So apparently Rina Mimoun has a fear that makes Megan’s fear of lulls sound rational. Ms. Mimoun (Privileged’s showrunner) is apparently deathly afraid of Sam&Diane-syndrome. Based on the idea that ‘will they or won’t they’ tension is a lot more interesting than an actual relationship, the term refers to Cheers’ infamous “opposites attract” couple and is the reason that so many shows work so hard to keep would-be lovers apart.
On last night’s Privileged, Mimoun and her writers jumped through hoops to keep our heroine Megan from being with her hot neighbour Will. First he wanted to date other people, then she dumped him because they “are cut from different cloths”, then they got back together just in time for him to reveal that he’s being sent to Brazil for 6 months on a photoshoot. So Megan got to be with her “opposites attract”/”will they or won’t they” love interest for 1 episode. Awesome. Here is where I’d like to point out that the characters of Monica and Chandler only got better after they hooked up and that the world didn’t fall in love with Logan Echolls until Logan Echolls fell in love with Veronica Mars.
That criticism aside, I really enjoyed last night’s Privileged. It’s nice to see Charlie (a character with tons of potential and an annoying track record) back to being a good friend to Megan. While a good “I’m secretly and unrequitedly in love with my best friend” storyline is generally enjoyable (see Jim & Pam, Ross & Rachel, Barney & Robin), Charlie’s just didn’t work for me in the first part of the season. A good Eponine story requires putting your friend’s happiness above your own, even it hurts to be around them. What Charlie did was moan and complain then ignore Megan without an explanation. As far as Megan knew, her best friend had turned his back on her when she hadn’t done anything wrong. That’s not love (friendly, romantic or otherwise), it’s mean. But now Charlie’s figured it out. He may still be secretly in love with Megan and he may be making a mistake by moving too fast with his new girlfriend but at least he’s back to being a good guy.
In other news, I don’t care about Rose’s schoolwork or Laurel’s love affair though they’re not irritating to watch, to say the least. At this point I really just care about Will, Megan and sometimes Charlie, so here’s hoping that something stands in the way of Will being flown off the Brazil and the Megan/Will relationship is given enough time to make the audience care about keeping them together.