True Love, Taco Festival Lust, and Reeking Desperation: The Relationship Thread

[Glory]

I didn't see a relationship thread and I thought I'd start one since we've got a lot of couples (or potential couples) on this show and oh-so-many hookups. 

What was interesting to me about this last episode (and really all of season 3) is that I have no idea how Josh actually feels about Rebecca after he left her at the alter. Presumably, at some point he loved her (or thought he loved her) as he did ask her to marry him. But after he left to go to Priest School we've never really had his POV on what happened. On if he just felt as if things were too rushed or if he really, truly realized he didn't want to be with her. 

He's never apologized, either. Which is pretty shitty since he did leave her standing in a wedding dress. So what is he really thinking? 

I believed all through season 1 that Greg was end game for Rebecca and I wonder how different the direction of the show would be if Santino had not left. But with Rebecca sleeping with Greg's dad, I think any hope of that relationship coming back to life is gone. 

I've said in a few other threads that I feel like Trent might be the new end game relationship since he's more on Rebecca's level both in terms of their education level and in terms of their emotional cray cray behavior. 

I'm not sure where Nathaniel falls into all of this. 

[DianeDobbler]

I agree that the show is intentionally oblique about how Josh feels. Everything he's said about Rebecca, not one line of dialogue indicated how he felt about her. It's clearly intentional. It's a little annoying to me because I like Josh, and I like Vincent Rodriguez, and IMO this damages the character. For this season, the show runners have said two things, they've said the other side of hate is love, and you don't have the intensity of hatred and need for revenge that Rebecca has for Josh if you're not still strongly invested in that person. But they've also said this is a romantic comedy but not necessarily a love story, so we shouldn't necessarily be trying to spot the guy she'll end up with. I still tend to cut Josh slack because I remember how awful the build up to the wedding was. And yes, he should have talked to her. But once they were in the same space, both times there was no room for a conversation. In the church she steamrolled over him, and considering she had threatened his mother and he still didn't know what happened to his mom, the carnival was not the place to say, "Hey Rebecca, I'm really sorry I ran out on the wedding. That was wrong to leave you to face everyone by yourself - I should have talked to you and been there." when the next question would be, "Where the hell is my mother - did you hurt her?"

Trent and Nathaniel are the only men Rebecca's been with who were remotely in her league as far as her presumed educational and professional status. Greg was as big an underachiever as Josh and nowhere near Rebecca's league. He lacked the education he should have pursued, and he lacked an actual career. When I first saw the show, I, too, assumed Greg was endgame, but very quickly I realized the show was different than the set up that had the woman pursuing someone else while the right guy was "right there" and I also found Greg incredibly toxic and offputting in his own right. I felt Rebecca's growing claustrophobia during the taco festival date, how hard she tried with it, how she tried to give herself a pep talk in the porta-potty "Settle for him" but just couldn't, and ran away to hook up with the vegan guy. Nothing about that set-up told me she was running away from her real feelings, couldn't cope with having a real relationship instead of a fantasy one, etc. Nope. I thought it was the very reality-based claustrophobia of going out with a guy who was into her but she wasn't into him (sex is a different deal, I'm talking relationship wise).  Later she liked him enough to have a relationship with him, but at that point she didn't. It was one of those "I SHOULD like him, I mean I do, and on paper it makes sense, and it's the healthy thing....." but just wrong, because she wasn't feeling it.

I like how this show writes sex. There are a lot of girls like Rebecca who are struggling in relationships with people they care about, or can't get what they want from, or other kinds of drama with people they "love", and then a recurring theme is impulsive hook-ups with whomever. I like that it has her say stuff like, "Look, you're upset we didn't have sex - we can have sex right now!" It's a really good portrait of somebody who is very comfortable with herself sexually, but who also uses it as a kind of wild card to navigate through the obstacles in her life. 

Oh, another show I like, "Chewing Gum", also used the "boyfriend's dad" plotline, but for a supporting character. The show had set it up without putting it in your face, but when it happened, I think most viewers went "Oh FUCK." but totally believed it. And then it was anyone's guess what the fallout would be, given the dynamic between the girl and the boyfriend, and how it played out was really really well done.

Edited November 5, 2017 by DianeDobbler

[Trini]

I'm not sure if CXG is the type of show to have an "endgame" couple; even if a lot of her plots revolve around her relationships with men. If there was, I can't see it being Greg. And not just because of what happened in the latest episode with his father; to me, they torpedoed that relationship once Rebecca slept with Josh in the Season 1 finale. I wouldn't want Greg to get back with her after that.

I feel there's a slim chance of them trying again with Josh and Rebecca at the very end of the series -- but only after they've both gotten themselves together and matured a lot.

But I think he main goal of the show is Rebecca becoming okay with herself, so she may not end up with anyone.

[DianeDobbler]

Now that I think again about Josh and Greg, I think CEG cheats a bit by showing aimless, underachieving 30something guys. It puts all the onus on the guys, where IMO, in real life, there are often there are economic issues that come into play. For awhile we were meant to believe Greg was thwarted by his dad's medical expenses, but then we met his mom and her family, clearly extremely well off, and how willing they were to help Greg out with anything $$$ he might need, he had only to say the word. Sure, his dad selling the house and forking over half the proceeds so Greg could go to Emory was a great story beat, but to accept it, we had to forget that his mom and stepmom had told him they would be delighted to support anything he chose to do.

Going by the extravagance of his sister's wedding, Josh's parents are very well off, and the sister in college is, at least, a high achiever. So any time Josh gets himself together, he'll have the $$ backing of his family, and of course, the family home to live in until he's on his feet. I can see it's expedient to situate her love interests like this, but it's also a bit having it both ways. 

I've said before I'm not a Greg fan, but I don't think her sleeping with his dad is a deal breaker. Weird things happen in life, and people get past weird things. That social circle is already incestuous.

[JustaPerson]