I have a couple things to say about Adam

1. CALLED IT

2. he strikes out with not one but THREE really awful tropes ("the bully is just a bully because he's sad, it's not his fault " and "he's just being mean because he likes you!" and "secretly gay homophobe") and really no one should have ever greenlit this character, what were they thinking

and yet

3. I love him??

I am 300% more invested in him than any other character

I never thought I would see a dumpster fire of character concept like this handled sensitively but somehow it worked and now I have a lot of feelings

I think it was because he wasn't really presented sympathetically - we see how hard his home life is but the show never shies away from showing what an asshole he is, too

so it's less "aww poor baby, he's just misunderstood" and more "god, what a douchebag. I hope he gets the support he needs. I want him to be happy and I also want him to be less of a douchebag."

in general I really liked that this show continues in the growing trend of ensemble cast shows where there are no villains, just people being people, where the conflict comes from good but flawed people being unsure of themselves and having different goals and communicating badly and sometimes being thoughtless or cruel or awkward

rather than a grand division of Right and Wrong

the best stories are ones where not everybody can win, but you want them to anyway

also they push the diversity angle REALLY hard - and I thought it was done really well. probably the best counter I've yet seen to all the whiny morons who think shoving diversity down their throats!! is going to ruin the stories!!!

the writers just shoved all sorts of diversity all up in there and then didn't make a Big Fucking Deal about it and went ahead and told the story, and it worked out swell, actually

big shocker, I know

I think my favorite little subplot was Eric's relationship with his dad, which could have easily been a standard "intolerant dad learns to accept his gay son" but turned out to be something so much more poignant and subtle than that

especially the parallel his dad draws between his struggle with cultural assimilation and Eric's choices about how he presents himself and his identity

sadly, I think I was most disappointed by Gillian Anderson

not her presence, she's fucking amazing and holy shit she's gorgeous

I just didn't find her role as interesting as I expected? for all the screentime it got, Otis' relationship with his mom felt... weirdly undeveloped? maybe because it started out seeming like it would be sort of the central relationship of the show, and then it more tapered off into being a side-plot and there wasn't much resolution

alas

her role is still enjoyable if only because it means you get to spend more time looking at Gillian Anderson