"It's [Tis] better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all"?
Does anyone know which episode that was?
Thx in advance!
Ciara is a "rational actor" but some are choosing to pathologize her instead of understanding her reality at the time. This is especially unfortunate given her massive growth over the years and massive contributions to what was supposed to have been a great season. Likely to have trumped s8 before the scandal.
There are often glaring blindspots that appear when analyzing Ciara, for example, why she and Sabrina would hit it off so well. Often those blindspots illustrate that the viewer is missing major story lines in the season.
Not understanding the Sabrina arc, is to have ignored a secondary/tertiary but important Ciara storyline(s) this season where Ciara supported Ben in his relationship with Sabrina which probably won Ciara a friend for life. This is often ignored in favor of conspiracy theories which, even if true, would not effect how Ciara's support of that relationship should have been received by the audience. Ignoring her support of Sabrina or even her support of KJ and his reservations about moving forward with Dara, make it easy to not understand or appreciate her movements later. Why is this? One can only wonder.
This brings me to the biggest issue with Ciara's primary storyline which honestly didn't have to be because Ciara was " In the Mix" like no other, this season which I haven't seen acknowledged too often.
I think we all cringed during the West/Ciara conversation but not all of us seemed to be able to also recognize that pre-scandal, this would have been a pivotal moment which would have had way fewer detractors and, I hate to say it but fans would have LOVED when the world was more innocent with our lovely little show.
Unfortunately, it seems to have only taken 3 weeks for many here to forget the first nine episodes of the season and to forget we can see and know things the cast could not while filming.
Yes, Ciara seemed to be thinking bigger but she has always said that she was mostly hurt because she thought they were "best friends", her words through s9... BUT TOO MANY ARE IGNORING THAT SHE IS BEING TOLD THAT WEST WANTS MORE by MOST OF HER CAST MATES and the from CIARA'S POINT OF VIEW, she believes he is catching up to him and "his feelings", based on the word of her friends. Not because she is going from 0 to 100 due to a lack of self-control.
From day one of season 10, West had made it his duty to control and manipulate access to Ciara by other men in the house. He did that by claiming Ciara before the new guys could settle in. He did so by being more honest with them than the reunion audience about the depths of his original relationship which made Ciara "unavailable" from the guy's POV. This is why Jesse's asking about a makeout was so SHOCKING to these new guys who were BARELY in the house for any period of time and why they knew how outrageous the request was.
When Ben and Ciara look like they're becoming too friendly for West's liking (Amanda's birthday weekend - the vineyard conversation, the drinking game, Ben telling West Ciara's "next level"), WEST pulls Ben aside to again throw Ben off Ciara's scent with stories of a "dreamy" relationship and his not being, essentially, the man he believed Ciara needed him to be. All that performing by West while not knowing that Ciara was just being a friend to Ben. West probably told Ben that he had a crush on Ciara in the kitchen to keep Ben from veering in her direction. Ben believed West every time.
Guarantee, Ciara knows all of this because Ben tells Sabrina everything and Sabrina has loose lips with Ciara. Just imagine their first lunch date. Again, Ciara thinks she is catching up to West when it comes to their feelings and it's because of the trail West himself is leaving for all the cast mates to see. They don't realize that West is manipulating them. Ciara shouldn't have to carry that burden either.
Ciara is being told, from episode 1 or 2:
This does not even count her perspective, not what we know now, of his spin the bottle crash out, their late-night conversation in the kitchen about her not trusting him, their flirty nights...
YES, CIARA'S "PERSON" STATEMENT WAS CRINGE (ALTHOUGH I ALWAYS APPRECIATE HOW TRANSPARENT SHE IS WHICH MAKES FOR GOOD TELEVISION) BUT CRINGE TO SOME OF US FOR DIFFERENT REASONS OFTEN DEPENDING ON IF WE ARE REALLY WATCHING THE EPISODES AND IF WE CHOOSE, OR DO NOT CHOOSE, TO REALLY "SEE" CIARA AND HER ACTUAL EXPERIENCE DURING THE SEASON.
TLDR: Almost everyone in the cast has been telling Ciara that West is obsessed with her. This is why she may think he is "her person" but they've all been misled by West pretty much manipulating everyone and now Ciara is being seen as cringe for believing them.