#Envy shippers need justice tbh

[sweetpumpkinmouse]

I have a revelation!

(This is a rant about certain Envy shippers and certain writing choices. No worries, it’s not a ship-bashing post!)

I think the one of the real reasons why I don’t like Envy as much as I wish to, is because people bend over backwards to mischaracterize/demonize characters in order for the relationship to even work. Not even working with the canon or trying to make an interesting story.

They mischaracterize V as a heartbroken, jealous sad girl who is sad that her property—I mean, former lover is in love with someone else. Just like any other shitty Olivia Rodrigo song.

Or they make N so hung up on his crush on V to the point where he’s flanderized to the sky and beyond.

It just puts a bad taste in my mouth.

I remember seeing this one comic where made N upset, and N is getting reminded of all the horrible things he’s been told, so V comforts him. Okay, standard, what’s the problem? The problem is that the characters that are shown is Cyn (makes sense) and UZI (what)! Why Uzi? That doesn’t make fucking sense! If it was J, then that would be accurate, but Uzi? Really?

I’m not done. There was an Envy Heather edit. Completely missed the point. No other words. Unlike the last example, it didn’t piss me off, just “did we even watch the same show?”

Same with Thuzi, and even Vuzi or Juzi in some cases. FUCKING CODEGOLD! And I think Nuzi and NUziV too, but to a lesser extent from what I seen.

I feel bad because I don’t want to hate the ship. I do see its merits and why people like it. I even follow creators or works that ship Envy or have it as the main focus. But by god, certain people make that so difficult sometimes.

This isn’t a problem specific to this ship or this fandom, IT’S EVERYWHERE AND IT DRIVES ME NUTS!

Like why strip the characters from their nuance and chemistry they already have in canon, just to turn them into bland archetype, or to demonize “the other woman”?

[arsenicpanda]

Just saw your reply to my Bh gifs question, can’t wait then! I’m not a multi shipper so this season has been long lol.

What are your thoughts about Betty talking about how she feels she is addicted to Jughead last episode? I haven’t seen your take on this and I always like to see different takes on those scenes. Not the Bughead part if you don’t want to go there I guess lol, but mostly about Betty’s trauma and her.

Oh yeah, I’m sure this season has been rough if you’re only into bughead, like I do not envy that experience.

For the record, before I start, I haven’t really read anyone’s takes on this, just talked about it with friends, so idk how this fits into the greater discourse outside of some shitposts I've seen. Anyway, let’s head to under the cut:

As for Betty, I think she is peak Not Doing Great, Bob. It’s good that she seems to intellectually know her problem, but not great that she’s doing nothing to fix it. A friend of mine likened the situation to previous versions of Betty being very Batman-esque in her pursuit of criminals and justice, but post-time skip Betty more resembles the more violent Thomas Wayne version of Batman from Flashpoint, and, ok, I don’t know a lot about that version of Batman, but it sounds right from what little I do know. I might bug her into making a post about it sometime, idk. But Betty's attitude and willingness to use violence have really changed--she's much more compulsive about it, and she doesn't fear using violence and how that might be her "darkness" manifesting anymore, and idek when that happened or how or why, although I wish they'd tell us. Like, Betty's at a point where I'm kinda worried she's gonna turn into the Punisher.

But Betty has a very flat affect through that conversation--she has a flat affect in general post-time skip, tbh--and like...I am Worried about her. Every time I think Betty’s reached rock bottom, she takes out a shovel and goes “nah, not far enough down, gotta keep going,” like, bby, please stop. She is very much allergic to emotions this season, just absolutely hates them and wants nothing to do with them, and I am Concerned for her. I also hate her “I should be taking care of my mom” like no!! Betty, it’s not your job to take care of your mother! You have to take care of yourself first, and also you shouldn’t be parenting your mom! God, the fact that this is never presented as a bad thing pisses me off so much.

Anyway, it’s a very interesting conversation because it’s very honest, the most honest we’ve seen Betty be all season, but it’s also very detached, but also very nonjudgmental. Like, s1-4 Betty would have been all !!! about Jughead drinking after the “I’m an alcoholic” reveal, but this Betty just...has no reaction? You could interpret it as either “well, I’m not going to judge the backslide because I'm not doing so great myself” or “ok, I don’t really care”, and I lean toward the former, but I’m not a fan of the fact that the latter is even a possible interpretation.

I am worried that Betty’s emptiness will be attributed to being apart from Jughead because, like...that’s not a great dynamic, if they can’t function as regular humans at all without each other. “We help each other be our best selves because we inspire and help each other”, which previous bughead was, is very different from “without each other we can’t function at all and just kind of suck”, like the former is romantic and the latter is depressing. Idk, it goes back to my beef with this season that everyone is miserable and shittier as people; I think all the characters should have been moderately successful and happy enough, and then when they’re back together it’s like...yeah, this is what makes things the best they can be, this fits more than anything else. The difference between “good enough” and “ideal”, B tier vs SSS tier, basically.

I will say, I’m also not thrilled about the “Betty is addicted to these investigations” thing, because it kind of means that, in order for Betty to live a happy, well-adjusted life, she has to stop investigating stuff, and I think that’s absolute horseshit. Like, it’s an interesting take, sure, but it ultimately has a boring outcome, and therefore I hate it. Like, it would have been more Betty-esque to have Betty struggling to fit herself in the “Perfect FBI Agent” box as a way to prevent her “darkness” from interfering with her job, and then have her realize that that’s not who she is or how she functions and she needs to quit, because Betty’s struggle always includes who she thinks she should be vs who she fears she is vs who she actually is.

I do kinda love broken, dysfunctional bughead though, they’re pretty fun to watch, just two disasters careening through life, that would have been really fun to spend a season watching, but Jughead’s on the mend now, so that’s kind of not on the table anymore, alas.

Ok, that was super ramble-y, but I think I got my thoughts in? Hopefully it makes sense and doesn't jump around too much. Idk, if there’s anything else you want me to cover, just ask.