#idk what to tag but this isn't really specifically critical of niki so much as her circumstance so.

[thespoonisvictory]

Niki you wanna develop ur relationship with other characters sooo badly. Pls….You have not had a face to face conversation with Wilbur in months. Let’s get some other important relationships to your character outside of him I want it so bad….

im just sittin here.. sobbing...

like as much as I love wil n niki as a dynamic I really hate talking about a female character so much in relation to a male one as part of her characterization, but like- it's literally the only relationship she has w somewhat of a consistent arc.

and it's good!

the idea of a friendship that falls apart bc of one person's mental health decline and the other person caught up in their anger over that person for abandoning them when they also needed help is fucking spicy! the total apolitical nature of their relationship is spicy! the intimacy of wearing someone else's coat with the juxtaposition of wishing they were dead is spicy! a ghost who only remembers happy things remembering the entirety of their friend is spicy!

their dynamic is my favorite for a reason, and I always want more

but when one of these characters has like five different arcs with different characters happening and a deeply complex and coherent story, while the other barely has anything coherent happening outside of it? while the former is male and the latter is female? it's not a good look, both narratively and socially.

having niki build up other friendships would be so helpful to her character feeling lived in and more coherent throughout the storyline. there was so much that could've been done for her in s2 that either straight up never happened, or started and then slipped away into thin air.

puffy, fundy, tommy, jack, the syndicate: all great potential for a friendship just as compelling as wilbur, but none utilized, and it's frustrating. there's so much good in her character and especially cc!niki's portrayal that it drives me insane