#jj meta

[tremorsmackenzie]

i really love the way noone even pretends that jessica has actual fight training. like, shes a woman who got experimented on and randomly gained superstrength, shes not a ninja like matt or an ex cop like luke. any fight scene, shes basically just winging it, she only really shines when shes up against people who are also just normal and not martial art gods.

its just fucking funny to see matt kick and punch and parry at lightning speed and jessica just jumps in from the sidelines and shoves someone

[jenny-from-the-bau]

Can I say that I don't think that JJ would be a good girlfriend to Emily? Lol I feel like Emily would need a lot of assurance that she is loved in order to actually believe it and I don't know that JJ would be able to give that.

Oh, JJ is an awful girlfriend hahaha like in canon, too. She doesn't have a lot of emotional bandwidth, and she's bad at showing how much she cares and wants to be in a situation. I think she'd just assume that Emily gets it because she said she wanted to be in a relationship, so she wants to and Emily should get that. I think it takes Emily having a bit of a melt down for JJ to realize that she needs more than a one-time confirmation. Most people need fairly consistent showings of affection, and Emily is a person. JJ is the one who is removed.

I honestly think JJ is on the Aro spectrum. She loves Will and wants to be with him, but she definitely sees him as like a Best Friend Plus.

I think she'd be the same with Emily. She loves Emily, likes being around her, likes sleeping with her, living with her, etc, but she just doesn't have that unconscious drive to be affectionate and loving and all of that. She's not a romantic! She appreciates quality time and likes being in a relationship because it means she has a reason to be around her best friend all the time, but she'd also be fine being single forever and just having a good friend group, you know?

[tremorsmackenzie]

fuck yes

jessica jones is such a fucking good show

[artist-issues]

I just NEED everyone to agree with me that Rey's parents are nobody. We should all agree about that. We should collectively, as an audience, say, "clearly the best idea was to have Kylo Ren be a dynastic heir to the major legends of the Force who wants to throw off his family's shadow, while his rival is nobody from nowhere who wants to belong--so we're going to stick with that."

And then, what should have happened is, Rey can finish her story by being able to say, "My parents might have abandoned me, but that doesn't mean I'm worthless." And eventually Kylo Ren can say, "My family might have been powerful, but I don't have to be," and all those other things that they can bounce off of each other as great foils.

It can keep being a good story about accepting past failures and choosing to grow beyond them.

Let's just all collectively ignore Rey Skypatine because of how silly that was. I mean. If they can just ignore the setups in the previous movie, we can ignore their choices in the conclusion. Right?? Right? Tell me I'm right

[carnalish]

thinking about how JJ buries her trauma the most she can. she's someone so deeply afraid of vulnerability. and i think that we sometimes forget that JJ, at a very young age, didn't only lose her sister (which is already hard enough), but lost her support system entirely.

i don't remember the exact episode, but JJ's mother says "I got so caught up in all my troubles that I forgot there was another little girl under my roof who had just lost her sister. You needed me, and I wasn't there." Jennifer lost her family, all she had when she was only eleven years old. and since then, she's been caught up in running away from being hurt in any way, and hurting others just the same. because the moment people know, it becomes real, as she herself stated.

Jennifer Jareau is a woman who trusts very few people, even though she's someone so reliable herself. and why she's so reliable is because she had to learn to be since she was a CHILD. it breaks my heart.

[youbutstupid]

Ages of the Criminal Minds cast because PSA: life doesn’t stop at 40

Mandy Patinkin, 71. Thomas Gibson, 61

Lola Glaudini, 52. A.J. Cook, 45

Matthew Gray Gubler, 44. Kirsten Vangsness, 51

Shemar Moore, 54. Paget Brewster, 55

Joe Mantegna, 76. Meta Golding, 52

Rachel Nichols, 44. Jeanne Tripplehorn, 60

Jennifer Love Hewitt, 45. Aisha Tyler, 53

Adam Rodriguez, 49. Daniel Henney, 44

[wistfulwatcher]

emily prentiss + leaving and coming back for her family

[multifandumbmeg]

JJ, guy who has panic attacks calming Kie down in the hyberbaric chamber. Thinking about how this is both a cute relationship moment and another astoundingly consistent characterization moment. JJ is shown having what can pretty comfortably be called panic/anxiety attacks after John B's supposed death (although considering his childhood, I think it's safe to assume he's had more of them outside that timeframe). Of those times, though, he is never in actual danger. When he is in danger, like the hyberbaric chamber, he is always clear-headed and ready to go, just like real people with anxiety disorders (especially caused by things like abuse and other real dangers). When the moment hits and the threats are real, he can finally act on that adrenaline for once. And this is also likely why he is so recklessly drawn to dangerous situations. When you have a panic attack your body goes into the fight flight etc mode and when the "aggressor"/threat is something that doesn't actually threaten bodily harm, like a fear or an emotional (but not threatening) conflict - which is definitionally what a panic attack is - you can't do anything about it. You feel out of control. You're terrified in the grocery aisle and there's nothing to hit, nothing to run from, no one to appease or diffuse. But when the danger is real, you get that same rush of adrenaline only this time you can do something. And you've run these life-threatening scenarios over in your head so many times you have a plan, you can think clearly.

I love how they write JJ in this show. He's so consistent and realistic with his backstory while still being dynamic and having character growth. And I love that his romantic relationship with Kiara has been a part of that development, as the unique intimacy of romantic relationships often challenges people who've experienced abuse, but can offer opportunities to grow as well. I love that they have written Kiara in such a way that she actively encourages that (keyword active, not just magically by existing sexily beside him or dying) instead of rejecting him, giving up, and making it worse (especially for unecessary relationship conflict reasons). Props OBX writers.

[letsgofullpogue]

I don't usually share my thoughts on the season here, I try to keep it more of an archive than anything, but this shit was a mess and I need to unpack it somewhere. Thoughts on season 4 below the cut.

Groff being JJ's father doesn't make any sense.

Before part two even came out, this little kernel of story rang so false for me. How does Luke wind up with a kook baby who "died" at sea? And the obvious answer is he had an affair with a kook, they had a baby, and, sure, she dies and he has to take care of the baby, leaving him bitter and alone and resentful of JJ. This is a reasonable expectation based on what we know of Luke thus far. But that's not what they're selling. Luke is a good-natured groundskeeper for the Genrettes, forming a light friendship with Larissa and bringing her little baby flowers to light up their days. Chandler, the baby's actual father, lurks in the background, seemingly jealous and controlling and not a fan of Luke. This completely stomps all over what we know to be true about Luke from the beginning, and really wipes out all the beautiful, horrifying work that Rudy and Gary did to build their relationship up until now. What a tragedy.

Why would Chandler kill Larissa and hand off the baby, pretending that he died? Was he hoping that Wes would take him under his wing and he would become the Genrette heir? Why not just keep his own baby with him, who would presumably be the real Genrette heir, coming into the money and property by way of guardianship when he inevitably killed Wes anyway? What's the deal with Chandler and Larissa? Did he marry her for money since he was a Pogue (more on that later)? Is this Foghorn Leghorn accent put on? Did he marry her specifically for her Blackbeard connections? Was it on the order of the Lupine Corsairs? Did he start working with them before he hooked up with Larissa? Was this all part of the plan? Why did Larissa keep her last name? Why in god's name do I care?

Watching Chandler play JJ the whole time requires us to believe that JJ is stupid, and JJ is not stupid. Impulsive, sure. Acts before thinking, absolutely, but not stupid. He's not going to get played this way (especially by a Kook), letting Chandler lock him in a mausoleum, giving him the necklace, giving Chandler his phone. It's insane. And driving around town in the Twinkie while being wanted? Still using their house and surf shop as home base for planning? Stupid stupid stupid.

The retread of scenes we've already done

Pope and Sarah in the tunnel with the rain is Kie in the sewer with the water flushing her out.

JJ and Chandler in the Twinkie is Big John and John B in the Twinkie, and just as bad. I thought they understood that was too much time away from the group, but what I've come to is that they don't actually understand anything.

Wasting too much time with a band of villains, see also last season. At least Singh had an interesting story that somewhat wove into the quest. These guys are just hired grunts. They're not on this hunt for themselves, they were hired to find the crown. Hired by who? And why do we care? They have a code that they live by, but we don't care that one of their faceless guys got killed and that they're out for revenge while pursuing the treasure. They get way too much screen time for us only have ten episodes.

Pope running from the Marines is Pope running from his scholarship interview, with higher stakes consequences that'll never be addressed, I'm sure.

Pope, John B, Cleo, and Sarah in the garage is John B in the garage in season one.

JJ wounded and floating in the water, just like in season two.

JJ and Kie talking about wishes while on watch is surf trip again. I was like, oh wow the chemistry is totally back here, and then I realized that it's fully leaning on the cadence of something that's already happened.

These are not parallels, this is bad writing. Or lazy writing. Or both.

High-stakes actions with no regard for consequences

Speaking of, they're constantly writing themselves into situations they can't get out of at this point. Last year, with JJ making deals with Barracuda Mike, big-time drug dealer, a thing that should have had huge consequences for reneging on the deal, but wound up with none. And in an even bigger 'this doesn't matter', he goes to Barracuda Mike's house this year and demands things of him? Wild and unbelievable.

This year, with JJ assaulting cops and destroying the town, for reasons that don't even really make sense. Wanted and on the run. How do you come back from that? (And a side note. JJ wasn't ever really a physically destructive presence, moreso destructive in the way that he has impulse control issues and acts before he thinks. But JJ has always been the type to take the beating, not start it. Happy to defend himself and his friends, but out of a feeling of usefulness and purpose in the group, not for funsies.)

Also this year with Pope, assaulting a cop, slipping his ankle monitor, and running away from the Marines. THE MARINES. Consequences should be looming, and who knows if we'll get there. But why set these kids on the run for the rest of their lives? The point is this place, the point is these kids. These beautiful idiots with bad luck and good hearts, just trying to get a win. What win is left? Evading jail? Revenge killing? What happened to our little boat show? This is a mess.

A family way

It's insane to me that they would chose to make Sarah pregnant in these circumstances that they've written them into, but then again, it's written by men who seem to have big-time mommy and daddy issues, so why am I surprised? I do feel like the best part of the season is that before John B even knew about the pregnancy, he was basically like I want to be done with this shit. He is not his father, he doesn't yearn for the adventure of it all. He wants to build a life, a normal life, and I wish we had had more time to sit with that and explore it for him.

The dialog

I don't know if it's that they're not improving as much anymore because of ~*reasons*~, but the dialog has gone completely down the tubes. In the last episode of the season, Kiara says "JJ hurry" over and over, at least 5 times in the span of like 15 minutes. When John B, Sarah, and Cleo are running from the Kooks, it's hurry, hurry, hurry. It's either that the writers simply aren't trying anymore or so much of the dialog was filled in with improv that now that everyone hates each other (she says casually and not addressing it at all), they're unwilling to play. Either way, that's their jobs. This show should be so fun to watch and it's becoming a drag.

The filters

I know everyone has complained about the colors of this show the whole time, but it's becoming unforgivable. The blue nighttime filter? I want to throw something at my tv every time they use it. Shoot at night??? Or on a stage? There are options that aren't the most awful fake-looking filters in the world, which, by the way, make watching on any smaller screen completely impossible. I miss those season one South Carolina sunsets. It feels like we've replaced most of those with a really harsh yellow filter that makes lighting people impossible.

Pogues vs. Kooks

That was the setup for this show, right? The haves and the have-nots? Two tribes, one island? Well, now almost every Kook is a Pogue and every Pogue is a Kook. They're muddling the message with bad results, because they still seem to want the tension and the storylines that result from it, but Chandler is a Pogue turned Kook, Ward was a Pogue turned Kook, so is Mike. JJ is a Kook turned Pogue, Rafe, RAFE of all people is working with the Pogues and engaged to one? With season five being the official last season, what will we be left with at the end of all this?

Interviews

So much of what they intended for this story, or what they want the audience to take from this story is told in interviews. I don't know if they're flat-out lying or they really think they nailed it in the telling. They say JJ is freaking out because he finds out he's a Kook, but that's not really what happened on screen, it seems more like he freaks out because their land is being taken from them and Luke's back and betraying them for a deal to keep him out of jail (yeah, not enough time spent on that). That JJ dying was the plan from the beginning which I don't believe was the case for one single second. "JJ is super jealous", where? Show me where because he barely glances at Kiara the entire second half of the season. They're two unsupervised children, dating, living in the same house, who barely ever touch, nevermind kiss. You're making this shit up to get the fans in a frenzy about it and not delivering in the telling.

The biggest fuck you

JJ dying. If talk is to be believed (and I do believe it) Rudy asked to leave and the Pates granted this request by killing him. I'm pissed as hell that the Rudy/Elaine/Madison/Mariah whatever it was ruined a truly great character and couple (the thing that brought me to this show in the first place) and I'm also pissed that it was written this way. Their right as writers and showrunners, I guess. BUT. There is a way to do this and have it make narrative sense and spur the story on and it is their job as writers to figure that out. What they did was strap him with an insane storyline about biological parents that makes no sense, act completely out of character for much of the season, have him pick up a drinking problem that he's never had before (becoming a liability for his friends), and have his new daddy kill him with a 1-inch blade in retribution for *checks notes* not letting him out of a well? Oh, and having his friends bury him in an unmarked grave in a land far from home, a home that they really can't even return to without some of them going to jail for a long time. And now they're out for revenge, as suggested by Rafe.

What is season five going to be? Losing JJ (and Jiara by extension) is a devastating loss for this show. Saddling John B and Sarah with a kid on the way while on the run and actively pursuing very bad people is irresponsible. How can we bring it on home in a way that honors these characters and makes sense of the mess they made of this story? How can we bring it on home at all? I'm not sure, but I guess we'll find out when the time comes. Lord knows, I'll be here until the bitter end.

[chasedeys]

https://www.tumblr.com/chasedeys/768303211057725440/jj-koc

Ja’Marr to Joe after the Saints game ❤️😭

ALSO TRUE tried finding a clip but :'))

couldn't find the actual clip of the interview :( so enjoy this lovelyyyyy tiktok edit that i had bookmarked <3

loookkkkk at ja'marr's faceeeeeee, the smiles (!!! ja'marr's wide and a little embarrassed and joe?? looking fond as fuck and like so proud?? a little 'i know right' enoughhhhh) when they mentioned his fucking JERSEY, when joe started touching his shoulder and yapping about him right in front of him jesusssss his smile slowly dropping and listening very carefully and his eyes!!! yeah 😭 couldn't look at each other in the face at all btw lol

oh and since the og post made me think of koc/jj specifically -> i think one of the differences between joemarr flirting and kocjj flirting is like. how koc and jj got that shit down to an art form they have 0 (zero) shame about being all up in each others faces about it hence the numerous, numerous mic'ed up moments between them. while joemarr, despite the six fucking years they have with each other, are still weirdly shy about being idk straight up flirty and complimenting each other right to the other's faces?? like no doubt they can talk the other up in front of the media without a single shame but like this saints interview they just would not stare at the other at all even when joe was talking about him (the hand waving around trying to pat at ja'marr too 😭) he didn't stare at ja'marr at all and ja'marr looked down and sort of through his peripheral vision in the end but like barely like boys please....please......

[waitmyturtles]

I LOVE 4 MINUTES.

I love it! GAAAAAHHH, I love it. While Be On Cloud’s KinnPorsche was so BL-referential, I just love this juicy Dr. Sammon-mystery genre that takes us out of trope-land. Queer murder mysteries, my beloved.

I have no theories, per se, about where I think this show is going, but I am going to jot down some observations for my own posterity and memory. After reading some theories on Twitter (including one that Dr. Sammon herself retweeted), I went back and fast-forwarded through all the episodes so far, so here are my notes (and these VERY WELL may have been repeated in the tag, so I apologize if I’m just pooping what we’re already assuming here).

1) This Twitter account noted that Tonkla saw his cat in episode 1, after what-we-assume-to-be present-day boing with Korn. Tonkla sees this AFTER Korn rushed off after getting off the phone. After this week’s episode, we seem to be informed that said cat had died in the past.

We also know that Tonkla has a habit of lighting up after sex and during times of duress.

There might be more than just tobacco in those cigarettes he’s lighting up, I’m not sure, but we also know he hits the shabu, pipe-wise.

Besides Great being in what I assume to be, and what I call, a fever-state, or better phrased, a cardiac episode, I am assuming that Tonkla is transcending his own lines of reality through drug use.

1a) [(A quick aside: I just wanna say that I will be VERY. CURIOUS. as to how Tonkla’s drug use is positioned alongside his predilections for unprotected sex, and if I think there will be public health commentary in this. Drug use is, of course, generally not recommended by medical professionals, and at the same time, it’s a culturally important element of many facets of queer culture that many physicians who work with LGBTQ+ patients are trained to be aware of; for example, using poppers to ease the process of preparing for intercourse. I don’t know if the show means to indicate that Tonkla, vis à vis being on PrEP and meth at the same time, is an automatically unsafe person…but he also might be a murderer… so yeah, I will be curious about this underlying public health messaging.)]

1b) (Speaking of public health, yo, we needed those Durex bottles in episode 4, YOWCH.) (😬) (ANYWAY.)

2) So, speaking of Great and Tonkla living in their own realities, I also want to posit that Tyme has created his own sense of delirium by literally not sleeping.

Homeboy is on his shifts, he’s working out, he’s solving mysteries, he’s kicking literal ass, he’s investigating and courting Great, he’s following Korn. He’s doing a lot! We haven’t caught him sleeping yet, again, literally.

I wonder if this may be Dr. Sammon commenting on the culture of insanely long shifts for doctors, which impacts their mental and physical well-being. We��ve also separately learned that Tyme is driven by revenge, and by a need to support his grandma and save Nan. But how can he do all of that, if he’s physically depriving himself of the ability to rest? I don’t know if this is going to go anywhere, but I do notice the camera work, whenever Tyme is scrubbing out of a shift, re-centering from a tilt, which makes me wonder about what these shots are telling us about his mental state (and we saw comparable camera work when Tonkla thought he saw Dome).

(I’m also not forgetting that the show shows him stabbed at the very start of the series, and I’m constantly wondering about that.)

3) Finally, I want to offer that Korn, Great, and Tyme are not out. At least for Great and Tyme, does that contribute to a delirium mindset (and maybe even Korn, too) by way of the stress of holding in secrets? (Please note that this linked article is from 2004 and does not have fully updated terminology.)

I don’t know if this theory holds for Great, because a popular theory for him at the start of the series was that he may not have realized he was gay until he met Tyme. I don’t know that I saw that in my very-fast rewatch except for his surprised looks during the stitches moment in the hospital. Great’s comfort with Tyme in the car after the claw machines makes me think he knew more about his sexuality, and his physical separation from his family at the dinner table in episode 1 also makes me wonder if he realized his preferences were always going to separate him from his nuclear family. I’m not sure, but I’m chewing on this.

4) So, where I’m gonna go entering into episode 5 is that there isn’t a centered or accurate “present day” for anyone….mayyyybe except for Korn, who is certainly living his own fever dream of being stuck in a reeeeeeally bad job, but maybe isn’t being subjected to mental delirious psychoses (just, you know, the general stress of hating your work thoroughly). But I could be wrong there, too, because we know that Korn is driven by greed, filial piety, and a desire to take over the family business. So maybe that’s creating a delirium of his own, one that takes him away from his boyfriend for weeks at a time.

4a) (By the way, isn’t it interesting that we are not seeing NC scenes with Korn and Fasai? I know, I know, Be On Cloud does queer/BL content, but. I think it’d be interesting if the show ran the gamut of intimacy. Just a thought.)

Anyway! This show is so good, it’s making me babble. I absolutely love it, and it is the comeback that Bible Wichapas deserves.

[tremorsmackenzie]

currently rewatching jessica jones and fucking hell, the parallels to daisy and also yelena. again, how are there no fics about these characters interacting. i know ive said it already, but i dont care. daisy after hive and jessica after killing kilgrave are during the same time period. it lines up. omfg.

[jenny-from-the-bau]

I think one of the most tragic things about Jemily in canon for me is that there’s always a sense that both women know. JJ and Emily are both aware that something almost happened between them. They know that there’s tension, that they love each other. JJ knows why Emily keeps leaving and Emily knows why JJ has to stay with Will. Every time they talk about how hard the past is, or how happy they are to be reunited, there’s such a sense that things could be different.

If they’d made a different choice somewhere along the line, then this reunion would be something else entirely. They may never have been separated at all. The sad look on Emily’s face when she pushes JJ toward Will. The little headshake JJ gives Emily when she tells them she’s leaving and Emily says “you’re too good”. JJ and Emily on the plane to Paris, JJ and Emily’s look at the wedding, the constant checking in later as they try to be close and keep their distance all at once. They know how great they could have been and they know they missed their chance.

[futuremrscameron]

outer banks is really just sins of the father + not wanting to be like/turn into your parents + legacy

like think about it;

rafe wants to be better and create a legacy of his own while still honoring his father’s

jj is the opposite of rafe in the way that he doesn’t wanna be like his dad. though just like rafe he finds himself falling into the same destructive patterns and has his propensity for turning to violence as a solution

kiara doesn’t wanna be like her mom and lose a part of herself which is why she clings so tightly to being a pogue but she also refuses to waver in her morals and standings even when proven wrong time and time again. like her mother she’s stubborn

john b loves the thrill of treasure hunting and finding gold like his father but he doesn’t wanna put treasure hunting above all else like his (HE’S LITERALLY SCARED OF BECOMING HIS DAD THIS SEASON) he wants to live a normal life but the action adventure and treasure keeps calling out to him.

sarah looked up to her dad so much but after finding out who he truly is and seeing his dark side she realized she doesn’t even know him and feels disgusted having ever looked up to him. she loves him but unlike rafe love isn’t enough to keep her under his illusion of being a great man and wants to break away from her family name by doing good both because she’s a good person and to balance out the awful shit her family has done

pope like rafe wants to make his family proud and create a legacy for himself. he wants to matter and not just have his life be decided by his circumstances it’s why he fights so hard to find the gold, the cross, el dorado, and now blackbeard’s treasure.

[artist-issues]

that was real dumb. From a storytelling point of view, truthfully. Why would you take the only character who has some real-life characterization, some stuff that grounds the show and makes it's main element feel at least a little rooted in reality, and unravel all that characterization—and then kill him off?

Let me back it up.

It's a teen treasure-hunting show. Nobody wants to watch that unless all those individual words feel realistic enough to be relatable, and compelling. Teen. Treasure-Hunting. Emphasis on teen, otherwise I'd watch National Treasure.

you have the boy hero who's dad was a treasure-hunter and mysteriously disappeared. Thats not very realistic, its a little fantastical, but you can make it feel realistic if you work hard, and compelling if he's a good actor with chemistry.

you have the hot girl who's part rich-kid, chosen-poor-kid, who hangs out with the underdogs just...because. Okay, that's a little cliche, a little "my parents don't understand me, I'm a rebel without a cause" in the cheeseball way. Clearly gotta be the girl-in-the-group, gotta be eye-candy. But you can make it feel realistic if you work, and compelling if she's played by a good actress with good chemistry.

you have the boy who's a brainiac and he hangs out with the underdogs because they'll be nice to him even if he's a weird brainiac, just...because. He's like the good-boy in the bad-boy group. Another cliche, but that's fine. That won't take too much work to explain, and it's not super compelling, but it rounds out the crew, and again, it'll work if you have a good actor with good chemistry.

you have another hot girl who's basically perfect and joins the hero group later—she's rich but she's more compassionate to poor people than literally anyone around her for unexplained reasons, she can be inconsiderate but that compassion thing comes in clutch if consequences ever roll around to keep her likeable, she's funny, charming, strong when she needs to beat someone up for girl-power but damsel-in-distressy when her boyfriend needs to look heroic, willing to turn on her whole family for the love of our hero, whatevs. Cliche, but you can even make her feel real if you work. Points for an actress who's good and has chemistry.

and then you have loose-cannon, comic-relief boy who's like our hero but grungier and slightly less heroic so that he doesn't steal the spotlight. He can break up tension when you need a break from tension, OR he can bring it in when you need to start drama, because like we said, he's a loose-cannon. Fine. Cliche—

—oh but wait. His dad abuses him. Oh, that's some real stuff right there. Real-world stuff. Not "my daddy's a supervillain murderer," or "my daddy ran off and disappeared treasure-hunting," or even "my daddy doesn't like my friends." It's right in between the cliches and extremes. It's real-feeling in a way that everything else isn't.

But maybe they'll overdo it and make it super-tragic, super-dramatic, they'll shoot it in a way that's too gratuitous, he's got PTSD but it's way overdone, he's all weak and mumbly or he's got to be taken care of by the rest of our motley crew like a soft boy—

No? No, they're not doing any of that? No, they shot it in a realistic way that portrays the horrible tension of the relationship but doesn't linger too long, too melodramatically? No, the character isn't making this his whole thing—hems actually acting like this is just a part of life? A sucky part of life, but a normal part of normal life for him? Woah. Thats real stuff right there. And it causes the trauma and the rage and the heartbreak but...all that stuff just simmers...under the surface? Realistically under the surface? He brushes the abuse topic off with people who care about him, but he's perfectly willing to use the abuse topic to get out of trouble with adults who are on his case? Like a real teenager in real life who grows up around this and experiences it might?

Wow. That doesn't take much work to do, at all. It writes itself. It is real and true.

More than that—little things—when a character says a heroic line of drama-film dialogue about treasure hunting, this comic-relief boy always winds up saying something...random and sort of shallow? He says something about weed or repeats what the dramatic kid said in a funny accent? Like a real teenager would in real life? Like a real kid, who really responds to everything as if he doesn't think much about The Future or Epic Destinies?

He eats moldy bread when everybody else is poring over a treasure map? He flirts inappropriately when he should be dramatically waking up in his concerned lover's arms after getting hurt saving her? He makes really stupid decisions, not because they need to cover a plot hole or because he's "the dumb one" but because...he's a badly-raised teenager who genuinely has always had to look out for himself? He says something simple and real when any other character would've said something daring and poetic?

And put on top of all that that he's played by an actor who's really good at his job and has great chemistry with everything that breathes onscreen?

That's the character that puts the teen in "teenage treasure hunting show." The real, believable adolescent-who-doesn't-think-beyond-the-moment. The reason watching this team of cliche treasure-hunter stereotypical breakfast-club Romeo-&-Juliet cast is even interesting.

By having JJ be a trailer-trash punk who's dad beats him up, who loves to have a good time with his friends and takes his anger about his lot in life out on a silly us-versus-them rich kid group every chance he gets? By being the character with one foot in "reality" and the other in "adventure" out of sheer "I've had nothing my whole life so I don't know what Considering My Future is, and I might as well be cocky" attitude?

He grounded the show. You can believe John B would drive his van into a moving plane, and Pope would be able to win in a fight against a grown-man drug-dealer, and buried treasure exists and can be found by kids—you can believe all of that because of JJ. Because one character feels real, your subconscious goes, "I know that the writers know what 'real' is because JJ stood up covered in bruises in that hot tub, so I trust them to bring 'real' back in somewhere down the line."

I'm not saying there's nothing else realistic in the show. I'm saying, he felt the most really real.

And they killed him.

I don't care how pretty and neat it is to see my hometown in their show, I'm not watching it anymore, it was already way not worth it, but that's just ridiculous.

Don't even get me started on the way they killed him, and by whom, and how it was shot, and at what point in his "character arc" it was done. Ridiculous.

[carnalish]