#hes definitely A Guy but his families toxic views on masculinity make it extremely difficult fr him to reconcile that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

qqueenofhades · 6 years

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Okay, idk but I feel like before all of this Rittenhouse stuff happened, Garcia would be the 'good guy' in the while Wyatt would be a sort of 'bad boy'. I mean with what we've heard of with their past relationships before Rittenhouse.

Both Flynn and Wyatt are flawed characters in different ways. Flynn is a good man at heart who went dark in pursuit of vengeance/trying to take down Rittenhouse/get his family back, and self-evidently has done some pretty bad things: murder, arson, assault, etc etc. He has threatened and tried to kill Wyatt and Rufus, and kidnapped/threatened Lucy (though he has never EVER directly and actively tried to kill her individually, so). He hasn’t cared about collateral damage and he killed people even on his side (i.e. Anthony) when they became a possible liability for his mission. He had good reasons (take down Rittenhouse, who he correctly identified as the big bad from the start) but he was a blowtorch through history and he didn’t really break away from that until 1x16. So yeah. No matter how you quantify him beforehand and then in s2, he’s a bad boy for much of s1 (though as noted, wasn’t that way prior to Rittenhouse killing his family).

The thing about Flynn, however, is that he’s always been aware that what he is doing is morally questionable, he hasn’t made excuses for it, and as noted, he’s directed his efforts into stopping the Big Bads of the show – he’s on the same side as the team, hence why they’ve worked together with a surprisingly little amount of disruption in s2, just much more extreme in his methods. (Though Lucy and Wyatt haven’t been angels either, especially Wyatt, so yes.) Also, none of his trashy behavior toward Lucy occurred to her when they were in a relationship (however loosely defined). They weren’t the same level of enemies that he was with Rittenhouse (or even with Wyatt) and she stopped being frightened of him by 1x02, but they were still enemies. They fought. They were on opposite sides. But the instant she asked if she could trust him and he agreed, he changed his behavior around her for the better and was her biggest emotional support and cheerleader for the rest of the season. Once they were teammates and partners, his treatment of her was exemplary, and far better than that of the guy we’re supposed to believe is so in love with her…

…which brings me to Wyatt, God bless him. I don’t hate him, but the problem with him is that his flaws are the kind that so often get excused as “men being men” and “jealousy/possession/controlling behavior is romantic!” and otherwise is fairly in the mainstream mold for male characters we’re often supposed to like and view as love interests. Wyatt was raised by an abusive father in rural Texas, went straight to the military, and canonically was a drunk, jealous, and controlling husband to Jessica in both realities. That… does not a healthy basis for a relationship, or even a person, make. Then when he lost Lucy, we saw that spill over onto her, and she became the focus of his obsessive efforts to reclaim, just as he had done in the same unhealthy spiral with Jess. Now that he’s lost Jessica again… who knows. He needs to do SO MUCH WORK with Lucy for me to ever buy them as a romantic couple again, and honestly, I don’t want to see her forced to sit around and wait for him to sort out his shit, especially when that energy should, as dictated by Wyatt’s character to date, go into saving and helping to “redeem” Jessica. (In scare quotes because I don’t necessarily believe she needs redeeming, just to be allowed to see what RH really is and to separate herself from it. But honestly, after how Wyatt’s treated her, why wouldn’t they feel like home?) Still mad about the lazy RH twist, but it definitely makes him look even worse to now just drop her like she’s hot, and adds an overall gross air to the writers’ handling of that entire plot.

Anyway, yes, Wyatt’s flaws are the kind that often get woobified and excused and painted as romantic, especially in the context of a relationship, rather than directly called out. He is STEEPED in toxic masculinity and it has broken him. @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels wrote a great meta recently about how Wyatt isn’t really a naturally aggressive person, and is at his best when his character is allowed to be soft, but by virtue of his upbringing and everything he’s believed, has been forced headlong into the Macho Bullshit anyway. We see him taking it out on Lucy, treating her badly, making it about his feelings rather than hers (even as she is trying SO HARD to make it gracious for him), slut-shaming and gaslighting and trying to control her, etc, then with the self-serving and poorly timed ILY. Again, this is not when they’re enemies. This is when they have been, however briefly, in a romantic relationship, and we’re theoretically supposed to be rooting for their reconciliation. That’s a big difference from Flynn.

Frankly, it is no surprise that Lucy finds Flynn the easiest of all the people in the bunker to talk to, even after opening up to him for the first time 24 hours ago and despite their complicated history. She has told him what she thinks of him from the very start, and has always been fearless about doing it. He is well aware he has a lot of making up to do and is eager to do this right, as well as having a deep respect/affection/admiration for her. He is entirely there for her, as he was about to say in 2x10, and has put a massive effort into atoning for his crappy past deeds and being what she needs from him. Mason/Denise/Rufus/Jiya are Lucy’s friends, but also her boss and co-workers, and it can be awkward to talk about personal stuff with them, especially when her connection with Flynn has been special from the start. She obviously isn’t going to talk about Jessica with this, and every time she tries to talk to Wyatt, he a) doesn’t get what she’s saying, or b) makes her feel worse. I’m sure that’s not always what he means to do. But it happens anyway.

This is also reflected in fandom treatment of the two characters. Flynn stans literally come up with nicknames to reflect his garbage ways, ask for lists of his biggest fuckups, and laugh for hours at them (seriously, @extasiswings, @prairiepirate and I can spend whole conversations raking him over the coals – it’s part of the fun of his character, in an Oh God Son You Done Fuckt Up Now way). In other words, we’ve been open from the start about him needing to do exactly what he’s done, and make it up to Lucy substantially. However, Wyatt is often treated with kid gloves (the writers’ unclear intentions about his character and how we’re supposed to view the Ly/att relationship doesn’t help) and any criticism of him is interpreted as hate and he has apparently never done anything wrong in his life and Have You Heard Flynn Kidnapped/Shoved Lucy on a Couch/FLYNN IS BAD FLYNN IS EVIL FLYNN IS VIOLENT etc.

Sigh.

Anyway, the two characters have been set up as foils from the start, with similar backstories/motivations/actions, but this season, that became REALLY apparent in regard to their relationships with Lucy, and that is just in the canon text. Flynn moved toward a much healthier relationship with her, while Wyatt moved to a much unhealthier one, and to such a degree that it would be difficult to swallow Lucy choosing to ignore one connection in favor of sitting around and hoping the other actually got his shit sorted out (and as noted, there’s the whole Jessica thing). So yes. That’s how it stands on that.

#timeless meta #wyatt critical #anonymous #ask

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