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✧ SHIPS

is it just me or does the show sometimes focus too much on the ships?

not all drama has to be about the romantic relationships lmaoo

the ships also get in the way of developing friendships and other plot lines that could have been interesting, but ig i have to admit most of us are here wanting to see rini/rina/portwell development

problem with that is majority of the characters lack substantial arcs bc their screen time is all about their relationship troubles

for now let's ignore that though LMAO

(there will be a chapter after this dedicated to rini so i won't be talking about them here!!)

1. rina

season 2 rina was... eventful. at least for the first half of the season. they kept me thoroughly entertained and even in season one,  i always loved the dynamic. tim is hella lucky that rina works well bc now that nini is taking a backseat, i'm pretty sure rina is the best choice left in deciding who ricky would end up with. like i said before, still irriated that rina got left behind after episode 6. ik it's meant to be open-ended so that they can do smth with it next season, but the execution was bad.

tbh rina has such a good story going on,, and trust that i'd actually be a hardcore rina if only rini didn't exist lmao. i'm sure josh and sofia are going to pull it off,, but i still have doubts (how are they going to outdo the ily scene??). it's fine to disagree but to be blunt, rina just doesn't have that endgame quality to me, that "we're in it for the long run" feel. while rini is like soulmates but i'm biased af lol. it's still all very exciting tho and i'm pumped to see how they execute it!!

2. portwell

i don't hate it, but not the most massive fan. i think rina has more chemistry lmao (yeah ik i contradict myself bc i keep saying i'm a rini yet root for rina more than portwell, but that's what happens when rina happens to be my second favorite ship in the show)

i think it could have been developed better? said this before,, but episode 3 would have been a great moment for them to connect. ej randomly being interested in gina in episode 5 is just off.

but they were the light of season 2, i gotta say. they have a super fun dynamic, but it's odd how much the show emphasizes the "older brother" figure ej might have been for gina. it's supposed to be the conflict, but when you make the "age gap" between the characters (which is two years, not a big deal to me) seem like an issue, it makes some audiences think it's an actual issue.

they're cute, they have some of the best individual character developments in the show, but are they going to last? probably not. but i don't know, i think if only everything went according to plan (core 4 remaining present in the show until its end), they might have been endgame. 

3. ejini (?)

you probably were not expecting me to talk about them!

i don't know their actual ship name so don't judge lmao

i just wanted to talk about their interesting interaction in episode 4, where nini is the first person ej talks to about him failing duke. (and also the impact of their relationship on ej bc that's smth to point out)

pretty interesting how ej was made out to be the bad guy in season 1 yet a season later he's the one still affected by the end of his relationship with nini. he was really hurt by everything that went down. ofc,, him stealing her phone and all that was a terrible decision but nini didn't handle the aftermath pretty well. when he apologized in s1 episode 6, she wasn't that impressed and that probably didn't help ej's esteem when he was trying to be be better. season 2 has him interested in gina but afraid to make a move bc he didn't want to be rejected, or brushed with a cold shoulder like he was last time.

this really shows how much he actually loved nini,, and i think it's great but sad when we all know nini never loved him as deeply (literally from the pilot episode it was obvious she was using him as a rebound lol)

so him willing to tell her about his failure first out of the rest of the wildcats is a pretty... interesting moment. maybe it's bc of her school situation, how she transferred and knows what it feels like to get into a dream school. but still. it's like ej still longed for nini's approval? or approval in general if we look back on his conversation with gina in episode 8. he wants to be forgiven for his mistakes and his really bad ones just happened to be linked to nini. i think it would have been cool to see them interact more.

(and here's why as much as i think rina has more chemistry, i think it's a pretty dirty move to break up portwell so fast. ej losing another person to ricky??? that's cruel. especially bc we know gina loves ej and really adores and appreciates him, so having her feelings change so quickly would not be a good look)

4. every other ship lmao

i love seblos (seb serenading carlos in episode 5 and carlos serenading seb in episode 10 i love that)

redlyn... needs more action. actually,, even seblos in ways. i don't like how these other ships among the wildcats don't move??? like we have the core 4 having the most complicated relationships with one another while everyone else is always doing great and their problems are never as big. yeah,, i get they're secondary characters in that way, but it would be nice to have these relationships be more challenged. i wish they pushed further with that antoine-red-ashlyn love triangle for instance.

kowie? fun but underdeveloped and unnecessary. i have a feeling this is only a canon ship in the first place bc ashlyn and nini were already having 'finding confidence' arcs themselves and so they had to do smth different for kourt

miss jenn's love triangle? yeah i think i already mentioned that i don't care,, though ig i'm team mike.

lily and ricky? we all know this is a bluff.

am i missing other canon ships?? if i am then that says smth about the missing ships in question lmao