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Maggie writes...
Dear Greg,
Thank you for making a really fantastic show! I have enjoyed it so much over the last year and then some. I also enjoyed Usual Suspects - I especially loved that Conner knew about M'gann's true form since Bialya! So. Cool!
I was just wondering if I could ask about some of your thoughts on Artemis and Wally's relationship, because I was a little surprised at how quickly and easily it was resolved (?) in the last episode.
Certainly, I've expected them to get together since Infiltrator, since they played on the "love at first fight" trope. I can definitely see Artemis's appeal to Wally. She challenges him, and we know he appreciates that because Robin does it, too. Being super kick-ass and pretty doesn't hurt either!
But I'm not really sure I understand where Artemis's feelings for Wally eventually came from. He's not really her standard type - since Superboy seems about as opposite as you can get from Wally to me! :)
Her feelings for Superboy make a lot of sense: he was the one who inspired her to get over her both her initial fears and join the team, and he was the one who made her feel secure enough to finally share her background in Usual Suspects, since they shared the "bad DNA" bond.
Wally has done a couple of nice things, too: the handhold in Bereft and pep talk in Insecurity were great, but by that math I'd expect her to feel the same way for Robin, since his support for her in Homefront was actually enough to help her get over her fears and save the team instead of running. In Insecurity, Wally's pep talk ultimately didn't matter because she still decided to lie to them anyway.
I also do like that Wally challenged her and called her out on her insecurities and fears in Insecurity - but wasn't he also the one that made them so bad she didn't want to share her secret with the team in the first place? He really was the only person on the team who ever made her feel like she didn't belong.
And it seems like he hasn't really done much to counteract that - not that there should necessarily be a one-to-one correlation between sniping at someone and being nice to them in a relationship. I like the bantering.
It's just odd that Robin and Superboy have had more influence in making her feel welcome and accepted, but for some reason she's paired with Wally. As far as I can tell, Wally and Artemis didn't even talk for a month between their fight, since he was still scolding her at the beginning of Usual Suspects for her mistakes in Insecurity.
This is especially in light of the fact that she harbored feelings for Superboy for so long. Did she decide that she liked Wally after she found out about Conner and Megan? It seemed like that was the first time she acted jealous - when she told Wally about M'gann and Conner in the, ah, pretty "coldhearted" way that she did (at his birthday party, in public, where everyone could see, and well ... she knew she would hurt him and seemed kind of pleased and smug to do that to him on his birthday...)
So that feels like she's maybe settling? :(
I think the show has set their relationship up to be really complicated and interesting, and I was just really surprised everything seemed suddenly 100% okay in Usual Suspects, in what amounted to about a sentence and a half (and Robin talked more about how he accepted her no matter what). M'gann and Conner had more of a to-do around them, and they were already getting along.
(Maybe it's not as resolved as it seems?)
At any rate! Thank you for making characters that are so interesting and complicated and deep that I'd even be able to think about them this much and in this way.
Wally and Artemis are two of my very, very favorite characters of all time.
I really look forward to hearing what your take on them is. :)
Greg responds...
Well, first off, by the end of "Usual Suspects", I don't think it is resolved - but it will be shortly - by the end of "Auld Acquaintance" - and without much difficulty. So I think your point still stands.
To begin with, I think you need to go back to Artemis' introduction in "Infiltrator". She saw a cute boy enter and that made her insecure, so she cracked a joke. He reacted VERY badly to being embarrassed, and that put them at odds, but I think that both were attracted to each other from moment one. We tried to show that without telling it - or at least without being on the head about telling it.
Then they challenged each other. Not just her challenging him, but him challenging her. And I think she came to admire his intellect - even when it was misdirected, as in "Denial". There has to be a reason that she kept at him. If he was of no interest to her, why would she bother? Then you have Kent Nelson. Both Wally and Artemis HEARD what Kent had to say, and it wasn't lost on them. But they didn't want to cop to it, because both felt the other didn't like him or her. So that insecurity pushed them both further into denial.
Then you have "Bereft". Here, as I've discussed before, they meet again for the first time without the negative first impression. They genuinely like each other, trust each other and are attracted to each other. When their memories return, so do their insecurities - neither will risk being the first to admit they like the other. But it's not like they forgot that (positive) time spent together. And it's not like their deaf to Robin's "Get a room" line either.
And so on. Artemis saved the day in "Homefront". But she couldn't have done it if Wally hadn't provided the science. (And given her interest in science, revealed in "Denial", I think that would mean something to her.)
Plus, let's not forget the double-whammy of "Failsafe" and "Disordered". Here we reveal just how intensely Wally feels for Artemis, and just how much interest each has in the other. The trick is neither is prepared to take a risk. Rejection from Superboy (such as it was) is nothing compared to the fear Artemis has over being rejected by Wally.
Wally meanwhile is afraid to admit his strong feelings for Artemis, so maintains focus on the safer Miss Martian. Artemis does the same toward Superboy. Both then have to be disabused of the notion that their crushes are viable. I tend to think that deep down, the revelation about Conner and M'gann's relationship was less of a shock to each then it seemed. They didn't want to admit to themselves what they were probably sensing deep down. One reason for Artemis' extreme reaction to the knowledge, I think, is that she was trying SO hard to think that Superboy was a possibility BECAUSE Wally clearly seemed NOT to be, and so she wanted to have something she could use to push Wally out of her mind.
So in "Coldhearted", Wally learns some big lessons. Miss Martian is out of the picture - and that helps clear his mind. But mostly, he matures solidly in the episode. Now he's ready to behave differently. And in "Insecurity", he's willing to take a risk. And Artemis rewards that risk taken, by meeting him part way. But she has other bigger insecurities in the way, and they REALLY get in the way, so that by the time we get to the beginning of "Usual Suspects" - they're still at odds. But one of the reason they are SO at odds, is because for them, the stakes seem very high.
So when the truth finally comes out, it's a HUGE relief. She sees that he accepts her. He doesn't even have to say it. She can see that he does. And he sees that the reason she's been a pain have little to do with him. The deck is cleared.
Then they partner up in "Auld Acquaintance", and they're a good team. All of which leads really easily into the kiss on New Year's Eve. (Another excuse to do something that they otherwise might have been scared about.)
From there, it's fairly clear sailing. I'm not saying there weren't any ups and downs during the five year gap, because there were. But they both know they have a good thing now. And they stick with it.
The irony is that a lot of fans seemed to think this was about opposites attracting. But we never saw it that way. In fact, we saw it as quite the reverse. Artemis and Kid Flash had so MUCH in common, it was nearly impossible for them to get together. But once they did, it felt very right.
The opposites, of course, were Miss Martian and Superboy, but that's another post.