#like you're making it so obvious you dipped as soon as rini broke up

[youarentamaybeyoureayes]

I'll never understand why people act like the first season of HSMTMTS is or should be deemed the best?

Don't get me wrong, it's totally fine to have a sense of nostalgia because you might recall season 1 being the first time you fell in love with the show or you're reminiscing about what drew you into it in the first place, but most arguments about season 1 never involve talking about any aspects of the show other than the fact that it ended with the R*ni love confession, and it makes it difficult for me to believe that there's any other reasons why you deem the season so superior to the others.

When you remove the nostalgia blinders, season 1 only gives a semblance of justice to a tiny amount of characters. Ricky and Nini get the most attention devoted to them, but whether it's because of the writing or simply the fact that she's the best actress on the show who's also capable of elevating any material that's given to her, it's Gina personally that stands out to me this season. Yet while it was airing, she was getting harassment from R*nis who were ignoring the obvious issues in their relationship to take all of their anger out on Gina. This would go on to happen for two more seasons.

Everyone other than Ricky, Nini, Gina, and maybe EJ, gets abandoned or shoehorned into things that age in a horrific way. I would argue that Kourtney's character suffers the most this season, and it was actually jarring seeing someone as vocally talented as Dara Reneé play a character that wasn't initially a singer. She wasn't even supposed to have a role on the show that lasted beyond two episodes, and yet she has one of the strongest, if not the strongest voice in the entire cast. For a show that was meant to revolve around theater kids, that alone was unrealistic and as a black woman, I can't ignore how colorism played a role in that. No one with a voice like that would have been given a supporting position if they were nonblack. Somehow the likes of M*tt C*rnett were given more solos on the show, and he is easily the worst male "vocalist" of the cast.

I won't even get into the fact that other than Gina, EJ was one of the most hated characters that season singlehandedly for getting in the way of R*ni, yet once the chances of R*ni making it to endgame status were getting increasingly lower, everyone decided that he was their favorite person and became P*rtwells. Not because they saw potential in anything (we all know one of the biggest plot points of season 1 was Rina getting closer, no matter how many people want to ignore it) but because they hated the idea of any character involved in R*ni being happy with someone who wasn't a part of their ship. Because I'm saving that for a later conversation.

The point is, like every season, season 1 had more flaws than most of the fandom wants to acknowledge, especially in the characterization of the ensemble cast, which was never the right move for a show that would not be as strong without their ensemble. Nostalgia as well as the plague of real life shipping has made people believe that this season was somehow unbeatable, when I would even argue that at the show's absolute worst in season 2 we would already see the improvements and corrections that season 1 failed to expand on. Such as giving underutilized characters like Kourtney and Carlos more depth by introducing their storylines with dealing with self doubt and acceptance.

I've always said that the episode that really made me stick with the show was episode 5 of season 1, and it isn't just because I'm an avid Rina. One of my favorite parts of the episode will always be the Born to Be Brave group number. Seeing Carlos start off dancing by himself and then Ashlyn going up to join him was one of the first moments of the show where I noticed just how strong the ensemble was and just how much heart they all brought to the show.

One love confession that didn't even manage to end up being the best love confession on the show is not what made the show what it is now. Delusional nostalgia is trying to tell you that despite other seasons allowing characters who were overdue in getting their own storylines finally have their moments to shine, nothing will ever amount to season 1 because of what you shipped. Season 1 didn't even deal with their deepest subjects. In retrospect, the entire season was essentially like a trial run. Even the first 4 episodes were written by a different show runner. The entire thing was an experiment. And while it was a good start and while I do understand why it's a season that's so loved, I just wish more people would unpack the reasons why they loved it and stopped dismissing the fact that there were seasons that did things better, even if your nostalgia is trying to tell you otherwise.