#i know tim's original version had ricky confessing to gina but he made the right call in scrapping that IMO

[homemade-ghosts]

Regarding the ending to the finale, do you think Ricky should've confessed or it should've been Gina? Also, do you think Gina should've initiated the "starting over" or Ricky should've?

When it comes to those two scenes, I think everything happened pretty much exactly as it should have.

I know some people were/are upset that Gina was the one to profess her feelings because they felt this season was building to a confession on Ricky’s end, I get that. I think the most important thing to keep in mind, though, is that Ricky’s reluctancy to tell Gina how he felt had absolutely nothing to do with him not wanting to or not being ready to tell her and everything to do with Ricky prioritizing Gina and her happiness over his own.

In 305, he literally tells Gina, “Yeah, I guess it’s hard not to just say what you feel, you know?” (while the Rina cue plays). In contrast to how difficult it was for s1 Ricky to express his feelings for Nini, it’s — by his own admission — difficult for s3 Ricky not to express his feelings to & for Gina. 

He doesn’t, though. First, because Gina is with EJ and Ricky wants to give her the best possible chance at being happy with him — or rather, he wants to give her the best possible chance at being happy, period, and if EJ happens to be a factor, then so be it. Just like Gina told us she would “never step on what [Ricky] has with Nini” in s2, now, in s3, Ricky is offering her that same kindness. They both want to see each other happy, even if that means sacrificing their own happiness and breaking their own hearts in the process. Then, when Carlos warns him that a trailer for the doc is coming out next month and it could potentially have Ricky’s on-camera confession in it, he tries to tell her at Prom — but he sees the tears streaming down her face and decides against it. Eyes big with concern, voice soft, he says, “it can wait if there’s something you’re working through.” He doesn’t want to burden her with his own feelings when she is already going through so many of her own. He wants to give her the space to process. He will wait to tell her until she is ready to hear it because, again, Ricky is putting what’s best for Gina above all else. 

Later that night, when he notices the light is back in Gina’s eyes and there’s a smile, a real one, brightening her face and she asks what he was going to say earlier, he’s about to tell her — & then he finds out that she has just broken up with EJ. He could use this to his advantage, take this moment to swoop in now that Gina is effectively single, but of course, he doesn’t. Once again, he doesn’t want her to have to bear the weight of his feelings for her when she needs the space to process her own. He’s broken up with someone before, he knows this pain, this bittersweet relief of making the right choice even if it hurts like hell in the moment. He understands what it’s like and he would never dream of giving her something else to worry about on top of that, if he can help it.

The reason I bring up (some of) Ricky’s acts of selflessness towards Gina earlier in the season is because him choosing not to confess his feelings for her in the finale is another example of that. He had no idea how long it might take for Gina to get over EJ. Recovering from a breakup doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all timeline, and he didn’t want her to feel pressured, like she had to move on from him sooner than she was ready to. He needed Gina to make the first move so he could know that this is what she wanted now, that she had healed and he wasn’t crossing any of her boundaries. 

Ricky not wanting to overstep Gina’s boundaries is also the reason why she needed to be the one to ask if they could start over in 302. That day during improv, (206) when Ricky asked Gina to be his partner and she turned away from him, some part of him knew why, though he wasn't ready to confront that "why" yet. Still, he saw this as her proverbial line in the sand. As much as he wanted to be a part of her life, he didn't try to force his way into it. He waited until Gina was ready to make him part of her life again and, as soon as she invited him back in, he tried to be as present as possible for her.

Now back to that final finale scene.

The confession shows how perfectly they complement each other, really. Ricky needs someone to tell him how they feel. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s one of the reasons Ricky was so quick to “take a chance” on Lily. Simply because she looked him right in the eyes and told him how she felt about him. Ricky needed those words of confirmation/affirmation from Gina. Gina, however, has always wanted & needed someone who “shows up” for her. Words don’t hold a lot of weight for her because she equates them with empty promises. Her mom reassures her that they won’t move again for awhile and then, two months later, she’s packing up boxes. When her brother comes to watch her performance in Beauty & The Beast, he tells her he’s “trying to make up for lost time.” but then he slips out to catch a flight before the show’s over and, as far as we know, hasn’t really kept in touch since. Then there’s EJ, who promises they’ll be on the same team for Color War so that they can spend the day together and hopefully celebrate a win later — but, instead of being with Gina, he spends most of the day in the barn, getting a crash course in Directing from Miss Jenn. & then he swears he’ll save her a dance on Prom night, but he’s nowhere to be found when that final song starts playing.

Gina has been let down by words too many times, they’re no good to her without action — which is why Ricky showing up for her all summer, proving that he cares, meant more to her than anything he could ever say. & it’s why Ricky kissing her in response to her confession meant more to her than some grand speech. Gina needs action, Ricky needs affirmation. She told him how she felt & he showed her.  

In giving each other what they needed, they both got what they wanted.

In addition to Gina’s confession making perfect sense for their characters, it also fits with the general theme of the season for Ricky: second chances. Although the context & circumstances are different, that final scene is meant to parallel the opening night flashback. That night, he listened as Gina told him how she felt, he held her as she cried and then, when she told him she was going to walk out of there with her “head held high”, he let her. Mostly, I think, because he wasn’t sure he had any other choice. He thought he was never going to see Gina again and, just seconds earlier, had gotten back together with Nini — what else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t confess his love for Nini one minute and then tell Gina how much she meant to him the next, that wouldn’t have been fair to either girl. 

So much has changed now, for the better. The timing is right. So, this time, when Gina tells him how she feels and says she’s going to walk out of that theater with her “head held high” unless he stops her, he does. He knew this was his second, & probably last, chance. He watched Gina slip away once before and has regretted it ever since, he’s not going to make that mistake again.