#this isnt to say that wash is the only character who was poorly treated

[biggiedraws]

mannnn the rvb writers did washington so dirty. like, theres the obvious example from the Season That Shall Not Be Named, but even from the very beginning......

when he first shows up, hes shown to be very traumatized by what happened with epsilon. refusing to let another ai in his head, and spacing out in the middle of a conversation..... like he doesnt even have much screentime and hes so clearly affected by it.

then in the recollection they write it off by saying that the ACTUAL reason he didnt want another ai was because he knows about the alpha and stuff. then theres one throwaway line from alpha about "youve got some heavy stuff in there" and thats it. and not saying that he couldnt ignore it and push through it and ACT like hes fine, im just saying that they made it such a major part of who he is and then never addressed it again.

and also: the fact that he fully betrays the reds and blues for his own personal gain??? and not only did the reds and blues take him in after he did nothing to redeem himself (believeable tbh), there was no conflict! no tension! i mean, a couple seasons later tucker and church get into a HUGE fight because church left them without saying goodbye, but when someone who legitimately tried to kill them for his own gain shows up, theyre all just like "yeah thats chill". ??????

and like, my problem isnt that it HAPPENED, lots of nonsensical stuff happens in this show. its that they never addressed it! wash didnt do ANYTHING to show that he had changed, at least on screen, and now we're supposed to believe that hes part of the family? the freelancer saga would have been a GREAT place for a wash redemption arc, especially as tensions rise after carolina shows up. i mean, sarge does have some distrust in washington, but its framed as "silly sarge, wash is a friend!" like- he literally shot donut!! hello???? and the bit where wash stands up to carolina would have been that much more meaningful if wash had to fight to earn the trust of the reds and blues, instead of playing both sides.

and then on chorus he FINALLY actually gets a character arc, but it doesnt really fit him at all?? like, the fact that hes focused on surviving, and frustrated that the reds and blues are dicking around? totally plausible. but why the obsession with turning the blues into good soldiers? to prove himself as a leader? why?? im not saying its a bad arc, i really like it! it just doesnt really track with what we've learned about wash so far.

season 15 he gets very little screentime, and most of what he does get is actual brain damage used for a cheap joke (which.... disappointed but not surprised, given how the show treats caboose)

the rest of the shisno trilogy he has a solid arc about coming to terms with his disability, but i feel like at some points its still used as a cheap joke? idk id have to rewatch it, i think the characters are pretty serious about it, but i feel like there were times where youre meant to laugh because "haha hes so silly now!" which...... yeesh

and then. AND THEN. THE ABSOLUTE AUDACITY TO WRITE IT OUT IN THE VERY NEXT SEASON???? as if the whole shisno trilogy didnt happen???? the fact that they immediately sidelined wash and carolina is bad enough, but thats just a whole new level.

anyway wash is my fave and theres so many things about him that i would have LOVED to see explored in the show. and instead we got this.

#ramblings #rvb #rvb wash #this isnt to say that wash is the only character who was poorly treated #caboose for example #but i just got thinking about wash and here we are #anyway this is why i read fanfiction #man i love tumblr tags #its like a little post script where you can be more annoying #if you read this far ily