#sorry for the redacted MC name djdhdsbhs‚ i wanna use her for fic writing and i'm not ready to reveal her name yet 🤭💜

[mp3minded]

Ozzy: My Analysis.

This was a long time coming, because from the very first time I played his route (which also happened to be the first I completed the season to the end with), I knew Ozzy was a fundamentally interesting character that I'd want to dedicate a whole essay for, because it's one way I like to show my affection for these characters 🥺

(Problem was, I felt like I wouldn't of been able to do him justice before, but after my final research run, I don't think that's a road block for me anymore.)

One thing about his route is, no matter how you approach it, there'll always be a level of pain to it. I think the only exception to this is if you tell him, in paraphrase, "I'm interested too, but I'm not ready to commit yet," when he confesses to MC after the Doghouse Challenge, because that option allows MC the best of both worlds.. those two worlds I've experienced first-hand, I'll detail below.

If you tell him "I feel the same way," that day, it'll be held in the back of his mind that, at-least some point in time, he was your #1 choice (even if you end up choosing someone else in the end)

The pain waiting for MC on this path is, of course, how directly affected she is by everything that happened after her shock fake-dumping. (I even liveblogged my reaction to a lot of it, when I consciously paid attention to everything happening outside of Ozzy and MC's bond, within my #my exp tag, early March.)

Him patching things up with Grace, which she revealed to MC during Casa Amor

What he did during Casa, in reaction to seeing MC again in the postcards, (which didn't paint her in a positive light), which was a skinny-dip threeway kiss (which he IMMEDIATELY regretted)

Not breaking things off with Grace as soon as he should've after Casa (in my opinion), which I think should've been that first morning when all the OGs woke up together in the villa again, at the latest

And, on the topic of the Casa drama.. one moment I really like is, even if MC chooses to "play dumb," when piecing together what likely happened.. Ozzy couldn't keep her in the dark for too long even when he first considered it, which to me is so cute 🥺💗

@operationnope brought up some very good points when I asked her opinion on the situation. Being reminded of a very core part of Ozzy's character amidst the hurt was just what I needed 🥴 even if he fumbles along the way, he still wants to do right by all of the involved parties, and that includes Grace.

And, that leads me to what my final research run was all about.. seeing what his route is like when you friendzone him instead, before Casa. And, holy hell. I thought it would've been easy enough, but that came with its own unique set of challenges.

@ariendiel I remember at one point just thinking, "this is probably the closest to the Noah route experience I'll ever feel," and I know y'all Noah stans had it even tougher because there was no way to even couple up with Noah at all, outside of the disaster recoupling 😭 y'all don't get enough credit for REAL 🥺💙

It was a very isolating path, where even Ozzy flips back and forth between acknowledging MC's interest in him after all, with her actions, to "I'm friendzoned" mode. Everyone else, including Grace, just brushes off everything MC does, with the clear exception of the final recoupling.

And that all applies even after I told Grace that it could become a thing still, him and MC together 💀

On the one hand, yes I can sympathize with Ozzy's position in this scenario. But also it's like, Ozzy.. read the room! 😭🥺

Or, alternatively...

...from what I can tell from this difference of his dialog after the final recoupling.. he was reading the room, and was just trying to play it very cool with MC.

So, what is the overarching theme with Ozzy no matter how you approach his route? *checks the melted inked note on my arm* ..something about not knowing how to handle being in love for the first time, with the very real possibility of (total) rejection.

And, this song sums up his route to a T 🥺 and y'know what, maybe I did feel myself fall for him all over again as I was listening to it, on this last run 😭