#anyway shoutout to luke for calling chrissie rude straight to her face

[sixseasonsofodestawithatardis]

Literally saw someone on Twitter call Maria unbearable this morning, and this, on top of my anger at Chrissie Jackson, has reignited the annoyance I felt towards Sja/dwtwt as I was writing those tags. Lmao! Anyway, sorry, OP, you're about to get 3 huge paragraphs about Maria Jackson + Rani Chandra being awesome and why Chrissie sucks! AKA stuff I couldn't elaborate on in the tags!

Maria is a brilliant character, and her arc for s1/2 is well-written. Maria is 13/14, going through her parent's divorce, settling into somewhere new, and struggling with a strained relationship with her mum!

She's the first member of the gang we meet and is our entryway into Sja; in a way, our care towards the rest of the show for the pilot relies on her and her narrative for the most part (Luke and SJ are still important). On top of that, she is the first person Luke meets and the first person she helps rescue alongside Sarah Jane. If it weren't for Maria, we wouldn't care for any of this as much, nor would Sarah Jane become a friendlier and warmer person ready to adopt Luke.

Ultimately, Maria becomes Sarah Jane's daughter figure, as does Sarah Jane become Maria's mother figure, and the attic becomes a safe space away from her Mum, like when she slams the attic door in Eye of the Gorgon. Hence why Sarah Jane and Luke take Maria moving to America so hard.

This is also why Rani feels very excluded in parts of season 3 and why we get the mad woman in the attic timeline: She can't get as close as Maria could to Sarah Jane or be included as well as she could at times.

In contrast, Rani has a typical family dynamic with a mum and dad, unlike the rest of the characters and is driven, with a lot of pressure to be ahead. She knows what she wants and will get there- but unlike the others, she's more trusting and less cynical. (Not sure if thats the right word- we're rolling with it!) , i.e. trusting Peter Dalton and the Blathereen. She's also the newest one of the group and so gels with Clyde more easily in that respect as you don't expect them two to be able to handle it ( technically, Maria can't either, but she's away from the narrative by this point)

Rani and Maria have huge shoes to fill in their introductions and narratives for different reasons. Maria + her actress is the first entryway into the narrative, and we have to enjoy her story and her dynamic on top of this being a pilot and eventually a first series... Its a lot and if this went wrong in any way we wouldn't of got to series 2 let alone five!

Rani's (well, Anjili) is now replacing a fan favourite character on top of establishing a whole new dynamic, and if this fails, again, no series 3 or Big Finish continuation.

Rani and Maria are well-written women who are important in different ways to the show, and comparing them and bringing either down feels wrong to me. Also, these are 13/14 y/o kids, and they aren't going to act rationally in some situations; sorry, this whole Twitter trend reeks of grown-ups trying to pull children down a peg and misogyny (maybe I'm being a bit harsh!). Anyway, put me in the writer's room! Rani and Maria need to maximise their joint slay!

Also, if any character deserves the hate Maria is getting, it is Chrissie because she may have taken out a Sontaran once, but my god, is she horrible! Not only does she come over unannounced, but she literally attempts to move in during an argument with Ivan taking over Alan and Maria's space, and then when Maria talks about Sarah Jane in that same episode, she goes off on one! It is NOT Sarah Jane's fault YOU have no relationship with your daughter anymore, Chrissie! Plus, whenever she does visit, it's only when she needs money or furniture or to rub the fact Alan's single in his face! Also, the time she spoke to Statue! Alan nicely for once- could you not have said that before the divorce?! Or thought about that before you went for the Salsa teacher?!

Okay I really don't get the evil Maria Jackson memes on twitter rn, because how anyone watching Maria in S1-2 of SJA and saying she's evil, even jokingly???