Sorry, I didn’t mean to come across as all melodramatic and OMGONLYJADENFANINTHEWORLDWHATISWRONGWTHFANDOM at everyone. :P I guess all the talk on TWOP about how Jaden was useless/ should be killed off so Hines can be sacked and the budget freed up etc. was really, really getting me down.
I think this is due to how she's been written so far. She's sort of all over the place.
I don't think the writers pay enough attention to Jaden's arc but I think the little that we see of her, and her inner life, is quite consistent.
Obviously, I’m all for Jaden and Alex not becoming friends, mind, but allies with a touch of Nakama down the road. But the one thing I will ask for if they do stay on opposite sides is that Jaden does it for something more than vengeance for Thom, who was a shitty friend to her. I confess that I’m sort of projecting Alias S1!Anna Esponsa’s relationship with Sydney on my wishes for Jaden/Alex. I always though Sydney and Anna will team up ‘the enemy of my enemy’ style but not only did the show not go that way, they changed Anna from a rather ruthless mercenary who found Sydney irritating to a crazed religious zealot obsessed with Sydney. As much as I like f/f mentor/student relationships, I also love to see contemporaries interacting and it’s been a while since I’ve seen that in a spy show. Thom never followed up with Alex about near-letting-Jaden-take-the-fall - hence my rant. Like I said earlier, Jaden might have been a bitch to Alex but she was *his* friend and they had an on/off physical relationship (All the Way confirms this) and regardless of his feelings for Alex, you don’t just throw your old friend-with-benefits under the bus especially if that bus can be a cancellation!
Actually, now I kind of wonder if it's not so much they think it's inconsequential, but more they were laying the groundwork to show, as you said, Alex's "intrinsic Udinov ruthlessness."
I’m certainly getting that vibe post-Echoes, but I think it would have been done more effectively and certainly made more in-verse sense if Thom had lampshaded it. I didn't care much about the whole 9021007 thing with Alex/Thom/Jaden pre-hiatus but since the writers had bothered to set up that dynamic, they should have followed it through.
I didn’t mean to come across as all melodramatic and OMGONLYJADENFANINTHEWORLDWHATISWRONGWTHFANDOM at everyone.
Oh, no I didn't get that feeling! I know what it's like to be in the minority of fans who like a character.
Maybe it's my knee-jerk reaction to the show being on the CW and shows with girls being frenemies, but I for one would love to see Jaden develop into a Division agent who a) likes her job and b) is good at it. I don't know why, but I feel that Jaden and Alex actually being on opposite sides would be something fresh and different (at least for me). I do agree though, I'd hate for Jaden's story to just be about avenging Thom.
you don’t just throw your old friend-with-benefits under the bus especially if that bus can be a cancellation!
Again, I do wonder if there was more to that bit of storyline that ended up on the cutting room floor due to time. The way the writers seemed to present Thom, I wouldn't think he'd leave Jaden hanging if Michael hadn't stepped in.
I didn't care much about the whole 9021007 thing with Alex/Thom/Jaden pre-hiatus but since the writers had bothered to set up that dynamic, they should have followed it through.
I just have to say, I love the 9021007 phrase :D It seems like Thom was always destined to die, but I wonder if perhaps the Alex/Jaden dynamic part of the story has suffered a bit because of the CW mandated tweaks the show was supposedly given.
The idea of a Jaden - or any young agent for that matter - who is not only good at her job, but has fully drunk the Division Kool-aid and believes that working for Division=serving her country/ getting a second chance at life is really cool. Thom was supposed to be that but he's dead now. It's certainly a gap that can be filled by Jaden.
While I think Jaden's character has suffered from the truncuated Alex-in-Division-arc (I think the original plan wasfor her to graduate at the season finale?), I don't think that's the reason why Thom never reacts to what Alex allowed Birkhoff to almost do. Because it would have been so easy for Thom to have brought it up with Alex during their romantic post-mortem at the end of the episode. Instead, when she thanks him for not saying anything, he's gracious about it: and there's this creepy moment that I, as a viewer, sees Thom being labelled a 'nice guy' for keeping Alex's secret at the cost of burning Jaden, and no one even acknowledges that. I think it's really the lack of acknowledgement that bugs me more than anything. If it's part of Thom's persona to casually dump his old friends/fuck buddies when the newest recruit turns up, and not care if they are cancelled, then fair enough. But that's a complete disconnect from everything else that we are shown of him.
TL DR but I think my own theory is that Jaden drew the short straw with the truncuated Hogwarts Divison semester, but the shitty job that was done with her character would have happened in either case. As it stands, as a viewer, I can only work with what actually appears on the screen and not what could have/ought to have/ was originally planned to have appeared on the screen. And what's up there paints a rather horrible picture of Thom.
Honestly, I thought the Thom/Alex storyline was going to be a version of Michael/Nikita with Thom slowly questioning Division's purpose, so the writer's fooled me there.
Oh no, I didn't mean I thought the Thom non-reaction to Alex letting Jaden take the fall had anything to do with the cuts to the Division arc, I think/hope it had more to do with the time allotted for the episode itself. Here's hoping there's a deleted scene on the DVD that addresses that issue. However, the way Thom had been presented to us, I can't not see him at least trying to provide an alibi for Jaden had Birkoff continued to press her on her whereabouts. I feel the only reason we didn't see him eventually stand up for Jaden was because Michael made it unnecessary.
I think this is due to how she's been written so far. She's sort of all over the place.
I don't think the writers pay enough attention to Jaden's arc but I think the little that we see of her, and her inner life, is quite consistent.
Obviously, I’m all for Jaden and Alex not becoming friends, mind, but allies with a touch of Nakama down the road. But the one thing I will ask for if they do stay on opposite sides is that Jaden does it for something more than vengeance for Thom, who was a shitty friend to her. I confess that I’m sort of projecting Alias S1!Anna Esponsa’s relationship with Sydney on my wishes for Jaden/Alex. I always though Sydney and Anna will team up ‘the enemy of my enemy’ style but not only did the show not go that way, they changed Anna from a rather ruthless mercenary who found Sydney irritating to a crazed religious zealot obsessed with Sydney. As much as I like f/f mentor/student relationships, I also love to see contemporaries interacting and it’s been a while since I’ve seen that in a spy show.
Thom never followed up with Alex about near-letting-Jaden-take-the-fall - hence my rant. Like I said earlier, Jaden might have been a bitch to Alex but she was *his* friend and they had an on/off physical relationship (All the Way confirms this) and regardless of his feelings for Alex, you don’t just throw your old friend-with-benefits under the bus especially if that bus can be a cancellation!
Actually, now I kind of wonder if it's not so much they think it's inconsequential, but more they were laying the groundwork to show, as you said, Alex's "intrinsic Udinov ruthlessness."
I’m certainly getting that vibe post-Echoes, but I think it would have been done more effectively and certainly made more in-verse sense if Thom had lampshaded it. I didn't care much about the whole 9021007 thing with Alex/Thom/Jaden pre-hiatus but since the writers had bothered to set up that dynamic, they should have followed it through.
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Oh, no I didn't get that feeling! I know what it's like to be in the minority of fans who like a character.
Maybe it's my knee-jerk reaction to the show being on the CW and shows with girls being frenemies, but I for one would love to see Jaden develop into a Division agent who a) likes her job and b) is good at it. I don't know why, but I feel that Jaden and Alex actually being on opposite sides would be something fresh and different (at least for me). I do agree though, I'd hate for Jaden's story to just be about avenging Thom.
you don’t just throw your old friend-with-benefits under the bus especially if that bus can be a cancellation!
Again, I do wonder if there was more to that bit of storyline that ended up on the cutting room floor due to time. The way the writers seemed to present Thom, I wouldn't think he'd leave Jaden hanging if Michael hadn't stepped in.
I didn't care much about the whole 9021007 thing with Alex/Thom/Jaden pre-hiatus but since the writers had bothered to set up that dynamic, they should have followed it through.
I just have to say, I love the 9021007 phrase :D It seems like Thom was always destined to die, but I wonder if perhaps the Alex/Jaden dynamic part of the story has suffered a bit because of the CW mandated tweaks the show was supposedly given.
Reply
While I think Jaden's character has suffered from the truncuated Alex-in-Division-arc (I think the original plan wasfor her to graduate at the season finale?), I don't think that's the reason why Thom never reacts to what Alex allowed Birkhoff to almost do. Because it would have been so easy for Thom to have brought it up with Alex during their romantic post-mortem at the end of the episode. Instead, when she thanks him for not saying anything, he's gracious about it: and there's this creepy moment that I, as a viewer, sees Thom being labelled a 'nice guy' for keeping Alex's secret at the cost of burning Jaden, and no one even acknowledges that. I think it's really the lack of acknowledgement that bugs me more than anything. If it's part of Thom's persona to casually dump his old friends/fuck buddies when the newest recruit turns up, and not care if they are cancelled, then fair enough. But that's a complete disconnect from everything else that we are shown of him.
TL DR but I think my own theory is that Jaden drew the short straw with the truncuated Hogwarts Divison semester, but the shitty job that was done with her character would have happened in either case. As it stands, as a viewer, I can only work with what actually appears on the screen and not what could have/ought to have/ was originally planned to have appeared on the screen. And what's up there paints a rather horrible picture of Thom.
Reply
Oh no, I didn't mean I thought the Thom non-reaction to Alex letting Jaden take the fall had anything to do with the cuts to the Division arc, I think/hope it had more to do with the time allotted for the episode itself. Here's hoping there's a deleted scene on the DVD that addresses that issue. However, the way Thom had been presented to us, I can't not see him at least trying to provide an alibi for Jaden had Birkoff continued to press her on her whereabouts. I feel the only reason we didn't see him eventually stand up for Jaden was because Michael made it unnecessary.
Reply
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