#and like. the comic versions are also bitchy and they pointedly do not like each other

[number5theboy]

First of all, I want to say your meta was very enlightening, so thank you. I do have one thing to say as to why Five stood on the sigil - I think that before that moment, Reginald mentioned that they would need to find the sigil in order to defeat the guardians, who were fighting to kill the siblings. Five knew that if he didn’t complete it by standing on it, the remaining guardian would’ve killed them all. I think, at that point, five was just trying to survive with his siblings.

As for why he stood on it before allison…? No idea. I’ve seen some people say that it’s because he wanted to protect her or something, which really could’ve been true, because she’s still his sister. And this is probably and unpopular opinion, but that explanation doesn’t really ring true for me, because Alison and Five spent a better part of the season sniping at each other, so are we suddenly supposed to believe that five would put himself in that position so allison wouldn’t have to? When there’s been no build up in their relationship prior to that scene? If five is supposed to be protecting her in that scene, it falls flat to me

TUATV if it explored Five and Allison's relationship

Okay, but bad jokes aside (by this point the show wishes it was the comics, even tho those are a mess in a completely different way to the show). I think a resounding failure of the show, for the last two seasons but especially in Season 3 is that it completely leaves Five and Allison, as a dynamic, by the wayside. Season 2 literally had them not exchange a word. Season 3 had them snipe at each other (hello, comic versions of these characters, nice to see you've come along, 20 episodes in) and then made that odd choice to have a three-point-climax between Allison, Viktor and Five which. Allison and Viktor? Long-running dynamic in the show. Five and Viktor? Always have a poignant moment every season. Allison and Five? *cricket sounds*

I read that moment as Five protecting Allison because I have been rather vocal about the fact that I would love for them to interact in the show because their dynamic is the one most explored in the comics, they are in each other's presence for both Dallas and Hotel Oblivion, and I love them in the comics, so I found it very frustrating that the show, despite taking its clues from Dallas and Hotel Oblivion (and using them very, very badly), never seemed interested in exploring Five and Allison despite them talking to each other makes sense. Allison gets transported in time and dropped somewhere that is hostile to her existence, and she thinks her entire family is dead? Why didn't she get to give Five a piece of her mind about that? And even if she somehow was okay with that - it was an accident on his part, I guess - was Season 2 really not interested in having her talk to someone else who lived years thinking he lost his family? Someone who explicitly said to her that he cared for his niece and would love to meet her one day? You're telling me the guy who said that to her has no feelings whatsoever about the fact that his meddling with the timeline erased Claire from existence? I've talked about it in the meta, but what explains a bunch of the choices they made about Five's storyline in S3 is that they just did not want him and Allison to be on the same page, they wanted her to be as isolated as possible. It is interesting to me that Five and Allison, prior to S3, had two meaningful interactions, 1) Five telling her he would like to live long enough to meet Claire, and 2) making fun of Diego together. And S3 tossed one of those interactions summarily out the window and acted like it never happened, made Five have no reaction to the fact that Allison was mourning the loss of Claire.

Apart from that, they spent the entirety of S3 at each other's throats. Which. If S3 did nothing for that dynamic, the thing it did manage to hammer home in a not so subtle way is that Five and Allison are similar, and it makes sense that people who are similar but have been crowbarred by the plot into having opposite motivations would be bitching at each other the entire time.

So I totally get why that moment of Five and Allison at a crossroads would fall flat to you, it fell flat to me and I wanted it to mean something. I feel like what they were trying to tell us is that Five loves Allison despite the deal she'd done with Reginald, that he still loves her and wants to protect her. Would have been nice to have any foundation for that kind of action, show, just some sprinkling of friendship and understanding between the two somewhere along the line, maybe? Because if it really was just a 'Five loves her despite everything she's done uwu'-plotpoint, it's just condescending and does not really have any real impact as a moment.

What really gets to me is that the cinematography really ramps up in that little stand-off, it really tries to build tension, and it falls flat to me in the same way the little roadside stand-off between Viktor and Five in S2 falls flat, which is that the stakes are unclear and the relationship not nearly developed enough for the scene to have the impact that the writers clearly want it to have. We don't know enough about what either Five or Allison think of each other for that scene to have a lot of meaning. There is no sibling duo in this show that has had less interaction and development than Allison and Five and you're hinging one of the big decision moments in this season finale on their interpersonal relationship? Why? I think that scene could have had so much weight and so much impact had this fucking show taken any of its time in the previous *checks notes* 29 episodes to build a personal relationship between Five and Allison, but as such, it's a weak climactic moment that honestly left me more confused than anything else on my first watch.

This got long because I love the Five and Allison dynamic that this show continually refuses to give me, but even though I want that moment between them to mean something, I really can't fault anybody for not seeing it, the show has not put in the legwork to make it function and have an emotional impact.

#guys i swear the version of this show in my mind where five and allison do get to interact is fucking awesome #and like. the comic versions are also bitchy and they pointedly do not like each other #but they have a well-developed and well-established relationship and play off each other #a courtesy never extended to their show counterparts #Replies #Anonymous #i'm sorry being mad about how the show treats the 3&5 dynamic always gets me going in a bad way