Let me start by saying that there’s not a pairing I’m rooting for in the show. I find the storylines about their personal lives and the challenges related to the relationships more interesting.
I’m in season 3 and Kelly is the easy and available choice for Dylan. At the very least, that’s how it started.
There’s no emotional connection between the two. And once they came clean to Brenda, and things got serious, we see Kelly being out of her depth trying to help Dylan with his grief.
Dylan wasn’t an open book with Brenda, per se, but she pushed enough until he let her in. That’s why she understood exactly what he needed without him having to say anything. Brenda saw Dylan through some of the hardest, darkest moments of his life. Though, I found their relationship to be too intense for high schoolers but they genuinely cared for each other. Brenda went to war with her family for him.
Now, I’m struggling to feel bad for Kelly because she not only waited months to come clean about the summer, but she also made Brenda feel she was wrong for being upset with her.
This is a great opportunity for character development for Kelly. The scene where she accused Dylan of not valuing her opinions followed by the one with her mom whom she blamed for raising her to be “shallow and insincere.” There’s some truths to this. Brenda’s emotional maturity is due in large part to that of her parents and how they raised her. Kelly was parentified.
First thing we learned about her is that she got a nose job. She started as the typical, vapid Blonde with a reputation. We see her slowly coming into herself and then the show did so well by diving into her deep-seated issues surrounding her appearance and self-esteem.
I don’t think that her relationship with Dylan will ever be convincing to me. If she doesn’t face her issues, she will always compete with Brenda and chase the Dylan she got!
I’m not a Dylan fan, either. He handled the Kelly-Brenda situation poorly. He didn’t care for Brenda’s feelings in the slightest. And he had no remorse either.