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kane-and-griffin · 7 years

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What's your opinion of Jason, given all the BTS drama, the disaster that was s3 and what went down with C/exa and now Bella/ke? (what if that ship doesn't sail? even with all the social media frenzy around that one now) Is it possible you're being an apologist for him?

Hi anon!

If your assumption is that I am an apologist for Jason, I’m going to assumeyou’re probably new to this blog (welcome!) and have not listened to thepodcast I co-host, Meta Station. We recapped all of 3B here and I suspectif you listen to any of the episodes that will put that matter to rest prettyquickly.)

If you are new, you might have missed my “I’m no longer taking anons askingme to defend why I still like this show” policy (which you can read here). I answered that question once, at great length, here,and I try to avoid repeating myself where possible.

My opinion of Jason is that I’m done just kind of bitching about himrecreationally, tbh. I have draggedJason, you have dragged Jason, we have all dragged Jason, it has been agloriously unifying fandom pastime, and there was a time when we probably allfound it cathartic, but I no longer think it serves us and I don’t think itmakes this fandom a better place. I am only human, I may slip up fromtime to time, especially if he does something really boneheaded, but I amtrying VERY HARD to get myself out of the dragging Jason Rothenberg business.

That said, if you have a particular, specific question about how I feelabout a writing choice, a character choice, or something concrete like that,I’m always happy to take those. On our podcast, Erin and I critique hisstorytelling choices at LENGTH and have never been quiet about the places wherewe think the writing has been lazy, irresponsible, thoughtless about tropes,fandom-baiting, or just bad storytelling. In addition, I think based oneverything we all know and hear coming out of the continual BTS rumors, as I’vementioned many times in recent posts, it sounds like for at least a couple ofthe cast members he creates/has created a really difficult workingenvironment. And yes, I think there were some catastrophically badchoices in S3 - not just Lexa (whose death I have blogged about before here),but the character assassination of Bellamy, the fridging of Gina, the erasureand the death of Lincoln coupled with the way it sounds like Ricky was beingtreated personally, the gross Murphy/Ontari thing - and I think it’s wise that the network brought in a newco-executive producer as a tactful indication that they know Jason needs alittle reining-in.

That said, I don’t think he’s Satan, I don’t think any human being deservesto have people tweet “kill yourself” at them over and over, and I am cautiouslyoptimistic that he has learned some really key lessons from the fallout ofS3. We’ll see how S4 progresses, and we’ll know what we know when we knowit, but I’m hopeful and positive that this season could be great, and I’m notinterested in apologizing for that.

If your assumption that I’m an apologist from him stems with some of therecent posts in response to fears about cancellation, what I have been sayingover and over is that the NETWORK continues to support Jason, believe in hisvision, show enthusiasm for the stories he is telling, and speak positively ofhim and the show.

I do want to point out, however, that it sounds to me like the question youare at heart asking is “Jason fucked up Clexa and might fuck up Bellarke, whydon’t you hate him and this show more,” which I am happy to answer because thisgives me a chance to remind you that you have sent that question to A KABBY BLOG.Whether Bellarke or Clexa or neither is endgame isn’t why I watch this show, soit is not a dealbreaker for me.

I have said this before, many times, and I will say it again, VERY LOUDLY,in boldface and italic type:

it is very frustrating for all the rest of us in the fandom who don’tlabel ourselves as “Bellarke” or “Clexa” to be addressed as though absolutelynothing else on this show matters except those two ships.

I plan to continue watching the show with enthusiasm. It’s fine if youdon’t. That’s a personal choice. But I loved a lot of things in S3that had nothing to do with Bellarke or Clexa, and I am sure I will find a lotof things in S4 to love that have nothing to do with Bellarke or Clexa, becausefor me this show is not about Bellarke and Clexa. If it is for you,that’s fine! We all consume media differently. But I don’t thinkit’s being an apologist for Jason to feel, for example, that the show is stilltelling really important stories about all kinds of different representation thatdeserve to continue to be dignified, and I don’t think it’s erasing the crappystuff he’s done to say that he’s also done a lot of things really, really well.

Here, in no particular order, is a list of just some of the many things Iloved about S3 that I want to make sure are not erased or drowned out by thenegatives of S3:

Literally every single moment Kane or Abby wereonscreen, separately or together, especially THE KISS and THE PRISON SCENE and THE CHEEK KISS andTHE FINALE HUG and BEING PLOT-RELEVANT

The whole City of Light/ALIE storyline,especially its connection to Grounder mythology

Lindsey’s performance in “Nevermore”

Briller

Indra

There were a lot of big writing/editing problems in the Bellamy/Pike/Kane storyline, but hot damn those performances were fantastic

Becca and the Polaris flashbacks

Roan and Luna

Kanetavia/Rebel!Dad with Harper and Miller

Jasper’s PTSD arc

Monty getting a new level of nuance and complexity

Sinclair getting all the dialogue they probablywrote for Wick and getting to really flesh out his bond with Raven

The Griffin women finally getting the chance toteam up and save the day

Multiple Wells callbacks

Jake callbacks for both Abby and Clarke (especially “I can’t do this again”)

Niylah

Murphy’s entire arc (obviously not counting the creepy Ontari sexual assault/consent violation thing), especially the Indra/Piketrio and his finale teamup with Abby

Raven’s entire arc – running from her pain, thenpushing through it, then becoming a superhero without her injury ever beingdismissed or minimized

The new Arkadia sets, the Rover, and the waythey depicted the Sky People gradually settling in and building a home

Jaha’s slow-burn three-season good guy tovillain arc

I’m excited and enthusiastic about S4, as is pretty much everyone I know inthe Kabby fandom. It’s okay if you aren’t. That’s a personalchoice. But the fact that I’d never take a job working for JasonRothenberg because he sounds like a really awful boss doesn’t mean I’mobligated to hate the way he tells stories or want his show to becanceled.

I gently encourage you to let go of any assumptions you may have that thepeople who continue to enjoy this show are doing so blindly or stupidly, thatliking the show is a blanket endorsement of all a showrunner’s worst personaland professional choices, or that people who like a thing you don’t like do sobecause they’re not as smart as you are and they haven’t figured out that they’rewrong for liking it.

I love this show enough that I have never kept my mouth shut when thewriters make choices I object to. I lovethis show enough to believe it can bear the weight of a substantial amount ofthoughtful criticism from a wide and diverse range of perspectives, and Ibelieve doing so is vital.

If you just want to tell me Jason is a garbage person and you’re annoyedthat I still like things he’s doing, then I’m afraid I can’t actually help you. If you are here to be an informed, thoughtful critic of this show and are interested in debate, you will always be welcome. I would just ask you to maybe consider, for next time, the limits of this binary assumption that Clexa and Bellarke are the only aspects of this show that anyone cares about.

#Anonymous #From the Inbox #metas and headcanons #the 100 meta #the 100 #kabby mom is tired

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