#this was def a dasey episode but i think even more for me it was insight into derek

[irish-urn]

LWD: “Grade Point Average”

Okay, so I keep trying to give Emily the benefit of the doubt, and I know as a teenager, she would be VERY concerned about her reputation; but she’s far more concerned about her reputation (especially seeing how Casey hangs around her) than Casey’s problems, and that... bugs me.

EMILY. “It is. ...not hard at all!” EMILY. Gosh, I hope you improve. I am having vivid flashbacks to the way the girls in my MIDDLE SCHOOL treated me. We parted ways in high school; I was much happier and better off; BUT OH MY GOSH, EMILY. YOU ARE NOT SUPPORTIVE AT ALL. IT’S LIP-SERVICE; someone get her off my screen before I scream.

(I know, I know: she’s 15 and everything is about fitting in and being cool or at least flying under the radar, but come ON.)

“You speak English, don’t you?” / “Very goodly.” DEREK YOU ARE SO WITTY, I LOVE YOUR SMART MOUTH.

George’s description of Derek failing Grade One just sounds like a young boy with ADHD, honestly. And, I mean, I think it’s semi-confirmed canon that Derek’s birthday is in the late fall, right? (I HC it in early November) which means he really should haven’t started school until he was almost 6 anyways... Like. I know people whose birthdays are in September/October who didn’t start school for another year, because you are developing so so fast at that point in your life that a couple of months makes for a WORLD of difference.

Honestly, they shouldn’t make fun. I know it’s 2005 and such, but... 6 year old Derek sounds like an energetic, clever child with ADHD who is younger than everyone else in his class.

The more I see of George, the more I understand Derek.

Lizzie and Casey’s talk about being lame to change yourself, and how being a teenager is complicated is REAL TALK. Poor girls.

So, Nora is more aware than George that they are failing as parents — although she doesn’t word it that way. I feel like George thinks that as long as his kids are alive, healthy, and functioning, he’s done a good job as a parents, which... Yikes.

PAUL. I ADORE YOU.

Also: Casey is an overachiever even when it comes to underachieving. You ridiculous girl; what a nutcase (said with extreme fondness).

Them working together is going to be a disaster. I am super looking forward to it (also, also: Sam knows Derek way too well and it made me grin like a maniac.)

MARTI PURPOSELY MESSING UP THE ANIMAL SOUNDS IS THE BEST PRANK DEREK HAS EVER PULLED AND HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW IT.

Girly-girl Case suits her so much better than slacker-chic (and vice versa for Derek. I love it).

Derek, you pretend to be so cool and to not care about anything, but you’re so human with so many emotions. You are freaking out — and also rather betrayed by Casey using your slacker-tendencies to her advantage... And yet, not fighting her on this, because you know you made your own bed. So now... You harass Edwin. Poor, innocent Edwin.

THEY’RE DOING A PROJECT ON PERCY AND MARY SHELLEY???? THE MARRIED ROMANTIC WRITERS. DUDE. DUUUUUUUUDE.

(hey, didja know that Percy and Mary first did it on her mother’s gravesite? That’s pretty insane, huh. And that they ran away to France and then Switzerland together, all the while he was married to another woman? Their lives were insane.)

GEORGE. GEORGE. When your son comes to you for help — because that’s what Derek was DOING when he brought up his English class!!! — you don’t tell him that failure isn’t an option, YOU HELP HIM. HE NEEDS HELP. HELP HIM.

I HAVE EMOTIONS.

HE DEFENDED HER. THOSE JERKS WERE GONNA CALL HER A GRUB, AND DEREK SHUT THEM DOWN.

I mean, I know, I KNOW that Casey is the hero here, I know that she’s the one who saved Derek, but that’s not OOC for her. I think she wants to make nice with Derek, but Derek won’t let her. But Derek needs a 90, is honest with her, and she goes to work as a grub; and Derek could have just been quiet and smug and relieved; AND HE SPOKE UP AND SHUT THEM DOWN AND I’M SO PROUD OF HIM. I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS RIGHT NOW.

“Derek’s wrong about a lot of things.” ...you know, George. When I was in my fifth year of university, I was writing a thesis for my English degree. I had a lot of trouble with the passive tense; and my professor/supervisor snapped at me, “How can you be in your fifth year of English and not know what the passive tense is?”

And I said, in one of the bravest moments of my life, “If I don’t understand the passive tense after all this time, that’s your failing as a teacher, not mine as a student.”

She shut up. She sat back. She took five minutes to teach me the passive tense; I understand it perfectly by the time her explanation was complete (no one had ever broken it down for me; they just assumed I knew it). I took back my draft, re-did it in the active tense, and the paper got accepted with just a couple more tweaks.

And hearing George say that; say, “Derek’s wrong about a lot of things.” ...George. If Derek is wrong about a lot of things, that’s your failure as a parent, not his as a son.