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Parallels and Contradictions: Gina Porter (S1E1 / S3 Trailer)

"My first time really going up for the lead." That line stood out to me immediately. Because the first time we meet her character back in S1, it's established that she's been the lead in every other musical she's been in.

Right?

Well, no. Not exactly.

It's established that she's never been an understudy. The implications of those scenes side by side are fascinating to me. We know that Gina would have liked to play the lead in S1 (re: Wonderstudies) and S2 ("playing a part I didn't want"), so the key word is "really going up for", which she also emphasizes. The way I see it, there are really only three possible (interesting) interpretations:

1 - Gina has played leads at other schools before, she just never had to try out.

Or at least, she never had to try very hard. Cause she's just that good of a performer. This could be either literal (unlikely), or Gina might have thought that there was never any competition at her old schools (similar to the way Lily thinks during S2 auditions.)

While that would be in character for the persona that early-S1 Gina portrays herself as, the way S3-Gina emphasizes that this is the first time "really going up for the lead"... if it was about not having had competition before East High, that would be uncharacteristically mean for the version of her that we've gotten to know since Homecoming. So in my mind, this is probably the least likely interpretation.

2 - This is the first time her heart is in it.

We know from Season 1, that Gina has been raised in a way that puts her under a lot of pressure to be perfect. Even after she lets down her guard around the Wildcats, her difficulties adapting to being co-coreographer and one of three people in her, Ashlyn and Kourtney's audition show that this mindset is something she still struggles/struggled with.

Maybe, after all that character development across two seasons, she's finally ready to audition for a lead - not because she feels that's what she's supposed to want, because for the first time it's what she does want.

3 - Gina was lying in Season 1.

When the audience meets her, she is portrayed as both fiercly talented and really condescending to Nini, who has mostly been cast in ensemble so far. Gina says "I've never been an understudy" and the implied reading is "I've been the lead every time I've tried." Except that's now been contradicted. So has she either been an understudy or has she never been a lead or an understudy?

Over the course of Season 1 we learn that being the new transfer student all the time has left Gina feeling like she has to put up a facade in every new place. Appear confident to the point of coming across as a bit intimidating and unapproachable. She's essentially accepted being labelled 'mean girl' as the price she pays for the respect and admiration she needs to make her mark - to make sure she's remembered for something once she inevitably leaves. Even if what she'll be remembered for is a persona that crushed dance solos and the short-term goals of people like Nini. Having the reputation of someone who plays leads all the time would certainly fit and help with the persona she's putting forward in the first few episodes of the show.

Now that she has close friends she can be vulnerable around, if she was lying/lying by omission, has it just not come up again? Is she still struggeling to break free from her perfectionism and has kept that secret until now? Is that an arc we're going to see?

(It could also just be bad inconsistent writing. But that's the least interesting theory, so I'm not gonna bother with it when I could be having fun with headcanons instead lmao)

Maybe it's one of the first times she thinks she has competition. Maybe it's the first time she thinks she has a chance. Maybe it's the first time she's doing it just for herself. Maybe it's something else entirely.

Whatever is going on with that line, I'm so damn fascinated by it.

I've seen a lot of takes floating around about how we shouldn't make excuses for EJ/Gina/Ricky while talking about the others' mistakes. I can't help but wonder -

Am I the only one that's Team-Make-excuses-for-everybody?

Because fundamentally these characers are pretty young and that summer of firsts has put a lot on their plates.

EJ - isn't spending enough time with his girlfriend and friends? Yeah, because he was slapped with the huge responsibility of making a blockbuster musical work in a few weeks and nobody is helping him. (They are learning their lines and cues to be fair, but no one offered to help him plan for the read-through in that tent? Not one person?)

He's not telling Gina about the letter until she finds out for herself? That's absolutely bad, but he was planning on telling her after he had sorted it out. Which, let's be real, wasn't going to happen before the end of the summer after the documentary came out, so his plan really wasn't very likely to go well and even if it did, he would have still been in the wrong for not confiding in her.

But it makes sense, too. When we first meet EJ, he's a jock who gets leads in the musicals. A popular kid with grades impressive enough to make it reasonable for him to get into Duke. He's also prone to schieming and sabotage and has no clue how to sincerely apologize. We later find out that there's a lot of pressure to be perfect from his dad. You can't tell me that EJ grew up in an environment where it would have been acceptable for him to be vulnerable about something he was struggling with unless it was already in the past and he had already handled it. There's a reason this kid doesn't know how to apologize and I'd wager it's the same reason he doesn't know how to talk to his girlfriend about a something he doesn't yet know how to fix.

That doesn't make it okay, but it makes it understandable and I'm willing to make excuses for him and sympathize with him anyway.

Gina - is being passive-aggressive towards her boyfriend instead of talking to him directly? Yeah, because she's discovered that he's hiding something from her and I think the first few jabs were meant to give him the hint that he should maybe explain himself before she would bring it up. She's been busy with getting the lead in Frozen and trying to be 'a good girlfriend' for the first time, only to learn that EJ is hiding something from her and has been confiding in someone else about it instead. That would upset anybody. And I truly believe that most of her anger has been her trying to force a conversation, even if it wasn't in the healthiest way. Which is perfectly understandable.

She's also showing glimpses of old habits? Of course she is - ambition is not inherintly a bad character trait and "Gina 1.0" wasn't very long ago, so of course she has that ambition in her still. (Tbh I have a whole analysis in defense of Gina 1.0 that I wrote when I first watched that ep, so if anyone's interested in reading that I might still post it.)

And Ricky - has a crush on Gina while she's in a relationship with EJ? Yeah, that happens. It's already tough to rebuild a friendship after having had crushes even when those romantic feelings haven't lingered. Trying to navigate a friendship while having a crush on an unavailable friend is deeply complicated.

And that is what he's trying to do! He's not trying to interfere in portwell at all. We know what Ricky looks like when he's trying to sabotage a relationship and this isn't that. (I could make a whole other post about that difference tbh.) This is Ricky and Gina, who never got closure on their feelings for each other, trying to act like the casual friends they were before she ever pulled away from him. Only their casual friendship was founded on electric understanding that was likely already hurtling towards something way back then - so finding a new normal, that will actually look casual to the outside world (nevermind feel casual), is a tall order for both of them. (Not saying their attempt at friendship will leave them driving off into the sunset together anytime soon! Just saying that they've got a difficult goal here and it's bound to be awkward as they try to figure out new boundaries.)

At the end of the day, these characters are all trying to navigate pretty complicated romantic situations while also having a lot of other stuff going on at the same time. Be that the musical, the documentary, pressure from home, having to defend your ambitions to your best friends, or having to find your place in a group where some of your strongest connections were your ex, your ex-friend who you have a crush on that can't be more. (And I'd also list Ricky's friendship with Carlos here, but tbh their friendship is pretty uncomplicated so it's not relevant to my point right now.)

Of course all of them are going to make mistakes, but they're all very understandable. The discourse around not laying blame at only one character's feet feels to me a bit like people trying to justify their fave or even their ship at the expense of (more) nuance. (Which is also totally fair, I just felt like I had to throw my own take into the ring as well.)