#with bella and the band for a bit and helps to lug equipment around. she likes the band and the travel but is otherwise bored. so she goes

[opalsiren]

like. i know we all have mixed feelings about rikki’s appearance on mako mermaids, but hear me out: rikki becoming a deep sea diver who retrieves lost artefacts is one of the worst possible outcomes for her character

initially rikki is a social outcast, a repressed loner, a person who never feels like she truly fits in anywhere. that all changes when she meets emma and cleo. for the first time in her life rikki belongs somewhere. she doesn’t have to be alone anymore. sure it’s not always easy, it takes some time before she can truly learn how to be a friend and accept their friendship in return. still, the secret forces her to let them in and grow to love her newfound mermaid family

fast forward to mako mermaids canon: somehow the girls have grown apart. their tightly knit group has gone their separate ways, time and distance and other interests severing their connection. is it realistic that this would happen to a group who were besties in their teens but are now trying to establish themselves in the adult word? yes, it is, but i’m not expecting gritty realism from my dumb mermaid show, okay?

when the mermaids confront rikki about the dragon bracelet, she tells them she was thousands of metres down in the dark and the cold. alone. presumably no one on rikki’s team, should she have one, knows about her mermaid secret. she also tells them that, as you try to keep the secret, you don’t know who to trust, so you learn to not trust anyone

compared to cleo with her fish obsession, emma who was always rather academically inclined, even musically gifted bella, it’s hard to imagine a career path for rikki that doesn’t somehow involve water. being a mermaid meant everything to her. it was her entire life. not only that, but her friendships were more important to her than anything. the two were inextricably linked. to see rikki end up in a career path which is so solitary, so lonely, and so deeply isolating is a disservice to her character, to the growth she showed in each and every one of her relationships

it’s true that the writers probably chose such a career for rikki on purpose: the loneliness and isolation of her career is mirrored in that of her personal life since her friends moved on. this in turn helps her to empathise with the mako pod, who may all be lost to one another if they don’t protect their home. there is some hope for rikki as she shares that she intends to reach out to her friends by the end of the episode. still, as a h2o stan it’s frustrating to watch the disservice done to her in mako mermaids. the writers chose character regression and severing the connection between rikki and her closest friends over a myriad of other possibilities.

#for me anything after the season two finale isn't canon #but as IF emma wouldn't send her hourly updates on what she's up to in college. cleo also would want to call her every day and would be #pissed if she ever missed a call #this isn't even touching on her relationship with zane. or lewis or even bella #ms chatham and even ash and emma's family and cleo's too #h2o just add water #h2o: just add water #h2o #.txt #rikki chadwick #queue #also it'd be so cool to see a twentysomething rikki who doesn't know what to do with her life doing a brief stint at each of the girls's #respective workplaces. so she helps cleo and lewis out at the lab as they nerd out over marine biology and learns a few things but is mostly #pretty bored. then she shadows emma at the hospital or works reception at her surgery and that lasts even less time. she goes on the road #with bella and the band for a bit and helps to lug equipment around. she likes the band and the travel but is otherwise bored. so she goes #back to co-manage whatever entreurprienial endeavour zane is currently cooking up and has some epiphany about what she really wants to do #i don't know what that is though. maybe something to do with helping underprivileged kids? #since i think even an adult rikki would still be a sullen teenager at heart. or maybe she'd join some environmental activist group since she #is pretty passionate about the environment? she'd be the hardass writing strongly worded letters to the government and pulling stunts to #draw attention to the climate crisis. but idk i see that more as a side gig than her main job #maybe something in like forensics or criminal psych since rikki probably has an interest in morbid shit? but then i can never see her as a #cop or anything slightly adjacent to a cop. idk maybe rikki would never really be a Career person with a capital c and would just dabble in #different careers but mostly be a full time mermaid and tell her friends to chill oir #* chill out