The Y Theory / The XY Theory

The Y Theory is about identification and as you can imagine, yeah, there’s a lot of FEELS and Oh no you didn’t moments in it!

But we have all grown up, haven’t we! What’s a good series without some blood pumping, be it negative or positive, moments?!

To lay it down, you very well know that a series that deals with one’s search of identity is going to have some bad waves and most especially during the young years! But it would not be using the word search if it meant that in their adulthood the protagonist already figured out themselves, would it!

 

 
 

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the pressure does not always come from outside forces but from the inside as well, though let’s be honest, for them to begin coming from the inside, they have to have been festered by outside forces!

This is usually in the form of trauma and that trauma is usually planted during young years where a person has yet to experience all kinds of personalities and are not ready for the reactions that are emotionally scarring!

That being said, in rare cases both parties involved, and by that I mean out girls that are in love, sometimes one of them is upright on their feet and they take that defining moment in stride which makes it very frustrating when the other does not take it very well because you feel like did not honour the love they shared by being their for each other and supporting the upright person in the bravely they displayed!

But then you put yourself in the other’s shoes and find that looking inside through the glass is easier that being right there in their spot, having a bullseye painted on your forehead, with seemingly no allies in sight and of course your emotional turmoil would blur you from the fact that there is someone there who is on your side. There is someone who will do anything for you if only you were confident and brave enough to stick by them and believe in the feelings that you share for one another.

Again, that is infinitely much easier to say than do because we are not experiencing the terror that the person is in right in that moment! This is especially true because in most cases it is a shock of the moment as it happens out of the blue and is un-anticipated!

Have you ever been stuck into a situation that you were un-prepared for and this situation had an adverse negative impact on yourself? Try imagining what your reaction in that moment was!

Jeanne, our protagonist Anna’s first love, experience this first hand when a bully came over to her, on the dance floor in front of all the students and outed her with vulgarities! But she was one of those rare few that are always upright on their feet and she fought back and refused to be undermined by the bulling!

Which is why, even though I completely understand Anna’s feelings, I kind of had no so nice emotions about her when her response was to not only ignore Jeanne’s silent request for support but that she went the extra mile by choosing to kiss the guy she was dancing with in front of everyone to prove otherwise!

It was a logical instinct and I completely understand her and they were still young but still, one cannot help but shake a fist at the scene!

Our reaction should then inform us of how Jeanne was feeling in that moment at that deep betrayal! But even with the way she was feeling, she tried to give Anna a second chance! She begged her to go with her back into that party and show that they were not afraid. To show that their love was enough!

But Anna was already over that fence and fear had already taken root within her heart! That is not something that you can just get over within minutes! Indeed, years later she was still not over it because she repeated the same exact mistake with another woman years later!

Anna says that Claire (the future girlfriend) never understood or come to terms with the fact that Anna was Bi! But Anna was at fault here! She obviously still never forgot the love she shared with her childhood friend Jeanne so she has to believe that those feelings were real!

Then she dated a guy for over five years and there is no way two people can be together that long without having feelings for one another!

These two facts should have clued her in that she liked both men and women! More clues were available when she fell for a woman while she was still seeing her boyfriend.

I understand that maybe she did not know what Bi meant but one knows that they love both men and women and thus can at least say it to both of them instead of trying to go for either one or the other!

She was not helping her case at all, and ignorance can only be used as an excuse for a certain period of length. It’s not like this was ages ago, no, this is current times, for fucks sakes, they even know about Ruby Rose!

Anyway, lectures and rants aside, this Belgium series is a study and insight into identity and how lives are affected by the search for identity and the choices that we make during this period!

The series covers all bases, with the third season focusing on the guy friend with his own identity issues so it’s a series for everyone who is looking for answers!

I love the approach of Anna having delusions during her struggles which help her resolve some of the immediate and far problems, just by having internal reflection through conversations had with her conjured lovers and past selves!

I love all the intimate scenes even going back in the past because they were not shied away from! I love all the supporting characters and wish that Jeanne had made a resurface in Anna’s future and see what her return could have done to impact Anna’s life! Sure, Anna frequently thought back on their relationship when she first got back into having feelings for other women, but I wanted that physical approach!

Well, at the very least I got it in another series from Spain, which is interestingly, about a past love that has consequences for the future.

Both being first loves means that the chances of those being end game are close to non-existent!

That by no means says that they can’t be my favourite and indeed, in both series, these past loves were my favourites, despite knowing that they were in the past and stayed there, though the Spanish one kind of had a comeback in the future, a bit!

I especially love Anna and Jeanne’s first kiss! It the the obligatory, I have a boyfriend but I don’t know what to do can you show me? This of course during a sleepover no less! It was a tried and perfected moment but the reaction was what sold me on the scene! It of course started out as a not so serious scene with laughter but by the end of it, emotions were completely different.

I love the way they both got completely quiet but not in a this is uncomfortable but more in the holy shit moment what is this feeling kind of silence! The actors were so good in displaying their inner emotions with just their faces here! And the icing on the cake, damnit, the hand-holding, fuck! Not many first kisses end on this note! Bravo for that, bravo!

Now, not to say that the opening scene with Anna and Claire was not out of this world! I have probably mentioned it somewhere already but please God, normalise falling in love on dance floors/in discos or clubs because goddamn!!

And also Anna and Jeanne’s make out scene during the fore-mentioned party was also trophy-worthy! It took Freckles and Adele’s classroom scene in Las Cumbres and tuned it up to 11!

Basically, another win for the community right there! Sure there is no GOOD END to our couples but we all go through different stages of relationships and different people and what matters is what we learn and gain from those relationships!

And that’s that!

Ja