S03.E10: ...lived the dream

[Niuxita]

On 8/17/2022 at 11:36 PM, Irlandesa said:

I think her reasons for staying home another year were actually pretty mature.  She had a major loss.  She's decided not to spend an unnecessary year away from her mother because she recognizes how valuable that time is.  Sure,the school might guarantee her entrance into an Ivy League school but this is similar to what happened with Ben.  Even if she doesn't get into her top choice, she's still set up quite well to get into a good school.

Had she stayed for a boy? Yeah. Dumb.  But to soak up family time?  Especially now that she's finally stabilizing again.  It's cool.

Totally. I thought it was really cool trope subversion to have her decide against the typical "great opportunity you can't pass by" plot device for reasons that don't get much airtime in these situations. The writing always frames it as "your family and friends are always gonna be there but if you don't do X, you will regret it." If the character does end up staying, it's to get together with their love interest. To have the writing prioritize spending time with family over academic advancement was really lovely and relatable. It was super dusty in my room for that last scene between Nalini and Devi. 😢

On 9/2/2022 at 10:08 AM, Paloma said:

I don't like Trent either, and I'm also not loving the romance between him and Eleanor. Despite the writers' attempts to show some reason why they would be attracted to each other, I just don't believe it. Eleanor may not be as book smart as Devi and Fabiola (it's not really clear if she is an academic high achiever), but she is certainly not dumb. Trent may have some hidden emotional depths, but he is still a stoner who acts dumb 99% of the time.

Agreed. I've never been a fan of "too dumb to function for comic relief characters," especially when they're paired up romantically with characters who seem to have more depth (not that Eleanor isn't comic relief a lot of the time, but that relationship also doesn't make sense to me). Trent doesn't exasperate me as much as Jason Mendoza did on The Good Place, and he certainly has some funny/insightful one-liners every so often, but a Trent-centric episode would be a smidge too far for me.