#but b/c he's the protagonist it wouldn't really make sense for Us the actual audience as an audience if that happened lol

[unproduciblesmackdown]

tfw you think about how jeremy & christine’s journeys to embracing themselves are so parallel & jeremy is to christine what she is to him; jeremy sees her Being Herself & recognizes both himself & how he wishes he could be, i.e. he thinks she already embraces herself (more than she actually does) b/c he mostly sees her operating within the frameworks in which she feels safer actually being herself, like going down the hall interacting w/no one, or most prominently within theatre, which is her version of the metaphorical squip that not only supposedly tells her how she should Successfully act, but beyond that provides this context in which she feels she can be spontaneous & offbeat but feel okay about it, like doing performance art. and jake pointing out that her [this is how i should do things / this is the Zone i have to stay in to be acceptable Enough to others] device is theatre, like his is (certain) extracurricular overachievement lol....that, as is pointed out, even once the squip is involved christine still really mostly sees jeremy Being Himself, even if the squip is smoothing over some details, or trying to, and what really matters is in fact that jeremy is being More himself than ever b/c he feels like he has this safety backup that will make sure he stays Socially Accepted no matter what. jeremy’s freaking out in a mall court Organically even if the squip gives him an excuse about it, he’s adding all this dramatic flair to his monologue even if he didn’t memorize it himself (hey hamlet be more chill), then certainly obvious events like his interactions w/her before agtikbi or its reprise. and this applies even with his more outright / intrusively guided interactions w/brooke, who’s Also being somewhat spontaneously, weirdly Herself more than she realizes when she’s also trying to do what she’s Supposed to do, more obviously in dywr when her figurative squip guidance is right there from chloe, or later when she doesn’t have so much direct input going on but is surely still drawing from that sort of influence abt how she Should be / how to Correctly operate in such situations

anyways the point is that it’s so good how the way jeremy sees christine is how christine sees jeremy. he may have had a head start on noticing her, b/c presumably jeremy is trying to get as little attention as possible & does a solid job, he can’t help a dedicated bully having specific instruction to notice him anyways, & jeremy’s Role in which he feels he can be more of himself, like christine’s Roles in theatre, is being michael’s friend, which they mostly get to do outside school (and when it happens At school, jeremy gets the boost to Go For Something like signing up for the play) (and jeremy feeling more stifled by a) having one limited Role / Space to be more himself and b) feeling like that Role / Space is more determined by someone else than christine is yet re: her relationship w/theatre at this point, since jeremy has more motivation to act / set things in motion / be the protagonist most at the center of things, and christine needs a little externally provided impetus in jake pointing out the “when’s the last time you tried something new Not on a stage” limited nature of her Being Herself only in a specific context).......but from christine’s perspective, jeremy’s Appearing while she’s in that realm of her established / accepted Roles, waiting on play rehearsal, and jeremy’s the one out here being nervous & Elevated & Noticeable, & even though it’s just this communication misalignment when she says it’s about swim team, he’s the one who feels like he did something awkward / weird more so, but christine recognizes that He’s Nervous through this reaction, You’re A Virgin....but then christine would’ve retreated back into how it’s Okay to act outside actual rehearsal, Reining It In(tm) and reading her book, but it’s jeremy’s obvious interest & nonverbal encouragement / positive reactions as she talks about how she feels / behaves more Spontaneously in general that ilpr even happens in the first place, and pretty clearly this is someone she Likes at all upon their Introduction to her, and later on when jeremy says he’s this committed to the play just b/c he Loves Theatre, as supposedly the Right Thing to say via the squip, she’s a bit disappointed b/c you know, there’s already that nonzero romantic interest in him too, but she isn’t actually encompassed by her love of theatre & while she’s interested in this actual relationship, obviously being like, perfectly devoted to Theatre, or switching gears & thinking she’s gone for jake so now you have to also be Popular when that’s jake’s thing, are missteps / not Enough on their own, when she goes for jake first Because he’s breaking out of his own role and encouraging that from her, even if likewise that on its own isn’t necessarily enough that they have a great relationship, And they’re potentially leaving these genuine aspects of themselves behind by just switching up their sense of The Right Way To Be to try out something new....and naturally, christine Confiding in jeremy via agtikbi in preceded by their Genuine spontaneous “weird” “Wrong” interaction beforehand where the squip is just like hey lol what. the hell. which is just their enjoying Interacting Genuinely with each other, same as how this comes back around during the party going disastrously for the both of them re how acting Correctly in this realm is feeling (as well as the sunk cost factory of doing that since partway through act one for both of them) and they bond over being even more spontaneous & genuine while realizing they’re both in this situation where neither of them know how to navigate it / both feel out of place, but not Quite getting all the way to fully realizing how things are for the other Or themself, b/c this isn’t the climax of the show lol & obviously their arcs as individuals or for their relationship doesn’t resolve here, and they both need to further learn that a) the other person doesn’t have it together / isn’t as Confident in themself as they seemed to be, jeremy being surprised at the end of the agtikbi reprise scene / after the smartphone hour scene that christine’s questioning herself this much, vs christine maybe more so being a bit confused by jeremy at this juncture like, possibly testing out what his whole thing is by introducing this opportunity to lay out what she Thinks his role is at the party, i.e. one of the popular people, apparently Trying New Things(tm) plenty, etc or something, with the excellently telling line later on about “is that what’s been going on with you” once she’s being More surprised about realizing he hasn’t been as self confident as he seemed to her either, wherein she’s presumably realized he’s sometimes being “weird” vs his actual less filtered / more genuine self, i.e. there’s no reason for her not to have noticed he’s seemed a bit inconsistent with these bursts of genuine connection between them at certain moments and then less of that / him not acting in that same more spontaneous / offebeat way......and how naturally during the play, they’re both dealing more with Themselves as it’s time to like really confront the experience of ditching “actually being yourself” for what would technically be the smoothest sailing that hypothetically avoids any conflict or uncertainty in any social interactions / connections ever....the neurotypical “social skills” ideal lmao, jeremy is so autistic coded, for us....wherein christine, not the protagonist, is getting this crash course experience in the combo epitome of this validated / accepted role through both a squip And a part in a play, and where her rejecting that is implied b/w the play & vimh, since with her autonomy & agency & all she Could’ve just been like “no yeah i do want a squip” lol but is not, & jeremy obviously realizing through his own experience & christine’s as these Supposed Ideals that yknow, they aren’t ideal, not what he wants for himself, and prioritizing undoing what he got christine into here even if he obviously knows he doesn’t want to be stuck here himself but this is the Action he’s taking about it regardless....and you know, christine also understanding herself better for being presented with those supposed ideals of having this star moment role in a play & how to avoid doing any/everything wrong, and also going “yeah no i don’t want that,” and naturally having this evidence that jeremy doesn’t want her to Be Someone Else / doesn’t only like her acting some certain way within some certain externally outlined role, since his climactic decision / act there was to choose to make sure to give christine back that unhindered capacity to be herself, however that looks / whatever that means for her, and you know, there they are having both Liked each other since ilpr (& beyond, for jeremy at least) & now having this increased understanding of & confidence in themselves thanks to the plot having happened for them, & this increased understanding in each other just in general & re: everything that had happened prior where they weren’t quite in alignment At The Time & kind of always both playing catchup trying to Get what’s going on with the other lol, but now they Are aligned and yknow that it’s Fine when there’s not perfect alignments, like misunderstanding each other momentarily in this vimh interlude conversation but just then clarifying lol, and the show not needing to end with like “and then everyone had everything figured out forever & never felt uncertain or confused or like they were doing things wrong ever again” b/c that whole Conclusion is that all of that Not being guaranteed / being guaranteed to continue to be a issue for them at some points is something that can be handled & doesn’t prove that there’s something inherently wrong with them for it when it’s so [yep that’s part of the human experience] that naturally Everyone is connecting over the literal connecting but also just their collectively relatable struggles with this that have also been parallels w/everyone else’s arcs this whole show

anyways taking a lot of words to talk about it as always but tl;dr it’s sooo fun & so neat how yknow jeremy sees christine as like wow here’s this person who’s so obviously genuine in a way that really resonates with me & i want to interact more with them & they’re so bold in being themself & god i wish that were me & also i Like them, and that’s how christine’s seeing jeremy too

#they're so good. it's incredible. devastating (complimentary) #bmc #love them sm....like that from christine's perspex jeremy may as well get a solo for her to be this enraptured audience for also #but b/c he's the protagonist it wouldn't really make sense for Us the actual audience as an audience if that happened lol #if christine was the protagonist jeremy would absolutely get a song to introduce himself while it's christine's job to be like ;w; about it