#or martana? ahh idk

[tuiyla]

heyyy sorry i kinda went mia i got covid way back when i last sent u something (this is the anon who talked about kitty being a mix of santana and quinn/quinn mentoring kitty?? idk if u remember it’s been a while). ur swan song essay inspired me to send this actually, because i didn’t know that scene existed til u mentioned it a while back. anyway, i promised u thoughts on santana mentoring marley, and i never actually got around to typing it out til now.

that swan song scene is so! good!! i’m enraged that they cut it. but i think it would’ve been especially cool if it existed in a version of the series where quinn mentored kitty and santana mentored marley. like u mentioned, kitty “pulls a santana”, so to speak, and lashes out at marley when she feels vulnerable. but it also reads to me like she’s daring marley to get mad at her, which is kind of the way quinn operates. she’s trying to see if maybe making her picture all the worst case scenarios will scare marley into saying something mean, something she can talk back to and defend herself against (at least that’s how it reads to me). in fact, that’s exactly what quinn did when santana first brought up her concerns about the kitty and marley situation, the difference being that santana actually took the bait.

so here we have what could have been a direct parallel between mentors and mentees, with two key differences that lead to some actual common ground being found between kitty and marley (marley choosing not to lash out at kitty and kitty opening up a little bit in response). now, yes, a lot of that comes from marley’s natural affinity toward being gentle and understanding even when she has the right not to be. but i also think if santana had been around to talk to her, if we had gotten to see them interact a bit more, it would add an extra layer to the scene and create a fuller picture. i mean, just think if marley had been close to santana, how different a line like “i think most mean people are just scared of something,” would feel. it would’ve contextualized marley’s response a little bit more, made it feel less like this understanding is pulled out of thin air, but instead is actually something she has learned from a person she cared about, firsthand. basically i think maybe her extending the olive branch to kitty would have been even more impactful if she had hashed out her feelings to santana first. that is, if the scene didn’t get cut, which will forever upset me

plus i mean, i think santana and marley would have had an interesting dynamic. marley is kind almost to a fault, and santana keeps her kindness buried deep (and is very selective about who deserves it at all). i just think they would offer each other different perspectives that would lead to some interesting changes to each one’s arc. maybe getting to help mentor a kid like marley would teach santana just as many lessons as she teaches in return (lord knows she has plenty to learn). plus like, santana becoming friends with marley’s mom and bonding with her over their mutual concern and care for this kid would be fuckin precious i mean cmon. they’re both protective and caring but in different ways (“i’m going to hide that i’m ur mom despite the fact that it upsets both of us just to prevent people from being mean to u” vs “i’m literally going thru ur bag while ur in rehearsals because i’m worried about u”) and i think that those two working together to handle like, jake cheating on her, would be extremely entertaining. also santana being forced to participate in their heartfelt cafeteria kitchen conversations would be endearingly awkward. but i digress.

okay i’m gonna cut this off before it gets too long. please don’t feel like u have to answer this if u don’t want to, i know it’s long (and yet still somehow not super well articulated). i love ur essays and ur awesome, have a good one homie!!!

Kitty Anon! Sorry it's been 5 days but I absolutely do remember you, I love your takes. I hope you're doing better now and I'm glad you're back but there's no need to apologize haha.

I'm happy to be spreading the deleted Swan Song scene propaganda, everyone who cares for Kitty and/or Marley needs to watch it. As always I love your thoughts on how they parallel their mentors and how all that's connected. I always thought Kitty and Marley had more Faberry vibes because, while Kitty is similar to Quinn (and Santana) Marley is Santana's inverse. (Not that I agree with the assessment that Marley is much like Rachel and it's a particular gripe I have with people who say the newbies are cardboard cutouts. But convo for another day.)

I agree with your reading of Kitty lashing out. It's almost as if she dares Marley to show her "true" side and reveal that no one can be that nice. I think for Kitty it's less of an "opportunity to go on the defensive" so to say than it would be for Quinn but they do have similarities. Interesting how it contrasts with the Quinntana scene where, like you say, Santana absolutely does take the bait and I love the difference between her and Marley. Then again Quinntana's pre-established dynamic plays a part here vs. the relatively new and mostly hostile relationship between Kitty and Marley.

I looove your take on how Marley could have observed things about Santana and applied it to how she interacts with Kitty. Sadly we didn't get nearly enough time spent between them and I'm not sure we could have gotten that even if Thanksgiving was a two-parter but it would have been so good. Because as much as I love Marley's relentless and instinctive kindness, I think it makes it even more powerful if it comes from a place of understanding of a third person. It absolutely would add another layer because then we have a reason why Marley chooses compassion instead of fighting fire with fire. It would deepen both her relationship with Santana and add depth to her own character so I love this. Because yeah as it stands it is a bit out of thin air and people already shit on Marley's character for similar reasons so I can only imagine they'd shit on her had this scene not been cut lol. Because "she's too perfect" or whatever I don't pay attention to those much. Anyway kindness wins, always, and it's even better when we see where it comes from.

Thank you for sharing those thoughts on what could have been a friendship between Marley and Santana. I treasure Santana friendships so much but a potential bond with Marley has a special place in my heart on par with more developed relationships. I think Marley's someone people would expect Santana to roll her eyes at so for her to turn around and immediately be protective of her, that's precious. And she'd still be herself with Marley and encourage her not to take crap from anybody but would also be intimidated by the sheer kindness that radiates from Marley, methinks. Like, she wouldn't really get it because her own brand of kind is so vastly different. But that's what would make it interesting.

I think Santana bonding with Millie Rose over concern for their daughter would have been hilarious lol. I mean this was obviously beyond the constraints of the show but still. There's an alternative timeline where Santana did become the Cheerios coach and poured her guardian bitch energy into protecting this adorable sophomore and that timeline sounds kinda nice ngl. Even if Santana does ultimately belong in NY and I did not need a rehash of the Finntana conflict from season 3A anyway. But I'd like to imagine that whenever Santana goes back to Lima, which is often, she makes sure to also check on Marley. Ugh, their friendship that only exists in my mind is so precious.

I love long asks dw, and it was in fact well articulated! I really enjoyed reading it and reflecting on it so please feel very free to send any and all thoughts (doesn't have to relate to these four, but I can talk about them forever if you'd like). Once again happy you're doing better, and take care! You're awesome too and I'm happy if I can contribute to the fandom with my little writings haha. Have a good one!

#glee asks #kitty anon #happy you're back truly and would love to read more #but take care! hope you kicked covid's ass #kitty asks #quinntana asks #santana asks #anon #kitty wilde #marley rose #quinn asks #quinn fabray #glee friendships #wait am i invested in marltana because i also adopted someone barely younger than me #well shit #marltana #or martana? ahh idk #long post #martana