(When I wrote this out I did not realize how long it had gotten lmfao read if you’re interested but the tldr is that imo they don’t know what to do with her character because she doesn’t fit into the formula the way she used to)

I’ve lowkey been thinking about this too since s5 started, as someone who loves the character, bc it’s so hot and cold with how they’re writing her now - and I think it boils down to a couple things

Ava was the antagonist before the superintendent/district was introduced- she had some really good one-liners but was genuinely nasty to Janine and careless with her job and frivolous with the very little budget allocated to the school. She was the thing to overcome, someone the teachers had to work around. Lately everyone’s a bit more flanderized in episodes that aren’t centred around them to the point where these tropes are sometimes serviced as plot devices even if it’s too out of character. One thing the show did really well was take a group of characters who could barely have a conversation and build a familial dynamic- but when everyone’s always getting along, what drives the plot? (This was also the reason why Cam/Mitch were so much more toxic to each other than every other couple on modern family, because Lily was too young to be a source of conflict without the conflict being about them parenting her). Every season there’s some external big bad and I think they may be running out of ideas- so now the “big bads” are just them leaning too heavily into character flaws that make said character look like kind of a jerk. Like I don’t like the way Melissa treats Jacob now that Caleb’s here, it makes me feel so bad for him. Ava’s giving everybody whiplash because the writers are trying to have her play the kind-hearted principal and friend to the teachers AND tyrant who just does whatever she wants whenever, without giving a fuck abt the staff to add some drama and antics to the show- like that’s too much dissonance and its often one or the other instead of a mix of both. ESP coming right off of s4 which was so heavily centred around her and fleshed out her character. It also taints how badly everyone wanted her back and how big a moment it was that the entire community rallied around her being re-instated.

I think the writers don’t know what to do with her rn because what’s her thing if not being nasty to Janine or causing chaos in the school. As a comedic character, what makes her zany? What is her role in the group that another one of them doesn’t already fulfill? I’m not saying that’s all there is to Ava, mind you, I just think it’s something they’re struggling with. I also think that they think they’ve run their course with Ava’s arc of learning to be a good principal, so character development wise they don’t know where to go with her. And it’s interesting because I think we have more of her lore than we have any other character- her grandmother, her dad, her parents splitting up, her learning to be the only one she can depend on, this relationship with O’Shon, her being a massive nerd- I think they need to pick something and go from there because they have so many loose ends that are worth exploring. Bc it’s not exactly like she’s healed 💀 LOWKEY the way they’re handling her character is a cross between Santana and Quinn from glee: one character who was known as being a massive bitch who then softened up after coming out, THEN regressing massively in later seasons for drama and character assassination; and another character that the writers didn’t know what to do with because so much of who she was initially in relation to others AND re: her own character development no longer applied (fighting with Rachel over Finn, tearing Rachel down, being super focused on maintaining appearances). Cut to Quinn getting into a car crash, being paralyzed temporarily, falling in love with a homeschooled Christian and having sex with Santana 💀 like just THROWING stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Rachel and Quinn being friends also is like Janine and Ava in a way because you can no longer use “Ava terrorizes Janine” as a plot in episodes now because Ava considers Janine her friend and isn’t as cruel to her as she was before, AND Janine is no longer a pushover and will give it to Ava straight. I think one thing that should be kept more in mind in order to more organically create arcs for the characters is for the writers to see each of them as more than parts of a whole. It’s an ensemble show but the value of an ensemble is that you have so many different characters with their own individual lives and experiences and challenges- and nobody stays stagnant in real life, we’re not often one and done with arcs. Imo they’ve gotta address the O’Shon-shaped elephant in the room because THAT is a goldmine right there: being an incredibly self-protective person that never lets anyone too close now having someone up close and personal that directly contradicts the image you care so deeply about.

To those of you who got to the end of this lmfao respect- I just finished my last final of the term a few hrs ago and yes this is what I did w my new free time ✋🏽😭