Can I talk about sugar for a second? Like all of the berzatto children are tragic and doomed by the narrative in their own right, but nat’s story means so such to me idk if I can even fully talk about it all. We see her relationship with her mom is strained at best, it seems like she’s the least favorite child, maybe BECAUSE of her existence as a woman.
And then we find out that her lifelong nickname is based off of a childhood mistake, her being overeager to help her family literally turned into a lifelong reminder of her fuck up. Is there anything more tragic?? A child wanting love but getting scorn?? And then it makes the flashback scene where she tries to add raisins in season 1 all the more upsetting because why did she add them?
“That’s how mom makes it.” she’s the only one that still follows their mom’s recipe. The reason? Could be anything. But I have no doubt in my mind if she DIDN’T add the raisins if Donna had been around she would’ve been ridiculed even more.
I have such a soft spot in my heart for girls and their complex relationships with their moms and motherhood, and it makes her scene with cicero in the car that much more impactful. When cicero says he would let his kids make more mistakes and not been as careful, i almost started crying. Nat has a nickname from her mistakes and it seems like in her mom’s eyes she’s nothing but mistakes. And then her uncle tells her that she’ll be a good mother and that it’s okay for kids to make mistakes, great, even.
I’m so happy nat is in a place where she’s happy and supported. She has a husband who deeply understands her family and doesn’t judge her for it, even making an effort to try and include Donna. I was kind of meh about pete before season 2, but it solidified for me that he’s so so good for nat and a great character. He is so excited to be a dad, he’s patient and kind with her and her family, and he doesn’t call her sugar.
She’s nat. And she’s allowed to make mistakes.
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Background details about Tommy and Carol from Season 1, and how they are with conflict
<very much not an all exhaustive list, i just saw this gif with something interesting and pulled up the whole show to look into it>
Now the one i saw was slightly longer, showing carol and tommy's continued reactions, so ofc we had to learn how tf to make gifs so i can show you guys what im talking about (this ones at .75 speed)
Specifically, to include not just their initial reactions, but also the next thoughts.
Lets start with Nicole, the redhead on the far right, who obviously isn't nearly as close to the trio as they are to each other (she's basically only around at school and this scene and doesn't stick around after they run from the cops). She's our control (if this were an experiment), the normal reaction. She's surprised in the entertained way. Steve's girlfriend slapped him, things are getting interesting.
Then Carol, who's probably got my favorite reaction. A similar surprise and "Oh" as Nicole, but her eyebrows don't stay up if they even jump at all. Then she looks at Nancy and she's mad, clearly on Steve's behalf. Steve's girlfriend slapped him, how dare she.
Next we have Tommy, the only person in this scene to noticeably flinch, bringing an arm up in front of him and playing it off with the cigarette to his mouth and marveling at the event. To me, it reads as a kind of empathy: if he were in Steve place in that moment, he'd block/shield himself and he has the reflexes to do it even when he's standing several feet away. I could be reading into it, but i still think its interesting he make more movement than the two people closer to them, and even the guy getting slapped (who doesn't even turn away, the momentum of the hit changes his angle slightly).
Then another (im sorry its pretty hard to follow, again, just learned how to make half decent gifs) showing interesting stuff from the fight i never noticed until looking for it. Most notably, extra lines/ad-lib from Tommy and Carol I've subtitled, like Tommy telling Carol to leave (the implication that she didn't want to as Nicole grabbed her, combined with her line worrying about him), Tommy hauling Steve up and Steve stumbling like we see in season 2 after his concussion (not definitive proof he has a concussion or something close to it since hes able to run and talk fine after, but its interesting)
Then we get the conflict afterwards, showing up differently for Carol and Tommy.
With Carol, its arguing. It's jabs at Nancy and it jabs at Tommy and Carol. What i think is really interesting is that the shit Steve says genuinely surprises her. Before she's goofing off with Tommy, the both of them trying to lighten the mood and Steve snaps. And her response isn't "calm down" or "what's gotten into you" (that's more in Tommy's lines), shes genuinely taken aback.
And then at the end, Steve raises his voice (not loud enough for a yell, but combined with the motion it feels like one) and Carol visibly backs up, out of frame entirely for a second. (followed by Tommy blowing up at Steve for yelling at her, and the following lines expressing again how its out of character for him)
That, combined with her reaction to Steve yelling from a previous scene (where he's going to check on Nancy and they tease him for caring) (also at .75 speed)
She's definitely got something going on with yelling specifically, especially since Tommy doesn't even look upset after, an expression similar to Nicole's "shit got interesting" expression from earlier.
Then there's Tommy's conflict, which is probably most memorable because its physical aggression (and very... tense.)
(yes i cut out over half of that moment the file size was massive im sorry)
We see from the Carol gif before and in this one that he gets aggressive. One shove when Steve yells at Carol, then the second Steve pushes back he escalates and even after Steve stops responding we get Tommy slamming the car door and hitting the outside even as Steve is driving out.
Its much harder to tell with him what the deal is, especially since he doesn't get the same vulnerable looks as Carol does. I think you could headcanon him having a similar thing as Carol, or as just macho-jock bullshit he learned to stay on top, or even it all leading back to having a crush on Steve.
This also doesn't really prove or disprove Tommy's actual ability to fight (i remember seeing people talk about it but I can't remember specifics) since he could either be a solid fighter who knows how to hit and protect from a hit, or he's talking out of his ass and sticks to intimidation and blocking when he needs to. Again, up to you (i certainly don't know which I find more interesting yet)
I personally also like to think the three of them were really good friends for a while, at least since middle school (but im also a sap especially for best-friendships) I wish we could've seen more of how Carol was taking the split up in season 2 and maybe something from Tommy other than how he hangs out with Billy now. Maybe Carol and Tommy split after Steve left, maybe it happened when Tommy tried replacing Steve with Billy in their trio, maybe they never split and Carol avoided Steve afterwards.
(tho i am kinda glad the story let them go after 2 seasons, we get a lot more room to play around with what-ifs and read into their scenes)
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Anyway - Stobin makes perfect sense to Tommy and Carole. Their only surprise/double take is that Steve’s managed to find someone else other the same weird sense of boundaries as Steve i.e. it’s months into their friendship before either of them thinks to ask for each others’ number, but they think nothing of attempting to sneak into each other’s houses at three in the morning.
It’s a bittersweet feeling; on the one hand, there’s NO way they’re getting him back now. On the other hand, they’re not responsible for trying to “look after” him (keeping him from presenting as “too” neurodivergent/queer) anymore. Looking back, he was kind of high maintenance…
Tommy and Carol crying screaming throwing up seeing stobin galavanting around town because that's THEIR job!! That's THEIR weird boy best friend what is Robin Buckley doing hanging off him and laughing with him and getting rides from him and wearing his sweaters?!? It took them years to build up to that (because they were kids lol) and Buckley comes in and within a MONTH of working together they're inseparable?? Where's the justice in that??
She's not even being his friend right! Instead of making sure he acts "normal" and doesn't draw attention to himself they are both acting openly strange in public! Steve had gotten worse when he started babysitting the middleschoolers but now? It's like he doesn't care! He's making weird faces in public with her, and she's encouraging this!
God they're never going to win him back now. Even though it was tough trying to get him not to act too weird or help figuring out WHY people were acting a certain way (Steve was always good at reading what people were feeling, but not necessarily the why of it all. Like why be annoyed at questions? WhyWhy pick on someone you barely know when they're just standing not doing anything? Why walk on lunch tables making speeches? (That last one Tommy and Carol couldn't answer either) which maybe led to sort of ignoring people he didn't know or care about?) They miss it now they no longer get to...
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thinking abt how annabeth is the baby out of her, luke, and thalia, who always believed so fiercely in luke’s goodness, always felt so comforted by thalia’s presence—so obviously the youngest—yet out of the three, she is the only one who will ever grow old. the only one to grow past the scared little child into a fully-fledged hero. not a hunter, eternally a child, eternally wild. not a villain or anti-hero, whose last moments of heroism exist lost in those last few moments of fading breath. in a way, the baby is the trio’s only survivor. the only one who lives to become more than that—a true hero. gods, can you imagine that? little seven year old annie? cold, scared, and dirty, shaking in some back end alley armed only with a hammer? little annie—a hero standing tall. fully realized. now that’s something, isn’t it?
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