#it's actually kind of wild how invested i am in this season already skfjnkfns

[canonicallyanxious]

i have a lot of Thoughts again about the most recent druck episode so like i guess reaction word vomits are a thing now huh i’m sorry in advance

ANYWAY EPISODE TWO WAS GREAT AND I’M VIBRATING WITH ANTICIPATION

1. the visual storytelling + characterization of nora continue to be endlessly compelling to me. moments like when she’s pulling down her bracelet so zoe can see, or climbing up to the rooftop and just hanging out by herself, or how again she keeps underplaying things or just straight up lying to people [for very understandable reasons! she seems like the kind of person who tends to avoid outright confrontation which i think is why the scene at the end feels so satisfying, bc you get the sense she’s finally getting the chance to speak her mind and say what she really thinks - although notably as a way to divert from their true intentions, which is Mailin stealing the money] - like these all say so much about her without even needing the dialogue to back it up! i think this is also really helped along by the talent of this character’s actor, like she really knows how to make the most of her facial expressions so even though she comes across as a more reserved character we still get a strong sense of her emotional world and what she’s feeling.

i’m kind of interested in this continuing trend of her building up lies/downplaying things to people she cares about. who knows if it’ll go anywhere but it kind of feels like it will? bc there’s still a lot even we as viewers don’t really know - like the full details of what really happened with constantin [how did they start dating even??], or her history with that whole friend group - mainly bc she keeps downplaying what she’s going through to other people. which to me feels like she doesn’t really want people to worry about her but then that in turn means she’s the one who’s doing all the worrying and shouldering all the burden. like it’s interesting that this trend of her covering things up goes hand in hand with her taking on an honestly insane amount of responsibility for someone of her age. I already mentioned that i think but it’s built on more in this episode - kiki saying that she takes care of everything, her mother telling her she’s lucky nora worries so much about her. they both seem like very big coping mechanisms for her! and i’m very interested to see how druck will break that down in the future. idk i don’t want to like theorize about themes or anything bc i’m very often wrong lol but i’m just interested to see where everything goes!

[sidenote: one other example from this episode i’m thinking of is when she said she wasn’t that close to that squad and ava cut her off to say things were really shitty - i mean there’s no reason for me not to take her at face value but there’s also no reason for me TO take her at face value you know what i’m saying? like at this point for all we know it could really go either way]

[and another thing - her text convo with zoe is very interesting to me because here we have someone telling her she needs to be the bigger person, she’s above this, it’s her responsibility to fix things. and her response is no, not this time. i’m so curious to see if this will be a recurring theme this season!]

[kind of a tangent but how much does zoe know about the situation between nora and constantin? at this point it’s kind of unbelievable to me that she wouldn’t know how badly he’s been treating her - i mean i can believe nora trying to hide it from her, but how can she spend as much time with these people as she does and not even be at least somewhat aware of how constantin feels about her??? - but it’s also kind of unbelievable to me that she would say these things to nora if she knew what constantin had done so like idk]

2. i know i’m not alone in this but i’m already in love with the vibe and dynamic of nora’s new squad! i guess i just find it kind of nice because as much as i love og girl squad [across all the remakes really] i have to admit that on a strictly personal level so far I find this friend group a lot more relatable in terms of their personalities, with how i and my hs friends were. and i always think it’s kind of nice to have a story focused on a more introverted character [nora for instance] that 1. doesn’t push them to be more assertive in a way that pushes them way too far out of their comfort zone, but allows them to find their own ways to be assertive and 2. conveys just as much complexity and nuance in the emotions they’re feeling and the problems they’re going through as someone who’s more outgoing. idk i just think it’s really neat!

3. i’m genuinely kind of curious where they’re going to go with the constantin thread. bc, like, i’m acutely aware that we don’t know the full story yet, but also the manner in which he has verbally and physically accosted her seems totally beyond anything that you might have reasonable justification for. to the point where i’m like jesus i’m glad she broke up with him bc his reaction to this is just red flag after red flag! yeah he’s a teenager but anyone treating anyone like this is just not okay! but like are we supposed to read his behavior as standard ~boys being dumb hormonal boys~ shit, so like super inappropriate but still supposed to be understandable on some level, or like, bordering on actually genuinely unacceptable? my completely unbiased opinion is of course that it’s the latter but i’m not like 100% sure yet where i think druck is going with this. bc i could see them going a route where his behavior is explicitly and unequivocally condemned; i could also see them going a route where he goes through real remorse and character growth; i could also see them going a route where once we know the ~full picture~ of what happened bw him and nora we will suddenly understand why what he did to her is [at least on some level] supposed to be understandable. who knows, really. i guess we’ll find out!

4. also kind of curious about this “cool kid” v. “not so cool kid” dynamic they’re setting up. like ca$hqueens are clearly the underdogs here, and there’s likely going to be more conflict bw these two groups later in the season. because honestly imo that trope is kind of overdone in teen media? but i’m a bit of the opinion that these two groups... might have more in common with each other than they might realize or admit [namely everyone involved being Huge Fucking Dorks]. and i’m wondering if that’s, like, the point, which will lead to them finding common ground and maybe bridging the gap one day, or if they’re going to continue to be presented as diametrically opposed to each other. i mean knowing what i know about this show i’m personally hoping it’ll go the former route, but you never know! Druck has surprised me many times in both good and bad ways so i’m just trying to prepare myself for everything lol.

5. social media + texts this season have been chef’s kiss so far, i have no complaints

6. everyone in this show is queer and in this essay i will -