I love Rue. Her character is complex and always compelling. But she is in deep this season. She’s helping sex traffickers, in a drug/gang war, and becoming a mole for the feds. Rue is in so deep, I don’t see a way out for her anymore. Maybe witness protection? Honestly with each episode, it feels like she’s digging her own grave more and more.
I get that this post will get a lot of criticism, and this couple is literally the worst. I’ve been rewatching the series and I’ve been noticing a lot more. I’m not saying Nate wasn’t obsessed with Maddie, or that Nate didn’t have feelings for Jules. I’m saying all these things can be true at the same time.
*Long post warning*
Season 1, I always thought it was weird, how much Nate cared about McKay and Cassie’s relationship. People say Nate just likes to have control and he hated Cassie. I won’t deny Nate had animosity towards Cassie, but I feel like that was partly rooted in his own attraction to her. I think Nate hated that he was attracted to Cassie, even though he knew her past. Nate obviously thinks he has high standards, but it embarrassed him that he wanted Cassie. He bullied Cassie for years, and that’s weird. Cassie probably wasn’t even the most sexually active girl in school. Nate could’ve bullied any other girl but, he chose Cassie. I think he bullied her because he liked her, and Nate didn’t like that he liked her. Nate was slut-shaming her, while actively lusting over her.
First episode, McKay says, he thinks Nate digs Cassie also. Nate deflects, but he doesn’t deny it. His exact words are, “Whether I like her or not, is irrelevant…”. Then he does slut-shame her, when surrounded by other guys. Then he proceeds to pull up all the videos and pictures of Cassie on his phone. Meaning he’s seen them, and knew exactly where to go to look at them. You can infer that, Nate’s probably looked at Cassie’s vids and pics more than once. In the carnival episode, Nate purposely questions if they are together to start discourse When McKay is distracted, Nate gives a long lingering look at Cassie. It weirded me out, his Adam’s apple was bobbing. Guy was checking her out. The whole trying to get McKay to dump Cassie, felt more like Nate didn’t like his friend from moving in on a girl he was attracted to.
Season 2 ep 1, Nate automatically asks if Cassie is still with McKay. It’s like his 2nd sentence to her. He makes it clear, he doesn’t give af about Cassie’s fight with Lexie. Nate just wants to know if she’s still messing around with McKay. They hook up at the party, Nate explicitly tells Cassie he doesn’t want anyone to know about it. Mainly because of Maddie, but also I think he was embarrassed. He was hooking up with a girl that he always bashed on. Even shaming other guys for liking her. Later in the episode, Nate sees Cassie and McKay go to a room at the party. He isn’t happy about it, he’s taking shots like water. After that, he presses McKay, trying to make it seem like guy talk. But midway through the talk, Nate’s demeanor changes. It looks like he wants to kick McKay’s a$$, because Nate thinks Cassie and McKay hooked up. When Nate finally somewhat believes nothing happened, McKay gets a look like knows something is up with Nate.
One thing Nate says in the 2nd season, episode 2, is “You don’t know how much power you have.”. He says that to Cassie, when he’s trying to end the thing they have. Cassie gets out of his truck, and maybe to see if he will follow her. Nate could’ve easily left, and it would’ve been on brand for him. But he follows her. Let it be known, he never mentions Cassie’s sexual past again, after they hook up the first time. I thought it was weird that suddenly it doesn’t matter anymore. Then again it probably never really mattered in the first place.
I’m not saying he was in love or had very deep feelings for her. I think he was into her though, and what she represented.
I get it’s a wedding kiss, so of course they want to make it picture worthy. Yet, it lasted a LONG time. When it got to a point, I was like “okay wrap it up”, then a moment after that I was like “it should be done by now”. Then it kept on going. Rue showed her distaste for how long they were kissing. Even Cassie’s body language made it seem like she wanted to stop. It looks like she tried pulling away a couple times. Nate just kept on going for it.
Was he trying to play it up because Maddie and Jules were there. In the ceremony scene, we don’t see Nate looking at them at all. So why was Nate kissing on her like that?