#also i was listening to 'betty' while typing this and it's so rina coded i'm gonna go insane

[homemade-ghosts]

Helloooou I haven't read the famous leaks but I'm worried they speed up RINA so much next episode, what I love about them is the slowburn of it all, and I NEED Gina's to be as rough and honest to Ricky as she wish, to tell him how she felt back then, but I feel we don't have much time there is so much that needs to be happening next episode ugh why the best season is only 8 episode

I totally understand your concern (& I wish this season was longer, too) but what I will say is that I don't think that this slowburn is quite done burning yet. 

There were a couple hints in 306 that Ricky may have been aware of Gina’s feelings all along (you might be asking yourself, “okay, but why is this relevant to my ask?” I promise, it relates lol). First, when Ricky tells Maddox that Jet worked hard to win Color War for her because, “maybe he just wants to show [her] he cares.” and Maddox ends her response with, “I just don’t wanna let my guard down and get hurt again, you know?” there’s this look of sadness that washes over Ricky’s face and, for a few seconds, a kind of somber instrumental plays to emphasize his reaction. It isn’t quite the Rina cue, which the show has always used during the rare moments where we get Ricky’s perspective on their relationship (the car scene in 105, when Gina comes back for opening night in 109 and Ricky talks about how tough it is to see her, how it’s like she never left. Then again in 305 when he tells Gina, “I guess it’s hard not to just say what you feel, you know?” + in 306 when Gina calls Ricky “the best” for helping her with her promposal to EJ & again when Ricky is crying at the end of the episode) but, it is pretty similar in tone. & I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, immediately after this, Gina comes into frame and gives Ricky one of their signature high-fives-to-hand-holds. To me, it felt like Ricky was acknowledging last semester. It felt like he knew that Gina had let her guard down for him and because of him and he had hurt her, however indirectly.

The second moment is when Ricky tells Jet, “I can’t believe I let Color War slip through my fingers.” and Jet replies, “You mean Gina?” This evidence is a little more damning because you can’t lose something you don’t think you ever had in the first place. If Ricky never knew how Gina felt about him/thought she only ever saw him as a friend, then he wouldn’t be saying that he let her slip through his figures because that heavily implies (to me, at least) that he knew he had a chance with her and he’d missed it. 

There’s a potential third moment, when Ricky tells Jet that he’s done “more than a few things [he’s] ashamed of.” but I won’t include that one officially because I can’t tell if it was meant to relate to Gina at all (or if it was a reference to how he acted while dating Nini or something completely unrelated to either).

The reason I bring this up is because I think it sets up these last two episodes pretty perfectly, in a way that won’t be rushed. pw will breakup either before or during Camp Prom (that’s already been set up with all the miscommunication, secrets and now the lack of fireworks) in ep 7 and then, after the [redacted] Ricky will confess his feelings, maybe reassure Gina that he isn’t expecting anything from her and if she doesn’t feel the same way that’s completely okay, he’ll back off and they can stay friends. Gina will admit that she never truly got over him, that she’s always had feelings for him...but it doesn’t end there, they don’t get together. It’s not that simple. Gina tells him how heartbroken over him she was last semester and how she isn’t ready to jump into anything just yet. Ricky says he knows, that he’s so sorry. That everything he’s done since then is to make up for that. He promises he will be there whenever she’s ready, if that’s what she wants.

If things go this way, with Ricky & Gina both laying all their cards out on the table, but agreeing not to jump into anything, then I think the pacing is actually pretty perfect and it’s a good set up for them to get together in early/mid season 4.

#also i was listening to 'betty' while typing this and it's so rina coded i'm gonna go insane #anyway i know this was ramble-y but i hope it reassured you a little bit anon #hsmtmts #hsmtmts s3 #rina #ricky x gina #anon #asks