggled this week about this episode, partly because I have a brain that is bad, but mostly because last week's episode was SO GOOD and delivered so many things I wanted to see and while this one did too, there were some glaring things that just sat so heavy in my stomach, and some things that are in opposition to what we were told we would be seeing in interviews and stuff and so I am struggling with feeling really frustrated and deeply disappointed instead of just salty over some stuff. But we will start with the salt first!

I'm a little peeved that in listing possible murder victims, when Michael brings up Sanders, someone we know knows about aliens and also knew Nora and Louise, twice no one even blinks but they all go right to it being Michael? Even knowing how Alex is reacting in the vision? Can this large group of supposedly very smart people please be allowed to have a single molecule of common sense and at least think about things like this?

I'm not hating Isobel being an empath, but it kinda came out of nowhere? And even then, I wouldn't even mind, but (as someone else pointed out) m*ria was already supposed to be the empath (when it's convenient for the alien story but certainly not when making choices about romantic partners, even back in season 1 with the "Chad") and has been since the beginning. So if her visions are unreliable (the flowers were not sunflowers in the previous visions we got to see but now they are, so are they changing things? We don't know because no one mentioned that the flowers changed 🙃) and she's going to have to stop having them at some point because they are killing her, and Isobel is now the empath, then where does that leave m*ria? What do they need her character for? And not it a salty way either! Like, because c*rina didn't really have a place in the narrative for her except as an oracle for Liz and an obstacle for Malex we are now 3 seasons in and still no clear purpose or place for her.

Our werewolf buddy Burt (Bert? anyone know?) is back which I thought meant we would get at least a little comic relief this season (which this show sorely needs) but then we got reminded about the racist mayor and sheriff so I guess that’s the only reason they brought him back (and to possibly be the murder victim or the person they are covering up the murder for?) and NOT for fun alien-but-he-thinks-it's-werewolves shenanigans 🙃 (As a personal aside that I'm mentioning because it definitely affected my ability to enjoy this episode, I struggle with emotional dysregulation (which probably shocks no one) but that means that some scenes can leave me deeply unsettled and shaken up for sometimes days afterword (that scene in Falcon and the Winter Soldier 1x04 with the shield? I was barely able to enjoy the rest of the show after that) so the whole scene with Burt saying he didn't want to die and the gleeful way those men were ready to just commit a murder in cold blood, not in a fit of rage even just straight up having a good time, really hit me and I still can't think about it without my extremities going ice cold so that definitely didn't help my feelings on the episode.)

I talked about this a bit here and here but I'm absolutely hating everything they are trying to push with m*ria and Greg and that alone was bad enough, but the fact that one of the characters I enjoy the most, Alex, is still being forced by the writing to be worshiping at m*ria's feet every episode when (as I will talk about later) he could be using that screen time to be talking about Michael? I just...*screams into pillow* It's really hard to just "enjoy the show" or "focus on the things I like" when one of the characters I like most I'm starting to dread seeing come on screen because I never know when he's going to be spouting something else about how if only he was straight he could finally get with m*ria who is the most perfect woman to walk the earth. It wasn't bad enough that we had to watch m*ria trying to get as close to having Alex as she could by going after Michael and now his brother, but now we have to put up with Alex trying to get as close to m*ria as possible by pushing his brother to her too? After everything with 2x06, the fact that they are still pushing this makes me literally feel queasy like that episode did and that d***m g**l line was so triggering. C*rina wasn't the only writer, and it looks like people who contributed to, supported, and allowed that episode to go out are all still involved in the show and unfortunately? It shows, in the worst way possible.

Speaking of all this kind of general mess, having Kyle say "Eventually you have to take responsibility for the things you've done to the people you love" might have been great, but the show is still having m*ria talk down to Michael like he's worthless ("You’ve been looking for proof you were worthless your whole life" anyone?) and be catty and snappy to him for no reason, and still refusing to allow Alex to have even one (1) negative emotion about m*ria or m*luca and having other characters addressing their issues just makes it even more glaringly obvious that we haven't seen m*ria getting called out or held accountable for her actions, or apologizing for anything, but instead the narrative is pushing back hard that she's still just absolutely perfect and why should fans be mad at her when Alex so clearly loves her and Michael is still so worried about her? 🙃🙃🙃

Liz saying she got caught up in the science and forgot the most important thing was actually Max is a sweet sentiment, but girl, what about the part where you were doing unethical research against the express wishes of the person you stole DNA from and giving untested treatment to someone (that you also stole DNA from) without telling them about it? We are getting baby steps on that front and I adore Kyle forever for handing out truth bombs all season so far but there is still a ways to go.

This show continues to have issues with being unclear about what is happening. First with Forrest being Deep Sky but Alex NOT going with Forrest meant he DID want to join Deep Sky, and now with Isobel saying they can't use the funeral home as a guide for who dies anymore because a different building burnt down, not the funeral home. Which I had to read several posts to figure out. Like, we're just supposed to know what was at those street coordinates and that those weren't the coordinates to the only building Isobel references when she's talking about the fire?

Speaking of things being unclear, I'm going to get more into that as well under the cut, but the show STILL has an issue of letting the audience know things like "who knows what, when did they learn it, and how/from whom". We know there are visions but in this episode the flowers are different but no one mentions it so did they all already know? Alex seems to know all about these visions and what's in them, but we don't know who told him and we don't know who all he has told about Deep Sky or what exactly they know about it, Greg seems to be fully read in on the alien stuff but again, it's never mentioned when that happened or how much he actually knows (I'm begging for a simple "Yeah when you all sat me down and read me into all this, I was freaking out" type conversation. And mentions of a group chat or group meetings. We don't even have to necessarily see them, just let us know they exist!), we don't know who all knows how much about Max, Liz finds out about that and apparently about the visions but again, we don't know what all everyone knows. I posted this earlier and I'm going to talk more about that too under the cut, but "this is why the Big Misunderstanding as a primary plot device is almost universally disliked" really hit home. Season 1 had Alex (along with Kyle and Jenna to some extent) investigating the same thing Liz and then The Pod Squad were all looking into, but they never looped Alex in, so he wasn't involved in the Big Reveal, season 2 was a mess and it was impossible to even guess who knew what at any given time or what the plot even was half the time, and when we did get plot reveals the character motivations didn't make sense or didn't line up with their actions. And now, while the plot all seems to be tied together and things are already happening and coming together which is fun and exciting, we're still missing a piece of that puzzle where it's clear who knows what, when the learned it, and how they got the information.

Okay, so that's it for the normal salt. I'm going to put the rest under the cut because it's going to get long and a little negative about the Malex scene and I know people are trying to avoid that. I will say though, it's mostly about the timing and set up, and some confusion, but it's not any sort of character bashing or hate so you don't have to worry about that.

Okay, buckle in, this is gonna be a Whole Thing.

So yes, Tyler and Vlamis are still amazing and we love them and Alex would burn the world down, and Michael willingly hands over alien tech and we got 🥺🥺🥺 eyes. All good. But here's the thing, this is the first time that we the audience are seeing them interact knowing they have spent over a year apart. The last thing we saw was Michael, less than a week ago, watching Alex kissing Forrest (who even asked if he had any competition and Alex laughed and said "no" like the very notion was ridiculous), but Alex didn't see him. We are not given any indication that they have been in contact over the last year, or have talked at all or seen each other in the past few days since Michael saw Alex and Forrest together but judging by how busy he's been, I would guess not. And instead of getting a parallel to the pilot episode and a "welcome home" moment like Echo got (and like Liz had with Rosa and with m*ria, and like Alex had at the bus stop with Forrest) we got...this. Now, I know Vlamis said they chose to play the scene with a joking tone and honestly I think in the context of the actual scene itself it works for Malex and their relationship BUT, the timing of this being the FIRST interaction they have had in over a year as far as the audience knows? The vibe was...not right. We keep getting told that Malex is going to be put on par with Echo but after this episode it was like, bitch where?! When?! Because Echo met at the end of the last episode and started the episode with a slightly stilted and awkward conversation like they had in the pilot, and we should have seen the same thing for Malex to ease into the scene we did get. And speaking of Echo parallels, Liz and m*ria's scene still ended up being "It's about Max, isn't it?" Just like Liz's scene with Rosa. And with Kyle. And the undercurrent of her scenes with Heath. Max is in everything for Liz and they make sure we as the audience are aware of it. Aside from Isobel in 3x01 talking about Michael feeling hopeful, and m*ria's catty AF line when she knows they aren't even dating there hasn't been a mention of Malex, and Michael hasn't been allowed to talk to anyone about Alex aside from having a throwaway line about Alex leaving in a laundry list of other things. And it's even more egregious for Alex who has not mentioned Michael at all even though there would have been opportunities, but his character is forced to be talking about m*ria instead. They were able to pull off keeping Echo from meeting for 2 full (mostly) episodes because they were constantly talking about each other. But for Malex, we got 2 minutes at the end of the THIRD episode and we still don't know if they have had any contact before this! And it's not about them being private people or Isobel (for once) respecting Michael's boundaries or Kyle not wanting to push. This is a TV show, not real life. They have to show us or at the very bare minimum tell us that Michael and Alex are thinking about each other because otherwise how are we supposed to know?

The other major issue I had with how the scene played out is that because of all the stuff listed above, it feels so unearned to get a big "I would burn the world to the ground if you were to die/to stop you from dying" declaration when we haven't been told OR shown that these two are even thinking about each other or have had any sort of contact aside from Michael seeing Alex kissing someone else! They have been pushing the "Malex need to be friends and build this foundation of friendship" thing since 1x09 and we still aren't seeing it. And I WANT to see it! I want to see that friendship build up, and some awkwardness, and some hesitant smiles when one of them tries to flirt. But this scene was, again, the two of them arguing and throwing barbs (not that anything was entirely off base or unneeded, but contrast that with Echo taking a moment to apologize for their mistakes and Liz confess she thinks about Max every day and can't even enjoy the ocean because he's not with her) and then going full tilt into a massive declaration of love intense feelings. So, as that link I mentioned earlier above the cut says, "Why aren't they together now?" What is the reason they can't be together right now if Alex is that dedicated to Michael? What is stopping them, if Michael was already so hopeful when Alex was coming back. Does Michael know him and Forrest weren't even really together and Forrest is gone? Does Alex know that Michael was at the bus stop waiting for him to come home? Does Alex think Michael walking out during the song was him giving a hard no to Alex asking to meet in the middle? Does Michael still think that Alex is past him? Who knows?! Not fucking us, that's for sure. Because we haven't seen them talk to anyone about any of this. We hear Max and Liz constantly talking to/being questioned by other people about each other, and even when they are deflecting we are still getting insight and info into what they are thinking and feeling about each other. And we haven't gotten that with Malex. And, unless they updated everyone to full season contracts (which maybe they did?!) we are almost halfway through the number of episodes Malex will share together and we have gotten one (1) two minute interaction and probably less than a single minute of them talking about or being asked about each other. That's not a lot of time to showcase them building up a friendship along with everything else that's going on.

[lovecolibri]

Triangle and 2x06 aside, the fact that this show feels the need to have a gay man repeatedly describe a woman as the ideal partner he'd want if he could because the character needs a popularity boost grosses me out beyond belief. The only scenario where I could see it as coming across cute is if it's Alex directly saying something like it to M*ria because she's insecure about herself, but she would have to have an entirely different personality than what we've been shown and the two of them an entirely different friendship history. It just doesn't work like this.

I am beyond disappointed, and disgusted, and angry, and so, so tired. I just....the option to address last season was right there with c*rian gone. The option to very subtly just have Alex NOT mention m*ria every episode (while still not being allowed to talk to ANYONE about Michael!!!!) was right there. The option to allow him to very calmly say something about no longer burying his emotions to spare other people's feelings was right there. The option to let him and Kyle or him and Greg who is the ONLY one who had previously stood up and said he KNOWS how Alex feels about Michael actually talk about his feeling for Michel was RIGHT. FUCKING. THERE. But they wasted that time having Alex talk to Greg about m*ria. Not Michael, the love of his life that he would burn the world down rather than cover up Michael's murder so everyone would know what Michael meant to him. Nope! Alex still isn't allowed to talk to anyone about him 🙃🙃🙃

I guess that's on me for having any kind of hope that with c*rina gone they would make even the barest minimum of an attempt to stop having Alex fall all over himself to remind the audience once again that m*ria is the greatest person to ever live and has never done anything wrong or hurt his feelings ever. So that's on me.

[lovecolibri]

On one hand the shameless Malex plug of Maria-centric ep made me feel rather icky, but on the other... one (1) singular Malex scene completely overshadowing an episode full of Maria? yes please

On the second though - actually no, please don't make any important Malex scene to be like... thanks to Maria or something. She cant have anything to do with their reunion or major progression fo their relationship, I will not have it

This is what that second ask made me think of 🤣 NGL when I heard that a "twisty" Malex scene would be in that episode I got violent flashbacks of THAT episode so I'm now dreading 3x08 even more than I already was. I don't think they'll bring 2x06 back up, but the show hasn't earned my trust back yet and the fact that Heather made it a point to bring up again that 2x06 was her favorite episode just has me 😬😬😬😬. But I agree. They have already doubled down enough on m*ria's behavior from last season and her on-going derogatory treatment of Michael, plus they are having Alex still casually name drop her for absolutely no reason when it was entirely avoidable (KYLE could have been the one asking if Alex got home okay given that they share a scene later 🙄), she absolutely should not be ANY part of the Malex love story or them getting back together. Literally the only thing I wanted from that mess given that we would probably never get Alex calling her out, is for them to not have to share scenes with her as the most subtle nod to her actions last season hurting Alex and we couldn't even get that bare minimum of acknowledgement. I am...frustrated and disappointed, but sadly not entirely surprised. c*rina may have changed stuff but she wasn't ever the only writer doing things. These next couple episodes should set the tone for the rest of the season and sadly, while I do think we will be getting some good Malex stuff and Vlamburn will bring as always, m*ria is a specter hanging over them that I think the show just has no interest in resolving and would rather pretend everything that happened in season 2 was normal BFF behavior instead of addressing it. I might get proven wrong which would be wonderful, but I'm not holding my breath. And now we know Tyler will likely be in 3x08 so he's probably missing more later in the season which just adds to the 😒😒😒. Any news on which episodes m*ria is missing from so I can actually look forward to something?

[lovecolibri]

I don't think we're headed for more romantic M*luca, but the show is very blatantly writing their dynamic as one with unresolved feelings, and I can't tell if it's going to lead to like an actual honest conversation between them about the why of their relationship (I don't trust post-Carina RNM writers yet to land the emotional arcs), but it should. They are choosing to write M*ria lashing out specifically at Michael, even though he's not the only person trying to reason with her, and I can't imagine why unless they do intend to address something. The choice to have M*ria be the one to end things and only vaguely allude to Michael's feelings for Alex is still hanging over things. The whole breakup was nonsensical, and quite frankly I have no idea if breaking up with M*ria would have been a thing Michael did during the time jump. He wasn't allowed to express himself last season, and S3 needs to be better.

Yeah, season 2 was a mess especially in regards with how Michael wasn't allowed to acknowledge Alex existed outside the bubble all of the Malex scenes took place in and I'm really hopeful we are going to see some resolution at least for Malex and getting some good conversations between them about their feelings and some of what they felt last season that because of c*rina we weren’t allowed to see. I definitely don't think they will ever try any hint of romantic m*luca again given that the press around it was bad enough before 2x06 and did not improve after that, but I've got to be honest though, I have no idea what the deal with m*ria is! I have no clue what could even be the reasoning behind her being catty and snappy towards Michael. I know a lot of people think we are getting them being "banter buddies" back, but the vibe of her comments and her attitude, and Michael's response to it, is markedly different from what we saw in season 1. And even IF they wanted to go with "unresolved feelings" about m*luca, it doesn't work with m*ria being the one to be upset given that a) she broke things off, b) given that they committed to the year-long time jump to put distance from season 2 and to let everyone move on, and c) that Alex and Michael didn't get together immediately and spend that year rubbing it in her face how happy they were together now. So if they try to play it like there are unresolved feelings for her, it's not going to make any sense! And it seems like, against any modicum of common sense, they are going to push m*ria together with Greg and we saw them interact before she ever interacted with Michael, so why if she’s already flirting and moving on is she still being so awful toward him?! I’m with you in that after what we’ve seen in these 2 episodes (and the past 2 seasons as c*rina wasn’t the only writer and didn’t rewrite every single thing), I do not trust the writers to handle the closure on m*luca well at all. Because right now it looks like they are having Michael tiptoeing around and trying to manage her delicate feelings about the break up from a year ago so I would actually rather the show didn’t address it if all they are going to do is keep shoving the idea down our throats that their sham of a relationship was in any way a good or healthy or helpful thing for either of them, or that m*ria, after never having a good or kind thing to say to or about Michael and refusing to even consider being exclusive on her end (while he had to be on his end), is somehow missing him and distraught about their relationship ending. She had nothing but disparaging things to say so I’m still trying to work out why they were even together in the first place (spoiler alert, every reason I can come up with makes her out to still be an awful person), much less why she is being so pissy about it now! They really only had one major job to do on this front going into this new season without c*rina and that was to make sure m*luca was buried 8ft down where it would never rise again, and establish again the soulmates connection for Malex, (and to a lesser extent, if they really wanted to put a pin in season 2, to not have Michael and Alex interacting with m*ria at all outside of group scenes where it’s clear they are only there for alien business) and we are 2 episodes down out of the 10 that Alex will be in and we still haven’t gotten any of that. I am trying to hold out hope at least for the Malex of it all (tonight had better deliver!) but I’ve lost any hope that they are going to even make a passing attempt to address m*ria’s behavior or put any effort in to making sure it’s clear that m*luca was a mistake. I’m hopeful they might to the Literal Least Thing Possible and have Michael say a generic “I made a lot of mistakes” or “I said a lot of things I didn’t mean” or “I was trying to bury my feelings” or something like that as a way to address his actions from last season. I would not be shocked if they make sure Michael’s actions are addressed, while continuing to pretend that m*ria has never done anything wrong and not allow any character to say or do anything that might insinuate that she has even while she is actively still manipulating everyone by threating self-harm and threating other people’s lives and safety and compromising their alien secret in the process. 🙃🙃🙃

[lovecolibri]

Friendly reminder, "banter" is to "talk or exchange remarks in a good-humored teasing way" and is not one person being catty, rude, or malicious and the other person just taking it. I really enjoyed Michael and m*ria’s banter in season 1 but since the point they hooked up in season 1 she has not had anything nice, kind, or even neutral to say to or about him, and most importantly, especially in these first 2 episodes, we don’t see him bantering back. He just takes the criticism and snark and continues with what he’s saying. We aren’t seeing that “fun banter” that we got in season 1, we are still just seeing m*ria being snappy, talking down to Michael, and being catty about Alex when we know that SHE knows at the very least that Alex has been out of town and nowhere near Michael. Plus given that we’ve already seen her saying she wanted to marry Alex, and after what happened in 2x06 with her trying to force Michael to choose her over Alex, her having any kind of snappy response about when Alex and Michael are getting married especially when she knows they aren’t even together is just deeply uncomfortable and comes off as a really catty and mean thing for her to say, and it’s made all the more so by Michael’s reaction which was not to laugh and joke about it and banter back but to mention that she’s making things awkward. I don’t know what the reasoning is behind doubling down on her character acting this way, but it is a really bad look and I don’t see any way they can fix it at this point. It’s either going to be who she is and how she acts for the rest of the show, or, they are going to try and handwave it away with either a personality transplant that no one mentions, or tie it to her mind deteriorating to garner sympathy but given that no one has called her out for it or mentioned that she’s acting weird means it’s hard to buy that as a reason. Anyway, I’m not sure what I’m dreading more, that they just won’t address this at all, or that they will address it and handle it poorly. They really had the opportunity to subtly deal with last season by not having Michael or Alex interact with her, which easily could have happened until the roof scene, but they are making a point to have Alex mentioning her, putting her with Greg of all people, and having Michael thanking Max for keeping an eye on her like she is in any capacity his responsibility, especially given that we were told in episode 1 that she hasn’t seen him around so they haven’t been interacting. I’m just...baffled by these choices and I am dreading everything about her character that we have been shown coming up/

[lovecolibri]

I know this won't happen but imagine m/aia being salty to alex because "why didn't you think about me before starting something with michael again :0 :///" and alex just staring at her before going "i was under the impression, that you don't deem something like that necessary." idk i just want her to either be genuinely ashamed of her behavior, to apologize and to do better or to never breath near michael, alex or anyone with alex' dna ever again

WHY IS SHE BEING CATTY AND BITCHY ABOUT THIS LIKE SHE WAS THE ONE THAT GOT HURT?!

Like, even aside from everything else, and her being the one to break up with Michael after never showing a genuine reason why she even wanted to be with him (aside from sex) since she talked down to and about him at every opportunity, an her having done this to Alex so she doesn't have a leg to stand on, she is also a fucking psychic who canonically knew how Alex was feeling when she started all this. That means she knew how Michael was feeling the whole time. Why else did she pull that shit in 2x06 to force Michael to "choose" between them? Because she was feeling insecure. Why? Not like we got to see Michael putting Alex first or picking him over her EVER all season. So why was she insecure unless she was picking up on their ongoing feelings for each other. So it's not like she didn't know what she was getting into when she started all this!

I always said one of my fears would be that they would make her be the one complaining about being "hurt" and asking Michael and Alex to stay away to protect her delicate feelings and make them feel guilty about being together and so far...I'm unfortunately having those fears confirmed. And while we all knew we would have to live with anyone actually address her actions only existing in fic, what we're seeing so far is extremely disappointing and does not give me any hope that they will even try to subtly make an attempt to address her behavior and are going to keep pushing the idea that she's The Best. 🙄

[lovecolibri]

If we're being super blunt here I don't expect M*ria to ever improve much because quite frankly I don't see the same investment from Heather about her character that I see from the rest of the cast. The fact that she reiterated her 2x06 nonsense at the panel tells me she's not overly bothered by problematic rep and doesn't care to listen. Compare that to Jeanine pushing for badass ambitious scientist Liz, Tyler wanting more visible disability rep and to explore Alex's military background which apparently we're getting this season, Amber and Trevino putting their own backgrounds into their characters, Lily straight up writing Isobel's big speech in 3x13, Vlamburn putting so much thought into Malex and Vlamis forever learning from Tyler about queer identity. With M*ria there really doesn't seem to be growth or an arc of any kind and we're on s3 now. And if this season really was a collaborative process with the actors and this is still what we're getting with her that tells me all I need to know. There's always a chance M*ria will surprise us and I will happily take back everything I said here but I am not holding my breath.

You are absolutely right and you should say it. I usually try to avoid lumping actors in with their characters but after that 2x06 interview I just blocked her name and avoided anything to do with her because I just do not care. But the fact that she is still pushing and bringing that episode up as a favorite (of course, because m*ria got to have all the control over two men), and telling people who were triggered by the episode to stop all the "noise" about it tells me everything I need to know. Also, as much as I have hope for Malex and for what Chris has planned for them, what we have seen from the promos and the fact that he keeps hyping up m*ria and especially the m*ria heavy episode 3x08 is...really giving me some pause. We know that c*rina did a lot of re-writes and stuff and had no qualms about pushing the writers room around a bit, BUT she wasn't the only person in charge of writing things and I doubt she was able to re-write everything so I don't think we can entirely lay everything at her feet and so far it is....not looking great for anyone who was hoping we might get a modicum of remorse from m*ria, it just looks like a lot more m*ria apologist nonsense and reminding everyone that her character can do no wrong. But I don't watch the show for her, so I'm going to keep hoping for the best for Malex but if they think they can have her involved with them in any way, especially with her acting like we saw in that promo, and not get more backlash for it? They are very much mistaken.

[lovecolibri]

I don't get the CW either, but things work like last year and you don't mind staying up a bit late you can stream it on the CW site after midnight (local time). On the one hand it's not ideal since you'll still miss some of the initial reactions. On the other you can get forewarning of REALLY UPSETTING THINGS and choose not to watch them.

True and now that I'm working from home I could probably stay up late although I usually can't sleep right after and episode because I'm too hyped! Lol. I'll probably stay off Tumblr though until I can see the episode because I don't like spoilers. It's only a happy accident (read: a blessing from heaven) that the 2x06 debacle came out early in the morning because otherwise I would have missed it and that was one spoiler I was thankful for.