Some Awkward. Thoughts

Dunno if you watch the show Awkward., but I do and I love it.  Started in the second season (couldn't watch the first for various reasons), but it very quickly became a show that I love to watch.  I just wanted to share a few thoughts about the recent events in regards to Jenna and Collin.

First off, I want to say that I do not have a favorite relationship in this show where Jenna is concerned.  I think that Matty, Collin, and Jake are each great for her, albeit in different ways.  Matty is someone who draws her out of her shell and really cares about her.  He is also tremendously loyal to her.  She also makes him a better person.  The amount that he has changed since he has started dating her is truly astonishing.  Jake tends to be a little more boring and boy-next-door, but that lack of drama is really good for Jenna.  She can be so wacky that having someone around who calms her down is a wonderful thing.  Until recently, Collin has been someone who appreciated Jenna for who she was and really made her feel special.  With Matty (and a certain extent Jake), she felt that she wasn't good enough for the relationship.  With Collin, she had people affirming that she was good enough and worthy enough for the relationship.

That leads me to my reason for writing.  In the first part of the season, Collin was pretty much a good guy.  Granted, it is hard to call a guy who chases a girl with a boyfriend good, but Collin (aside from that) basically was.  He appreciated Jenna's writing and her talents.  He and Jenna are very much alike in that they have very similar interests and thoughts.  So, while I didn't like the fact that she cheated on Matty, I could totally see why she did so.  Collin is as gorgeous as Matty is (albeit in a different way), smart, a writer, has friends who appreciate her, and talks with her about what he is feeling.  Which is why when they suddenly decided to turn Collin into a pot-smoking, drug taking slacker I was very upset.  I am not upset by the characterization per se, but rather by the fact that is suddenly cropped up (seemingly) in order to demonstrate how big of a mistake Jenna made.

I resent this sort of blatant manipulation and character assassination which seems to have been done in order to make Collin look bad.  Had they said something in the first half of the season about Collin having issues like this, I would not be upset at all.  But, instead, the writers chose to completely change a character in order to make him look bad and that is so not cool.  Yes, characters do change and develop over time, but this is in no way, shape, or form a natural progression.  Rather, it is a sudden and dramatic change for no really good reason.  Other shows have done something similar (see One Tree Hill and various contrived Naley "affair" dramas for an example) and I have said similar things about those.  I get that shows need drama, but if you are going to do drama, I, for one, would appreciate it if shows could avoid such contrived drama and character twisting.  Be true to the characters that fans have come to love (or hate) and let what happens naturally happen.