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September 27, 2020

Oh man that last ask.. yk blair’s mental health is definitely something I’ll keep my eye out for in season 2 (if renewed) because not only has she described herself as depressed but at times she’s also so impulsive and reckless that I really thought they were trying to hint at another MI possibly? I guess we’ll see, I do wonder what her plot line would look like in a new season since they’ve mostly left it open (unlike sterling who has the mom thing + april going on)

(The “last” ask referring to this one.)

Right, I might put some of that down to just being a teen, and contrasted against Sterling to be the more reckless, impulsive one and, well, it’s a TV show, they need to do reckless, impulsive things, but, on the other hand, they could as easily use what they’ve already written for plot.

When she and Sterling were apologizing to each other in ep 10 outside the yogurt shop, she straight up acknowledged Sterling might be right about her causing drama because she’d rather life feel bad because of her actions and not just life feeling bad, which is a HUGE alert. That’s too specific and real to just be glossed over as TV comedy, I think. I do feel that next season while Sterling’s caught up in everything, in the quieter moments for Blair we might see this unfolding.

September 20, 2020

If we do get a 2nd season, which I really hope we do! (and to the people reading this that haven’t yet please go watch TBH you won’t regret it) how do you think Blair’s relationship with April is going to change and vice-versa since they both know what’s up now

Oooh, that’s definitely one of the most interesting potential arcs for s2. Like honestly, even in this season, it felt like we didn’t get enough of a reaction from Blair when Sterling revealed they were hooking up. Like, April? April “good girl fellowship leader sex blackmailer whose father they put in jail” Stevens?? I know she was all caught up in the end of the season drama with her own fight with Sterling and Miles and the mama drama but that little reconciliation outside Bowser’s place when they were talking about Miles and Luke and April, how was she not like, okay, but how? When? Why? Sterling’s putting on lip gloss for APRIL STEVENS?

But anyway, I understand that pacing and the season arc had other demands. Fine. Now that it’s a new season, though, and she knows…I think even if initially she thinks April broke Sterling’s heart, that’ll be resolved quickly enough that they can give this new dynamic some time. Something so massive happened to Sterling, to Blair as well but at least her parents are still who she always thought they were. We don’t even know if Sterling will know who her father is. Both Blair and April’ll be on the outer edges of that, I think it’ll give them a chance to create an unlikely bond. Maybe not immediately but at some point in the season, I fully expect the two of them to hang out together without Sterling.

Like, I suppose it’d also be fun drama if it’s the three of them but I can’t see that happening immediately, except perhaps extremely awkwardly in school or maybe even church, with Sterling holding Blair back from going after April. For her part, I think April’ll try to keep up a bit of a front like before, probably more polite and with the knowledge that Blair now knows, maybe dropping it in her concern for Sterling. The worst thing would be for April to barely be included in the eps that focus on the family drama, but given the situation with her father, she still has a major part to play. Once she finds out, I think she’ll be mad at Blair, but most of her ire’ll be reserved for Sterling, who’s the one she actually counted on to be open with her.

Ideally, I’d like for a little friendship to form between them because, like, Blair is honestly the sweetest kid and April has had to put on this facade for so long and underneath is like any other kid. And both care about Sterling so much, they have this major thing in common right off the bat.

September 20, 2020

Just wanted to clarify, as I think I was one of the folks who talked about Sterling thinking this was all a trick by April- I wasn’t thinking that was ever actually the case, more wondering if that dark thought ran across Sterling’s mind when she saw April flirting with Luke. That their whole thing had been some twisted head game April played with her. Obviously that got cleared up later outside. But I think she coulda thought it was a possibility given they were enemies less than a week before.

Ah, I’m answering this so late all the relevant previous asks are weeks old by now, but yeah, I assumed the anon was referring to other comments out there? Your ask hadn’t come across as implying it was an actual trick, just the possible perception of.

And honestly, thinking more on it, since I just giffed the scene where Sterling leaves the lock-in, the way she’s legit angry and going, what’s wrong with you, there’s this genuine confusion at what exactly WAS going on, so it could definitely have been a fleeting possibility, not even necessarily that it was all a trick, but that April was playing weird mindgames with her, the April she knew a week ago wouldn’t have flirted with Luke either.

September 19, 2020

i have never wanted a fic more, than i do stepril!! i remeber reading “childhood friends to enemies to lovers” on fandoms where the characters are like 30 and not even canon. come on fic writers, if we can conjure up childhood/teenage personalities/plotlines for people on their 30s, surely we can do this! please. anyone?

Aww, I’m sorry I took so long to reply but I actually went and checked ao3. When you sent this, there would have been 16 fics in the tag. There are now 91, so that’s not terrible!

But I super get your point, this is ripe for fic, it’s left in that perfect place where they’re separated but it’s the kind of conflict that you can play around and work with. Sometimes canon leaves characters SO far apart it’s like, okay, it’s gonna take 90k words for them to even be in the same room, and other times–and I find this HARDER, where they actually have no conflict at all, they should be together and just…aren’t? Like, how do you handle that in fic? “Hey, we should be together.” “We should.” The end. Post-s1 Stepril, you have so much juicy material, and all kinds of ways they can get back together or carry on a secret relationship, or have April react to Sterling putting her dad in jail (that might take 90k words).

Lmao at your comment about how people write HSAUs for characters in their 30s, or say, when they’re warlords in a dystopian future? I remember getting into discussions about why there were so many HSAUs and wondered if it was just people wanting to write away from canon, but, for example, Glee had a ton where they stayed in school. I think it’s that a lot of fic writers actually have experience with high school, sometimes recent, so it’s easier to write what you know, as opposed to hospitals or mysterious warehouses. Even if you haven’t been to American high school, there’s so much media out there based in it and it’s easier to research. It’s also interesting to write as a stripped down archetypey version of other worlds. The popular kids, the nerds, you slot people into simplified positions and try to replicate their original dynamics with way lower stakes.

Though I guess the really good fic, even if it’s a HSAU, goes beyond the basics, because like, look at the world of TBH. Sterling and April are somehow both the popular kids and nerds, and the stakes are certainly higher than they might be. Even if you start with this relatively simpler setting, people are complex. I haven’t really looked at the actual fics yet, but I assume most are canon adjacent and not like, doctor or rock star AUs.

August 30, 2020

I’m glad I follow you because had I not know where TBH is going, I wouldn’t have made it through the opening without knowing it wasn’t just super hetero the whole time.

And another anon:

I just wanted to thank you for the Teenage Bounty Hunters rec, I saw your gif posts and was curious. It was a revelation. I binged it in one day, the show is completely off its rocker its actually refreshing. Thank you!

I’m glad you gave it a chance! I liked it a lot, the humor, the love, the f/f.

I really wish there was a way I could alert y’all to new f/f without giving it all away in the gifset, it’s a fundamentally different experience not knowing who it’s gonna be or how it unfolds!

August 27, 2020

what does sterling means by “but people change back” with luke? is it bout april become her enemies back?

Oh, you know, that’s a good question. I didn’t take it that way but I guess it is kind of hazy, let me work out how I immediately took it and moved on.

Let’s see, if you remember the conversation in ep 7 when Sterling and Blair were on the stakeout with Bowser he implied Michelle could have changed and things could work out this time and Sterling latches onto that and is like, does he really think people can change, in the context of April. And then of course after that, for a brief few days it feels like everything has changed and is so perfect. So when Luke says, if you gave her a chance, you’d be surprised, people change, I think to Sterling, it reminded her of how she had actually experienced all that, but now it was all over. To me it was about the situation changing back, that April had “changed” back into how she was before, too afraid to even be in a relationship.

And also, since Sterling’s next line was about missing Luke and then kissing him, you could almost see her trying to will herself to change back into the person who was happy with him. Ultimately, I read it as a lament that she’d gone on this whole journey and things were back to her and April not being together and was all that change, forward and then back, worth the hurt.

August 26, 2020

Sorry to send another abt this but i was really thinking what was I thinking about jodie comer and blair but i’m looking at her now and can say definitively the reason i think this is her forehead and eyes! Maybe her bone structure a little bit but it’s just the eyes and forehead are very striking to me idk

Actually her cheekbones as well

You’re really focused on this, anon! Wait, Blair? I thought you meant April this whole time. Yeah, I can see Blair more easily, sure, lol.

And another anon:

TBH actors just look like themselves ¯_(ツ)_/¯

The more we watch, the more they do become the “original”! I’ve basically stopped comparing and just see ~them~ now.