My Mad Fat Diary: Thoughts & pic spam on episode 2.04 Friday
Blurb: As Rae grows closer to Liam, his new girlfriend Amy starts getting suspicious and threatening towards Rae. Meanwhile, Archie is struggling to cope after Rae outed him to Lois.
*
We start the episode towards the end of the week and then flashback as Rae tells us rather dolefully that she prefers nightmares because her reality is worse.
As we flashback, she describes her new hero worship for Liam.
1. He's dating Amy so there's no chance of anything romantic happening. No need to get naked
2. He understands her.
3. He's absolutely fearless and is not scared by the world. He grabs life by the ears and Rae says "he is exactly what I need … when I'm with him I feel alive because he's completely invincible."
Rae is woken up by the sound of an electronic call to prayer. She goes downstairs to find the comical sight of her mother at morning prayers. Her mum also tells her that Karim wants the baby to be Muslim so they have to eat all the pork in the house before the Iman comes to visit. Karim also seems to have found himself a job.
She goes to Archie's house to try to apologise for outing him to Lois.
"I know I screwed up."
"You didn't just screw up Rae. You ruined my life."
He hasn't spoken to Lois since Rae told her. She says that she couldn't afford proper helium balloons and she would have written him a song but she can't play the guitar. He remains unmoved and a sad Rae leaves the balloons behind.
During group therapy, Danny Two Hats is sharing his account of the day he found out that a loved one died. I know some people say it's Tix but for some reason I thought it was his mother. One of the other patients is being a bitch and basically tells Danny to get over it. Liam intervenes: "At least the rest of us have the good sense to know when to shut the fuck up and listen." This makes Rae idolise him even more: "He's so brave, doesn't care what people think. "
Of course we know that Liam can't be perfect so when he and Rae encounter Amy his girlfriend, he lies to her about being at group. He says that they were studying together. Rae realises: "We were more alike than I first thought" as she sees that he is lying about being ill.
Rae goes to watch Archie play football. He sees her but looks away.
Unexpectedly, Finn appears. He doesn't look cold or hostile. Rae is sensitive to his feelings.
Rae: Do you want me to go?
Finn: Don't be silly. Look I don't like this. It's ridiculous. Can we be friends?
Rae: You know I'd love that
Interestingly, Archie glancing over seems to thaw out a little. Perhaps he thinks that if even Rae and Finn can reconcile, then he can be a little bit more yielding …
Archie and Rae talk about what's happened. I notice that Finn was in the background. She says: "Look I don't know why I did it. I guess it just reminded me of when you went out with me." She asks if he'll forgive her if she says sorry a million times. That makes him sile.
He starts to say: "I just keep going down the same path and I feel too polite to stop it and before long I've gone and .."
Unfortunately at that point, Lois comes up, says that her reputation has been ruined and that she's giving him till Friday to confess that he's gay. If he doesn’t, she'll tell everyone. A very distressed Archie leaves an equally distressed Rae sitting at the table on her own.
Liam still refuses to tell Amy about group.
Rae: Liam you're like the bravest person I know.
Liam: It's none of their business.
Rae: You're just like me.
Liam: You think I should tell people I'm mental?
Amy comes up and is jealous all over again when she sees them holding hands. I don't know why they had to hold hands either :P She threatens Rae with physical harm if she doesn't back off.
Danny is adorable. "I know that Tix used to give you a lot of sound advice. A lot of pressure here. Big shoes to fill and all that." He suggests that perhaps Amy is all mouth and no trousers and that perhaps Rae is secretly you're really hard and she just doesn't know it - after all she's big. When Rae protests she isn't hard, he tells her fight or flight. "Just stay away from Liam."
She tries to talk to Chloe but Chloe confirms that Amy's pretty tough. Attacked someone and put them in hospital. Chloe tells Rae to stay away from Liam which she agrees to do. Chloe asks if she knows what's wrong with Archie. Apparently he's thinking about chucking in college.
Liam sees Rae, she avoids him but then they go behind a curtain to talk. He still refuses to tell Amy but says he'll smooth things over.
I don't know how they don't realise that they've been talking in front of a window and Amy has seen them talking and hugging. She goes ballistic.
Rae cuts school and dashes home to stuff her face from the larder but is distracted by the appearance of the Iman in the lounge room.
Amy shows up with Lois and Vicky and threatens her. I didn't realise that Vicky was so horrible - stirring up Amy and trying to make it worse. Amy says if she doesn't explain by Friday she's going to smash her. Rae goes to find Liam but he avoids her.
On Wednesday, Rae decides she wants to try to confront Amy and realises that she needs back-up. The gang are there to support her but Finn says Chop can't hit a girl. Archie points out that they can't be there to defend her all the time.
Chloe shows up and Rae asks her to talk to Amy but she says she can't take sides.
Rae: Chloe you're supposed to be my best mate.
Chloe: Yeah well Amy told me how you two keep going off together. It is suspicious, Rae.
Finn looks up quickly and stares. Rae claims there's nothing between them.
Chloe flounces off when Rae refuses to go into detail about how she and Liam met. Finn watches her leave.
Rae: He just gets me.
Chloe: What and I don't? I thought I was supposed to be your best mate.
Finn comes up and offers to teach her how to defend herself. She accepts and they exchange sweet smiles.
During their training session, she ogles his butt again and has regret for breaking up. He gets a bit heated up and jealous and so does she, actually.
Finn: So is there anything going on between you and Liam then?
Rae: No. Why do you think there is?
Finn: Amy Malone does
Rae: Well she's a psycho
Finn: Is it true that she got chucked out of college because she broke that guy's nose?
Rae: Jesus
They swap so that it's Finn's turn to punch
Finn: I don't really know Liam but he seems a bit weird, doesn't he?
Rae: He's actually a good laugh. He's really into his music as well. He's pretty cool once you get to know him.
They swap again.
Rae: So what about you then?
Finn: What?
Rae: Well, you seein' anyone else"
Finn: No not really no.
Rae: What do you mean not really?
Finn: Well ... sort of got a date this Friday ... just it's a favour for a friend. No big deal.
She punches him.
Finn: That's pretty fucking good Rae.
Rae: I can't do this. I can't hit someone.
Finn: So what you gonna do? You can't just stand there and let her punch you ...
Finn's a sweetheart. Didn't seem to mind that Rae had punched him in the face :P
Liam's still in hiding …
Rae decides for the option of flight since fight is not an option and to her surprise Archie comes around to pick her up and run away with her since he also wants to get out of town before Friday
The car breaks down and they have the most gorgeous conversation by the side of the road. He talks about how he doesn't want to be a coward, and he wants to do the right thing. He's not afraid of the world, his parents - he's afraid that Finn may misconstrue things because they've been best mates since school, having sleepovers.
Archie: Do you know who J Bruce Ismay is?
Rae: No
Archie: He's the managing director of White Star Lines. He oversaw the construction of the Titanic. Sailed with her on her maiden voyage. When the ship sank he abandoned it and left 1,500 people to die. He's one of the greatest cowards in history. But no one remembers the cowards really. People remember the heroes.
Rae: You're not a coward
Archie: I am Rae.
Rae: What are you most scared of?
Archie: Homo
Rae: What?
Archie: Gay, poof, bender, queer, faggot, nancy boy ...
Rae: Stop now.
Archie: Poofter, shirt lifter, uphill gardener, fudge nudger, queen, babber stabber.
Rae: Archie - give up
Archie: I don't think many people would do it to my face, but behind my back .. it's going to change everything. It's not like your fight Rae where it's over in an afternoon. It's forever. Do you know who I'm most worried about? [Rae shakes her head] It's not my parents. And it's not the lads at college. It's Finn. We've been mates since primary. Had sleepovers. We've topped and tailed in the same bed. When he finds out I don't want him thinking back to them times and getting the wrong idea. He's my mate, you know?
She hugs him and presses a kiss to his head and it's so sweet.
She says that they should go back - and be cowards together....
Kester tries to warn her about Liam. She tells Kester about it He gives her advice.
Following Kester's advice, she speaks to Amy alone and manages to 'reach' her but unfortunately Vicky is there to stir things up again.
Rae goes in search of Liam. It turns out that he's also pretty messed up and not really any braver, calmer or normal than she is. She manages to calm him down from a panic attack.
Unfortunately, for reasons known only to the writers - they kiss :P It might have been the stress … I don't know why Rae would want to kiss someone who had caused her so much trouble to be honest and even though Liam 'understands' her, he's not really that appealing except for his defence of Danny. He promises to be there on Friday to clear things up with Amy.
Rae has a sleepover at Archie's and they wake up to Friday together.
Archie: I'm fed up Rae. I'm fed up with being scared
Rae: It's all right being scared. It's what you do when you're scared that matters
Archie: Yeah well I'm not doing anything, am I? I wanna be proud of who I am. I wanna be proud of myself. How can I be proud of myself if I'm hiding
Rae: So, what do you want to do?
They convene a meeting at the chippy. Finn's there rolling a cigarette. They all speculate and worry. They worry it's a terminal illness, that Lois is pregnant ... Izzy and Chloe are anxious. Chop is impatient because he has to get back to work.
Archie: I'm not ill. Pleases stop guessing ...well you know how me and Lois broke up
Chop: Tell me you've not brought me down here for that - I'm gonna get bollocked when I get back
Izzy: He's clearly not finished
Archie: I wanted to tell you - why it didn't work out ...
He looks so sad and Finn looks up at his mate. Archie opens his mouth, nothing comes out and he signs. Rae gives him an encouraging look. Finn speaks unexpectedly.
Finn: Just tell 'em Arch
Archie stares at him in shock then stares at Rae as if to ask if she told him. Rae shakes her head and looks as puzzled as him.
Archie: You know?
Finn stares at him.
Finn: Of course I know - you're my best mate
There's a faint smile on his face and no hint of judgment.
Archie: You never said anything ...
Finn: Neither did you. Listen - it's your business
There's a faint smile on Finn's face. Archie looks baffled and Fin looks at him, nods and smiles encouragingly.
Chloe: Archie - what's going on?
Archie looks down, eyes filled with tears. He looks at Rae.
Archie: I'm gay...
Rae smiles. Finn smiles. Chop looks perplexed. Izzy smiles. Chloe looks shocked but then happy. Chloe: That's why you wouldn't get off with me
Everyone exchanges glances and laughs. Finn and Rae glance at one another laughingly. That makes Archie laugh. Chloe and Izzy hug.
Finn glances up at Rae and smiles. Rae stares at him. There's a lovely gifset here. She becomes serious though as she remembers that they're just friends.
Rae goes to her confrontation with Amy, expecting Liam to be there - but he's not.
Amy and her friends appear - ready to beat up Rae but Chloe is an intervenes at the last minute, attesting to Rae's character and swearing that she'd never do the wrong thing with Liam. Amy punches Chloe.
Rae confesses that she and Liam kissed the day before :( Amy runs away in tears. She says that she and Liam are the same - they're both mad, they're both fat and they both let people down ... She stares at Chloe, apologetic and Chloe looks reproachful.
She goes home to the larder to eat but cans fall out and hit her in the face bruising her. To be honest, I don't have a great deal of sympathy for her at this moment.
She goes down to chat to her mum who comforts her and they talk about her mum giving up bacon for Karim. Her mum stares at a sleeping Karim and says: "I'm pretty good at messing things up Rae.
I love that man so much .. such a quiet kind person. He's so special to me that I'm going to try everything I can not to mess it up."
This resonates and in the next scene she sees Finn leaning over a girl in a car, kissing her on the cheek before she drives away. "I wish I'd tried harder not to mess things up because I was starting to realise that quiet, kind special people come along once in a life time."
Archie comes to sit with her and laughs at her bruises. Things are light and funny at first as they talk about how his parents are ok with it .. people like Chop will need more time ... but then when he gets booted from the football team, he knows that the 'discrimination' has begun and that there are consequences to coming out ...
Rae was very Rae in this … she had her sublime moments like redeeming herself with Archie, trying to reach Amy … then she had her low moments like kissing Liam, disappointing Chloe and not speaking honestly with Finn about how she felt…
I'm not fussed about Rae/Finn. I know people are distressed about their estrangement but it's pretty clear that the writers are just toying with us. They still care about one another, they have chemistry - they'll be together eventually. I really feel like some fans are taking the ‘break up’ a little bit too personally and seriously. We have a young woman who’s attempted suicide twice, still has very severe body image issues and is probably still quite mentally unwell. The boy she was dating had very little understanding or insight into this - not his fault - but she clearly needs to deal with some issues before she’s ready to take on a relationship.
I feel compelled to reiterate that it's not Finn's fault he's not totally across all of Rae's issues. She's been pretty frank with Archie, Chloe and Izzy about a lot of things but for the most part she's kept up her bravado in front of Finn and he can really only go on what she tells him - which is that she's doing ok.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a hopeless and incurable shipper - but the love-story needs to make sense to me. Love doesn’t fix everything and teen romance certainly isn’t a panacea for the problems that Rae has. I applaud her for being mature in the way she handled the relationship both before and after. She was respectful of him when he said he couldn’t be friends, she didn't give him a hard time about it. She accepted his decision, the way he had accepted hers and she was careful to give him space because she realised that it was probably very upsetting for him. She behaved in a considerate and mature manner even though it meant having no one to hang out with.
I think that people who get so upset about it almost seem to think that love/romance/a third party like Finn can help to fix things when really only Rae can address her issues.
I'd also like to mention that, My Mad Fat Diary is not a love story - it has a love story in it and to me, those are my favourite sorts of love stories. I've mentioned before in a Homeland context that for me, a love story between Carrie and Quinn will only work for me if they're out there doing spycraft stuff and love blossoms between them in the background. I find stories that focus squarely on a romance pretty boring to be honest. That's why love blossoming between partners/coworkers/enemies can be more compelling than just an outright love story. MMFD is about teenage years, about belonging, about mental illness, about friendship, about music ... it's about so many different things. The Rae/Finn friendship/romance is one of my favourite elements of the show, but it is not the most important element of the show.
About Chop, I could be totally wrong but I really don't think that he is homophobic.
He doesn't know how to deal with Archie's revelation. It was the last thing in the world he was expecting first thing on a Friday morning.
I noticed that when Archie announced that he was gay, he looked towards Rae the 'daddy' of the group for guidance as it to ask: "Did you know?" and also to see how he should be reacting to the news.
I think he's just very confused about how to process the information. He's probably confused he didn't know/didn't realise this about Archie. He was also friends with Archie and with Finn saying: "Of course I knew", perhaps he's wondering whether he should have known, too. About why he didn't intervene when Archie was excluded from football, yes that was wrong - but he probably wants a bit of distance from his friend right now until he clarifies his thoughts.
Of course I could be wrong. Perhaps Chop was raised to hate gay people, perhaps he's uncomfortable with all the times he's been close to and confided to Archie. I don't think so though. I liked that it added to the realisation of the revelation. To have the whole gang just accepting it without any issue wouldn't have been realistic.
Index to other MMFD pic spams/episode thoughts
*
We start the episode towards the end of the week and then flashback as Rae tells us rather dolefully that she prefers nightmares because her reality is worse.
As we flashback, she describes her new hero worship for Liam.
1. He's dating Amy so there's no chance of anything romantic happening. No need to get naked
2. He understands her.
3. He's absolutely fearless and is not scared by the world. He grabs life by the ears and Rae says "he is exactly what I need … when I'm with him I feel alive because he's completely invincible."
Rae is woken up by the sound of an electronic call to prayer. She goes downstairs to find the comical sight of her mother at morning prayers. Her mum also tells her that Karim wants the baby to be Muslim so they have to eat all the pork in the house before the Iman comes to visit. Karim also seems to have found himself a job.
She goes to Archie's house to try to apologise for outing him to Lois.
"I know I screwed up."
"You didn't just screw up Rae. You ruined my life."
He hasn't spoken to Lois since Rae told her. She says that she couldn't afford proper helium balloons and she would have written him a song but she can't play the guitar. He remains unmoved and a sad Rae leaves the balloons behind.
During group therapy, Danny Two Hats is sharing his account of the day he found out that a loved one died. I know some people say it's Tix but for some reason I thought it was his mother. One of the other patients is being a bitch and basically tells Danny to get over it. Liam intervenes: "At least the rest of us have the good sense to know when to shut the fuck up and listen." This makes Rae idolise him even more: "He's so brave, doesn't care what people think. "
Of course we know that Liam can't be perfect so when he and Rae encounter Amy his girlfriend, he lies to her about being at group. He says that they were studying together. Rae realises: "We were more alike than I first thought" as she sees that he is lying about being ill.
Rae goes to watch Archie play football. He sees her but looks away.
Unexpectedly, Finn appears. He doesn't look cold or hostile. Rae is sensitive to his feelings.
Rae: Do you want me to go?
Finn: Don't be silly. Look I don't like this. It's ridiculous. Can we be friends?
Rae: You know I'd love that
Interestingly, Archie glancing over seems to thaw out a little. Perhaps he thinks that if even Rae and Finn can reconcile, then he can be a little bit more yielding …
Archie and Rae talk about what's happened. I notice that Finn was in the background. She says: "Look I don't know why I did it. I guess it just reminded me of when you went out with me." She asks if he'll forgive her if she says sorry a million times. That makes him sile.
He starts to say: "I just keep going down the same path and I feel too polite to stop it and before long I've gone and .."
Unfortunately at that point, Lois comes up, says that her reputation has been ruined and that she's giving him till Friday to confess that he's gay. If he doesn’t, she'll tell everyone. A very distressed Archie leaves an equally distressed Rae sitting at the table on her own.
Liam still refuses to tell Amy about group.
Rae: Liam you're like the bravest person I know.
Liam: It's none of their business.
Rae: You're just like me.
Liam: You think I should tell people I'm mental?
Amy comes up and is jealous all over again when she sees them holding hands. I don't know why they had to hold hands either :P She threatens Rae with physical harm if she doesn't back off.
Danny is adorable. "I know that Tix used to give you a lot of sound advice. A lot of pressure here. Big shoes to fill and all that." He suggests that perhaps Amy is all mouth and no trousers and that perhaps Rae is secretly you're really hard and she just doesn't know it - after all she's big. When Rae protests she isn't hard, he tells her fight or flight. "Just stay away from Liam."
She tries to talk to Chloe but Chloe confirms that Amy's pretty tough. Attacked someone and put them in hospital. Chloe tells Rae to stay away from Liam which she agrees to do. Chloe asks if she knows what's wrong with Archie. Apparently he's thinking about chucking in college.
Liam sees Rae, she avoids him but then they go behind a curtain to talk. He still refuses to tell Amy but says he'll smooth things over.
I don't know how they don't realise that they've been talking in front of a window and Amy has seen them talking and hugging. She goes ballistic.
Rae cuts school and dashes home to stuff her face from the larder but is distracted by the appearance of the Iman in the lounge room.
Amy shows up with Lois and Vicky and threatens her. I didn't realise that Vicky was so horrible - stirring up Amy and trying to make it worse. Amy says if she doesn't explain by Friday she's going to smash her. Rae goes to find Liam but he avoids her.
On Wednesday, Rae decides she wants to try to confront Amy and realises that she needs back-up. The gang are there to support her but Finn says Chop can't hit a girl. Archie points out that they can't be there to defend her all the time.
Chloe shows up and Rae asks her to talk to Amy but she says she can't take sides.
Rae: Chloe you're supposed to be my best mate.
Chloe: Yeah well Amy told me how you two keep going off together. It is suspicious, Rae.
Finn looks up quickly and stares. Rae claims there's nothing between them.
Chloe flounces off when Rae refuses to go into detail about how she and Liam met. Finn watches her leave.
Rae: He just gets me.
Chloe: What and I don't? I thought I was supposed to be your best mate.
Finn comes up and offers to teach her how to defend herself. She accepts and they exchange sweet smiles.
During their training session, she ogles his butt again and has regret for breaking up. He gets a bit heated up and jealous and so does she, actually.
Finn: So is there anything going on between you and Liam then?
Rae: No. Why do you think there is?
Finn: Amy Malone does
Rae: Well she's a psycho
Finn: Is it true that she got chucked out of college because she broke that guy's nose?
Rae: Jesus
They swap so that it's Finn's turn to punch
Finn: I don't really know Liam but he seems a bit weird, doesn't he?
Rae: He's actually a good laugh. He's really into his music as well. He's pretty cool once you get to know him.
They swap again.
Rae: So what about you then?
Finn: What?
Rae: Well, you seein' anyone else"
Finn: No not really no.
Rae: What do you mean not really?
Finn: Well ... sort of got a date this Friday ... just it's a favour for a friend. No big deal.
She punches him.
Finn: That's pretty fucking good Rae.
Rae: I can't do this. I can't hit someone.
Finn: So what you gonna do? You can't just stand there and let her punch you ...
Finn's a sweetheart. Didn't seem to mind that Rae had punched him in the face :P
Liam's still in hiding …
Rae decides for the option of flight since fight is not an option and to her surprise Archie comes around to pick her up and run away with her since he also wants to get out of town before Friday
The car breaks down and they have the most gorgeous conversation by the side of the road. He talks about how he doesn't want to be a coward, and he wants to do the right thing. He's not afraid of the world, his parents - he's afraid that Finn may misconstrue things because they've been best mates since school, having sleepovers.
Archie: Do you know who J Bruce Ismay is?
Rae: No
Archie: He's the managing director of White Star Lines. He oversaw the construction of the Titanic. Sailed with her on her maiden voyage. When the ship sank he abandoned it and left 1,500 people to die. He's one of the greatest cowards in history. But no one remembers the cowards really. People remember the heroes.
Rae: You're not a coward
Archie: I am Rae.
Rae: What are you most scared of?
Archie: Homo
Rae: What?
Archie: Gay, poof, bender, queer, faggot, nancy boy ...
Rae: Stop now.
Archie: Poofter, shirt lifter, uphill gardener, fudge nudger, queen, babber stabber.
Rae: Archie - give up
Archie: I don't think many people would do it to my face, but behind my back .. it's going to change everything. It's not like your fight Rae where it's over in an afternoon. It's forever. Do you know who I'm most worried about? [Rae shakes her head] It's not my parents. And it's not the lads at college. It's Finn. We've been mates since primary. Had sleepovers. We've topped and tailed in the same bed. When he finds out I don't want him thinking back to them times and getting the wrong idea. He's my mate, you know?
She hugs him and presses a kiss to his head and it's so sweet.
She says that they should go back - and be cowards together....
Kester tries to warn her about Liam. She tells Kester about it He gives her advice.
Following Kester's advice, she speaks to Amy alone and manages to 'reach' her but unfortunately Vicky is there to stir things up again.
Rae goes in search of Liam. It turns out that he's also pretty messed up and not really any braver, calmer or normal than she is. She manages to calm him down from a panic attack.
Unfortunately, for reasons known only to the writers - they kiss :P It might have been the stress … I don't know why Rae would want to kiss someone who had caused her so much trouble to be honest and even though Liam 'understands' her, he's not really that appealing except for his defence of Danny. He promises to be there on Friday to clear things up with Amy.
Rae has a sleepover at Archie's and they wake up to Friday together.
Archie: I'm fed up Rae. I'm fed up with being scared
Rae: It's all right being scared. It's what you do when you're scared that matters
Archie: Yeah well I'm not doing anything, am I? I wanna be proud of who I am. I wanna be proud of myself. How can I be proud of myself if I'm hiding
Rae: So, what do you want to do?
They convene a meeting at the chippy. Finn's there rolling a cigarette. They all speculate and worry. They worry it's a terminal illness, that Lois is pregnant ... Izzy and Chloe are anxious. Chop is impatient because he has to get back to work.
Archie: I'm not ill. Pleases stop guessing ...well you know how me and Lois broke up
Chop: Tell me you've not brought me down here for that - I'm gonna get bollocked when I get back
Izzy: He's clearly not finished
Archie: I wanted to tell you - why it didn't work out ...
He looks so sad and Finn looks up at his mate. Archie opens his mouth, nothing comes out and he signs. Rae gives him an encouraging look. Finn speaks unexpectedly.
Finn: Just tell 'em Arch
Archie stares at him in shock then stares at Rae as if to ask if she told him. Rae shakes her head and looks as puzzled as him.
Archie: You know?
Finn stares at him.
Finn: Of course I know - you're my best mate
There's a faint smile on his face and no hint of judgment.
Archie: You never said anything ...
Finn: Neither did you. Listen - it's your business
There's a faint smile on Finn's face. Archie looks baffled and Fin looks at him, nods and smiles encouragingly.
Chloe: Archie - what's going on?
Archie looks down, eyes filled with tears. He looks at Rae.
Archie: I'm gay...
Rae smiles. Finn smiles. Chop looks perplexed. Izzy smiles. Chloe looks shocked but then happy. Chloe: That's why you wouldn't get off with me
Everyone exchanges glances and laughs. Finn and Rae glance at one another laughingly. That makes Archie laugh. Chloe and Izzy hug.
Finn glances up at Rae and smiles. Rae stares at him. There's a lovely gifset here. She becomes serious though as she remembers that they're just friends.
Rae goes to her confrontation with Amy, expecting Liam to be there - but he's not.
Amy and her friends appear - ready to beat up Rae but Chloe is an intervenes at the last minute, attesting to Rae's character and swearing that she'd never do the wrong thing with Liam. Amy punches Chloe.
Rae confesses that she and Liam kissed the day before :( Amy runs away in tears. She says that she and Liam are the same - they're both mad, they're both fat and they both let people down ... She stares at Chloe, apologetic and Chloe looks reproachful.
She goes home to the larder to eat but cans fall out and hit her in the face bruising her. To be honest, I don't have a great deal of sympathy for her at this moment.
She goes down to chat to her mum who comforts her and they talk about her mum giving up bacon for Karim. Her mum stares at a sleeping Karim and says: "I'm pretty good at messing things up Rae.
I love that man so much .. such a quiet kind person. He's so special to me that I'm going to try everything I can not to mess it up."
This resonates and in the next scene she sees Finn leaning over a girl in a car, kissing her on the cheek before she drives away. "I wish I'd tried harder not to mess things up because I was starting to realise that quiet, kind special people come along once in a life time."
Archie comes to sit with her and laughs at her bruises. Things are light and funny at first as they talk about how his parents are ok with it .. people like Chop will need more time ... but then when he gets booted from the football team, he knows that the 'discrimination' has begun and that there are consequences to coming out ...
Rae was very Rae in this … she had her sublime moments like redeeming herself with Archie, trying to reach Amy … then she had her low moments like kissing Liam, disappointing Chloe and not speaking honestly with Finn about how she felt…
I'm not fussed about Rae/Finn. I know people are distressed about their estrangement but it's pretty clear that the writers are just toying with us. They still care about one another, they have chemistry - they'll be together eventually. I really feel like some fans are taking the ‘break up’ a little bit too personally and seriously. We have a young woman who’s attempted suicide twice, still has very severe body image issues and is probably still quite mentally unwell. The boy she was dating had very little understanding or insight into this - not his fault - but she clearly needs to deal with some issues before she’s ready to take on a relationship.
I feel compelled to reiterate that it's not Finn's fault he's not totally across all of Rae's issues. She's been pretty frank with Archie, Chloe and Izzy about a lot of things but for the most part she's kept up her bravado in front of Finn and he can really only go on what she tells him - which is that she's doing ok.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a hopeless and incurable shipper - but the love-story needs to make sense to me. Love doesn’t fix everything and teen romance certainly isn’t a panacea for the problems that Rae has. I applaud her for being mature in the way she handled the relationship both before and after. She was respectful of him when he said he couldn’t be friends, she didn't give him a hard time about it. She accepted his decision, the way he had accepted hers and she was careful to give him space because she realised that it was probably very upsetting for him. She behaved in a considerate and mature manner even though it meant having no one to hang out with.
I think that people who get so upset about it almost seem to think that love/romance/a third party like Finn can help to fix things when really only Rae can address her issues.
I'd also like to mention that, My Mad Fat Diary is not a love story - it has a love story in it and to me, those are my favourite sorts of love stories. I've mentioned before in a Homeland context that for me, a love story between Carrie and Quinn will only work for me if they're out there doing spycraft stuff and love blossoms between them in the background. I find stories that focus squarely on a romance pretty boring to be honest. That's why love blossoming between partners/coworkers/enemies can be more compelling than just an outright love story. MMFD is about teenage years, about belonging, about mental illness, about friendship, about music ... it's about so many different things. The Rae/Finn friendship/romance is one of my favourite elements of the show, but it is not the most important element of the show.
About Chop, I could be totally wrong but I really don't think that he is homophobic.
He doesn't know how to deal with Archie's revelation. It was the last thing in the world he was expecting first thing on a Friday morning.
I noticed that when Archie announced that he was gay, he looked towards Rae the 'daddy' of the group for guidance as it to ask: "Did you know?" and also to see how he should be reacting to the news.
I think he's just very confused about how to process the information. He's probably confused he didn't know/didn't realise this about Archie. He was also friends with Archie and with Finn saying: "Of course I knew", perhaps he's wondering whether he should have known, too. About why he didn't intervene when Archie was excluded from football, yes that was wrong - but he probably wants a bit of distance from his friend right now until he clarifies his thoughts.
Of course I could be wrong. Perhaps Chop was raised to hate gay people, perhaps he's uncomfortable with all the times he's been close to and confided to Archie. I don't think so though. I liked that it added to the realisation of the revelation. To have the whole gang just accepting it without any issue wouldn't have been realistic.
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