Omg… I Have So Many Thoughts. But Above All Else, Mathias Get Behind Me!

ok so i watched the trailer but with english subtitles so i actually understand what’s going on and i have thoughts…

we’re pretty well aware at this point and have been since the synopsis release of episode 2 that felix is going to be homophobic towards mathias after finding out that he kissed erik. the trailer just proves that further with him telling mathias to find new friends & insulting him in the last clip of the trailer.

so from early on, mathias is faced with his ‘best friend’ turning on him & being homophobic towards him. which is no doubt the primary reason he’ll spend the season struggling to accept himself. now in the trailer, there’s a glimpse of that conversation between erik & mathias from episode 5 where erik asks what’s wrong between but ‘doesn’t get the answer he was hoping for’. now, we’ve all been speculating if it’s about the kiss and mathias’ (more than likely) feelings for erik and either mathias shuts it down or erik rejects him… but what if it’s not about that at all?

they are intentionally showing and even telling us that erik is becoming friends w/ felix and the boy group. even acknowledging it in one of the most recent episode descriptions. suggesting that erik is the ‘good one’ out of the boy group and that erik goes to tell them something before he finds out about the chlamydia business. and considering episode 1’s description mentions how mathias comes back but everything’s different now, i wouldn’t be shocked if the friendship is there from the JUMP! (which the topic of this friendship is something i have a lot of negative thoughts on)

so in the conversation between erik & mathias, it seems to be aiming in the direction of things are weird and awkward between them, not due to the kiss, but because erik is hanging out with felix. it seems like it’ll be more of a “the problem is you’re friends with felix” situation and an ultimatum will be laid out by mathias without him specifying why it’s so important to him that erik ISN’T friends with felix. hence why erik asks why he can’t hang out with felix AND be friends with mathias at the same time.

doesn’t help that mathias seems to still be pining after erik on the basis that this IS erik in the clip but i’m actually struggling to tell if it’s him or not. 😅

i’m still surprisingly confident that season 3 is matherik’s angst era and season 4 will be more in favour of them! but i think a lot of mathias’ story will be focused on him coming to terms with his sexuality whilst dealing w/ felix giving him constant shit over it. meanwhile erik… i don’t even know man. him being friends with felix genuinely baffles me more than anything!

btw credit to @/enviousouls on twt for the trailer translations!

leaving Mathias for Felix, the boys & sports

Rykter 3x01 -> 3x11

i find the context of these two scenes so compelling.

in the first one; mathias has become friends with erik in an active attempt to make amends for what happened. however felix is so adverse to this idea that he finds mathias’ actions as a betrayal of sorts. for him, mathias CAN’T be friends with erik. not because erik has personally wronged him in any way or because erik is a bad person but because it would mean felix was wrong and he’d have to face the music of who he is as a person and the severity of the action he committed. someone willing to beat someone up over a speculation & someone willing to spread rumours around the entire school. and mathias finds it frustrating that felix refuses to grow as a person WITH him. mathias wants felix to improve and mature alongside him. so to mathias, he should be able to be friends with erik and be friends with felix. because they both mean a lot to him. but clearly, felix’s refusal to change eventually becomes the breaking point in their friendship. 

in the second one; mathias, at this point, has ‘chosen’ erik over felix, which was why there was already the rift between them at the end of season 2. and now as the icing on top of the cake, felix knows about the kiss and has resorted to being a homophobic pos towards him. mathias knows that felix has not changed, he knows that he’s no better a person than when mathias left. but now erik is friends with the person who lead the physical assault on him and has dumped mathias BECAUSE of erik? who is also now giving mathias shit and hurting him over and over again because of him being queer? for mathias, erik can’t be friends with them both especially given all the reasons that he probably won’t be able to bring himself to admit!

Mathias to Felix on hanging out with Erik

Erik to Mathias on hanging out with Felix

have we ever considered the possibility that the answer erik wasn’t hoping to hear was that mathias had feelings for him & erik is the one who rejects him? 😔

haven’t been active in the rykter fandom in awhile, but i’ve seen quite a lot of opinions floating around on here & twt that i had quite a lot of thoughts about!

someone said the show is queerbaiting… and i genuinely cannot believe how anyone can see a character figuring out his queer identity and only see the matherik ship & dumb it down to queerbaiting.

edit: i want to clarify this part i said on queerbaiting because i didn’t articulate my thoughts in depth. at the end of season 2, mathias initiated a kiss with erik ultimately implying his queer identity. and his season 3 storyline has confirmed him as a queer character, who is crushing on erik & struggling with acceptance whilst getting bullied by his ex-best friend. however, erik’s pov is open to interpretation, which leaves a lot of space for fan theories (that i eat tf up) but at the moment, that’s all they are. fan theories. erik’s actions can be interpreted as both platonic & non-platonic, and i don’t see the show dangling matherik in the audiences faces. since they’re very focused on mathias’ story and his perspective rather than erik’s. whose own story seems to focus on him hanging around the wrong crowd and his questionable behaviour. it leaves the storyline open to go down two very different routes: erik could have his own queer realisation and the two of them eventually end up together. or mathias’ has unrequited feelings for his straight (or aro 👀) friend but those feelings helped him with his own queer journey to acceptance. and i think with how they’ve set erik up, it could genuinely go either way and make sense.

^^ that’s why i believe the queerbaiting claims are a stretch.

it’s become very clear why people began watching rykter: matherik. but people NEED to remember that the show is not solely about them. it never has been. this show is about the chaotic lives of ‘sheltered’ (i can’t think of the word i’m after) teenagers who all have the capability to be stupid, immature and selfish. which yes, includes felix as one of those characters and yes, includes erik as a teenager capable of being a bad person at times.

these teenagers are also all (well almost all) capable of redemption. mathias has proved his own ability to be redeemed after his s1 antics, erik will surely have his own redemption path regarding his current s3 antics and thea is currently having her redemption this season. just because erik has been generally good in the first two seasons, doesn’t mean he isn’t prone to poor decision making & shitty actions. remember: they’re all 15-16 years old.

i’ve seen a few people suggest that the rykter writers are ‘getting off’ on or ‘enjoying’ the homophobic abuse that mathias has been subjected to, but i think that’s a massive stretch. and an extremely poor outlook on the shows writing in my opinion. many people forget that even though norway is a progressive country that homophobic shitheads still exist. and the way mathias is being treated by someone as horrible as felix & no one saying anything due to being ‘sheltered’ followers is quite real.

and when someone as jealous, hateful & spiteful as felix who clearly puts up with his own share of prejudice gets to put someone else down (someone who he also feels ‘betrayed’ by), he’ll jump at that opportunity in an attempt to make himself better and stronger. from victim -> perpetrator. i understand the frustration around this season focusing on felix quite a lot but people need to stop seeing his storyline as ways to ‘excuse’ his actions and moreso to explain them & simply SHOW his life. they seem pretty hellbent on showing you that he’s a shitty person regardless of his home life & personal issues.

anyways rant over! time to disappear again lol. feel free to disagree with anything i said. always happy to have a discussion!

guys I gotta speak my truth. simon and maddie MUST stay friends. not lovers. friends. they ARE soulmates they are bound by fate their love transcends death and NONE OF IT is romantic. it’s so so so important to me that they do not become romantically involved. I NEED to see friendships that are treated with the same respect and intention and gravity as romance. simon and maddie platonic soulmates you will always be famous to me

with the context of the second episode, it’s just so much worse now that erik witnessed all of that and has the audacity to later ask mathias “so i can’t be friends with you if im hanging out with felix?”

louis de pointe du lac — denial is a river

i love olivia already simply just because she’s not afraid to hand it right the fuck back to felix

i really hope that later in the series, erik gets called out for being an obvious bystander to felix and the boys’, mostly felix’s, borderline bullying. from not standing up for mathias to continuing to associate with the boys despite how they treat olivia; who he hooks up with (from the episode descriptions), his complacency is very poor from him!