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My rage, it has no bounds

bernie su said:

It’s also why we didn’t have Gigi actively try to get George to download the app. If Gigi’s the one that catches George than that takes away from Darcy.

I cannot tell you how much rage this gives me.

IT DOES NOT TAKE AWAY FROM MEN, TO HAVE WOMEN ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN SOLVING PROBLEMS.

The fact that anyone thinks that, in this day and age, just boggles my mind—let alone that someone thinks that who claims to have thought about the challenge of adopting Pride and Prejudice for a modern audience where women play a more active role in their lives and do things other than want husbands.

In fact, it highlights so much of why this show has gone off the rails. The Pemberley arc did more to ruin my enjoyment of Darcy, and my appreciation of him as a character, than just about anything in this show so far.

And now you’re telling me that you had to make him condescend to Gigi, and you had to set up this whole thing where Gigi basically has no agency at all and spends her time sitting at home and sobbing, just because you didn’t want to “take away from Darcy”?

Let me explain what took away from Darcy.

What you did: You set up a fully grown woman as someone who was being treated as a child by your main character. AND YOU NEVER RECTIFIED IT. Instead, you ended the arc by REINFORCING it, by making Gigi desperate to have her brother tell her that it was okay, and having her brother say it was. As if SHE was the one who needed to apologize.

Furthermore, the justification doesn’t even make sense. You’re telling me that somehow, Darcy gets more credit because Gigi did something on accident? How is it that this choice makes Darcy a more active participant? Here is another possibility: Darcy could have gone to Gigi directly and said, “I need your help,” and Gigi could have offered it.

IT DOESN’T TAKE AWAY FROM A MAN TO WORK WITH A WOMAN.

How hard is it to figure this out? Nobody thought that because Fitz was down there with Darcy, helping him out—and clearly he was—that this “took away” from Darcy. So why THE FUCK would it “take away” from Darcy to have Gigi play that active a role?

IT DOESN’T TAKE AWAY FROM A MAN TO TREAT A WOMAN AS AN EQUAL AND ALLOW HER TO PROVIDE HELP THAT SHE IS CAPABLE OF PROVIDING.

You know what takes away from Darcy?

Having him wander around Orange County making piteous noises for a week and a half.

You know what takes away from Darcy?

Having George’s stupidity and an accident end up solving the problem, instead of Darcy himself.

The Pemberley arc was poorly written, ill-conceived, and honestly, the show would have been better off without it.

And I say this as someone who was super-excited about the arc when it first went up, as someone who adores Gigi and was really happy to see more Fitz, and who definitely wanted to see Gigi-Darcy onscreen reaction.

The Pemberley arc was a complete clusterfuck, and if you think that Gigi could not have been an active participant because it would “take away from Darcy,” you need to start thinking about how it is that you’re going to integrate women as active players in their own lives.

It doesn’t take away from men to have competent women in their lives. It adds to them.