But That’s More Of A Problem With The Show’s Narrative Rather Than With Kim’s Character.

Kim Possible: Great Hero, Not So Great Person (Redux)

I've rewatched the show more recently and noticed some new details, so I've decided to redo my first post on this blog.

Kim is known for saving the world and helping people with things like park cleanups and cats stuck in trees.

But she is also known to put her own desires before her friends, even if it causes them harm.

And that is not something a good person does.

These are not "mistakes" because Kim is doing them intentionally.

And it's not a one-time thing:

"Bueno Nacho"

Kim forges an application in Ron’s name before she even brings up the idea of working there to him.

When he's upset with her for doing that, she uses the puppy dog pout, which he explicitly states she knows he can't resist, to get him to take the job.

She refuses to be supportive of him or happy for him when he turns out to be good at it, to the point of refusing to do the job at all.

I will give Kim credit for apologizing for her jealousy, but she never apologizes for manipulating him to take the job in the first place.

"The New Ron"

She forces Ron into a haircut, despite the fact that even her own mother had reservations about it.

When Ron tells her he hates it and why, she feigns sympathy, steals his hat, and runs through the halls yelling that he got a new haircut.

When Ron starts to embrace the new haircut and becomes popular, she hates it. But despite his popularity, he's not a jerk.

He didn't abandon Rufus, Rufus wandered off and Ron gently chastised him for it.

She was only upset because Ron was starting to change into someone who cared about hair care and appearances.

(Which, if that wasn't her goal with the new haircut, then what was her goal?)

She apologizes for saying Ron needed a new haircut, but not for the lengths she went to to force him into one, nor for her contempt for him after he started to embrace the haircut.

At the end, she tries to tell him that it's what's on the inside that counts, but it's very hypocritical since she was the one who wanted him to change in the first place.

"Crush"

Kim locks Ron in the janitor closet, though semi-unintentionally; she wasn't intending to lock him in there, but she did shove him back in when he was trying to leave.

She ignores Wade’s attempts at reaching her, even though Wade never contacts her unless it’s important.

(I will give Kim some leeway here, as a teenage girl deserves one night to herself.)

She also expressed no concern at Ron being missing, nor does she seem to even notice he's missing.

We also have no idea how long Ron spent in that closet, but even just an hour is too long.

(Also, that is a really big janitor's closet. The ones at my high school were closet sized, not room sized.)

"October 31st"

When Kim's told the bracelet is armor that grows when she lies, she keeps lying, even though it was probably unnecessary. Her parents and Ron would have been understanding about her wanting to go to a party with her crush.

Her actions led to her destroying Monique's garage door, which probably landed Monique in trouble.

And though Kim does get grounded for lying, she doesn't get in trouble for putting others in danger.

(Probably because Wade's the only one who could confirm that she knew she was putting others in danger.)

"The Twin Factor"

She uses the Neural-Compliance Chips on her brothers, after saying that just making them would be unethical.

After an entire episode about how bad they are.

After being a victim of them herself.

It’s meant to be a joke.

This is not the kind of thing anyone should joke about.

"Grudge Match"

Kim thinks telling Ron that he might stand a chance with a girl is "fudging".

At this point, they know so little about Zita that they think her name is Annie.

There's no reason to believe Ron wouldn't stand a chance except for having a low opinion of Ron in general.

They also had their conversation about it while sitting across the table from Ron at Bueno Nacho, so there's a good chance he heard them.

And despite this belief that he doesn't stand a chance, she spends the rest of the episode angrily telling him that there are no rules to try to encourage him to ask her out.

"Adventures in Rufus-Sitting"

Ron's steps of taking care of Rufus aren't just long because he's an exotic animal, those are also things Ron learned about taking care of Rufus from experience.

He also refers to Rufus as his son in "Mind Games", so Kim's disregard for how to take care of Rufus is extra mean given that Rufus clearly means a lot to Ron.

Not only does Rufus accidentally eat the chip due to Kim's negligence, she doesn't even notice it's missing until Wade tells her it's broadcasting a signal from inside Rufus.

And she lies to Ron about all of it on multiple occasions. I can understand some of them, since she was dealing with an emergency, but this is the kind of thing pet owners like to know about.

"Exchange"

Kim and Monique were both arranging “accidental” run-ins with Hirotaka to ask him out, but Kim’s the only one who had Wade track Hirotaka’s movements to do it.

I know Monique couldn’t do that, but the point is, Kim took it to creepy stalker levels for a guy she’s known for less than a week.

(I'm also interested in the fact that Monique was confident she could take Kim in a fight.)

"Return to Wannaweep"

Though Kim and Bonnie both sabotage each other, Kim started it.

She unplugged Bonnie’s alarm clock, supposedly to charge the Kimmunicator, but there was another available outlet that she could’ve used.

She also uses all the hot water in the showers so Bonnie can’t have any, which wouldn’t harm just Bonnie but anyone else who may need to use the showers after Bonnie.

And she refuses to take any of Ron's feelings seriously.

Even if Gil hadn't actually been up to something, Ron was still stuck sharing a cabin with a guy who used to bully him and had attacked him and the squad at some point. He has every right to be uncomfortable with it, but Kim keeps dismissing his feelings because she's too focused on sabotaging Bonnie so she could win a plastic stick that's been painted gold.

Dr. Lurkin apologizes to Ron for not taking him seriously, but Kim doesn't.

"Go Team Go"

Despite getting on Ron's case for cheating in "Naked Genius", which is completely fair, Kim had no problems using her newfound super strength for gym class or cheerleading, which is unfair and hypocritical of her.

"The Big Job"

Though I agree the "doofy" and "stupido" thing was embarrassing, coupons shouldn't be embarrassing, especially since Kim isn't offering to pay for it herself.

I can understand how the kids' menu thing was embarrassing, especially since Kim wouldn't want to order a kids' meal. However, she should just let Ron order of the kids' menu if he wants to.

The whole plot around getting jobs would have been better if Kim was getting one to pay for dates herself, not to "encourage" Ron to get one to pay for dates.

And then Ron decides Kim deserves better and starts looking for a job himself anyways.

"Fashion Victim"

I could understand being upset about not getting to see the designs, but Monique signed an NDA and would be risking not just her job but her future career in the fashion industry if she told Kim. And having Wade check the contract for loopholes is obsessive and could’ve landed them all in legal trouble.

Hassling Monique to break an NDA and trying to get Wade to find a loophole so Monique can tell her is the kind of thing Kim would've gotten fired for.

(Also, there is no way Wade was just given a copy of that NDA, so he's definitely in trouble if Monique ever decides to snitch on him.)

"Big Bother"

We learn in "A Sitch in Time" that Kim always wanted a little sister, so it's no surprise that she took to Hana immediately.

But Ron's life was changed against his will without warning while he was at school, so a little sympathy would be expected from his girlfriend. Especially since the attic isn't as nice or comfortable as his old bedroom.

When Yori needs Ron's help on a mission, Kim refuses to let him go because she doesn't trust Ron alone with Yori, even though he's never given her any reason to think he'd be disloyal and Yori had requested help from him specifically.

"Clothes Minded"

I know they’re criminals who are behind bars, but that doesn’t make it right for Kim to use The Fashionistas’ design without their permission.

Monique didn't know it was The Fashionistas' design, and Rufus is a six-year-old rodent, so he wouldn't know any better.

But Kim did know it was their design.

I know they wanted her to bust them out, and I'm not saying she should, but it doesn't seem right for her to use their design without their permission.

(It's also kind of a disappointment that Kim is wearing a design made by The Fashionistas instead of Monique, her fashionable best friend who helped her put them behind bars in the first place. That would've been so much cooler.)

"The Cupid Effect"

At no point should Kim and Ron have been trying to get Monique to date Wade.

(A more realistic way of handling that would be to have them tease her about it for a bit, not seriously asking her to consider it.)

Also, Kim didn't actually need to hit Monique with the Cupid Ray just because she "didn't have time" to deal with Monique being upset. She was in a car, she could've driven away.

Because she did, Monique refused to leave Wade's side and ended up on a mission that she would have never gone on if she had been herself at the time.

Conclusion:

If this show handled relationships a bit more realistically, people would at least be mad at Kim for her actions, and stay mad. Kim being a hero doesn’t excuse such behavior, nor does her being a teenager.

As an action hero, Kim is great; cool, calm, collected, and always victorious.

But as a person, Kim is controlling, competitive, manipulative, insensitive, and more focused on her own wants than others around her.

And those aren't qualities someone who's meant to be a role model should have.

Ron was never given any of his own gadgets in the show was he? He was given a communicator in the games and in a stitch in time to keep in contact with kim, but that timeline got delete. And I’m not sure if the games are canon

I never thought about it, it makes episodes like The Fearless Ferret somewhat sad, he really wanted to step out of Kim’s shadow.

Yeah, he was never given his own gadgets. And he always seems impressed by Kim's gadgets.

He was only given a Kimmunicator in "A Sitch in Time", and even then only after Kim had told Wade to make one.

He is sometimes shown using a grappling hook, but Kim's other gadgets are always made for Kim, not Ron.

And it's frustrating that he doesn't get gadgets because even Robin gets gadgets.

Yeah, Ron really wants to step out of Kim's shadow. He wants to be his own hero, or at least considered a partner to Kim, not her inept sidekick.

You know, now that you mention it...

The girls at my elementary school had crushes, but definitely not on adults. Teenagers were the oldest they had crushes on. The boys were the same.

Adults just seem so old at that age, so Jimmy's mom, Beautiful Gorgeous, and Princess Quin Shi "Peggy" Sue should've just seemed old to them, not hot.

I mean, they are attractive, to adults. And teenagers. Prepubescent children, not so much.

And, while I'm sure 11-year-olds were allowed some freedom, "One of Us" has Cindy returning from a competition out of town, and she exits the bus alone. That's an amount of freedom Cindy wouldn't have been allowed for legal reasons.

Not to mention, "Men at Work" has them getting jobs, despite being 10 at that point. Again, legally, this would not have been allowed.

It's a cartoon, not everything has to be accurate, I know. I'm not asking for accuracy, I'm asking for shows about children to remember that the main characters are children.

The show had some great plots that make sense for 11-year-olds:

Jimmy's upset at being the shortest in class

Jimmy's upset over not being athletic

School science fair

Candy-selling competition

Trying to make the perfect candy

Sheen's afraid of being held back (again!)

Jimmy doesn't want to pick up his clothes

Sheen's action figure goes missing

And more

But as the show went on, the romance aspect got emphasized a lot more. Of course, by that time, most of us were invested in the main ships, but looking back, it seems weird how much romance they put in the show.

I don't hate romance, but it feels weird to make it a central plot element in a show about elementary school-aged children. Especially when some of those romantic feelings are directed at adults.

Not to mention having it be such a flip-flop, back and forth, will they won't they thing.

The show would have been fine if the romance aspect wasn't so heavily emphasized at the end. Even though we liked the main ships, they weren't why we watched the show.

Well, time for another opinion! This one's about an older Nickelodeon show, Jimmy Neutron! It's very simple: the show would've made way more sense if the characters were teenagers instead of 11-year-olds. Things like:

Jimmy being allowed to fly around the world in a homemade rocket

Jimmy being allowed to fly into space

Jimmy being allowed to work in his lab unsupervised

Pretty much anything Jimmy does

The kids routinely go places like amusement parks or Cafés by themselves

The boys developing crushes at the drop of a hat

Cindy & Jimmy flip-flopping back & forth on their feelings for each other

Carl's crush on Jimmy's mom (still creepy, but makes more sense if he's a hormonal teenager)

The boys' brief crushes on Beautiful Gorgeous

These are all things that would make sense if the characters were teenagers. 11-year-olds just don't act like this. Trust me, I was 11 when the show was airing. I was in that age group, no one at my school acted like that. Crushes were only on classmates or teenage celebrities, we weren't allowed to go out by ourselves, and we would've needed supervision just to cook, nevermind the kind of science Jimmy was doing.

This level of drama, romance, and personal freedom, would make more sense for teenagers than children. Shows about kids can be fun, but you need to remember to have them act like kids.

As much as I've criticized the writing of Kim Possible at times, I do have to agree that they resolved this issue better than Miraculous did.

Of course, that's because they actually resolved the issue.

Miraculous did not.

And after five seasons, we should already have good team dynamics.

And we don't.

It's all massively disappointing and underwhelming.

The Best Friend Showdown

Season four had many, many flaws. One of the big ones was the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict where Ladybug starts relying on Alya more and more, basically using her to replace Master Fu. We get a sense that Chat Noir feels inferior to Rena Rouge because of this change, but it’s never directly addressed. The most we get is this conversation from Hack-San:

Ladybug: I'm really sorry, Cat Noir. I should've told you. I mean, if I found out that you told someone about your secret identity, I'd... probably be upset, too. I'm really sorry I hurt your feelings. Cat Noir: You didn't hurt my feelings. You did everything right. 

Which is actually a really weird bit of dialogue because - as far as I can tell - nothing in the episode revealed that Scarabella knew Ladybug's identity. She hands out miraculous all the time and no one knows who she really is. Why would this time be different? Ladybug could just show up in costume, explain what's up, and then hand off the earrings while using yet another miraculous.

Anyway, the Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict is “resolved” by Rena Rouge being outed again (and I guess that matters this time), leading her to give up her miraculous so that Gabriel can’t steal it away, which of course leads Gabriel to steal it away and fully disempower Ladybug’s larger team, leaving Chat Noir her only teammate.

How satisfying! This is such good, character-driven story telling!

It’s not. This is plot contrivances to the max with no meaningful character beats, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to do one of my favorite things: gush about a relevant Kim Possible episode! Today’s topic is episode 12 of season one: Pain King vs. Cleopatra, the episode that introduces Kim’s female BFF, Monique!

This was a bit of a shocker for me because I didn’t realize that Kim and Monique weren’t pre-series friends. Turns out that, much like Alya, Monique is a new girl, which isn’t a bad call. This was a nice way to delay Monique’s introduction for a few episodes so that the writers could focus on establishing Kim’s relationship with other key members of the cast like her partner, Ron. Spacing out your intros is the way to go whenever you can pull it off as it’s a kindness to your audience that keeps them from feeling overwhelmed, making it more likely that they’ll remember your cast.

The other, more important similarity between Alya and Monique is that, when Kim’s hero partner and life-long friend finds out about Monique, he is less than thrilled:

Kim: I barely got to see them. Right after I hooked up with Monique, the museum was robbed by some glowing-headed animal guy. Ron: Oh, that's nice. Ron: Wait a minute, who's Monique? Kim New friend, really great. Anyway, the thief stole an enchanted ancient talisman. Ron: Whoa, whoa, back up! How can I not know about a new friend? Kim: I met her at Club Banana, then again at the museum before I chased the glowing robber. Ron: So what's she like? Kim: The robber? Ron: The friend, Kim, the "new friend".

Throughout the episode, Kim and Monique continue to bond without Ron, leaving Ron feeling left out:

Ron: Seein' a pattern here, Rufus: Kim does her thing, I do my thing, and pretty soon - we're doing different things.

Which leads him to get a little territorial:

Kim Ron! What are you doing here? Ron: Can I dine with my best friend and her new friend? Kim: Uuh, Ron, Monique, and vice versa. Ron: Bearclaw? Monique: No, thanks, I'm vegetarian. Ron: Uhm, I'm pretty sure it's imitation bear? Kim: She's joking, Ron. Ron: Good one, hahaha, ha, good one. So, did Kim tell you that I'm her sidekick? Cause that role is definitely taken by me. Monique: Riiiight. Well, in... you know I better get to class. Later, Kim. Um, n-nice meeting you, Ron. Ron: Likewise, I'm sure! Kim: What is your problem? You're acting really weird. Ron: Well, let's see. You went to the museum with Monique, not me. Monique was with you this morning, not me. Hmm, pattern? Kim: Yeah. You. Weird. Ron: No, we're drifting apart because you're excluding me. Kim: I am not excluding you. It's just that you and Monique are... different.

Noticing some similarities to Miraculous here?

So how does Kim Possible resolve this conflict?

Well, the plot of this episode resolves around Kim Possible’s version of professional wrestling, the GWA. There’s a competition going on that Kim has no interest in watching (mood), but when Kim mentions the GWA to Monique:

Monique: Why didn't you bring [Ron] along? Kim: Unless someone put a waiter in a headlock, this is definitely not Ron's scene. Besides, he had a date with "Steel Toe". Monique: He scored tickets to Mayhem in Middleton? The GWA rocks! Kim: What?

It turns out that Monique and Ron have a shared interest! Multiple shared interests, in fact! Interests that Kim does not share:

Monique: You know, I still can't believe you met Pain King and Steel Toe. Ron: I can't believe you're into wrestling. Kim: I can't believe I know either one of you.

By the end of the episode, the conflict is resolved not with Kim having to pick a BFF or with Monique somehow being demoted, but by showing that this didn’t need to be a conflict at all. Kim can have multiple close friends that she shares different interests with without any of those friends being lesser. Those friends can, in turn, have their own friendships that don’t always involve her.

It’s a genuinely lovely resolution that makes me love this little friend group because it now has added complexity. Monique and Ron are friends in their own right! Kim is not the center of the universe in spite of her main character status!

I also love that Kim isn’t vilified for having other friends or portrayed as constantly leaving Ron out of things that he'd want to do in favor of Monique. Ron genuinely would not enjoy most of the things that the girls love to do together. At the same time, Ron’s feeling aren’t treated as totally irrational either and Kim even admits to ditching him. It’s a genuine, complex conflict that is super common when someone enters a new relationship be it platonic or romantic.

Obviously Kim Possible’s version of this conflict feels far less complex than Miraculous’ because Kim Possible understood that Ron should be Kim’s one-and-only partner, so his position was really never threatened. Monique does not want to be an action hero and is never given the sort narrative weight that elevates her to Ron’s level or higher, but that doesn't matter. The basic lesson here is still relevant and super important for the intended audience of both of these shows.

There did not need to be a Rena Rouge vs Chat Noir conflict that never got properly resolved. Miraculous could have made these two friends and no, Scarabella doesn't count because Chat Noir has no idea that Scarabella is Rena Rouge/Furtive. Their relationship ended at the end of Hack-San. He didn't even know that Rena Furtive was a thing until she was in the process of being benched and that's the problem.

Kim Possible is not a team show, Miraculous is, and yet Kim Possible has better team dynamics than Miraculous. Monique could have joined Kim's team at the end of Pain King vs. Cleopatra and it would have felt natural because both Kim and Ron had welcomed Monique and formed a genuine bond with her. This is a true friend group that Miraculous can only dream of even though they've been adding new superheroes since season two.

We're going into a season with a full, massive team and yet that team has no established dynamics on the hero side. It's not a functional team! None of these characters have meaningful relationships with each other as heroes save for Alya and Nino since they know each other’s secret identities. The only relationships Miraculous cares about are the various romances and everyone's relationship to Marinette and everyone suffers for it.

The show would not have been harmed by Rena Rouge, Chat Noir, and Ladybug being a team. It was the thing I kept think after watching the Kim Possible episode. Since the team is the end game, why aren't we seeing them? It would have been so nice to have Hack-San end with Ladybug introducing Chat Noir to Rena Furtive instead of a nonsense discussion about an issue the episode didn't even address.

That is an excellent point that I have a few thoughts about:

Regardless of whether or not they believe the villains love their kids, they certainly believe the villains were raising their kids to be villains, which doesn't sound like a good situation to leave kids in.

Also, there's no reason to think things on The Isle were good.

There's nowhere to grow food or material for clothes. Most of it is shipped in, and in one of the tie-in books, the VKs didn't know what bananas were as they only ever saw the peels.

And that's not even mentioning hygiene, medical needs, and education.

Ultimately, it's not like a reasonable person, especially not a reasonable ruler, would just assume things are good without bothering to check.

I might believe that Ben and the AKs didn't know what things were like on The Isle, but the only reason for the adults to not know is to just not care enough to check.

And since they already knew there were children on The Isle, that seems negligent at best.

The most unbelievable thing about Disney's Descendants is that the princes and princesses, people who are known for being kind and compassionate, would be okay with literal children living on The Isle, despite knowing what things are like on The Isle, just because their parents are villains.

Like, I'll believe they decided to put their dangerous villains there to protect everyone.

(Not villains like LeFou and Smee though, because they're just not worth the trouble.)

But you expect me to believe that no one thought it wouldn't be fair to punish the kids for their parents' crimes? That people who are known for being kind thought this was fair?

Sorry, not buying it.

And it's not that they didn't know, because everyone knew the villains had kids, so they just, somehow, honestly thought this was a good idea.

But I don't believe it.

I understand that it has to be that way for plot reasons. My proposed change would be a very simple one:

They didn't know there were kids on The Isle.

They only found out shortly before Ben was going to be coronated, because Belle and Adam wanted to check on The Isle one more time before it became Ben's responsibility.

Thus, Ben immediately decides to invite some VKs to Auradon for a better life, but Belle and Adam are concerned that the VKs might be a lot like their parents. He agrees to only invite a few at first, but he's confident that they're not evil, just in terrible conditions.

I know that the narrative itself always validated Ron’s importance, but I always felt bad about how little credit he got from the other characters, specially from the villains it felt unfair sometimes.

I know is mostly because he is the comic relief character and that’s his role, but many of the jabs done against him, felt incredible unfair like closing his restaurant, other characters never recognized how important his contribution to Team possible were.

Perhaps this is where the sentiment of Ron being underserving of Kim comes from? people see him being treated as unimportant or as a fool by other characters and assume that’s what he is, but there are plenty of episodes demonstrating this isn’t the case.

Yeah, there are a lot of episodes that show Ron is more than a fool. I have a whole post about it.

And, yeah, watching the other characters treat him like a loser probably influences the viewers' opinions of him.

Luckily, a lot of people know better.

I cannot imagine how Ron is undeserving of Kim.

He's supportive, kind, and forgiving.

(Maybe a little too forgiving, in my opinion.)

He's also got impressive skills when he chooses to use them.

And might be a genius, if his evil self in "Bad Boy" was anything to go off.

(The general consensus is: yes, it is.)

So, anyone who says Ron doesn't deserve Kim hasn't watched the show.

The most unbelievable thing about Disney's Descendants is that the princes and princesses, people who are known for being kind and compassionate, would be okay with literal children living on The Isle, despite knowing what things are like on The Isle, just because their parents are villains.

Like, I'll believe they decided to put their dangerous villains there to protect everyone.

(Not villains like LeFou and Smee though, because they're just not worth the trouble.)

But you expect me to believe that no one thought it wouldn't be fair to punish the kids for their parents' crimes? That people who are known for being kind thought this was fair?

Sorry, not buying it.

And it's not that they didn't know, because everyone knew the villains had kids, so they just, somehow, honestly thought this was a good idea.

But I don't believe it.

I understand that it has to be that way for plot reasons. My proposed change would be a very simple one:

They didn't know there were kids on The Isle.

They only found out shortly before Ben was going to be coronated, because Belle and Adam wanted to check on The Isle one more time before it became Ben's responsibility.

Thus, Ben immediately decides to invite some VKs to Auradon for a better life, but Belle and Adam are concerned that the VKs might be a lot like their parents. He agrees to only invite a few at first, but he's confident that they're not evil, just in terrible conditions.

I wasn't even aware they were trying to make it seem like Marinette struggles to make friends.

Like, she's so popular and loved that struggling to make friends is the one problem Marinette doesn't have.

Sure, they tell us she had this problem in "Origins" but it's not like they actually show Marinette struggling to make friends. People just love Marinette instantly.

She's a bit quirky, and nerdy, and prone to misunderstandings, but none of those have made it hard for Marinette to make friends.

So saying she struggles with that is just disingenuous.

As someone who ACTUALLY struggled to make friends in HS its insulting when they say Marinette does so.

People who "struggle to make friends" dont get elected class president

People who "struggle to make friends" dont have pajama parties with their girlfriends ocasionally

People who "struggle to make friends" arent friends with famous comedians and international rockstars

People who "struggle to make friends" dont date supermodels. Or at all.

Being "quirky" or "nerdy" or "prone to misunderstandings " is not the same thing of being a weird outcast, and for sure doesnt make you unpopular.

So, it's not as though a fashion show isn't cool or anything, it's just that...

I feel like assigning each group to do a fashion show for their end of semester project is...limiting.

For example:

Ruby is a Mixed Media and Graphic Design focus. I literally cannot tell what her contribution to their final runway was.

(Someone tell me if they know what it is.)

Sunny's animations were good, but they weren't all that she could do. She could do more if she wasn't limited to doing a fashion show. A short film or animated music video would be cool.

And that's not even getting into some of the other people who's shows we didn't see.

What would Daria Roselyn, a Music Focus, and Georgia Bloom, a Performing Arts focus, do for a fashion show? Model?

What about Emi Vanda? Did she paint a set? Make props?

We don't even know who was in Colin's group, or what he did for his runway.

The point is, making everyone do a runway for their end of semester project can be limiting.

It also requires every group to have at least one Fashion focus, which seems a bit...unlikely.

A better system would be...well, it's complicated, but I'll do my best to explain it.

Everyone gets assigned a group. (I don't like this, but I'll leave it for now.)

The group has to agree on a project and submit their idea to a group supervisor for approval. (Our main girls would probably still do a fashion show.)

Their project proposal must say what each group member is going to contribute.

If it's approved, they get to start on it. If it's not approved, they have to make the changes their supervisor asks of them.

There's a deadline to get their proposals approved. If they're not approved by then, they'll be assigned a project. (I'm sure Miss Wright would have a few ideas.)

Regular check-ins would proceed as normal, with everyone showing the progress they made on their part of the project.

By the end of the semester, they have to have their project finished.

This could lead to some interesting ideas for projects, such as:

A museum exhibition

A clothing display

A mini concert

A short play

More ideas

This could be interesting. It could be fun to hear about groups doing something other than a fashion show.

And, like I said, giving the students a chance to pick their projects for themselves would give them better opportunities to show what they can do.

Would a sequel series that acknowledges Kim’s flaws and works to fix them help you see her in a better light?

Ideally? Yes.

Honestly? I'm not 100% sure, but it would be appreciated.

The most important thing is that it's handled without people acting too out of character.

For example, if Ron tells Kim how much something hurts him and she immediately apologizes and corrects it, though it'd be nice, it's not very in-character.

They'd need to have more back and forth before Kim acknowledges that she's hurting him/that it's bad.

Not saying they have to break up, but it wouldn't be very in-character for Kim to immediately recognize her faults.

Kim's very stubborn. Not being mean, she just is.

It's a requirement for saving the world, but when it negatively impacts her personal life, it's a problem.