#anti p*rtwell

[youarentamaybeyoureayes]

there's very few people i can't stand more than a "if olivia had never left the show, r*ni would've been endgame" truther

you mean to tell me that the same ship that was already having communication issues less than 5 minutes after their big love confession scene was going to be endgame? and you want me to be convinced it's not just the nostalgia and obsession with real life shipping talking? (because let's be honest, more than half of r*ni's hype existed because of j*livias, without them, it's hard to even believe the ship would've made a dent of impact)

then of course there's not only tim's interviews that came after the season 1 finale aired where he talked about how not every couple lasts as well as the importance of portraying healthy breakups in high school, but the fact that the first 3 episodes of season 2, all written sometime between late 2019 and early 2020, explicitly showed r*ni's communication issues and overall incompatibility. they were never a ship that was built to last. i don't see how they could've made it more obvious.

[galindaelphaba]

HSMTMTS | 3.01 – Happy Campers

[homemade-ghosts]

thoughts on everyone speculating ej sings introducing me? i guess i can see it as an apology but that song does not suit his voice at all 😭😭

The first thing I saw when I opened Twitter this morning was people speculating about this and while I understand why they might think he would sing it (like you said, as an apology/in effort to be like, "look, see? Now you do know me!" after the events of last ep) I don't really see it happening, for a few reasons.

They would have to rewrite the song entirely because if EJ were to just cover the song, it defeats the point. "Introducing Me" was written for Nick's character in Camp Rock 2 (Nate? Was that his name?) to tell the girl he likes about himself, specifically. Singing it verbatim wouldn't tell us or Gina anything about EJ because the lyrics aren't about him. & if they rewrote the song to fit EJ, all the charm of the original would be lost. & (1b, I guess lol) as much as I think Matt's voice does shine in a more acoustic setting (I know "Ballad of Susan Fine" is a dumb song, but it slaps and it's the best Matt has sounded vocally, IMO) I agree with you, his voice does not fit this song at all.

pw doesn't know each other and, more importantly, they don't understand each other. The show knows that, we know that. This will, ultimately, be the reason they break up (aided by EJ's complete inability to support, communicate with and be there for Gina -- which, really, all stem from him just not getting her). A song isn’t going to change that. Why even bother making us sit through a whole cutesy apology number when we all know it won't fix a single one of their problems and they'll be broken up by next episode's camp prom (at the latest, IMO)? Seems like a waste of time, if you ask me.

On the logistical side of things, the show (at least from what I can remember, somebody correct me if I'm wrong) has never done more than one original song per episode. I'm not sure if Tim ever mentioned whether or not Corbin & Sofia's duet is an original, but if it is, that right there eliminates the possibility of a rewritten version of "Introducing Me" (which would classify as an original, IMO).

EDIT: It’s been pointed out to me (thank you!) that the show has done more than one original song in an episode before, so disregard that last one. Other points still stand though!

[kourtney-greene]

Mmm Gina not telling ej she was upset because she waiting until after rehearsal to address it is not the same as Ej sitting on his news for days, and confiding in someone else. Like she Was going to address it as soon as it was appropriate. He hid it and decided he was going to tell her after she said she didn't like liars.

[babygorgeous]

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I made this edit for rina, please don't be offended I just think it fits them. All just my opinion not wanting to get anyone upset at all.

Song: He's Not You by Verite

[burnwithtears]

speaking of the age gap i just think those writers were so weird for that big brother line like the line about him being a brother figure was bad enough but using BIG brother made it so much worse i just don’t understand why they’re developing that ship this way

maybe it was an excuse to add jordan fisher to the show??? (i’m definitely not complaining about THIS decision heheh)

jokes aside, i have no idea anon. i see the argument “oh he’s being protective of gina and trying to friendzone the guy who clearly likes her”, and yeah sure but there are other ways of “intimidating” a possible love interest for your lil sis that don’t involve this choice of words. no matter how much the show/the fandom try to justify it, this line will never NOT be a weird choice for me, personally.

and that’s another reason why, when people talk about lazy/bad writing in season 2, i definitely agree.

[sizzy-ling]

I don't think I've ever seen a teen show where the couple that gets together at the end of the season gets to stay together until the end of next season....

[hightwer]

so obviously 3x04 gave us pining ricky, and jealous ricky, and while i could absolutely talk ALL day about that, i kind of want to talk about ej? i wouldn’t consider myself an ej anti, but i am not a fan of his character, or a fan of p*rtwell, which this episode only reinforced. the comment he made about ricky being gina’s hiking partner when HE was the one who refused to go was absolutely ridiculous, and in front of everyone? it was wrong. he embarrassed gina by saying that, which he had no right to do when all she’s done is actively seek him out, and invite him along. the comment at ricky about needing to stay in his lane? for essentially volunteering to help his friend?

it’s almost like even though ej has made the choice to not communicate every time he gets an opening, he’s mad that someone wants to be there for gina? i’m just not rooting for a relationship where ej advocates about “not letting gina down” when he already spent the entire episode lying to her, not talking about something that is going to HEAVILY impact their relationship, and embarrassing her?

i really do understand ej’s stress, i understand how much pressure he’s undergoing, and i’m not mad at him for being a little irrational. the difference is that there’s no excuse for ridiculing his girlfriend, and ricky, who’s been nothing but nice to him this season. isn’t he the one who’s supposed to have experience with relationships? because so far, he’s been doing nothing aside from acting immature.

[incorrectolivia]

Not to mention, the general population and media had 2b and s3 to get into P*rtwell and they didn't bite. They had s1 and 2a to get into R*ni and they didnt bite (and not only that but a lot of ppl got hooked on Rina instead in s1). Come Rina this season and see how this show's cred exploded? How explosive the reaction and interest in Rina developed? How very quickly this show went from some corny cute disney show to teen drama-reminiscent that had people who dont even care about the show wanting to watch just for Rina. No matter what the antis spew or what hive mind fantasy scenarios they create, it'll never change the fact that most people see the relationships for what they are and Rina is clearly the best one. People did not gaf about this show this much until this season. They tuned in for Rina. Point blank period.

without a doubt, rina is the one ship that became super popular outside the hsmtmts fandom. like they’ve been established as a proper teen drama ship among people who don’t watch the show. i remember last year after s2, despite pw getting together at the end of the season, rina was still the ship getting the most attention outside the fandom. there’s just something about ricky and gina as individual characters and a romantic pairing that effortlessly puts them in the spotlight

[klausalvatores]

As a Rina stan, I am BEGGING you, please tag your posts with r*na. It’s ok you don’t like the ship, but I’ve seen all of your posts bashing not only Rina but the Rina’s. A few of them said you think Rina’s are toxic, but by literally bashing us and then tagging us so our entire tag is filled with hate- that’s toxic too.

I’m not telling you not to stan Portwell. Like whoever you want to like, but please either be kinder in your posts and/or tag with anti-r*na so we don’t have to see the hate filled tags. We do the same for P*rtwell.

I’m sorry, I thought putting the hyphen stops it going into the Rina tag. At least that’s what I’ve been told. I’ll tag my future posts properly next time.

Update: I did the whole tag replacer thing & i changed all anti-rina to anti-r*na

[galindaelphaba]

[galindaelphaba]

I dont feel bad for EJ either 😭 idk why but like he keeps going after girls insecure or hurting after some mess with ricky. And then puts them through the ringer in a worse relationship. Like my boy. Stop being in relationships 2k forever.

100% agree with every thing you said 😭😭😭

This is going to turn into a little bit of a rant so read at your own risk lol.

Literally EJ keeps going after girls after they feel rejected by Ricky and they are in vulnerable places (e.g. Nini after Ricky didn't say I love you and Gina feeling like her feelings weren't reciprocated). It's like he swoops in for them and I don't think its intentional but I do think it's weird that his two main relationships in the show started that way.

Also it's like he is so desperate to be in a relationship (Jason Earles I'm talking to you when I say this), but he is the one who goes from girl to girl. Let's not forget Valentine's Day when he literally said he had never spent a Valentine's Day without a girlfriend. Maybe instead of jumping into a relationship with Gina he should have worked on himself. Because this 'character development' that pw fans keep talking about I just don't see it.

Another thing that really is bothering me about EJ is that he continually snipes at Ricky about the woods thing (which they invited him to 😵‍💫) but also continually asks Ricky for advice about Gina. Now that part is just unbelievable to me - he is seriously going to keep asking the person who slapped him over Gina for relationship advice... instead of you know talking to Gina.

Plus while I get that directing the camp musical is stressful there is really no excuse for the way he has been treating Gina this season. And honestly, in my opinion, the relationship is all about EJ - especially with fans of the ship. Example - their only meaningful conversation (and I'm being generous calling it meaningful) in season 2 was all about EJ and Gina lifting EJ up when he didn't want to go to Duke. Then, in the season 2 finale EJ makes her feel horrible and undeserving of love by rejecting her. This scene has always made my blood boil because he cut her out as soon as he didn't think he would get what he wants from her.

Fast forward to s3 and every conversation the two have he makes about himself - Gina wants to talk about getting Anna and being excited, well no can't talk about that we have to talk about how he is freaking out about being director. Gina wants to spend time with EJ in the woods - no he's too busy, but not busy enough to embarrass her in front of all their friends and make out she's doing something wrong with Ricky. Gina specifically tells him she doesn't want to talk about the future and EJ goes on a rant about how the play needs to be successful for his future. Then finally, despite EJ being the one who should be grovelling, Gina (with the help of Ricky 😢) sets up an elaborate promposal and what does he do? He rejects her. Literally don't even understand this rule - why couldn't he just go there separately with her? Plus - if Maddox and Madison broke up at the prom last year, I would presume they went together. In which case - is this even a rule?

Honestly, the way that his fans treat Gina frankly disgusts me - like yesterday I went to the tag for a few minutes and saw someone saying that 'Gina didn't receive anything EJ said to her' - putting all the blame on her, when from where I sit (val voice) Gina has done nothing wrong. I think that most pws are Gina haters - do you know how many people I see who say they like Gina... but only in 2B? It's insane because 2B is the worst for me as a Gina fan - she lost her agency and spunk and she was basically a shell of herself who existed to try and prop up EJ.

My last point is that pws love to try and say that EJ shows up for Gina and my question to them is - when? Because the only time I can think of is the stupid granola bar (which is just a weird scene imo). If I really stretch I could say the fake dating part, but to me that's a no - because Gina didn't need to be saved. When she isn't around EJ she is perfectly capable of handling herself and she could have simply said 'no' to the random North High guy. It's always Gina who is doing the work in the relationship. Gina being his sounding board. Gina doing the morning show with him because no one else agreed. It is always Gina showing up for EJ and he never bothers to do so for her.

[galindaelphaba]

1.05 // 1.07 // 2.03 // 2.08

[galindaelphaba]

Do you think there is a chance that even after the (leak of episode 7) Gina goes back to Ej? (spoiler next episode) A reviewer accidentally spilled that Miss Jenn will offer a job to Ej for next season. I personally will have such mixed feelings if that happens, I love me some Rina angst but what if they do a lucayafication and give Richard another love interest, I don't know I try puzzle the things and i'm a little bit worried

Hmm interesting - I had seen some murmurs of the EJ job thing but didn’t know where it came from. I hate that if it’s true it’s just a rehash of that dumb glee storyline where Finn worked at McKinley 😭

I have been oscillating about these options for a while now because I’ve kind of had a niggling feeling they might do that for angst, but whenever I think on it, it doesn’t really make sense to me for her to ‘choose’ EJ. I think they have spent the majority of the season building towards showing the cracks in pw’s relationship and showing why they fundamentally don’t work as a couple (bad communication, different life stages and just not ‘getting’ each other). Plus if they have EJ get a job at the school it would be even weirder for them to date imo, because it would be kind of like a student dating a teacher 🤮

I do think that Rina won’t end the season together and that they might have a bit of angst end of s3/start of s4 where they both are in a place that they realise that they have feelings for each other, but Gina doesn’t want to pursue a relationship with Ricky because she was hurt by the events of s2 and just got out of her relationship with EJ (If you have seen Hart of Dixie, I’m kind of thinking like Zade end of s3 - where Zoe says to Wade she wants to be with him and he is reluctant to get back together with her...)

I totally get where you are coming from anon - I have trust issues after lucaya and season 2 of this show too.

[burnwithtears]

if anyone wants to talk about bad writing maybe p*rtwell shippers should discuss how they continue to make that ship weirder every single episode like what is next? gina convinces ej she doesn’t see him as a big brother figure? the fact that jamie said BIG brother is even worse too. how this ship is so popular amazes me but honestly it’s probably a mix of locals loving them because they’ll ship anything the show throws at them (like they’ll ship rina if it happens too) and most of them being rini shippers who didn’t even like gina before this. i mean it’s pretty clear this ship is not meant to last they’ll be done before the end of s3 at least (not even talking in regards to rina happening rina can not happen and this ship still isn’t going to end up together imo). but they could at least develop them without making their relationship progression so weird?

i agree, the constant sibling comparison (from jamie and ash) and the highlight on the age difference (from ej himself, ricky and carlos – not even the age, but the fact that ej is entering a different stage of life) was very weird to me. at this point, i do think they’ll be together in the finale, but at what cost? i hope they don’t make a “love confession” with some weird line like “i don’t see you as a brother, even though everyone seems to!” lmao

i even saw people who ship them (and are sure they’re meant to last) being “wtf???” about the big brother line. that’s just... not appealing, and not everyone are on board with this ship.

[burnwithtears]

No sorry if someone is uncomfortable with a ship cause if it’s age gap, they are allowed to feel that way without you shaming them. These portwell shippers..

haven’t you heard? if you don’t ship it, you’re a horrible person who doesn’t want to see gina happy!! personal preferences be damned!!!