#the ping pong between helping Mike and helping Max is really egregious in the latest seasons it sucks

[stranger-feathers]

(this ended up being way longer and rambly than intented, very sorry for this OP. Your take rocks btw, you're very right)

The treatment of Lucas is so pathetic, both in fandom and writing. He was one of the best written kids in Season 1, got hated on purely because of racism (Mike was also awful to El in S1, and everyone swept it under the rug with zero issues when it came to him) to the point Caleb's parents apparently had to explain to him why most fans of the show didn't like him (downright criminal that it was necessary, he was what, 15 ?). And if that wasn't enough, the writers squandered his character so badly afterwards it makes me want to scream. I don't even dislike his dynamic with Mike or with Max, I think they're cool ! But can he please exist as an independant character again ? Can he get his own developped character arc without it randomly getting cut short by the call of the supernatural/girlfriend/best friend's plot ?

Why, oh why, is Lucas (an OG main character) reduced to playing second fiddle to his girlfriend (who got introduced a whole season after him) and mostly being her moral support, despite having an arc of his own to deal with in that same season ? I loved the Lumax scenes in S4, but Lucas' arc deserved wayyyyy better. I will never forgive the writers for failling him so badly in S4, they completely wasted the setup with the jocks vs nerds because they couldn't actually adress the real issue behind Lucas' behavior (racism).

Like sure, Lucas On The Line exists, and it's apparently one of, if not the best book. But that shit should have been in the actual show, if they weren't cowards who only bring up the topic of racism when it can serve their white leads (aka the Billy subplot in S2 being mostly about Max instead of his actual reaction and feelings about the situation ? And then cutting his own plotline short to help her deal with her grief of that very same guy, and to help the other white dude who treated him terribly at the start of the season ? What the hell duffers, why are you even doing this).

Why is Lucas running around playing love guru for Mike ? What is there in it for him ? Doesn't he have better shit to do ? Apparently not according to the writers, because he spends most of S3 doing that. He also gets to interact for like 3 comedic scenes with Will I guess, and the firework idea was his, so there's that I guess. (To be fair, I struggle with the tone shift on everyone in S3, Lucas is clearly not the only one who suffered in that season, just one of the worst to me.)

In my opinion, Lucas is THE biggest lost potential in the show : he deserved writers who actually gave a shit about him as an individual character, instead of a prop for Mike & Max like he's been lately. I can't even say they never bothered writing him (a common issue for black characters) because they did it pretty well in the first season in my opinion. He was allowed to disagree with Mike, go do his own thing and be independant, and even had his own arc to develop his friendship with El. They simply proceeded to never do it again, who even knows why at this point.

I really hope he gets to have something cool next season, but I'm afraid they kind of threw away their shot when they fucked up last season, unfortunately.

To be fair, I acknowledge a lot of the issues with Lucas are global issues the entire show has with its writing. They're just even worse with him, and it's sad because he could have been so much more. Missed potential as always with this show.

lucas really just ping pongs between helping max and helping mike every season, huh. season 1? mike. season 2? max. season 3? mike again. season 4? max again.

I feel like his only real character arc was in season 1, and the hate both the character and the actor got because god FORBID a little black boy be suspicious of the weird white girl who was possibly involved in his best friend's disappearance, was INSANE