Fandom and Viewer Issues: "Fan" Is Short for "Fanatic"

[KingOfHearts]

12 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

Eh, I thought his comment was funny. 

This is on ABC and who they choose to release these stills, and how much they release. That stuff was incredibly spoilery, and gave away most of the episode. I don't think he would have even said a peep had those stills not been leaked all over the internet by someone who was looking to gain more followers. I'm spoiled, speculated up one side and down the other, and I thought that move sucked.

I don't think casual watchers would have seen the leaked stills. I'm sure there is a good amount that follows the actors like Sean, though. (Not a majority by any means, but a portion all the same. He's got almost 250k followers.)

Edited May 6, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[RedKeep]

14 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

Eh, I thought his comment was funny. 

This is on ABC and who they choose to release these stills, and how much they release. That stuff was incredibly spoilery, and gave away most of the episode. I don't think he would have even said a peep had those stills not been leaked all over the internet by someone who was looking to gain more followers. I'm spoiled, speculated up one side and down the other, and I thought that move sucked.

I agree. And he didn't even pick the most spoilery pic either, without much context the one he went with still lends itself to various interpretations.

I personally don't even follow him on Twitter, but between last night and now I've seen them (not only the Robin Hood ones) all over social media repeatedly. Once that link to the fansite that posted the stills was out, the usual internet dynamics took over and ABC only has themselves to blame. This isn't the first time something like that happened either so you'd think they would reconsider a few things if they really don't want stuff to leak. But chances are ABC/Disney doesn't even care all that much. The crew made no real effort to keep the spoiler a secret either back when they were filming the relevant scenes and other actors even went as far as telling fans explicitedly where they would be filming and that they should stop by and watch. A few guest star actors even tweeted pics from that day of filming this week and at least one of them served to confirm what everyone basically already knew, too.

So yeah, if ABC is so lax about these things and doesn't bother with media training for their cast either, I find it hard to blame the actors or in this particular case Sean Maguire. And if Kitsis and Horowitz had no qualms about asking the Merida actress to come back after the tantrum she threw on Twitter, I find it hard to believe they'd hold this against him. I don't know, maybe I'm somewhat influenced by the fact that I quit watching another show that is stumbling from one PR disaster to the next this season, but I find it easier to relate to the actors' side of things nowadays.

[Mathius]

47 minutes ago, Rumsy4 said:

I just lost a bit of respect for him. Sorry dude, but you only shot yourself in the foot with that.

Yeah. I'm unsure if he's truly pissed or spiteful, he may have just found out that this was spoiled and decided to do something he thought was funny with it, and just didn't realize how badly it would reflect on him.

[YaddaYadda]

35 minutes ago, KingOfHearts said:

I don't think casual watchers would have seen the leaked stills. I'm sure there is a good amount that follows the actors like Sean, though. (Not a majority by any means, but a portion all the same. He's got almost 250k followers.)

Sorry, I was unclear. I didn't mean Sean was looking for more followers. I was talking about the website that released the pics. They allegedly had a poll to see if they would release, and were looking to reach 2K followers or some nonsense. 

[Rumsy4]

I have friends who aren't on tumblr and don't follow spoiler accounts on twitter, but do follow ONCE actors. Just becasue spoilers are out there doesn't mean people get to be jerks about sharing them. If the official abc account had released the pictures, it would be fine for Sean to tweet it. But this was leaked early and circulated by fans. I'm sure Sean only got to know of the leak becasue a bunch of fans were tweeting them to him.

Spoiler

I don't really know how much this affects his chances of being back in the Show, but I doubt he he had much of a chance to be back anyway. Especially if they bring in a new LI for Regina, there is even less reason for them to bring Sean in for cameos. 

Edited May 6, 2016 by Rumsy4

[HoodlumSheep]

I lol'ed at Sean's tweet. I thought it was funny. *shrugs* I didn't think it came off as spiteful or anything.

Edited May 7, 2016 by HoodlumSheep

[Shanna Marie]

If it hadn't been for the earlier campaign that had been going on, I would have said that the tweet with the photo was a clever way of perhaps downplaying what the photo implied. It's in combination with some of the previous activity that it's questionable judgment.

[KingOfHearts]

1 hour ago, HoodlumSheep said:

I lol'ed at Sean's tweet. I thought it was funny. *shrugs* I didn't think it cam off as spiteful or anything.

It's not the funny comment that bothers me. It's the fact he posted it. (Along with what Shanna Marie mentioned.)

Edited May 6, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[Souris]

Sean isn't doing himself any favors.

Spoiler

Tons of actors are let go from TV shows every season. That is the life of a TV actor -- you can be written out at any moment on the whim of the writers, and you have no recourse whatsoever. It goes with the territory. I'm sure most of the fired actors feel hurt/angry/disappointed, but the vast majority are professional about it and don't go to social media to take out any of their issues with the writers by spoiling the event, liking inflammatory tweets or whatever. It shows a level of unprofessionalism that I don't think will endear him to any casting directors should they hear of it. I can't see people wanting to hire an actor who might go on Twitter about it if something doesn't go how he'd like it. I mean, God knows A&E haven't handled his character well, and his death doesn't look like it will be handled well either, but don't be tacky and unprofessional about it. Between him and his wife, it's a not a good look for them.

Edited May 6, 2016 by Souris

[Delphi]

3 hours ago, RedKeep said:

I don't know, maybe I'm somewhat influenced by the fact that I quit watching another show that is stumbling from one PR disaster to the next this season, but I find it easier to relate to the actors' side of things nowadays.

Yeah,  that's pretty much my mindset since all that drama on that other show.  I pretty much take the actors side until I see proof otherwise.  And in regards to A&E all I have is a bunch of actors getting their storylines cut and Michael Socha hanging in a dark Canadian hotel absolutely depressed.   Adam and Eddie don't get any more sympathy than that other creator from me. 

[Amerilla]

4 hours ago, HoodlumSheep said:

 

I lol'ed at Sean's tweet. I thought it was funny. *shrugs* I didn't think it cam off as spiteful or anything.

 

Same here. Sean strikes me as one of those people who doesn't have a spiteful bone in his body. The way this show rolls, and with relatively few in the total audience following the spoilers, it's pretty easy to hand-wave it to "tune in to find out what happens!" 

The fact that it's been up for 5 hours now and not deleted tells me that the Powers That Be don't see it as a big deal.

[BoPeeps]

I laughed when I followed the link. Self-deprecating and really quite witty.

[daxx]

Tumblr is such a disaster right now. One of my mutuals was mocking to me for trying to be positive about a subject from today's interview with A&E. It really hurt my feelings to the point I may unfollow. Sigh. Why?

 

Spoiler

All I said is I'm not too disappointed about no proposal. That Emma asking him to move in is huge all by itself and it gives us something to look forward to next season. If the moving in is what prompts the lift kiss in the finale.

Whatever, everyone is so wound tight right now.

[OnceUponAJen]

Shatner speaking truth:

Edited May 7, 2016 by OnceUponAJen

[mjgchick]

This fandom is the gift that keeps on giving.

Adam and Eddy deserves whatever backlash they get from whatever the fandom is pissed about.

[Rumsy4]

Looks like Sean took down that controversial tweet. 

[legaleagle53]

9 hours ago, OnceUponAJen said:

Shatner speaking truth:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Holy cow.  And I thought Swan Queen fandom was radical!

[Serena]

Sometimes I feel like this fandom is really young, when they get so surprised and dismayed at a television ship breaking up and not being endgame. It must have happened a thousand times to me. If you want a guaranteed happy ending, read a romance novel.

That SQ shipper who admitted to harassment is funny, she wanted to make a point about being good to Colin but to do it had to admit to being shitty to Sean and WS.

I don't usually appreciate Shatnet that much but "What has whatshisface done?" "Regina for one!" is classic.

Edited May 8, 2016 by Serena

[RedKeep]

I think this obsession with a ship being "endgame" and feeling betrayed when that doesn't happen is something the show and Kitsis/Horowitz actively encourage, though. The meaning of "true love" has been devalued over the years, thanks to many of their writing decisions, but they still encourage fans to consider couples that have been awarded that TL brand special. Same thing with insisting that they're writing a show that's not supposed to be cynical and that's meant to send out messages of hope when, at the same time, the writing often tells a different story. It is quite fascinating to me in a way how a show that's so much about love managed to screw up such a large percentage of their big, relevant relationhips in one way or another. I often have no real problems with walking away from a show that's disappointed me time and again, but Kitsis and Horowitz are beyond terrible at promoting their own work and how they're dealing with their fans so I have just about zero sympathy at this point if other fans are not doing that. They are at least partially to blame for the state their fandom is in so yeah... you reap what you sow, shrug.

Shatner's way of dealing with the bullying part of the SQ fandom is amusing, but I have hard time relating to why he somehow seems to paint them and Clexa fans with the same brush. I'm sure they have their bullies too and he may have encountered some of them, but they also lost a canon ship after the showrunner used them and lied to them for months and  they still largely managed to focus their energy on supporting charities and creating an important discourse about how television writers treat minority characters. While many of the SQ fans in his feed in particular are obsessed with hating on certain parts of the show/cast and trying to bully those involved with the show into giving them the canon they want, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.

Edited May 8, 2016 by RedKeep

[mjgchick]

To be fair, Regina and Robin were never considered true love. Hook and Emma just FINALLY got that confirmation and he still couldn't come back home. But with RR all they had were pixie dust from an incompetent fairy. 

 

Maybe Regina's true love is actually the devil who lives in LA who goes around helping solve crimes...

[kili]

Quote

Shatner's way of dealing with the bullying part of the SQ fandom is amusing, but I have hard time relating to why he somehow seems to paint them and Clexa fans with the same brush.

He differentiated between the large amount of Clexa fans who behaved in a reasonable manner and those that behaved as bullies. He's encouraging OQ fans to rally around Robin Hood like the reasonable Clexa fans, but not like the bullies. 

I agree with him. I don't have a problem with people campaigning to save Robin or bring him back. This is a fantasy show and nobody is forevermore dead. There is always a loophole. 

It is when people start issuing death threats, attacking writers personally and being extremely rude about that it goes too far. This is a fictional story. We may not be happy about how it goes, but wishing death on real people? I'd go find something else to watch first. 

I have no problem with people saying that show runners are bad writers (consumers are allowed to be critics) or debating logic they put out there, but attacking is wrong. It's like real life, it's okay to disagree with somebody or tell them that they are doing a job wrong. Telling them that they deserve to die in a fire or shouting personal insults at them is not okay.

Shatner encourages an engaged fan base, just one that remembers that real people are real people and fictional people are not. 

[RedKeep]

4 hours ago, mjgchick said:

To be fair, Regina and Robin were never considered true love.

Horowitz and Kitsis may play wordgames again and find away to twist things to fit whatever the narrative is they're trying to sell next season, but the whole setup for OQ in season 3, the page 23 stuff, etc., etc. very much branded them as special/meant-to-be/whatever you want to call it couple even before they'd actually met and before the audience had time to get fully invested in them. That was part of the problem with that story. They wanted to sell it by telling the audience how they should feel about them instead of letting the story and chemistry speak for itself. The actors have referred to it as 'true love' repeatedly and even though I'm too lazy to check now I'm 99,9% Kitsis and Horowitz used that term while talking about OQ in the past as well. Wasn't there a Comic Con event when they were actually asked about them being TL or soulmates or both and then made up some weird answer on the spot about how TL and being soulmates is essentially the same thing or something? So, I guess my point is: The writers may have changed their minds somewhere along the way, either because they weren't happy with the audience response to it or because of other reasons we'll never know, but that's a fairly recent development. And even though I may not have been overly invested in the relationship myself, I can certainly understand why those who did like them might feel a bit twited by the writers at this point. Not only because of the TL/endgame thing, but because the writers created a specific setup for them in OQ and then just completely dropped the ball on the relationship in s4 and s5, regardless of what's gonna happen in tonight's ep.

kili: Okay, thank you, I must have missed this then, but it's good to know.

Edited May 8, 2016 by RedKeep

[YaddaYadda]

It feels like they decided to cut their losses with OQ for whatever reason. Instead of using season 4 as a way to reboot them, they doubled-down on the fuckery. In the end though, I think they have chosen the relationship they wanna focus on, and that's Zelena/Regina. Regina has already taken Zelena's side over Robin's with the whole baby issue in 5x20. 

Personally, I've been off the OQ bandwagon since the "Bold and Audacious" comment, and because I thought they would do the relationship during the missing year in flashbacks. It's like they threw the thing against the wall to see if it would stick, and it barely did. I still feel bad for the people who have something invested in the relationship.

I watch shows now where I'm not shipping anyone with anyone. Better Call Saul, Kim and Jimmy, could not give 2 fucks about the couple because the story is interesting, and well told. Underground, I know Rosalie and Noah are coming (from episode 1 basically), but I don't care because the story is so much larger, and so good. The list goes on. 

But I guess this is the difference between shows that are well-written, and a show that lacks the good writing, that a lot of us latch on to a couple. The only way Robin has screen time is if he's in a scene with Regina, or talking to Regina. Outside of Regina, Robin spoke to Zelena because of the baby drama, and to Hook about his feelings about the baby drama.

Everytime Adam says they don't write for couples, I roll my eyes, because that's not necessarily true. 

[FierceAfroChick]

Swanqueen shippers trying to unite the fandom (including OQ shippers) against Captain Swan is precious.

[Curio]

The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, but CS is still gonna make, make, make, make, make out. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Curio

[Mari]

24 minutes ago, FierceAfroChick said:

Swanqueen shippers trying to unite the fandom (including OQ shippers) against Captain Swan is precious.

Well, it sort of makes sense.  Regina's single again, so that opens things up.  All they have to do is get rid of Hook, and those two ladies would totally realize they were meant for each other.  And then Emma would die because someone vaguely connected to Regina's family would kill her, and then Regina would blame a member of the Charming/White family, because that's what happens when Regina falls in love.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Mari
Forgot something. Oops.

[sharky]

First, I love that you can now give a reason for editing your posts.

And of course SQ is going after Captain Swan fans. I don't even want to look at Colin's mentions on Twitter. I mean, A&E didn't help with that reunion scene by Robin's grave, but trying to act like you were always for Robin and now that he's dead, Captain Swan needs to be destroyed or something.... Do they not realize how transparent that is?

[RedKeep]

I definitely thought staging the CS reunion next to Robin Hood's dead body was tacky and unnecessary because it will, at least temporary, bring up a lot of fans who were neutral or anti Hook/CS to begin with against them or the way they are being written for reasons that could have been avoided so easily, but yeah most Swan Queen shippers really need to take a seat there because it's more than transparent.

[Serena]

I'm gonna roll my eyes so hard if OQers fall for it. CS has the audacity to be "endgame", so they decide to team up with people who called Sean a rapist? Congrats on the priorities.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Serena
SQers called Sean a rapist, not a pedophile. My mistake!

[Mathius]

These people have hated Robin and Sean, been personally attacking him, spreading rumors, trying to get him fired....

If anyone believes that NOW they're suddenly sad for the character's death and OQers' loss, they're an idiot.

This is pure, shameless manipulation on the SQers' parts.  Truly a new low, but hardly surprising. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Mathius

[TheGreenKnight]

I'm not a shipper, but I have to be honest, I find the CS shippers just as obnoxious as OQ or SQ shippers right now. Everything from Robin dying to Emma and Hook making out in front of Robin's coffin seems to get flipped into a F*** Regina post. Somehow, I'm guessing if the roles were reversed and Hook had just died because they all went to the Underworld to bring Robin back to life, CS fans would be baying for Regina's blood.

[Mari]

Possibly.  maybe even probably.

 

Except, well, that's not how Robin died. He didn't die because Emma went to save Hook; he died because Regina, Robin, and Zelena made poor choices, and Hades likes to make dead people.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Mari
Clarification.

[InsertWordHere]

4 minutes ago, TheGreenKnight said:

Everything from Robin dying to Emma and Hook making out in front of Robin's coffin seems to get flipped into a F*** Regina post. Somehow, I'm guessing if the roles were reversed and Hook had just died because they all went to the Underworld to bring Robin back to life, CS fans would be baying for Regina's blood.

That's true, some probably would, although I'm not sure how it's flipped since Robin was not killed because they went to the Underworld. Hook's been dead for six months of real world time and I haven't seen a lot of people blaming anyone other than Arthur, the man who stabbed him with Excalibur and maybe Merlin for conveniently forgetting to mention that it was a mortal wound. And Emma for not respecting his wishes, I guess.

But it seems like you are saying people already are blaming Regina even without your role reversal scenario? If anything, I'm seeing a lot of sympathy for Regina, along with some worry, fueled by the promo, that Regina will become the Evil Queen again. I personally am hoping she'll show some nice character development. 

With regards to SQ shippers, for one brief moment, both women's love interests were dead. If I was dissatisfied with canon, I would be really happy to now have a perfectly good moment from which to begin canon divergent headcanons and fics. 

[InsertWordHere]

Honestly, saying Emma is responsible for Robin's death because she went to the Underworld for Hook and its leader took advantage of that is like saying Emma is responsible for Graham's death because she came to Storybrooke and its leader felt threatened. Not only would saying this take responsibility away from the actual murderers, it would neglect to mention how many people Emma helped by breaking the curse and how many souls got to move on because of Emma decided to go to the Underworld.

[RedKeep]

52 minutes ago, Hookian said:

I know how the salty queefs are so bitter about this season but IMO I think this season has been a tremendous improvement over S4.

I'm not a "salty" whatever (guessing you mean SQ fans), but I can't say I agree. Especially not with the "tremendous" part. In my opinion the show generally still has most of the same issues that it's been carrying since at least 3B. The only real difference I see is that S5 put more continious focus on characters that are generally liked the most on this board, which... fair enough. But as someone who's neutral to just not overly interested, depending on the writing, in CS I can't say I felt a vast improvement.

[Curio]

Season 4 vs. Season 5 discussion should probably go in the All Seasons thread.

[Rumsy4]

1 hour ago, TheGreenKnight said:

I'm not a shipper, but I have to be honest, I find the CS shippers just as obnoxious as OQ or SQ shippers right now. Everything from Robin dying to Emma and Hook making out in front of Robin's coffin seems to get flipped into a F*** Regina post. Somehow, I'm guessing if the roles were reversed and Hook had just died because they all went to the Underworld to bring Robin back to life, CS fans would be baying for Regina's blood.

I don't go to the general tags, but the anti-Regina posts on my dash have been in response to some Regina fans blaming Emma for Robin's death + being worried over the implications of Regina turning EQ and blaming Emma for the same. Hypothetical situations of how CS fans would have reacted in a similar situation is complicated by the fact that CS and OQ have received completely different treatment in the Show, and the fact that Emma and Regina react differently to grief and loss. There are BAs in all fandoms, including CS, but I don't see how making blanket statements is helpful in this case.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Rumsy4

[Mathius]

2 hours ago, Mari said:

Except, well, that's not how Robin died. He didn't die because Emma went to save Hook; he died because Regina, Robin, and Zelena made poor choices, and Hades likes to make dead people.

That's the big issue I have.   "Going to the Underworld to save Hook = Robin Hood got killed" is a very big stretch in logic to make, and if it were "Going to the Underworld to save Robin = Hook got killed" would be the same.  If anyone blamed Regina for that, I'd actually have to defend her too, the blame should go to Hades and the writers (and I could buy resentment of Robin and OQ because they were still around, just like there's understandable resentment toward Hook and CS right now, but that's not the same as blaming them for the event.)

[YaddaYadda]

Hades killed Robin, and Robin died because he was saving Regina. Not for nothing, but Regina would also have been obliterated by the glowing jagged dildo if Emma hadn't gotten those pages to Zelena in time. The millage is going to vary on this one for sure. But saying that it's Emma's fault or Hook's fault is a huge leap. 

Why aren't the people who do the actual stuff get blamed for the actual stuff? For some reason this never happens. Hades killed both Arthur and Robin, and was gleefully aiming at Regina, and he was just so excited that murder was something he could do again now that his heart was beating. No fucking wonder Zeus stopped his heart, because the guy was just a menace.

[Serena]

Because blaming Hades isn't satisfying. He's supposed to be bad, but he's dead, and he's not "getting" anything fans feel they were owed. 

[didia]

There is a "lovelly" ship war on twitter with the tags " CS ruined OUAT" and "we support captain swan". CS is winning. 

[Hookian]

This has gotta be the ugliest thing I've seen.

OQ shippers are teaming up with the fandom that bullied Sean, mocked him, harassed him, celebrated him being fired, and he's even admitted that they bullied him and this is how they repay it. When the hell did CS do anything to them ever?

Swear I hate this fandom but good thing that We Support Captain Swan is trending and has more numbers and it's 1 against 3.

[Mathius]

While I'm glad the CS support trend is winning, I'm also sad that there even has to be a ship war like this.

And sad that so many OQers are stupid enough to fall for what the SQers are selling them.

[TheGreenKnight]

On ‎5‎/‎9‎/‎2016 at 11:37 AM, Mari said:

Possibly.  maybe even probably.

 

Except, well, that's not how Robin died. He didn't die because Emma went to save Hook; he died because Regina, Robin, and Zelena made poor choices, and Hades likes to make dead people.

True, but again I wouldn't expect CS shippers to say that if the characters were reversed. They are just as irrationally supportive of and indignant on the behalf of their ship. They'd say Emma was screwed over again because the writers love Regina.

[YaddaYadda]

13 minutes ago, Mathius said:

And sad that so many OQers are stupid enough to fall for what the SQers are selling them.

I understand that OQ/Robin fans need to place their anger somewhere. But the people they're doing this with are the same people who started those sexual harassment rumors about Sean, and put it out there that he was fired because of that. These are the same people who bullied him, and tried to get him fired from his job. 

The whole thing is stupid. This is not the way to go. 

[didia]

TheGreenKnight, I think Hook fans would be blaming Rumple. Their rivalry is very strong. I could see some Emma fans complaining about Regina, but  SQ fans are the only ones who like to create tags attacking other characters/ships/ actors.  It is too bad OQ fans can't see they're being played. I think it is a new low to this fandom.

Edited May 11, 2016 by didia

[Sarcastica]

This fandom is exhausting. 

[maryle]

For the first time in for everything I participé in a trend .

But I find this shipwar silly I do believe for some people it is like a sport game and they want their ship to win. Unfortunely the way the last episode was frame open the door for what we are seing. At this stade I mostly did like Regina in 5b.  But her fans make it so easy to just hate her! 

So tiresome!!!

I will not fall in their rabbit hole! But,

all this blaming  game make me remember.  That at the end of day the EQ try to kill newborn Emma. That why I always place the blame.

[Guest]

Shippers blaming other ships and characters when the story doesn't go their way or is dissatisfying is the other side of the coin when the writers do those dumb interviews like the characters have minds of their own and they pretend they aren't responsible for the way certain stories go or what is in Offscreenville.  Its the writers, not the characters.  Put the blame where the blame belongs.  I think a downside of twitter is that fandoms think they can push an agenda that will be heard so they blame the characters as if they are conspiring to ruin the show.  Critique has been replaced by campaigns to demonstrate of popularity.

I actually sympathize with Outlaw Queen and Rumpbelle because Captain Swan has it way better.  I think this is because although they like Rumple and Regina more than Emma and Hook.  They like Captain Swan more than Rumple and Regina and seem to view Belle and Robin as bleeding the parts they like best about Rumple and Regina out of them.  So, I think those shippers are doomed to disappointment ultimately.

Although I really did love the Emma and Hook parts of the episode, they didn't treat Outlaw Queen very well. Robin's death was poorly done.  It felt pretty rushed like they were just interested in getting it over with.  There are a hundred things that deserved resolution or one last (first) heart to heart talk.  It made no sense at all that Emma needed to stay behind alone at Robin's grave.  That should have been Regina's moment and their fans were robbed of it because the writers suck. A lot.  We cheer mediocrity because most of the time they are reaching for subpar.  All they had to do was have Regina stay with Robin's casket and Emma go to Hook's grave and then they get to have Regina part from Robin as Emma is reunited with Hook and parallel that. 

[Rumsy4]

1 hour ago, ParadoxLost said:

It made no sense at all that Emma needed to stay behind alone at Robin's grave.  That should have been Regina's moment and their fans were robbed of it because the writers suck. A lot.  We cheer mediocrity because most of the time they are reaching for subpar.  All they had to do was have Regina stay with Robin's casket and Emma go to Hook's grave and then they get to have Regina part from Robin as Emma is reunited with Hook and parallel that. 

Here's the thing. These were a deliberate writing choices. Not something the writers were clueless about. They wanted to set up a redux of the Marian/4A situation and fuel fandom drama over this. They probably think it's like Captain America vs Iron Man or something. A&E are probably patting themselves in the back for getting the fandom to engage in social media activity after the episode aired. They don;t care whether the engagement is positive or not. All they know is that those viewers will tune in to watch the finale.