#Not to mention it gets worse when they become more 'flanderized' as the series goes on

[thenonbinarydetective]

Have you played many Nancy Drew computer games?

I don't play them myself, but I watch Gab Smolders (joined sometimes by Jack Septiceye) playthroughs for background noise. In the Captive Curse game, Ned and Nancy get in a big fight about him not being important to her. While I hated the fight, the reaction of those two was HILARIOUS.

Is that type of action on Ned's part what you meant by disliking what Her Interactive did to him? I find it ironic that the Hardy Boys are comforting Ned in this game when, according to some odd alternative timeline I refuse to accept, she dates one of them.

Update: he called back and they worked it out while I was typing this.

I've played all of them. I have not seen the walkthrough by Gab and Sean, so I don't have any context for their reaction.

However, when it comes to how I don't like how Her treats Ned that moment both is and isn't what I meant.

This argument is not something that's new to Ned and Nancy, but I will say there are better examples. Romance Drama isn't Her's strong suit tbh. Honestly, I will say I prefer the versions where he is actually allowed to be present in the mysteries and nancy's life for three reasons:

Typically, we get to see Ned's behavior toward seeming less important or how Nancy's behavior makes him feel less important

The audience usually also gets to see Nancy recognize being wrong.

Continuing with the importance of visuals, when it comes to the resolution the audience also gets to see that as well and what leads up to it.

Obviously, when it comes to Captive Curse, it's not completely hidden from the audience, but I will argue that the fact that Nancy's feelings are in her diary and Ned's feelings come from speaking on the phone with either him or the Hardys results in a level of detachment that is only negative.

Although as I've said, Ned and the Hardy Boys would get along just fine if they cut out this unnecessary love-triangle nonsense.

Overall, this is one of the examples of how Her kneecaps Ned's character by forcing him to be a phone-only character creating detachment between him and the audience. The same thing also happens with Hannah and Carson.