#I've been wanting to share my thoughts on druck 'fixing' the eva s2 stuff by giving it to jonas for so long lmao

[inmyarmswrappedin]

One of the choices Druck made in s2 that I’ve never really been particularly enamored with is having Jonas fall apart instead of Hanna. Like... Here’s the thing. In Skam, Eva fell apart and started drinking more heavily to give Noora a reason to go to all these parties she didn’t want to go to because William would be there. Eva’s substance abuse was a plot device for Noora’s plot. Once Noora and William kiss, Eva’s substance abuse goes away because Noora now attends these events willingly. That’s why Eva’s substance abuse in Skam sucks, because it’s not a part of a larger arc for Eva. (In fact, after s1, Eva doesn’t have arcs anymore, really.)

In Druck, Jonas’ substance abuse is 100% a part of Jonas’ larger arc. Yes, it is partly used as a plot device in that he gets drunk with Axel and Sara that one time and they vandalize the school -- but it’s also the reason why Jonas doesn’t notice Matteo becoming more withdrawn, and is then referenced throughout s3 as Jonas stops smoking weed, starts swimming, starts hooking up with girls (because without weed, his nether regions are performing better... apparently), and is part of the scene where Matteo comes out to Jonas. Jonas’ substance abuse informs his actions in s2, s3 and tangentially even the Abiball ep, as he became involved with Abi Chaker because of his substance abuse. 

Meanwhile, not only does Jonas’ substance abuse do nothing for Hanna’s character, but, much like Eva, Hanna never gets an arc after s1 either. Sure, she gets plenty of solo social media content, but like Sam (who also gets a ton), this content never materializes into an arc on the show proper. After s1, Hanna really only exists to react to Jonas’ actions, date someone else to make Jonas sad, and talk about boysssss. Even the anniversary of her mom’s death is about Jonas! And how Jonas is the only one who gets her. 

Compare with Skam Austin, which also had their Eva abuse alcohol. Iirc, Austin also used it as a plot device to get Grace to go places (or at least, I can’t remember why else Grace would’ve gone to Daniel’s party that time he serenaded her). But then, it didn’t go away once Grace and Daniel got together, and at that point it became part of Megan’s larger arc. It is still going on in the s2 finale clip, and so we have to assume this was a thread the writers intended on picking up.

And the thing is, this is part of a larger pattern with Druck, where they’ll take traits and plot points that were given to girls in Skam, give them to boys, and then make them more interesting than they were in Skam. It happens with Eva’s substance abuse (which was given to Jonas as aforementioned), Noora’s panic attack (given to Axel), and then the Sam/Abdi sideplot, where Abdi is the one who gets to have an arc and realize he doesn’t like sex with no strings attached, whereas Sam remains static as a character.

Personally, and specifically when it comes to the Skams, I’d rather storylines where girls may do things that make them look pathetic, embarrassing, awkward, etc. but which make them better rounded characters with their own arcs and character development, over having them be flawless and flat while the boys get to have all the character development and interesting scenes that involve lots of character work.

That’s one of the things I wasn’t super sold on with Druck’s gen 1, and tbh, for me it has to do with Alex Lindh (a dude) being the head writer for s1 and s2, as well as a consultant for s4. It just felt like overall he was interested in boys being dynamic characters, and girls not being ~pathetic~. 

However, this is something that I noticed almost right away has changed with Druck’s new gen. Like, with the new kids, the things that happen are pretty much always to service the girls’ storylines or characters, and not the boys’. Nora, Ava, Fatou, Zoe and Kieu My are all flawed characters with their own bigger or smaller character arcs. Mailin is less developed, but she’s still more developed than Josh or Finn, for instance. And when Mailin is used as a plot device, it’s in the service of Nora’s or Ava’s storyline, NOT a boy’s. When Sporty Spice does something mildly interesting (like talking to Nora on NYE, or resurfacing in the countryside for a social media detox), it’s not to develop his character or give him an arc, but rather to create conflict for Nora and Fatou. It’s for the GIRLS’ arcs. The only (so far) male-identified character who seems to have an ongoing arc is Ismail, and for all we know, he won’t remain male-identified for long.