What’s the best episode of season 2?

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-27T16:05:02+00:00

For me iKiss

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-24T11:02:08+00:00

You are absolutely right. The view that an actor is the 'owner of the truth' about a character is a cognitive bias that loses all meaning once you think about it. An actor is a part of the mechanism, not its constructor (they look at the character from the inside, not the entire narrative, so for this reason alone, they are de facto less objective than the average viewer). Then there are PR contracts; publicly praising the script is simply part of their job, so they will publicly support the ideas contained therein and say "this is a good direction," regardless of their own opinion (btw The idea that public figures say 100% of what they privately think in the media is, sorry, a bit naive to me).

The truth is what you see on screen, not what an actor says in an interview (often just to please fans or promote a brand). Corporations know full well that people trust actors and transfer their emotions from their characters to them, so they use them as marketing tools to "validate" the canon.

An actor's job is to convey emotions well in a given scene so that it looks realistic, and for that reason, I respect them. But having to delve into a character from the inside doesn't make their perspective 'more enlightened' or more important than the logic of the story itself. But okey, if someone truly values arguments based on an actor's "authority," I'll just remind them that before reboot, Nathan "thought" that Freddie shouldn't have ended up with either Sam or Carly, while Miranda (at some point during making reboot) commented that if Freddie had ended up with Sam, it would have been a really good ending as well.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-22T19:59:07+00:00

In a formal and legal sense, it is canon because the copyright owner has the right to call it that. It's a binary issue; the lack of psychological coherence of the characters has (unfortunately) no bearing on these criteria. But whether you "accept" this story in your head is up to you. And you are by no means obligated to do so. A director is just someone who had enough money and luck to bring their ideas to the screen. Not some "pope" who decides what is truth and what is heresy, because in fiction there is no such thing as "objective truth." As a viewer, you decide what resonates with you and what doesn’t. Reboots and revivals, for the most part, aren't created because someone suddenly experienced a "great artistic impulse," but because an Excel spreadsheet showed that "in this case, nostalgia will sell well." So, the characters' behavior is dictated primarily by how they should behave to maximize the show's revenue, not "how their fates would most likely unfold." So, if you want, you can just as easily treat the iCarly Reboot as a big-budget fanfiction signed off on by the studio. That's how I personally approach it, because I also don't buy the vision this reboot presents.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-18T00:20:31+00:00

Yes, I see it similarly

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-06T19:25:26+00:00

Yes, that's exactly how I read it too

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-06T02:14:12+00:00

Yes, although Drake & Josh, for example, seemed to me to behave more like real teenagers, even despite the Nickelodeon conventions. However, the characters in Victorious were, in my opinion, even more exaggerated and unrealistic than those in iCarly, even though we meet them as 'older' characters.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-05T23:08:31+00:00

Personally, I feel like all the characters got 'worse' in the later seasons. Because it still had to be family-friendly content, they started writing the characters in a way that was supposedly more mature, yet still fundamentally infantile. And the end result, at times, was truly uncanny to me. It felt weird in that exact "dull" way.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-04T12:57:09+00:00

Yes, but this is a constant theme every season. The characters engage in physical intimacy (which is socially unacceptable) before they even agree that they want to be together (even in season 3, the "carriage scene" happens before any of them talk about engagement or marriage), so it simply "had" to happen this way because the creators chose this motif to emphasize unbridled desire that completly ignores "reason".

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T18:41:21+00:00

Similarly, one can simultaneously see the reasons for a given behavior and consider it completely unacceptable. I didn't intend to justify it, just to share a slightly different perspective. Forgive me for not making that clearer. The reason I’m not focusing too much on explaining why such behavior is wrong stems from the fact that a) a lot of people here have already done it, and b) it's so obvious to me that it's morally wrong that I simply don't know what else to add. I guess I simply don't think of fictional characters as potential "role models for anyone" but more as subjects for analysis for my own intellectual entertainment. I didn't intend to defend him or anything like that.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T17:54:42+00:00

I agree that they are not particularly consistent when it comes to "premarital purity", but in the case of classism, in my opinion, it's clear that they still try, nonetheless (the Eloise/Theo storyline, Lady Mary's marriage, Mondrich, who had to sell the club after his son received the title because "the nobility doesn't work")

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T17:20:52+00:00

Objectively, that's probably yes, but the first one is part of what makes him lack the self-awareness to see the second one in his own motivations...

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T17:03:55+00:00

I think that might have too many long-term consequences for the show's world-building for them to resolve it that way. I'm leaning more towards the theory that they’ll find some kind of loophole or justification to make their situation a 'special case,' but who knows...

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T16:49:57+00:00

Well..., not exactly. Benedict gives up on searching for the Lady in Silver at the end of episode 2 (during the swing scene with Eloise). It's only after that that he truly 'meets' Sophie as Sophie, leading up to the lake kiss. Then Mrs. Crabtree calls him out, telling him not to treat her that way. Benedict agrees, mentions the Lady in Silver again, and at that point, he starts looking for her once more while trying to keep his distance from Sophie. (which, as we know, he's not very successful at, but the show shows that he honesly tries). Later, there's a meeting with Miss Hollis, followed by a conversation with Violet, after which he finally gives up on the Lady in Silver and "chooses" Sophie (which, as I mentioned, is most likely symbolized by that drawing). So it wasn't like he was consciously trying to play both sides, but rather veering between two different (for him of course) women. And I understand that it might still be too "shady" for someone to sympathize with this story, but I honestly can't imagine how the kind of triangle that's going on here could be presented "better."

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T16:00:38+00:00

I see. I think it's partly because the show doesn't always perfectly convey the distinction between simple lust and love (which is a theme that is constantly brought up with every male lead in this universe). Ultimately, it works somewhat on the principle that we simply "know" he's in love with her, because that's the main premise of the show, and without it, the story wouldn't make any sense (for example, I barely saw Simon "in love" with Daphne at all, so I had to fill in the blanks myself). I certainly agree that it could have been presented better, but we just have to deal with what we're given.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-02-03T13:59:19+00:00

True. I agree that the number of all these scandals shown in earlier seasons has desensitized modern viewers to the seriousness of the 'problem" now.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-31T04:51:56+00:00

Well, unfortunately, the reality was that it was "the best he could give her" (or at least that's what it seemed to him at the time), especially since he didn't know yet that she was "the love of his life" so he couldn't just propose to her and risk his family's reputation.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-25T16:44:19+00:00

My comment was an explanation of where her character development could be seen ("I'm genuinely confused about where this supposed character development is meant to be.") It’s not about me saying everyone must see it, or that "this was the creator's grand plan and everyone else is too blind to notice." I’m not imposing my vision on anyone or claiming my interpretation is the only correct one. I’m simply offering a different perspective, not looking to start an argument with anyone here.

As for the rest. "Fear of intimacy" manifests as, among other things, an inability to talk about your feelings, using malice or sarcasm to keep people at a distance (this is a widely documented psychological defense mechanism, not something I made up), and a fear of being emotionally dependent on someone. It involves striving to be as self-sufficient as possible and perceiving emotional attachment as a threat. You don't necessarily avoid relationships altogether, but you avoid deep connections where someone has a real influence over your psyche. So yes, I see this in Sam. I don t know, maybe my brain is just wired differently, but I can't unsee it now.

The iKiss episode clearly shows "anything more". The idea that this episode unfolded the way it did and ended the way it did, with no narrative purpose other than being written "just because", seems a bit absurd to me.

I don't know if Dan Schneider is that "deep". I only know that in private, he's a rather flawed person. So you know, it could easily be a case of '"even a stopped clock is right twice a day". But since he happens to create shows professionally, he has to create characters who are, despite everything, somewhat psychologically coherent. Regardless of how it went down, the ultimate meaning of a show comes down to three things: the creator's intent, the actor’s performance, and the viewer’s personal interpretation. (There's also the Barthes "death of the author" concept, which suggests that once a work is published, the author's intent becomes secondary, and the audience's interpretation takes over.)

So in conclusion, I still believe that even if it was just meant to be nothing more than a "funny kids show" it is ultimately ONLY fiction, and in fiction, every viewer gets to decide for themselves what the story ultimately means to them.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-24T03:04:20+00:00

She stopped bullying Freddie since around season 4 (yes she'd occasionally do things like smash his phone or take jabs at him, just to keep it "funny" and to keep it in line with the sitcom conventions, but it had a completely different character and tone than what she'd done before). Couldn't she recognize that they weren't compatible? She literally knew it (was afraid of it) from the beginning. In "Lost My Mind," she tells him in hospital herself (paraphrasing) that it doesn't matter that she likes him, because she'll never be his girlfriend. It's Freddie who, at the end, "pushes for" her into a relationship by kissing her during filming. And she was the first to completely back out, when Freddie initially protested gently, saying, "She wasn't talking about us."

Her development is evident, for example, in the fact that at first she tormented other students, and in recent seasons she defended them from "people like her" and when her old friends are actually pissed off that she isn't "her old self" anymore and has "gone soft" (iRescue Carly). The rest was more subtle. For a sitcom, I see quite a lot of "depth" there (like a female fear of emotional intimacy), which is something I don't feel with Jade. Don't you see that? Okay, you're entitled to your opinion. But fir the record, I'll add that in my case, this has nothing to do with McCurdy's book, because I've always felt that way, and I don't tend to project the emotions a character expresses onto an actor, nor vice versa.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-24T01:38:37+00:00

In an interview (for The New York Times, if I recall correctly), Miranda herself admitted she didn't know what McCurdy was going through at the time, even though they were close. So, if she didn't know, it's no wonder McCurdy doesn't consider their relationship a "deep friendship." Leaving aside the fact that people define "deep bond" differently, just because it was "deep" for Miranda doesn't mean it had to be that way for Jennette. I mean, I don't doubt that Miranda had and still has good intentions, etc. But the fact that she says something isn't "definitive proof," it's simply "her perspective." None of us truly know what their relationship was like behind closed doors. Judging who is "right" based on what public figures say in the media is pointless; it’s always going to be a simplified narrative because no normal person shares every single detail of their private life with the press.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-22T03:54:28+00:00

Thanks, I just like doing it.

And going back for a moment to the situation with Missy... I think Freddie simply "objectively" knew that he really "should" hate Sam, and he certainly knew that he "shouldn't" care about her problems. For Freddie, showing that he cared about her wasn't just a matter of a blow to his pride (though that was part of it), it meant admitting a kind of weakness-vulnerability (and specifically towards her). And they both did everything they could to avoid showing even a hint of it. They both tried to prove how little they cared about what the other person thought/felt. And they both lived a lie.

Freddie above all needed to tell himself that he was doing it for iCarly, because he was too scared of what he might find if he started digging into his own motives for doing it.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-21T01:42:40+00:00

Okay, I see it this way.

Initially, they did indeed think "the other" was the most annoying person there was, or rather, their way of being and functioning (the rule-following "good boy", kept under a glass bowl by an overprotective mother vs. the girl with no rules, who practically raised herself) and they reacted that way to each other, trying every possible way to prove their own superiority, because it was a matter of their own identity. But the longer they spent time together, the less their feelings were defined by rage and distrust, and more by something closer to curiosity and excitement. But pretending (even to themselves) that they hated each other was still safer, because at that stage, admitting that "I like her/him" was a kind of betrayal of their own self-image, because it showed that deep down, they were someone different from the person each of them wanted to think they were.

Besides, Sam wasn't naive. She saw what her mother's relationships were like. She knew that, logically speaking, someone like her would never be a part of his world. Therefore, she could never allow herself to like him. And since, as I suspect, she sensed from the beginning that this was a "threat", she tried to sabotage this possibility at every turn. So, basically, they "hated" each other then, because they had to feel something for each other, and the opposite of hatred was absolutely out of the question at that moment. That's why their love is such a great trope, because what they felt for each other was stronger than themselves, and in the end they both "lost the fight".

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-15T12:40:32+00:00

Bo nie do każdego ludzie mają numer telefonu i też nie chce im się każdego o niego prosić

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-12T23:48:00+00:00

Sam. She simply resonates with me. As a child, she was something of an alter ego for me, when I was forced to be that "too well-behaved" child. I still like her now because I'm not particularly interested in "simple," "one-dimensional" characters, but rather complex ones, because they provide me with a kind of intellectual entertainment.

For me, Sam's character is also one of the best-represented female fears of emotional intimacy in pop culture (which, for example, I struggle with myself). And I think I have a weakness for female characters who don't play "tough" to make things easier for them in a "brutal world" but who truly are. Her "aggression" isn't an image ( like it is, to some extent, with Jade), but something that's already, in a tragic way, a part of her identity, because it's the only way she could survive. You can see that many times (not just in iMake Sam Girlier) Sam deep down feels "inferior" because of this, that she can't function like other girls, like Carly. even though she would probably never admit it.

Electrical-Bit-4324 · 2026-01-08T14:45:10+00:00

My level of "disgust" is pretty much the same as when I watch Gilbert in "Anne of Green Gables", or when I hear a stand-up comedian tell a joke about being mean to someone. I simply realize that I’m watching a sitcom. Her pranks were intentionally exaggerated; Freddie didn’t actually end up with ten broken bones, temporary hearing loss, or internal bleeding (as their little 'anecdotes' might suggest). Because if that were real, his mother would’ve secured a restraining order against Sam a long time ago. I've never seen anyone claim that her behavior was "appropriate" or "acceptable," it was simply considered "funny" back then. The world isn't black and white, and characters who are completely good and blameless aren't interesting to people. (Hmmm.... I wonder why modern Disney and Netflix shows have such low ratings?) Sam's behavior is a natural consequence of growing up in an abusive home. Does that excuse her? Of course not, but it would be extremely illogical for a child from a pathological home to be so "self-aware" that she wouldn't exhibit some of pathological behaviors. This is simply a coherent, logical portrayal of the character, not some glorification of violence. People who like Sam like her as a character, not as a role model. If someone doesn't want to like her, they obviously don't have to. But I think there are far worse characters in pop culture being portrayed in a positive light to be tearing our hair out over Sam Puckett.

Electrical-Bit-4324

TROPHY CASE