This
relationship is unlike many that I write about here. It’s not about how close these characters are
or how unexpected their connection is, and it’s not destructive-fascinating
like Tony and Sid from Skins, either. Rather, I’m writing about these two because their
dynamic is so unlike most of what you see on television.
The initial
interactions between Trent and Ian are much what you’d expect on any teen
show. Though both are overweight and
neither probably has a lot of game back home, Trent is considered “fit” at
weight-loss camp and is a clear candidate for the popular clique. Ian, by contrast, is far less confident and
prefers playing the guitar to playing sports; he falls in with the ragtag
misfits like rebellious Will, geeky Becca, and sweet Alistair (who’s widely
assumed to be gay and held at arm’s length for it by most campers.) So, Ian feels inadequate when he sees Trent
hanging out with pretty, popular Amber, and when Trent makes unkind remarks
about Alistair, Ian writes him off as a stereotypical jock jerk.
Rather
refreshingly, Ian isn’t the least bit interested in winning Trent’s approval or
joining his crowd. Yes, he’s into Amber,
but it’s not about status for him. In his
perfect world, I imagine Ian would want Amber to ditch her group to run with
him, Will, Becca, and Alistair – Trent and his sort would have no part in
it. In most day-to-day, non-crushing-on-Amber
situations, Ian is perfectly content to hang with his unpopular friends doing
their unpopular things.
Things
start to change between these two when Ian writes and performs a song for
talent night. When he’s working on it, Trent
is at once curious but skeptical. He
immediately urges Ian to play it for him, and when Ian admits that he hasn’t
written it yet, Trent suggests that Ian join the skit he’s doing with a handful
of other guys, on the grounds that they “know what [they’re] doing, and it’s
gonna be really great.” It’s an
invitation to be included (one that he pointedly doesn’t extend to Alistair,)
but at the same time, it feels sort of like a dig: maybe you don’t have your crap together, but we do, and we’re gonna be awesome. However, when talent night rolls around and
Trent hears Ian’s song, all bets are off.
From
that point on, Trent is completely taken with Ian and seems to want nothing
more than to hang out and jam with him (there’s an unused drum set in the rec
room, and Trent is eager to brush up on it.)
In the next episode, he talks about Ian’s song while he’s alone with his
girlfriend and later bails on plans with her in the hopes of jamming with
Ian. This angle, with the popular athletic
desperate to get in good with the insecure musician, is unlike virtually everything
you see on teen shows. It’s made even more
pronounced by the fact that Ian is sort of horrified at Trent’s attentions; he
takes to hiding from Trent, who he calls his “stalker.”
I like
it for that twist, and I also like that, for Trent, it’s about himself as much
as his admiration for Ian. Early in the
series, we see Trent in an introspective moment wondering how exactly he came
to be a “sports guy,” how it emerged as his chief interest and defining
factor. So, he’s at a bit of a loss in
terms of figuring out who he is, and when he sees Ian performing for everyone,
it hits home. It sets off something
within him, and while it makes him realize how cool Ian is in his own way and
want to befriend him, it also makes him want to be like Ian. From that
perspective, he’s widening his friendship horizon and finding himself at the
same time.
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