#and jamie and keeley being delusional with him

[thetarttfuldickhead]

I’m exceedingly fond of the notion that Roy is just randomly* a really good cook, but consider: Roy is merely a mostly passable cook, taking an interest and picking up some stuff only now that his footballer diet days are nearing their end. He thinks he’s a great cook because he was fucking serious about said footballer diet and consequently has these sad little low standards and doesn’t really know much about properly decent food. (In this world, Hus’ kebabs are pretty nasty, actually.)

More importantly, non-cooking weirdos Jamie and Keeley also think he’s a great cook, the second bloody coming of Heston bloody Blumenthal, and they keep telling him (and everyone else) that, in all sincerity. The three of them live in a very happy delusion of Roy’s culinary prowess.

Maybe some time down the road they, flying high on hubris, invite others for dinner, and those others – if they have any semblance of developed taste buds – find themselves caught in the gastronomic Twilight Zone of Jamie and Keeley praising to high heaven the blandest food imaginable, while Roy beams in slightly shy pride.

Some guests (Sam) appreciates the effort and homecooked meal. Some guests (Richard) do not. Some guests (Jan) gets accidentally gagged with spinach by other guests (Isaac and Colin) before they can comment on the food.

(*I mean, I don’t believe that Roy Kent is just randomly good at anything; he’s a great cook because he put the hours in and worked fucking hard at it.)

[lunar-years]

stray thoughts now that i've had twenty minutes to process seeing Jamie's bare ass:

everything that happened with Rebecca tonight was an absolute win. Vigilante Shit with Bex. Her extremely aggressive and definitely disconcerting positivity to Ted at the half. Another incredible outfit. I do love to see it!

Ted's comment that was like "I think you fellas should just calm down and kiss" with the diamond dogs was actually subliminal messaging to help ease the straight audience into Roy/Jamie being canon-ified later in the season (i love being delusional) (but there was nothing straight about what was happening between Jamie and Roy tonight) (but I love being delusional)

Barbara @ Rebecca, Keeley @ Jack, Jack @ Keeley.... something very LGBTQ was afoot ! thank you Brett.

Keeley talking to Shandy about Jamie and how much he's changed and basically trying to convince herself she doesn't feel like that about him anymore while making it incredibly obvious she actually feels very much like that about him and perhaps now more than ever!!! Here's how the ot3 can still win-- (I love being delusional) (but also Jamie going to Keeley's house to hug it out and Roy and Keeley in Jamie's childhood bedroom and--)

I don't have much to say about Nate's storyline, but that's because i think it's being handled very, very well. Him in his tiny flat obsessing over his football-planning-board-thingey and throwing Ted off but then feeling bad about it and setting him back up!!! right from the bat that said everything I needed to hear and then it only got increasingly more loud throughout the episode.

Rupert is genuinely SO sinister. Him literally telling Nate to call him Rupert in episode 1, then Mr. Mannion at the beginning of tonight's episode, then Rupert again after the win...the subtlety of his manipulation is soooo encroaching and so evil I.....

Zava as a parent.......much to consider (negatively). HATED his treatment of Zoreaux. That and also everything he says/does to his teammates is so patronizing and manipulative and the way that he disguises it under his "wisdom" and his talent ew he's grating on me!!

Jamie missing that goal and everyone kind of thinking he shouldn't've taken the shot when he could have passed to Zava, but then Roy claps for him right away because he knows what Jamie was trying to do........ Jamie being so motivated after the loss to get back out there and train with Roy...... Jamie not participating in the violence at the game.... j a mie.....

annnnnd we're back to the bare ass! until next week, folks.

[disasterbijamietartt]

Maybe I’m delusional and drank too much wine, but this is why Roy Kent being a closeted queer man explains EVERYTHING

While writing my meta piece about Jamie x Keeley I spent a lot of time thinking “What about Roy?”, since there are no convincing love interests for him aside from Keeley.

And, well, Jamie.

And for the first time I evaluated this as something that really could happen, since now there is the legit possibility that they make homophobia in professional football the prevalent theme in this season and having multiple queer storylines would help to illustrate different point of views and they could explore this with a Roy x Jamie romance plot.

And then I looked at Roy and … basically everything fell into place.

Why he represses his emotions, why he is so so angry, why he is so full with insecurities and struggles with his self-worth, why he is unable to show (physical or emotional) affection to a man without somehow having to taint it with an unnecessarily violent outbreak – the only notable exception being the Hug™️ in “Man City”. Something that hasn’t been addressed by anyone since then, which was a choice I always considered very odd, but postponing Roy’s character development to season 3 makes actually lot’s of sense, if Roy’s struggles are rooted in internalised homophobia. And if being queer in professional sports is the theme of season 3 like mental health was the theme of season 2.

Still makes his angry, violent outbursts really jarring and he has to show accountability, but if the pain he inflicted on others is related to the trauma of being forced to be in the closet for 25 odd years, that would be so heartbreaking. And it would fit into the theme of the show that actually good people like Rebecca or Jamie – and Nate once he gets his redemption – do unforgivable things and inflict pain on people who do not deserve it as a trauma response. Sure, it could be some other trauma – but this explanation would fit so well into this seasons theme, it just makes SO MUCH SENSE to me.

Also, Trent’s critique explains some of Roy’s insecurities, but he already was full of anger at seventeen, so the root of his anger has to be something different – and growing up queer in a hella homophobic surrounding since age ten and forced to stay in the closet unless he wants to throw away his dream career, if that is not a reason to be filled to the brim with anger, I don’t know what is.

And as far as I recall, the only people he actually physically attacks are Colin (the headbutt in 1x3) and Jamie. Then his beef with Trent.

In other words, we only ever see him being irrationally aggressive and violent towards queer coded or canonically queer men. Yes, he usually has reasons that are not related to (coded) sexuality – with the notable exception of “I have to headbutt Jamie before I hug him lest it seems gay!”

And the “ugly, ugly boy”-thing? Vanity is often used for queer coding. So Roy mocks something about Jamie that is queer coded.

This screams internalised homophobia.

But I hear the naysayer going “Aren’t you reaching a bit?”

Maybe, but let us take a look at some ways how Roy is queer coded that come to mind off the top of my head.

First of all: He canonically has a secret double life, where he is notably softer, hangs out with a bunch of elderly women who have no clue who Roy Kent, professional angry footballer, is, and does yoga with them, frequents gay bars, hangs out with drag queens and watches reality tv while sipping rosé, which is a sweet girly drink, like you know “vanilla vodka. such a child.” – in his “real life” Roy would never ever drink rosé or admit to anyone that he watched even a single second of “Lust Conquers All” by accident (Keeley definitely didn’t know, or she would have teased him with this).

Who else has a secret double life? Colin.

And while I hate to be “look, so many gay stereotypes!” … Look, so many gay stereotypes!

Also, both Julie Andrews and Madonna are gay icons? As are Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner

“The Sound of Music” (his favourite) is popular in gay culture and the nuns are implied to be lesbians?

He mouths along when Rebecca sings “Let it go”, with Elsa being queer coded and the song being a queer anthem?

And when I googled “A Wrinkle in Time queer” first thing I got was a paper by the Syracuse University titled “Unusual Children: Queerishness and Strange Growth in A Wrinkle in Time and The Giver”, which discusses the queerness of the main character. You know, the “Am I supposed to be the little girl”-girl?

This are all the pop culture references I could recall off the top of my head, there may be things that are not queer coded, but … one or two, that is a coincidence. Three or more, that is a pattern. You cannot convince me that the writer’s “accidentally” queer coded Roy so extensively if he is supposed to be straight.

(Dear god, the only thing about Ted Lasso that always disappointed me was the lack of explicit queer characters – like, I’d bet with you that the majority of non-queer viewers didn’t get Keeley’s “dip the toe back in the lady pool” line or Colin’s “oh like Grindr?” – and if they now go and make the third season queer as fuck? Bless them!

And just like the next level trolling by Phil and Brett if they were actually spoiling the big love story for years, while everyone thought they were just joking?)

EDIT: Just looked up Gina Gershon, who Roy said he dated once—guess what, according to Wikipedia she’s considered a gay icon 🙃

[ronnievfs]

i don't understand it i just like seriously don't fucking understand it

who wrote this fucking episode and why the fuck did they write like this???

i get it, main stream and such, we are never really going to get a RoyJamie or RoyKeeleyJamie no matter how hard we fucking dreamed

but like

what the fuck???

the bar secne???

the way Roy tells Jamie that he's proud of him and then asks Jamie to step aside? It feels like the only reason Roy acknowledges their so called friendship is to make Jamie feel fucking guilty

of trying to make a move on Keeley earlier

and so Jamie might agree to fucking step aside

it's pure manipulative shit Jesus what the fuck it's so wrong in so many fucking ways i don't believe it's something Roy would say

yes, he's mere person, he would get jealous. things are complicated blah blah blah. but this????????

if hes so fucking jealous why would he ask Keeley to help Jamie last episode and had a genuine lovely time all together i thought we're over this shit!

and btw i never really bought the whole Jamie is so in love with Keeley thing cause

please. did they really interact that much on screen? and all of a sudden Jamie says oh i still love you in 210 and i'm just supposed to believe it? it's called bad writing. shit writing. sorry if im being too fucking rude im just too fucking angry.

and basically the whole season is a disappointment. there are quite a lot of lovely moments, yes, especially with Roy and Jamie

but this last episode really makes me wonder what the actual fuck is going on this whole season. am i actually fucking delusional all this time?

well well well. i refuse to think that Roy would say such horrible words towards Jamie and in my mind he's yes sometimes angry but also extremely kind and protective of his loved ones and him and Jamie are happily kissing in their lovely homes

so

fuck you Jason Sudeikis

[disasterbijamietartt]

I’ll need a few days to really process the last episode, so don’t expect any meta until the weekend.

But I wanted to write a post about why I believe in the writers and why I think that … this sounds so arrogant and delusional, but that my predictions here* are roughly what will happen and queer folks can stay hopeful.

(*tl;dr: Essentially that Colin will be the inspiration for main characters to address their queerness, Ted Lasso spent two seasons straightbaiting its entire audience and this season will end queer as fuck)

When I started watching Ted Lasso I thought it would be a fun, but silly little sports comedy, but very soon it got obvious how the show featured heavier themes and that they didn’t follow the expected script. Like, when Rebecca tells Ted the truth, you’d normally get some drama and rising conflict – but we got instant forgiveness.

And it got soon obvious we’d get a love triangle with Jamie, Keeley and Roy and – as someone who knows how the script goes – my first assumption was, that Roy x Keeley will be endgame (which was sad, since I adored Jamie x Keeley from the beginning, but I digress).

But some of the things that usually put me off love triangles were missing: there was no prolonged unnecessary drama after Roy learned that Keeley hooked up with Jamie the night before, Jamie and Roy didn’t fight over who would “get” Keeley (even though Roy’s jealousy sure was one reason for the tension between him and Jamie, but it wasn’t the only one), Jamie didn’t try to actively win Keeley back throughout the second season, he didn’t try to sabotage their relationship, even though he still loved her. The rocky parts in Roy’s and Keeley’s relationship weren’t related to Jamie at all, on the contrary, Jamie kind of unintentionally fixed their problems.

So, when they diverge so much from the expected, should I really still assume they’ll end the show with the thing everyone expects to happen? (like, in classic romance structure, Roy and Keeley now had their third act break-up, that always happens before the happily ever after … but as Phil said in an interview, they’re situation is a lot more complex than you’ll usually get.)

So, anyway, Ted Lasso was playing with expectations from the beginning. You’d expect Ted x Rebecca and Roy x Keeley endgame cause that is how the classic narrative works but the show subverted classic structure in the first season. So why should we assume that they just stick to the classic script now?

Also the theme song:

“Yeah, might be all that you get,

Yeah, I guess this might well be it“

I always thought, for an optimistic show like Ted Lasso this was a kinda sober beginning. But if you look at this with a queer eye … Cishet people are so used to seeing their happy endings playing out, so that is what they’ll expect to get. Until the last couple years, queer people barely got any stories with happy endings, so you didn’t exactly grow up with the expectation you’ll get a happy ending.

So you just had to take what you got.

But on the other hand the song has this hopeful bit about trying and not giving up. And … okay, I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but, idk, it just feels like it would fit as the theme song for an ultimately hella queer show?

And there are a lot of allusions to “The Wizard of Oz”, starting with the title of the first episode, Ted being the “Man from Kansas” aka Dorothy – googling I found this post pointing out a lot parallels in the second season, so it is not just me being delusional again.

For context: The movie was released 1939. Between 1934 and 1968 due to the Hays Code people couldn’t be shown as being explicitly queer in movies in the US, so writers started to queercode characters to still indicate queerness. And there is of course queercoding in “The Wizard of Oz” just like Ted Lasso and the movie as a whole resonated a lot with queer audiences, making Judy Garland a Gay Icon (see here). 

Both the movie and L. Frank Baumans novels have a lot of queer subtext (like, there is even kind of a trans character in the novels?). "Friend of Dorothy” was a way gay men referred to each other at a time, where they couldn’t just openly ask about someone’s orientation.

Fun Fact: The movies title song “Over the Rainbow” soon became a queer anthem and people wondered whether it inspired the rainbow flag. But the creator, Gilbert Baker, said he was inspired by,

wait for it,

“She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones (see here).

Rings a bell?

The episode “Rainbow”?

Roy returning as a coach to Richmond?

Also: Jamie comparing the team to the Rolling Stones? Himself to Mick Jagger and Roy to Keith Richards, who both wrote the song?

And, looking at episode titles some more: The color "Lavender" is so queer it has it's own LGTBQ-section on Wikipedia. Also the bisexual pride flag, where the colours overlap to form lavender? There was probably some other reason I forgot that the episode where Jamie returned was called like the queerest color ever, but still …

WHAT A BUNCH OF CURIOUS COINCIDENCES!

Oh God, the more I look, the queerer everything gets! I think I could go on some more, but I need to get breakfast and then some work done.

[lunar-years]

those gifs of jamie waking up, keeley bought him that headboard when they were dating right? but then he ended up actually loving it?

Jamie's home is so fascinating. I was shook when I learned he's in the same place in s3 he was in in s1.... I mean I assume he kept it after being sent back to Manchester for like, real estate reasons (boring) but I PREFER to be delusional and think he kept it because a part of him knew Richmond already felt more like home to him than Manchester <3

also in s1 the decor seemed so impersonal apart from those few little shelves with photos and transformers, so i always assumed he just had a designer come in and decorate it for him (gun lamps my beloathed...) I like the idea that the headboard was a new addition after he moved back, because now the move felt more permanent and he wanted to make it HIS a bit more so he actually took the time to pick some things out he likes. Keeley would love it though.

[disasterbijamietartt]

Reasons Jamie and Keeley should be endgame

Hello everyone, I present to you my probably not comprehensive post full of breadcrumbs why I believe Jamie and Keeley should end up together.

Note: As my blog description says, I ship Jamie x Keeley x Roy, but that is in the little canon divergent world in my head where Roy got his shit together. Looking at the current canon, Roy’s just not at the point where I would want him to be in a relationship with either Keeley or Jamie or anyone to be honest. Could I change my mind if he actually gets the development that is teased in this article and my next exciting meta post titled »Maybe I’m delusional and drank too much wine, but this is why Roy Kent being a closeted queer man explains EVERYTHING« is not actually delusional? Yes. But for the time being, Jamie x Keeley is the outcome I’m hoping for.

So, but now onto the reasons, not in any particular order – I tried to make it comprehensible, but I gave up halfway through, since it took too much time and just word vomited lol

It won’t make sense for Jamie to end up with anyone else 

There is of course the option, that Jamie isn’t meant to end up with someone by the end of season 3, but that is an option I decided to ignore lol.

Jamie is a too central and important character on the show to end up with some random person, that hasn’t been introduced on the show yet. That would just be really poor writing (and we’re talking about the show that set up Sam & Rebecca in the first season in a way that was easy to miss but was so obvious in hindsight). So now let’s take a look at possible love interests for Jamie that are not Keeley.

The only person aside of Keeley that he has enough backstory and interaction with, so a romance subplot would have some sustenance, is (and I don't believe I actually write this as something that could legit happen and doesn't only live in fangirls minds) Roy – I know that a lot of Jamie x Keeley shippers don’t particularly like Roy x Jamie and a lot of Roy’s behaviour right now is a red flag for any kind of relationship, especially with Jamie, but there is not one other person Jamie has a deep and complicated emotional back story with, that could be turned into a romance. NOT ONE.

Which is actually, if they don’t want to feature two queer storylines this season, a very good argument supporting Jamie x Keeley (and if they actually go down the queer Roy and Jamie road, Jamie x Keeley x Roy is endgame, I do not make the rules – nobody puts Keeley in a corner).

Since they want to build up Roy’s friendship with Jamie, and there is the Zava stuff and possibly a resolution of the »Ted dumped me«-subplot, more ManCity stuff and dealing with his father, him hopefully playing a crucial part in Nate's redemption, it is hard to imagine how they could wriggle in another subplot for Jamie where he meets someone totally new, falls in love and gets a convincing happily ever after. They want to get Phil finally his Emmy nomination this season – see this tweet – so he’ll have a lot of good material, but at this point of the narrative it makes more sense to address the loose ends that still need to be tied up, instead of introducing something new.

And his relationship with Keeley is one of those loose ends that needs to be tied up – could they do this with both of them ending up as best friends? Sure, but there are a lot of reasons why they could or should be endgame instead.

So, anyways, his love interest has to be someone he already knows at this point of the story, since ending up with some random person simply wouldn’t feel like a good and rewarding story for a main character.

But I can’t think of any woman who would make sense for me, so let’s look at »age appropriate women he canonically knows« to hammer the point home that no one except Keeley makes sense.

Rebecca – some people suggested that because of the »shite in nineing armour« prophecy, but … I think Rebecca and Jamie had one actual interaction in the whole show so far (Christmas, when she rolls her eyes about him not knowing Secret Santa) and it would not make sense for Rebecca to dump Sam and then start dating another footballer who’s roughly half her age. They could possibly construct something about bonding over their mutual distrust of Zava, but a romance makes no sense at all for either of them. What I’d rather see with him and Rebecca: Jamie’s relationship with Keeley and his well being were collateral damage in Rebecca’s revenge – and I’m sure she deep down knows how she fucked him over and took him back without argument because she felt guilty. So the fact, that she used him as a pawn, doing something unforgivable to him even though he didn’t deserve it, actually being acknowledged by her would be nice.

Bex – some people theorise that Jamie is actually Diane’s father and not Rupert and while I generally support everything that hurts Rupert, there is not enough actual set up for them to work, even if she cheated on Rupert with Jamie and he is the father. Like, we virtually know nothing about Bex as a person and even though I’m curious about their backstory, it would make no sense to give them a romantic subplot. (I could rather see Jamie telling Rebecca that Bex is actually a gold digger manipulating Rupert and not another naive woman that fell under his spell – and their backstory is definitely a loose end that should be tight up)

Sassy – LOL no I can’t even think of any far-fetched reason that would make this even remotely plausible

Sharon – When I asked ChatGPT who Jamie’s love interest in the upcoming season could be, it was really adamant that he has feelings for his sports therapist, but that would be just as unethical as Michelle and Jake, so NO.

Shandy – she is too new and not well enough developed to make sense as a romantic partner for Jamie in my opinion. And their short interaction in the background didn’t look like the show wanted to set up a big romance to come, but to show that Keeley was upset/jealous.

So, I hope I didn’t forget anyone, but … yeah, there is no real romance material for him with any woman on the show, except for Keeley.

With Keeley we have history and they still share a strong bond and just looking at their interactions this season, we have both being awkward, shy and flustered around each other AND as pointed out above Keeley being upset about Shandy talking to him. We also know from the trailer that he goes to her place looking sad/anxious and them hugging. Which all looks like romance arc set-up.

Jamie’s confession

Why have Jamie confess to Keeley at the end of season 2 and still have him have feelings for her, if it is meant to go nowhere?

He is too important a character to just have confessed to cause drama and tension for Roy and Keeley and they could have found something else to further complicate his relationship with Roy. Roy's irrational jealousy of Jamie didn't need any more fodder.

Another important point: When Keeley tells Roy about the confession, she doesn’t address her feelings at all – if she had no lingering feelings for Jamie, she could have told Roy so. But she didn’t.

Also, this happened in 2x10, which would have been 2x8, if Apple had not ordered two extra episodes, in other words mirroring 1x8, the episode Keeley and Jamie hooked up last, even more than it already did.

Another thing: Keeley states in this episode that she wants her death to nourish people and in his confession Jamie tells her how much an impact she had on his life, essentially telling her how having her in his live nourished him.

In other words: Jamie gives her exactly what she needs.

(Also, as shown in 2x2 when Roy catches her wanking to the video of him crying, Keeley values emotional openness and vulnerability – and that is something Jamie gives her even in season 1, before he has all his growth; it is the reason for their hook-up in 1x8, since his openness und vulnerability made her feel special and important.)

Keeley obviously still has feelings for Jamie 

Like, she never stopped caring for him, which is obvious by all their interactions after their break-up (the next day when she runs into Jamie’s rebound is awkward, but she still seems genuinely amused by his “You’re welcome. I like to make people feel good.” bit) and how comfortable they still were around each other.

And how she was upset Jamie deleted her number in 2x2, the way she talks about him and just the way she checks him out and looks at him.

But most importantly: Keeley didn’t dump him because she didn’t love him anymore – she dumped him because he wasn’t showing accountability.

And if that boy has learned one thing it is accountability. He has grown so much since season 1 and while I generally dislike the idea of "gifting" a guy the girl he loves once he gets his shit together, it feels like they deserve a second chance.

Especially since messing with their relationship was one thing Rebecca wanted to do to mess with the team and — even though I think her advice to Keeley in the restroom was genuine — it never really sat well with me how much a role she played in their breakup. And the way she compared Jamie with Rupert like, no, Jamie is 23 and immature, but that doesn’t mean he can’t grow and that he will never show accountability for his mistakes. The fact that Rupert’s a piece of shit doesn’t mean that Jamie couldn’t have learned if Keeley and him just had an honest conversation about it.

Also, let’s look at this quote from Keeley: “Whenever I break up with someone, I spend months questioning it, wondering if I made a huge fucking mistake. But you have really helped me to feel good about this decision, just by... being you.”

This is almost lampshading that she will do exactly this: wondering whether she made a fucking mistake dumping him. Since she was being impulsive, running from issues instead of constructively addressing them and not giving Jamie a chance to fix his behaviour before breaking things off.

I honestly don’t blame Jamie for having a rebound since for him the break up came out of the blue and must have hurt a lot.

(Like, his first instinct, when he learns about the Roy x Keeley break up, is to comfort Roy because he knows how it feels to be dumped by Keeley - which kind of implies he would have wanted some comfort he didn’t get. Rebecca really got what she wanted: every progress Jamie had made so far was undone when Keeley dumped him - but he never let Keeley feel this, instead he used the team as an outlet for his pain and anger, and still got back on a path of growth with Keeley’s help by “Two Aces”. Just to be sent back to Man City. It hurts so much to think about how absolutely awful he must have felt, basically losing EVERYTHING.)

But anyway, both of them got the impression that the other got over their break-up in less than 24 hours.

Which is a big painful misunderstanding that in my opinion needs to be addressed.

Jamie x Keeley are a healthier couple than Roy x Keeley 

Looking at Roy x Keeley throughout the second season, it gets painfully obvious that they have problems in their communication. They both rather bottle up their emotions and ignore issues instead of talking about them (see Jamie’s confession). They only address issues if they don’t have another choice. (see “Headspace”) They seem to be unaware what the other one actually wants/needs (see "Inverting the pyramid of success")

This is NOT a good basis for a relationship.

(And honestly, I tried to explain the appeal of Roy x Keeley to someone and … I couldn’t come up with anything except “They’re grumpy & sunshine and … hot together? Sometimes they support each other, but most of the time they’re communication sucks? They’re good in theory but bad in execution?”)

Jamie on the other hand was even in season 1 fully capable of being open and vulnerable with Keeley, which is something season 3 Roy is still unable to do.

Another thing: Keeley's advice in “The Signal” is actually pretty toxic and says a lot about Roy’s lacking anger management (and her fear of rejection) – like, really, agreeing to everything your angry boyfriend says until he calms down? This shouldn’t be necessary in a healthy relationship!

And in “Headspace” and “Midnight Train to Royston” it gets obvious that she has problems telling Roy stuff that could potentially anger him.

And also in “Headspace” Roy does not get that Keeley felt overwhelmed by his clinginess until she exploded in his face (bonus: Jamie’s accidental relationship advice saved Roy x Keeley). But in “Do the Rightest Thing”, Jamie was able to sense her bad mood the moment he stepped in a room with her and she didn’t had to tell him.

Point is: Jamie’s superpower is empathy – in the first season he often used it to find peoples weaknesses and which buttons he had to press to get Roy to explode. But in dealing with people who have difficulties expressing their feelings, it is a very valuable ability to, you know, be able to sense when something is off or to lift them up when they need it. And by now Jamie is so far on his emotional growth journey, that he would work so much better with Keeley than Roy ever did.

The only problem: What about Roy?

My upcoming Roy meta post is basically the result of my reflections about how this would work with Roy’s character arc, so I won’t go into depth here and list the myriad of reasons why I believe Roy is queer and nothing else makes sense.

But basically I could picture Roy having a realisation similar to him leaving Chelsea, that he regrets not staying with Keeley, but that in the long run it was the right decision, because it led him to a place that was actually better for him. (And honestly, that is the kind of realisation I want Keeley and Jamie to have once they get back together - that breaking up instead of working on their relationship may be something they regret, but that it is also the reason they both got the growth they needed to become the best versions of themselves.)

And while the break up with Keeley is framed to be a mistake by basically everyone, that could be there to throw viewers off Jamie x Keeley endgame, similar to the way the writers made it look like Rebecca was texting with Ted on Bantr before we got the Sam reveal.

But my main argument agains Roy x Keeley endgame is, that the article linked above basically says that Jamie helps Roy to grow emotionally in return for their training sessions. But would Roy x Keeley be a satisfying endgame, if they got back together because Jamie was Roy’s wingman, teaching him to be in touch with his emotions? Like essentially: “Your ex-boyfriend, who is still in love with you, taught me to be a better version of myself and to get in touch with my emotions, so that I now can be a good boyfriend to you. Please take me back.”

Would it be a satisfying story for Jamie to be the glue that brings the woman he loves and the man he admires back together while he gets … well, not nothing, since he likely would get their friendship in return, but would it be really satisfying if he saves the main couple’s romance and ends up without a romance of his own?

(Or it means Jamie x Keeley x Roy is endgame, again, I do not make the rules – but Roy x Keeley? Nope, no way, I don’t see it.)

How it could happen

Considering that this season mirrors the first season – with Rebecca still hellbent to get revenge on Rupert but this time with the opposite goal (which likely will cause her to – almost – reach her season 1 goal of destroying the club/team, before a shite in nineing armour fixes everything) Jamie x Keeley endgame would just make so much sense to me.

Like the things that broke apart in the first season get fixed and heal and get better.

And if Keeley’s and Jamie’s second chance romance arc starts in 3x4 (as I have theorised here) it would mirror their breakup in 1x4.

And honestly, it would be so hilarious to get a "You can’t get mad. You broke up with me!" callback to 1x5, if Roy finds out about Jamie & Keeley in 3x5 lmao (something like picking Jamie up for training and running into Keeley)

But if they want to go with a bit more slow burn, I can picture Jamie offering Keeley to help her get back together with Roy, since he believes Keeley is actually over him and wants to make her happy by fixing her relationship with Roy. While at the same time Keeley is questioning, whether breaking up with Jamie was a mistake, and realises that she actually rather wants to get back with Jamie, but is unsure whether he actually still loves her, since he wants to help her to get back with Roy, yadda yadda, until they finally both fess up.

Cue the happily ever after!

(And now I’ll wait until Wednesday, when something I totally didn’t expect happens and I have to settle with the sad truth that I made myself a clown in a tin hat x’D)