Relationship Spotlight: Queenie Goldstein & Jacob Kowalski (Fantastic Beasts)

Normally, I’d be inclined to side-eye Jacob/Queenie as yet another example of an average guy/hot woman fictional pairing, which isn’t necessarily an automatic dealbreaker for me when it comes to a ship but which can definitely get tiring.  In their case, however, I enjoy them so much that I don’t really mind, and in fact, that dynamic informs their characters and their potential relationship in an interesting way (a few spoilers.)

While Jacob is presented as the epitome of an average Joe, Queenie’s introduction to the film is marked by her beauty and sex appeal; she’s in a state of undress when Tina brings Newt and Jacob home, and Queenie needs to be not-so-subtly reminded to put something on.  And to be sure, Jacob is wowed by her beauty.  Upon his discovery that she’s a Legilimens and can read people’s minds, she assures him, “Most guys think what you was thinking first time they see me.”  (Side note:  that’s an interesting – and deeply unsettling – situation for Queenie to be in on a daily basis, as a beautiful woman who always knows exactly what men are thinking about her.  We’ll see if Rowling takes more time to explore the implications of that more fully in future films.)

However, while Queenie’s beauty is the first thing Jacob notices about her, it’s far from the only thing he comes to appreciate about her.  Naturally, he’s wowed by her easy command of magic, he’s charmed by her friendliness, and as a fellow foodie, he’s amazed by her cooking – I love that, even though he knows that she can read his mind, he asks her to stop for a moment just so she can hear him tell her from his own lips what an excellent cook she is.  And that’s not a “women belong in the kitchen” thing, not at all.  It’s genuine admiration from one cook to another, complimenting her on the skills.  Really, after Jacob’s initial, slightly-stunned “va-va-voom” look the first time he sees her, we don’t get any more moments of him focusing explicitly on her looks.

Just as Jacob is astonished at meeting a wizard/witches, Queenie is fascinated to be meeting a Muggle (Nomaj per her parlance, but as always, I’ll stick with Muggle) – to her, Jacob being a Muggle is just as strange and extraordinary as her being a witch is to him.  And to be fair, that does maybe pose an issue for the longevity of whatever relationship they might have, if they’re both drawn to each other largely for being something “different” or even “exotic” by their respective standards.  But again, that’s not all Queenie likes about Jacob.  With her insight into his thoughts, she learns about his baking, bits of his family history (his grandfather kept pigeons, while hers kept owls,) and his overall disposition; another moment I like is when, after she talks about her and Tina’s parents dying young, she just exclaims, “You’re sweet!”, knowing what Jacob is thinking about that revelation.

That’s why the average guy/hot woman pairing works a little bit better for me here.  Because Queenie has an all-access pass to what people are thinking, it makes sense that she would pay more attention to what’s “on the inside,” as it were.  Thrown in the fact that Jacob’s “ordinary” Muggle life is new and exciting to her, and her general openness as a person, and it’s understandable that she would be interested in him.  The last scene of the film offers up some hope for these two together, and I’m eager to see how it goes for them once the initial headiness of meeting someone so different from themselves wears off.