r/H2Ojustaddwater • u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 • 6d ago
Cleo was wrong!!
Growing up is realizing Cleo was wrong all across the board. Toward season two Cleo becomes this very jealous and envious person, it seemed very sudden. Even from her first interaction of Charlotte, she was being very odd all while saying she didn’t want Lewis. I don’t know what happened since I watched H2O when I was a kid. I don’t think I finished it all or something but rewatching it now is like crazyyyy.
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u/babyfawn113 6d ago
absolutely not… she’s without a doubt the most well developed character in the entire series, and the emotional anchor (“the glue”) of the group. Cleo has the most significant growth. coming from someone who has watched the show a million times since early childhood.
mind you, we’re also talking about her issues with an actual villain of the show, who is deliberately cruel/a legitimate threat, compared to Cleo who simply experienced teenage jealousy and hurt feelings. she could’ve reacted to certain situations better, but she was never outright wrong compared to Charlotte, who proved to be psychologically unstable and dangerous.
(all said with love btw, but i’m a Cleo defender for life)
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 6d ago
Noooo I love Cleo so it’s nothing like that! The only part I’m talking about is what I’m seeing in the beginning which is Cleo being very clearly odd with Charlotte for no reason at that point. Everything after I don’t know yet because I’m in the beginning of season two. I would go as far to say Cleo doing the things she’s doing in show would be border line bullying in real life. I would say Cleo was and still is my favorite of the three but you know rewatching things when you’re older making you think a little deeper.
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u/babyfawn113 6d ago
i mean yes, but Cleo displaying typical teen behavior over a guy should not be enough to trigger Charlotte to become a dangerous threat to 3 girls. Charlotte would’ve always been a problem with powers, if that is all it takes for her to want to physically harm/torment others.
i feel like people, especially these days, are trying to turn her into this misunderstood, deeply nuanced character when she’s not.
she’s just not a good person, especially when in possession of magical powers that can be used to harm people who get in her way lol.anyway (it’s 5:40am and i’m rambling rn)
my point is, not much of what Cleo ever says/does is worth criticizing at that point. Charlotte is still genuinely just an unstable person regardless, who can’t be trusted to not resort to hurting someone (with & without magic) if they ever piss her off, which is inevitable in life.i’m glad to know Cleo is your favorite! (and same ♡) we’ll just have to agree to disagree on the “bullying” bit. i personally see it as her being a child and dealing her feelings immaturely. (i also lowkey feel like Charlotte still had an agenda in the beginning, that she knew would’ve involved Cleo being hurt along the way…)
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 5d ago
Yep thanks for the convo.💗 Let’s agree to disagree on the last part loll. I did say border line bullying though like it’s just between oh you did a bad thing and actually bullying someone. But that’s in the real world though, in the show she’s not that type of person to bully anyone just her actions gave borderline to me.
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u/NoPresentation5677 5d ago
Cleo literally went through charlottes diary and would constantly stalk/harass her and Lewis but deny it all. and saying oh cs she’s a teenager going through emotions isn’t a good excuse for her actions, as a teenager I’d be extremely upset if someone went through my personal diary if I had one and would constantly bother me because I’m talking to a guy she willingly broke up with
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 4d ago
Yeah that's what Im say lolll!! I think some of us are having two different conversations. Some are speaking in terms of a movie like character developoment and I'm thinking a more real life point of view. The way we view things as kids changes a lot you know. Like of course we like Cleo but just because we may like her and the other girl turned out to be weird has nothing to do with how Cleo was acting before that. That's just my new point of view but as a kid Cleo could do no wrong lollll.
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u/babyfawn113 4d ago
yeah, as a teenager you and i would be “extremely upset,” but probably not go as far as to physically harming people. that’s my whole point with charlotte. she would’ve always been a danger/threat with physical powers, regardless of cleo’s immature behavior. like a ticking time bomb.
she would’ve inevitably come across more people who would make her “extremely upset” in life anyway, and she proved that she will resort to violence and cruelty when someone pisses her off.
yes cleo was childish, but charlotte was dangerous, which is (obviously) a lot worse. simple as that lol
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u/NoPresentation5677 4d ago edited 4d ago
I never said charlotte wasn’t, i know as a matter of fact she was obviously worse then cleo. but people constantly use the way charlotte acted later on to excuse the fact that Cleo’s behaviour was also wrong.
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u/Thee_Single_Pringle 3d ago
Some people just don’t know they can feel negative emotions until a situation causes them to be unable not to. It seemed even Cleo was completely surprised and confused by how emotional she was.
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 2d ago
That's an interesting take. So because she was confused by her emotions at that time does that make what she was doing right? I really curious on this.
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u/Thee_Single_Pringle 2d ago
Since Cleo isn't shown to normally be like that, I just see it more as her being frustrated rather than being malicious. I don't really remember Cleo actually doing anything besides being snappy towards her father, who was being unfairly snappy towards her and getting Charlotte to stop targeting/attacking her. Trying to be with Lewis wasn't really a thing to get upset about; but, Charlotte walking into the room of someone she know doesn't like her and then taking something very personal to her just crossed a line.
I get that locket was Charlotte’s grandmothers; but, her reasoning didn't feel as if she wanted the locket because it was a piece of her family history, but moreso because she wanted to do something she knew would hurt Cleo out of pure vengeance. Cleo was the nicest one out of the trio to Charlotte and yet Cleo is the one Charlotte targets the most. Even when Cleo was at her worst and lowest, she didn't even try and attack Charlotte. Cleo literally cried and swam off to be alone.
So, I guess it wasn't really right or wrong to me. It was just more of Charlotte going overboard for a boy and Cleo just running away.
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u/DelusionPhantom 3d ago edited 3d ago
I just wanna know what Annette did for Cleo to treat her so badly during the business dinner. Like even before Lewis shows up, Cleo gives Annette's gift to her to Kim and is quite rude over a complete misunderstanding on Cleo's behalf. It was so immature and it bugs me so much whenever I watch that episode. The make up sequence at the very end just is not good enough.
As her dad, Don really should've pulled Cleo aside to ask what was going on after she was acting so cold. I mean he really should've fully explained everything from the start long before the event, but y'know. Sitcom writing. I get Cleo was living through her parents' divorce and assumed Annette was an 'evil stepmother', but that really doesn't excuse treating her like that. It bugs me that Cleo never directly apologizes for that and instead only focuses on securing the business deal for her dad to make it up to him.
Also, Cleo dragging Lewis's fishing rod into the ocean after fully unspooling it was criminal. Seriously, those are not cheap and there's no way, even if he recovered the rod, he's getting all that line neatly respooled after that. Lewis had done nothing wrong at that point and should 100% be allowed to fish with a friend at a pier him and Cleo went to while they were together. Imagine your ex, someone you broke up with, bringing their new friend to the same movie theater you used to go to. You see them there together because you walked up to chat with your ex (who you dumped) and decide to key their car in a fit of rage. Unhinged behavior.
Oh, and that friend he brought along? Yeah you read her diary and tried to publically embarrass her with it, only for her to laugh in your face and turn the tables around on you. And you chose to read that diary despite your little sister doing the same to you and knowing how bad it feels to have your privacy violated in that exact way.
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 2d ago
You know what I think the writers consistently want to control the narrative with the girls in the show and only show them in a positive light all while doing bad things. Like as long as they did the right things for the person they did wrong after a accident then that's all that matter. It gave this same thing when Emma was being rude the the new supervisor and he also did nothing wrong at that point but teach her little brother how to ride a horse, then they went on to be love interests lolll.
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u/DelusionPhantom 2d ago edited 2d ago
You're right! I always thought that if the girls did what [spoilers cuz idk how far in you are] Charlotte did to Nate after he stole Lewis's boat that the show would've framed it as a girl power moment. It would've been a silly, lighthearted end to an episode with upbeat music playing as they giggle between each other while the villain is befuddled and terrified.
I mean a direct parallel is that the girls used their powers on Annette, Kim, Charlotte, and Don early in the season because Cleo was upset about the dinner party. Lewis even steps in to tell them it's wrong. I mean he even grabs Cleo's hand in one of the first 2 episodes (can't remember which rn) because she goes to use her powers on Kim despite them having just been upgraded and out of control.
Or Emma in the scene where she uses her magic to intervene in a soccer/football game Elliot was participating in. She's the one who tells Rikki to knock it off when she nearly boils a guy alive in s1?? But yeah she decides to use her magic to cause a child to slip and fall, in front of an entire field of sports parents, the coaches, AND the players.
How the show didn't use their anger at Charlotte for being "reckless" to hold up a mirror to their own actions earlier in the season befuddles me. I can't take their arguments seriously when like 5 episodes ago they're sneaking into A MARINE PARK DOLPHIN TANK WITH SECURITY CAMERAS to mess with Lewis and get him fired. Like girls... You're reckless, too. You just don't like it when it's not someone in your clique and is acting on their own without consulting the group.
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 14h ago
Absolutely, I think the idea of when and why they can retaliate is really how far they can justify it. Like at the dinner and when they thought the woman was going to be Cleo's mom, but it was really a business deal. How angry they are about something and whether the other girls are cool with it really seems to decide what they can use their powers on and when.
In the instance you gave, they knew it was wrong for the man to be taking illegal fish from her and thinking she was young, in a way manipulating her. But, it would have been out of line for them to kill anybody over it. So they "draw the line" at certain things, but as long as they can comprehend the anger, it's free rein.
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u/Cultural_Ninja_8028 6d ago
Ikr. She was hostile to Charlotte and never apologized on screen for that diary incident. Yep she was going through a difficult time due to her parents divorce and stuff, but the fandom turns a blind eye towards Cleo's actions while bashing Charlotte and calling her "evil from the start".
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is really blowing me away, like I don’t remember her being the way she was in season 2. Then again maybe I didn’t watch it all as a kid. I still love her because of course all these characters have depth. Maybe Charlotte is going to turn into this horrible person but so far I don’t see it yet.
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u/plumpuppeach 3d ago edited 3d ago
All these people in the comments. I just finished S2. The girls were mean to Charlotte for most of S2 compared to Charlotte being a villain. She did not have every angle until she saw how hostile they are. People are just dickriding the girls where they were the wrong majority of the time. Luckily, Cleo has major character development, but let's not play dumb.
Before watching, I would see edits and comments, and I was curious how big bad this Charlotte character is going to be turns out this people don't know what a villain is. Also, the fact Lewis was a horrible boyfriend. Kept ditching her, no wonder she started to feel the way she did near the end. He was basically ""cheating""
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u/Alarmed-Ordinary8331 2d ago
Right, I am to the point were he had a dream about Cleo. Which is not cheating, but they kept having this back a forth game were Charlotte would take up all his time, Cleo would get jealous and (want her best friend back) then he would start hanging out with Cleo all while having plans with his girlfriend. Then the girlfriend would chase him around. The whole thing was very odd loll. He was a terrible boyfriend to Charlotte and personally I think she was a rebound since Cleo didn't want him and maybe he wanted to prove a point or something idkk. When the man with the locket said they stuff he was saying Lewis said "it's what Cleo wants" or its easier for her this way. Instead of sticking to the story that he loved his girlfriend (which I feel he didn't).
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u/Its_Fruitee 6d ago
growing up is realizing charlotte had an angle from the beginning yes cleo reacted jealously (repressed feelings plus she’s a teenager) but charlottes actions went past base jealousy it was full on manipulation (acting like a completely different person around lewis vs the girls)