LOTS of s3 content has been out before the release of the first episode and i have to get my thoughts out here lmao
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((real footage of s3 coming right at me))
ngl this is looking like the BEST hsmtmts season so far??? i'm sorry but the more we learn what's up this season the more excited i am???
it's rly strange bc when s2 finished airing, like everyone else,, i felt so hopeless about this show lol. like liv leaving, new characters replacing old ones like big red and seb, frozen being the musical in summer,, like there was so much to question.
any kind of doubts i had tho are now gone.
1. nini/olivia's place in the show
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although i'm hoping on nini being in s4 for various reasons,, that might not happen bc tim literally said this season is where they properly send her off. so let's all assume this is her last season lmao
weirdly - i think it's okay? look,, i'm a rini through and through but i'm a fan of the show in general and seeing how good everyone and everything looks this season when nini isn't part of the main group,, i'm pretty confident they can thrive (more than thrive actually) without her. they already are.
that doesn't mean i won't miss her,, i definitely will and if she stayed,, that would be amazing to rly have her end her arc alongside the core 3. i just like that the other characters get to shine more,, especially the other girls.
and,, i'm hella excited for the finale of this season bc nini is definitely coming to see the show. i'm imagining a final farewell between her and the wildcats,, and i'm also thinking there's going to be a final, intimate rini scene to close things off nicely. if ricky's story this season is finding himself,, learning to be comfortable and confident in himself,, embracing change,, i think it would be the best to have ricky and nini have one final scene together where they're just proud of how they both turned out, yk? why else would the last episode be called "let it go"?
liv leaving the show was unprecedented but it's like they've been planning this from the start lmao. like,, narratively, nini leaving is seamless. the whole show since the pilot episode, she's been wanting to "get out there" and let an audience hear what she has to say. i think what rly made it easy for nini to step out of the spotlight is that call with jamie (likely written post dl but then again... maybe they were already planning jordan fisher to guest star pre-pandemic? idk). my theory is that after the call with jamie, she decided to push through with "fulfilling her dreams",, so she talks to her moms so that she can move to la. maybe that's why she's visiting california with her moms this season,, bc they're planning to all move for her to pursue music. it makes sense. would she leave salt lake and her friends to pursue her passions? she already did once lmao. out of all the characters, she's the one who could leave and still have the show make sense (besides ej,, who they could've written off by using the college excuse). i think the only regret here is that in s2,, she realized that "all she ever wanted" was found in the people she cared about (episode 4,, granted). if she stayed, they could explore further nini trying to find a balance between finding who she wants to be and being present in her personal relationships with the people she cares about. either way, the story still makes sense tbh.
