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LISTEN,, ik i said that ricky's development was being thrown out the window or put aside for rina and ik the love triangle this season has been weird but maybe there's a good reason why??
i've been reading up on a lot of hsmtmts analyses and interviews,,, and i realized:
what if ricky liking gina is part of him escaping from his true problems???
no, i'm not saying his feelings for gina aren't real. but it's like how nini liked ej,,, she rly did like him,,, but it happened bc she was escaping the pain of her breakup with ricky ((ironically,, a similar set up is happening here)).
this whole summer ricky has been brushing off things and trying to stay happy and go with the flow,, trying to do whatever he can to "feel free". crushing on gina is perfect bc why not? the show legitimately gives no reason to ricky crushing on her besides "why not". it's convenient for the plot,, but maybe it's also convenient for him.
he has always cared for her platonically. in her,, there's familiarity and comfort. she can give him the "love he needs" bc they're both on the same path anyway - both want to have perfect and fun summers,, but beyond that, both have always wanted a safe space.
to him, it must feel so right... bc it feels familiar.
the set-up: gina dating ej and him and gina as the leads in the play. this time,, he's acting different. he's putting his all into being a theatre kid and he's respecting portwell's relationship instead of forcing his feelings onto gina. this shows his growth and maturity,, but it almost feels like he's doing the things he wish he had done in s1.
it's easier for him to name gina as the one ej stole rather than nini who he's trying to move on from ("i'm going down a road that i don't know, i'll let it take me anywhere but home"). it's easier to like gina now when in her was everything he and nini used to be. it's easy when she is giving him everything nini can't anymore, just like how ej was the "emotionally open, openly supportive, theatre-loving" boy for nini that ricky never was in the beginning of s1. it's easy when gina is the only reasonable option for him at having a second chance at love. who could be more perfect at giving him his "second chance" to "begin again"?
this is where the problem of rina lies.
ricky likes her. but not for who she is,,, but bc liking her gives him a sense of direction. liking her gives him a new motivation that he's been missing after nini,, and most of all, liking her fulfills his desperate need for love and validation.
he wants to do smth right for once. and after everything with nini,, he learned how he can be better (hence, the differences in his behavior towards portwell compared to his behavior towards ej and nini in s1).
what he doesn't realize is that the love that he rly needs is not from romance. it's from himself. he needs to learn to love himself before loving others. bc if he simply goes with the flow and likes gina just to have a second chance at love,, that isn't going to end well bc in the scenario that they fall out for whatever reason,, he'll once again be broken and lost. hell,, he's lost rn and that's why he's clinging onto gina. he needs her to give him a direction in life.
he needs to realize that to be truly free,, he must learn to be okay with himself, okay with accepting that he's enough, okay with being alone. ("all i have is myself at the end of the day, but shouldn't that be enough for me?").
looks like ricky is actually going through his own version of nini's s1 arc.
i cannot wait for the moment ricky finds himself (he may get a realization during the finale,, that realization will drive him in the next season). that's going to be so powerful!
we just need to cross our fingers that the writers will pull through bc the set up for this arc is perfect 😭
