Oh so actually, yeah I will defend early day Adam and Blue and the fact that they dated and that it's crucial to both of them. Not just because it shows us what they both needed in a relationship, and why they didn't work with each other for their conflicting needs (though that is an excellent point and one I attribute to their narrative relevance.) but also because... they're really important to each other?
Adam and Blue meet, and it's when Adam is worried about being judged for who he is and Blue wanting to be wanted (and not just useful which is a concept that breaks me because ahhhhh) and they actually challenge that with each other? Blue is drawn to Adam because while he is attractive, he's also something different - she sees a fray in his jacket, and she likes that he isn't the typical Raven Boy. She likes this aspect of Adam he worries about being judged for. And you can say all you do about how Blue describes him in comparison to something dusty or how she compares him to traits of himself he detests, but while Adam dislikes these things Blue likes this about him. I cannot stress that enough. It was not what Adam needed (this is something Gansey, actually, needed) but it was important.
Blue wants to be wanted, to be around someone who sees her as more than just useful. And, yes, Adam does seem to evaluate her based on how useful she will be to the group, but it's important to note that Adam is drawn to Blue because he wants to be around her. He thinks she's funny. He thinks she's pretty. He legitimately likes her as a person. He seeks her out for physical comfort, not just because she's useful but because he likes being around her, he wants her, he wants her company. There is a lot you can say about how Adam equates usefulness with love and affection and he definitely values Blue based on her usefulness in the group but it's more than that. He envies her ease with which she makes friends, the confidence she has in herself. (Adam + Envy is also a prevalent theme with how he experiences attraction.) Adam genuinely admires Blue as a person. He wants to be around her, appreciates her input and her presence. And that was important to Blue at the moment.
And, yes, the ultimate issue comes into their conflicting needs in a relationship, but I think when it comes to Blue and Adam it's such a beautiful exploration of what a short-term romance brings to teenagers. It's common to explore relationships through these awkward fumbles between what you need in the moment and what you need in the long term. They get those awkward, first relationship jitters and anxieties together, they learn what they both need and value going further into their teen years. And it is messy and complex and all over the place and very hormonal. And that is a really precious thing to explore in a shorter relationship, especially with a friend, and with a person you feel understands you. (Something neither of them had gotten.) Also, if they hadn't dated they wouldn't have brought the group together. Poverty twin rizz, guys. They really carried the first book on their backs.
Anyway, my point is that Blue and Adam together are very valuable to the story, their character arcs, and please know you can give them the respect they deserve without detracting from Bluesey or Pynch or detracting from the significance of their friendships. I actually think if they'd been given more time, that platonic dynamic would've been one of the strongest in the series. Because when you share such a valuable milestone (the horrors of teen dating) you bond on a level many don't understand or relate to. Blue and Adam I love you.
i think about this a normal amount btw. if anyone was wondering
see you at basrar's! ✶✶✶
bonus: yearbook page!
Okay, here's the thing.
Yes, they've sped things up and put them out of order, but this hasn't ruined anything. In fact, we now have a chance for a true Kanej relationship that we never got to see in the books.
We are now in a post Inej "ultimatum" timeline where they get to grow separately from each other for awhile. (I hesitate to call this version an ultimatum, it's more of a promise/threat and Freddy's acting really hammered home the idea that Kaz understands what she's asking of him.) We know Kaz is already starting to pull himself into the type of man she deserves by his offer to buy the indentures of the Menagerie girls. When Inej returns for the Ice Court job, she's going to find a Kaz who is already much closer to who we know at the end of Crooked Kingdom. She's going to find a Kaz willing to try for her.
And our favorite scenes work in this new context too.
Inej is stabbed and bleeding out?
Kaz carries her to the safety, the same way she pulled him to safety in Shu Han.
And do we really think he's going to be less violent towards the man who almost took her from him? After already admitting that she is what he wants? We're gonna be lucky if he doesn't set Oomen on fire.
The bathroom scene. Good God, the bathroom scene.
Last time he tried to help her, he couldn't even touch her with gloves on. This time, she's injured again and it's his fault and maybe he'll fail, but Saints be damned, he's gonna try.
I'm just saying, we now have a Kanej that knows they love each other. Think of them potential for longing looks and pain and trying to be what the other needs.
I am personally here for it.
(Please, anyone who can hear me. Give me a Six of Crows spin off. I will gladly give my soul.)
kavinsky's death is actually the closing arc in a great tragedy to me bc his actions throughout the story are mostly just him practically begging for someone to be on his side, to care about him, to even just look at him. his father tried to kill him, his mother is completely uninterested. he can dream himself as many people as he wants, but they will only ever think of him because he made them to do so. the dream pack are just physical manifestations of his desire to not be alone in the world, to have someone, anyone, connected to him. he so desperately tries to draw some sort of emotion out of ronan, good bad or ugly, because the intense similarities they share mean that he's the only person who might be willing to look long enough to see him. and when it doesn't work, when he realizes it can't, that this world is not for him and he is not going to be a part of it in a way that involves anyone else, he decides that everyone is going to look at least this once. they will all see the finale if nothing else. genuinely doomed from the start. and how truly devastating that is in comparison to the core group the story focuses on, characters that even at their lowest and darkest and meanest and absolute worst have others there with them. characters that always have someone looking for them. dying is a boring side of a life that has nothing inside of it.
fabian falling for the kind, tall mazey — who tells him she plays the drums when they first meet, whose interest in dance was borne from a love of music and instruments. who has a mellow and softhearted personality that helps ground him, is understanding and supportive even when he doesn’t make the best choices. who cares about who he is as a person - maximum legend or not.
gorgug having a thing for mary ann — who hits him hard the first time they meet, who goes around school nonchalant and self-assured. who frustrates gorgug because she reacts heedless of others, even her party members, and makes her own unaccountable decisions. who, right after gorgug concedes a bit of civility to her, promptly moves onto negging him — which gorgug is secretly down bad for. and that’s… not dissimilar to repeatedly allowing oneself to be chased in a locker room getting swatted with a towel.
metaphorically speaking.
i would die for him
Panic kissing the spiralling semi-closeted jock whilst your vice principal attempts world domination behind you
remember when we died? // you look so much better.
was thinking about the dreaming tree in trb that shows you your worst nightmares and. ronan doesn’t go in—later revealed that this is because he not only knows what it does but also what he’ll see—but his worst nightmare is bringing back wasps. killing gansey. blue sees herself dangerously close to kissing gansey, fulfilling her curse, also killing gansey. richard “he imagined [finding glendower] might feel a lot like dying” gansey sees himself finding glendower. but adam. we’re never expressly told what he sees, only that gansey’s dead and it’s his fault and ronan hates him for it and he hates himself for it too. the difference is subtle but important. the others see the action. adam sees the end result. the others are afraid of killing gansey. adam is too, but that’s not his worst fear. adam’s worst fear is becoming like his father