#I HAVE TO SAY I HAVE TO SAY that im happy with leighton and alicia just as much as if it was tatum

[jjadmanii]

LMFAOOO

[tuiyla]

this one’s a long one but saw you talking about the tslocg finale and i have to some things to say (if u don’t mind)

im really upset with how they handled the leighton x tatum situation. like fine, maybe tatum was always meant to be a steppingstone for leighton’s eventual understanding for who and what she’s really looking for in a partner. i never really imagined them to be endgame, especially because leighton’s a freshman and she has plenty of time to explore relationships. break ups happen and their split is really far from the actual issue. a lot of actions just felt very out of character/unfair and the rushed pacing really didn’t make anything settle any better. i mean really what was the purpose of building up tatum’s (jackson’s tbh) characters and qualities just to rip them away in literal minutes.

obviously the show’s pacing has always been a major issue, but there’s never been a mention of the women’s center ever since leighton and alicia ended things so why are we acting like leighton and the other volunteers (employees ?) were so close. it just doesn’t make sense that leighton, who was literally so awful toward the women’s center last season, would be so quickly to dismiss someone who wasn’t fully understanding the significance of it/its members. i mean leighton, of all people, should understand that the environment is one that takes getting used to especially coming from such a privileged, conservative background. perhaps it was the annoyance of having to volunteer there, but leighton’s initial reactions were arguably worse than tatum’s little comments.

it just sucked to see tatum being so patient and willing to work things out with leighton even when she was closeted (which yk, bar is on the floor but still very sweet in comparison to alicia’s reaction) and tatum’s reassurance to leighton lying about the gallery party and doing so much to impress her. but god forbid tatum show some poor qualities, and now leighton immediately dismisses her and their relationship. it’s just really cruel for her to have zero grace for tatum’s ignorance when she was, again, far worse last season. i really don’t mind alicia, but #justicefortatum because leighton really just ignored the literal heartbreak and trauma that alicia caused her but drew the line at tatum making some (distasteful) comments when she really could’ve shown her the same patience everyone at the center showed her last sem.

all of the sensitivities she learned about the members of the center and the relationships she built with everyone there took time!!! but she refused to give tatum that :/ she really had more patience with that conservative kappa alumni than she did her own girlfriend.

(and just realistically it made sense to keep tatum around because at least midori is busy with grey’s now, gracie deserves to be booked too!!)

ps: maybe it’s the santana lopez/quinn fabray supremacist in me but a mean girl never really hurt anybody so my girl tatum deserved a better ending

By all means preach away Anon because I'm clearly not over it either. So frustrating when a story could work but it's so lazily done. And I am starting to call it lazy because I know they can do better and I don't see why the writers weren't willing to leave Leighton's story on a sort of cliffhanger like with the other girls. Why did we need a speedrun of this in two episodes? Really cheapens her character and I hate saying that because I love Leighton and I would love to be wholeheartedly happy for her.

I agree, it didn't seem fair and you're so right that Tatum was hardly anything like Leighton was beginning of last season. And okay fair, maybe Leighton doesn't wanna put in the emotional labour of educating someone like she was educated. But then bitch patiently explains inclusive language to gen x Kappas! And it's not like this was Tatum's third strike or anything. Hate to say it but the way it was written makes Leighton seem like she was looking for a reason to dump Tatum because Alicia reentered the picture. And I know it in my bones that wasn't the intention, but intentions don't mean much to me when you lower your standards of writing. Can you tell I'm really mad when writers choose laziness haha.

It's so convenient for the show to act like it's been building on where we left Leighton at the end of season 1 but it hasn't and it can't lie to me. Leighton has not been missing the women's center or its peeps, that's a big fat lie. Not once did she indicate otherwise. And to be clear I don't have an issue with Alicia nor do I wanna get into the dead horse convo of her breakup with Leighton, but it's true that Tatum proved herself to be understanding, patient, and reassuring, only to be discarded like that because she's a fraction of how rude Leighton used to be.

Had they portrayed her as a bitch all this time and gave any signs that Leighton was uncomfortable with that, fine. I'd still find it a little uninspired but I would have bought the whole "foil to Leighton" thing. But that didn't happen! They just pulled that out of their ass at the last minute. I mean ffs they discussed a safe word 😭 Cause Leighton presumably knew very well that this wasn't Tatum's scene. And you won't hear me say that Tatum wasn't being bitchy, but my god was it really that bad that with no preamble she deserves that talking to and dumping? I don't think so. The writers didn't create the bitch they thought they did in Tatum, not in her relationship with Leighton. And if one more person says we were just "blinded by the chemistry of Gracie and Reneé" I'm THROWING HANDS. Fuck you, I know what I saw, I know what was actually written. I care about storytelling and this was ain't it.

So you could say I also have some things to say, Anon. Idk where they're going with this, if Leighton and Alicia are gonna breakup early on in season 3 anyway. I truly don't much care for that because I think the damage to Leighton's ch has already been done and it's not like Alicia was the cause of that or anything. I'm just bummed that instead of seeing her arc unfold organically in season 3 we had this lackluster speedrun and now, what? I'm sure they have plans for her but now every time she gets on her high horse it will feel empty. Unlike her friendships with her roommates, Leighton's change of heart here did not feel like a natural progression at all. And I love me a bitch with a heart of gold, like, loooooooove, but goddam give her time.

[beetlepuff]

This!!!

Both so valid

And while im on team Tatum, Alicia makes Leighton very happy. She was her first love and thats always gonna be special.

Also can we talk about how in character it is for Leighton to freak after her first big fight w Tatum, end things, and then go running back to Alicia? Like thats so her.

The issue i had with how this played out was the “maybe dating you has made me realize that the things we have in common are the things i want to change about myself” like what the actual fuck was that.

A) i dont believe that to be true. Look at how smitten they are. The main reason Leighton liked Tatum in the first place is because of how similar they are (it did turn into more than that later tho !!). They get each other in a way that her and Alicia never could, coming from such similar backgrounds. Also let’s be real Leighton is obsessed with how secure Tatum is ab herself, and she tries to be like that too, because of her. She doesn’t want Tatum to change, and she doesn’t want to change every aspect of herself that reminds her of Tatum.

And B) Tatum was acting just like how Leighton did when she first came to the women’s center. Maybe Leighton was even worse. Now shes grown to love it and it’s special to her, but that wasn't always the case. Also if Tatum had made the make crafts like mental patients comment Leighton would’ve blown up on her so hard. And im not saying that to call Leighton out for being mean, thats her character, we’ve accepted it, it’s not an attack on her friends, and the audience knows that; but she should be more understanding of the fact that Tatum is the same way. Like quietly calling things ugly at a party/event they’re both at is probably something they’ve done before and have been fine with, its just the fact that it was about leighton’s friends that was wrong for her. So instead of snapping and saying what she said, she should’ve just been like: “okay. I know this isn't your scene and you wanna leave, and i get it, i was like that too when i first came here. But I’ve really grown to love this place, it’s where i first started to really accept myself i guess and i would appreciate it if you went a little easier on it. Because believe it or not these are my friends and (blah blah)” idk im not a writer (clearly), but you get the idea. Because if she explained why she was reacting the way she did, Tatum would’ve gotten it and made an effort ( “if thats what you’re into, own it” + her not saying anything ab Leighton wanting to be a kappa so bad even tho she doesn't like kappa ). On the other hand, if you tell someone that if they want to leave you will leave and even give them a safe word, let them use it and leave.

Like please it would’ve all turned out so good if they had communicated or compromised just a smidge more 😭!

But yeah anyways i got side-tracked

PS: i dont understand why people are hating on Alicia so much? well i do, i just disagree

What went down between tatum and leighton had nothing to do with Alicia, and she didnt “creep around” them while they were together like some people have been saying.

Put it in her point of view. She’s really into this girl she dating (i dont remember if they said I love you sry) but she feels like shes getting dragged back into the closet with her. She respects her not being out but has to put herself first and ends things with her because being with someone with that much internalized homophobia is bad for her mental health. She’s come so far she cant go back down that road again. But never does she stop loving leighton. It really wasnt about her. Fast forward she finds out that that girl is out and proud now, through her friends have hooked up with her nonetheless. As far as shes concerned, Leighton’s out and single, and there’s still underlying feelings in there somewhere so she asks her to talk. Might as well shoot her shot yk. Then when they meet up, she learns that Leighton has a girlfriend now (thats gotta sting). And she’s fine being out with her, which Alicia takes personally, hence the “you’re going out with her in public? You have changed murray” comment. While it wasn’t about her, it was about leighton being ready to come out in general, its understandable that she got defensive and took it as a i wasn't good enough for her sorta thing. But whatever she cant backtrack now its too late, so she says that leighton should bring her new girl and that she looks forward to meeting her, even if she’s lying through her teeth. Then at the party she’s left in an uncomfortable situation with her ex that she still has feelings for, and the girl her ex is dating. She’s still gonna be nice and be herself and try and make friends with both of them. So she does. Nothing about the way she acts at the fundraiser was predatory, territorial, or creepy in any way. She was trying to be a friend to a girl she still cares about. 

Later at the party, yes she shouldn’t have kissed her when she thought she was still together with leighton, there’s no defending that. But she backtracked, and she apologized, because it was out of impulse. And when leighton encouraged her, she asked about Tatum, because she wasn't going to help her cheat.

Therefore: stop hating on Alicia, shes a victim of circumstance not a bad person !!

For the record, both Alicia's and Tatum's reactions/feelings about Leighton not being out are valid.

Alicia not wanting to be pulled back into the closet by someone so fiercely closeted that they blew up at her for posting a picture they weren't even in, wherein they were afraid someone would recognize something that belonged to them - like that paranoid and afraid - is understandable. Like that's triggering and it would feel regressive to be with someone like that if you've come out already. And let's recall Leighton wasn't out to anyone yet and her internalized homophobia was at its peak. Alicia was right.

Tatum telling Leighton there's no timeline in coming out and not applying the pressure on her to do so (to her family) or making her feel bad was wonderful. Then again, I'd expect as much cause as she pointed out, they literally only just started dating. Tatum was right.

Leighton is out at school now. She's out to her friends now. She can openly date girls. Tatum doesn't have to feel like Leighton's dirty little secret or completely cut off from her social life. This is a very different relationship that does not compare to what Alicia experienced and it's not fair to compare the two, especially to shame Alicia.

[tuiyla]

hi new anon here :) i find it somewhat frustrating with this whole tatum thing that most people who are pointing out that tatum was s1 leighton dont see how it was just poorly executed. i think they couldve easily dragged it out to s3 instead of abruptly ending it the way they did. a lot of the problem they have with the last 2 episodes could easily be fixed by dragging it out to next season. it felt as though s2 had two halves - s2A being ep 1 to 8 and then s2B being 9 & 10. it's almost like they had this plan and wrote out 1 to 8 before realising "ah shit, we have 2 eps left" and crammed everything in there. that or they feared they wouldnt be renewed and just shoved everything in so they could secure one.

they spent so much time building tatum and jackson only to abruptly write both off either in a 5 second break up scene or in tatum's case, offscreen. and the opposite is true for kimberly/canaan. they spent so much time for jackson and whitney trying to move on that it felt like they didnt do enough to solidify kimberly/canaan's feelings? i dont know why they couldnt just try to keep jackson on first, show that kimberly started having feelings and having canaan reciprocate before pushing for the kiss. have whitney be unaware but rejected by canaan at the end and show her devastated as her cliffhanger and kimberly's be being with jackson but thinking of canaan.

the same with tatum and leighton - bringing leighton back to the women's centre and the return of alicia (preferably having leighton have bumped into ginger or tova earlier) and then have her fight with tatum blow up outside tatum's last scene or have tatum say something 10x worse and leighton realising its not tatum she wants to be with and its alicia. and even if they wanted to write tatum off, couldnt they wait before putting alicia and leighton back together? show them wanting it but not immediately so they actually end up talking about what happened in s1.

it is such a shame because i feel like they couldve easily fixed this and have a much better coherent season with better response had they just made certain tweaks like showing leighton missing the women's centre, planting the kimberly/canaan more and more obviously etc. i love the show and i really dont mind how the relationships pan out (i just love the main 4 fully), but they failed at what they tried to do. unless all they wanted was how outraged almost everyone has become.

(im not sure if youre still taking asks on this, but if you dont wish to answer, it's ok :) just wanted to let the thoughts out)

Hey Anon! I've said most of what I wanted about the TSLOCG finale but I welcome others' thoughts so no worries.

And you've pretty much summed up so much of what I also thought about the last two episodes. I guess you could "justify" Leighton's speedrun by saying that a season 3 wasn't guaranteed and they wanted to wrap up at least one of the main four's arcs neatly, but that would sound like such a lame excuse to me. Like you say, what makes this extra frustrating is that the Leightum breakup and Leighton's general development didn't need much to have landed much better. Literally if only they didn't write eps 9 and 10 in such a way that feels so disconnected from the rest of the season. Mainly for Leighton, but to a degree for Kim and Whitney too. That "oh shit we only have two eps" feeling is the exact one I also got from watching the finale.

God, I just really don't see why we didn't get anything from the women's center or from Leighton's social justice development before episode 9. And I don't see the logic behind how Tatum was written if that's what they were going for all along. Just does not land. And I vibe with your (second to) last paragraph so much as well because I still do love this show and these girls, and I don't much mind the relationships atm. I just want Leighton to be happy so be that with Alicia ig and I don't inherently have a problem with Canaan and Whitney, it just feels like it was only for the sake of love triangle drama. And since fixing it would have seemingly been so easy, it is frustrating. Obviously it's easy for us to be smarter than the writers now that we're seeing the finished product but I'm sorry, if I was a professional screenwriter getting paid to craft stories and characters I simply would want to make sure huge character moments have weight behind them. Rip to them I guess haha. I am a bit bummed to represent the outraged camp, trust me I'd rather I didn't have to, but I think it's important to emphasize that the show is still good and more than deserving of a season 3. I'm still holding the show to high standards moving forward, I'm mostly just outraged that I couldn't be as proud of Leighton in episode 10 as I should have been because I felt cheated out of an actual arc.