Weirdo (affectionate)
Story time:
In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.
Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.
What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.
The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.
So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmes’s blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the “right” answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. It’s not about truth when it’s about paying rent. There’s no scientific integrity if you can’t control for human desperation.
Baby boomer goals: home ownership, 2.5 kids, dream vacations to florida/hawaii
Millenial goals: having any money left after bills, an apartment without roommates, dying quickly and painlessly in the initial nuclear exchange to avoid witnessing the collapse of humanity
The thing about Enid is, I went into this show expecting her to be on the level of obnoxiously cheery as the campers in Addams Family Values, and the same level of overbearing and bitchy. But in her very first scene, she proves to be more than just a comedic foil by backing off when she sees Wednesday recoiling from her offered hug. She recognizes that Wednesday isn’t comfortable with being hugged by her, and she immediately respects that.
Then she continues to be a likable contrast to Wednesday, making her disgust/disapproval for several of Wednesday’s antics known, but keeping the story about her pet scorpion in confidence, backing off again and again whenever Wednesday doesn’t want to hug her, and amending her statement about wanting Wednesday to cheer her team on by saying she can just glare from the shore instead. And she does tease Wednesday a little about being such a weirdo, but never with any malice.
Each little act of acceptance toward Wednesday’s oddities makes Enid a character that grows on you at the same time she’s growing on Wednesday. Because although she does get Wednesday out of her comfort zone, she also puts in effort to make Wednesday more comfortable in a new and strange setting.
The matching snoods is a really fun example of how she does both simultaneously, because it’s definitely NOT something Wednesday is into, but Enid had the consideration to make Wednesday’s black and not pink like hers. And as much as Wednesday finds the whole idea embarrassing, she can’t openly mock it to Enid’s face because she knows her heart’s in the right place, and she is genuinely a great friend whom she doesn’t want to hurt.
Wednesday is constantly pushed into doing things she doesn’t want to do, kept at a place where she doesn’t want to be, and bombarded with advances she doesn’t want to be bothered with, and Enid is the first person to let her choose what she wants to do. They’re like straight up the story of the girl who turns into a cat and runs away from all her potential suitors except for the one who never tries to catch her, and that’s a big part of what makes the scene where they finally do hug so great; because Enid has become someone who is so important to her that Wednesday hugs her because now she actually wants to.
Has this been done yet guys