(Untitled)

[captlebubbles]

I was thinking about Coupling and how I might rewrite it to keep all the things that charm me about it while making the gross icky parts less gross and icky, and I realized that ninety percent of the changes would pertain to the handling of Jane and Jeff’s backstories.

Because Jane was a bisexual woman repeatedly being told that she wasn’t, was

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Ooh, yes! I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!

[captlebubbles]

I just keep thinking about Jane and how unfair it is that everyone treated her bisexuality like a game. Like I wouldn't change it from her friends because them being butts to her is a part of the overall presentation of the show, but it'd be nice if there was someone who heard her say "I'm bisexual" and then went "oh, lovely!" or something. Or even if it wasn't treated as just something to titillate potential male partners.

I'd also change the way Steve's fetishization of sapphic women was presented in general: frame it as fetishization rather than a perfectly healthy expression of sexuality. (I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with enjoying gay porn of the gender you're attracted to, but Steve often flirts round the edges of "sapphic women exist for my titillation" and he gets very passionate about how he's not fetishizing anyone, not him, nosirree, women should be taking it as a compliment that he wants to see them naked

[captlebubbles]

The trick with reframing the way the show is presented is to keep the irreverent humor that I love so much (the joke about Jane's loneliness seminar was funny, even if it was sad), while still exploring the depths the characters were given and giving them a fair chance all the same. Dark, irreverent humor is fine, but give the girl a chance to cope with her depression better. People not taking her sexuality seriously is fine, but at least let the narrative validate it. Jeff being blase about his abusive upbringing is understandable, but at least let his friends not entirely write it off. You know?

[wolfy_writing]

Yes! Like you can do it where friends are dismissive of Jane's bisexuality and the joke is on them. A lot of the Patrick jokes were jokes about his asshole behavior, so why not reframe the "Jane bi? Please, she's just doing it to seem sexy to men" as jokes on the other characters being the asshole

[captlebubbles]

Patrick would definitely use the "Um, I have standards???" approach to Sally's insecurities. He's obviously suddenly discovered the ability to have romantic feelings, he's not going to do that for just any woman so clearly Sally has value beyond her relationship. (I think in skilled hands Patrick could absolutely present this as him pointing it out to her, not him gifting her with value

[wolfy_writing]

Yeah, if you did the jokes right, it could be funny and in-character and reinforce the message that he's recognizing the value she already had, not bestowing value on her. (Why would Patrick have a relationship woman he had to bestow value on, when he deserves someone who's already amazing

[captlebubbles]

It's like when he was trying to tell Sally he was into her and he was like "you deserve Mr. Fantastically Amazingly Wonderful" and was talking about himself. Like, Patrick's self-absorption is actually a really good way of framing that narrative, and Sally having that supportive attitude to lean on would go a long way in helping her deal with her insecurities. "Patrick thinks he's great and he's never done the romo thing before, so maybe he's onto something when he says I'm worth more than just being married before I get too old?" And of course Susan there to say "Yes, obviously, you're funny and talented and clever and beautiful, you clearly have vast amounts of worth" just to reinforce that

[wolfy_writing]

Yes! Patrick and his ego giving the "Of course you're wonderful! Look, I'm a devastatingly handsome man who's pulled busloads of gorgeous women, so I have no reason to settle down with anyone who isn't breathtakingly amazing!" And then Susan with her intelligence and people skills and really caring about Sally as a friend being all "But your talents! Your intelligence! Your kindness

[captlebubbles]

Susan and Patrick teaming up to be Team Sally Is Gr9 would be excellent. (And Sally having the eventual emotional breakdown that inevitably comes when you have very poor self-worth and people you admire keep telling you you're great could be that seasons emotional arc

[wolfy_writing]

Ooh yes! (And yeah, if someone has low self-worth, the initial reaction to people going "You're great!" is going to be distress, not an immediate "Yay, I'm wonderful!" And she'd be worried about being distressed and crying and having emotional needs in front of Patrick, but he'd be...flawed at being supportive, but in a sweet and committed way

[captlebubbles]

Like... Patrick could do his like "duh, of course you're awesome, standards???" thing and Sally is like "why are you saying these things!!!!!" and breaks down and is scared that Patrick will change his mind and he's like "I just don't get why you can't see how maddeningly great you are!! You're like all the things I like about girls and all the things I like about hanging out with blokes!! You're like the whole package!! Why do you keep saying you're not!!" And Sally is just crying and she's gone all snotty and gross (emotional breakdowns are not attractive) and in the end he's just holding and petting her like "why can't you just see how great you are?" and "if you need someone to tell you then I will, every day if I have to" and she's like "????????does not compute" because how does??? Emotions are hard

[wolfy_writing]

That is perfect! Like he misses a bit at first, because he thinks it's simple, because Sally is obviously great, so she should know that, and if not, telling her should fix it, but when he sees this isn't instantly fixing things, he wants to stay there and keep at it! And Sally knows Patrick, and he's not running away, he thinks she's wonderful even when she's snotty and sobbing for reasons she can't explain, so that's something that when she's able to take it on board will mean a lot.

I saw! Yay!

Yes! And like Susan is all "I'm angry and need to walk it off" and Steve learns to neither panic nor go into a huff about things" and Susan says that without taking a swipe at Steve, and it's better than it was!

Ooh yes! This would be such a good episode!

Yeah, I don't know how to use Oliver.

Also, at some point can Jane have either a girlfriend or a "Yes, we totally dated, and broke up for normal reasons" ex-girlfriend? And her friends are all "Huh, really?" and maybe they get at least less obnoxious about it?

[captlebubbles]

Patrick would be out of his depth but the fact that he's trying would actually matter a lot to Sally.

Susan walking away and Steve not panicking because he's worried she won't come back but she usually does and they have a history of that working out for them, so he's better able to trust that he's not about to lose her. And Steve needing to vent and rant for a bit just to get all of his thoughts out and Susan giving him the space he needs to do that and actually brings up the things he says in his rants so they can talk about them.

She absolutely can! It'll be the girl she mentioned in the first episode when she was trying to lure Steve back, and Steve's like "Wait you're real????" and she's like "what, you don't believe her?" I've decided Elisabeth is an Angry Bisexual who gets really passionate about people not taking bisexuality seriously. She gives Jane a lot of much-needed validation of her sexuality

[wolfy_writing]

Yeah, that means a lot from anyone, and it's Patrick.

And like she recognizes the difference between Steve being stupid and Steve incoherently working his way towards a concept!

Yes! I love it!

(Jeff would totally have a bizarre panic about dating men that's not like a normal panic, but like Jeff-logic, where there's like eleven steps in the logic chain before anyone knows what he's talking about!)

[captlebubbles]

Jeff skips straight through all the usual internalized homophobia and gets right to "well now I don't just have to worry about saying the wrong thing to women, I have to worry about saying the wrong thing to men, too!" with a healthy dollop of "now that I know I like men I can't stop thinking about how attractive they are, have you ever noticed how nice the freckles on that bloke behind the bar are???"

(Also, Patrick hears this and assumes Jeff also thinks he's attractive, but it turns out not to be the usual "oh no, my guy friend likes guys now, what if he hits on me?" and more "well obviously he'll think I'm attractive, why wouldn't he?")

[wolfy_writing]

"I can't date blokes, I can't even remember the name of the radio show!"
"What?"
"The one with the secret gay language!"
"What?"

(Fun fact - Polari was a secret gay slang used mainly in the UK that was well-nigh incomprehensible until in the sixties or seventies it was used in a popular radio show. No one uses it any more, and it's certainly not obligatory to date men, but Jeff would be around the age of having barely heard of it, and I could totally see him panicking he doesn't speak secret gay language.)

(That is exactly how Patrick would react, and he'd be offended about Jeff not fancying him.)