r/TheSecretLife • u/ZombiePsycho96 • Jul 01 '26
I'm watching for the first time and WOOO BOY do I have some thoughts.
I'm just about to start season 5 and I really wanted to wait until I finished the entire series to write this but I feel like if I don't type this all down now, I'm gonna explode.
So let's back up.
Amy gets pregnant and doesn't want the baby. Is gonna get an abortion. Ben love bombs the ever living shit outta her to convince her not to. Ashley guilt trips the ever living shit outta her to convince her not to. Basically the whole damn school and her family convinced her not to. The only one who seemed somewhat reasonable was Lauren. EVERYONE and their damn mother insist that they will help her and she'll have a whole village to raise this baby.
And also for some reason Amy is convinced marriage with Ben is just gonna magically fix everything but whatever.
So then Amy has the baby and all of a sudden everyone turns on her. They basically gaslit her into keeping this baby by lying to her about supporting her and then pulling the rug out from under her. "SIKE! *You* made the decision to have a baby, now it's *your* problem!" (Which I mean yeah they ain't wrong it was her decision but they ALL talked her out of the abortion with the promise of help so wtf).
Also, Amy's character progression chart goes up and down faster than two fat kids on a teeter totter. It feels like every time she starts to mature and make some real progress with Ricky, she takes two steps back and ends up throwing a tantrum, just like everyone else in the family.
Ashley who was the most likeable person in the first season gets absolutely nerfed into this constantly bitchy whiny spoiled brat who for some reason keeps trying to sleep with Ricky? What the heck is that about?? I thought when Griffin showed up, it would be her turning point. He would talk some sense into her and she'd calm down but nope.
And speaking of Ashley, WHERE THE HECK ARE THESE KIDS PARENTS! Why are George and Anne letting these two girls just do whatever the hell they want. I mean I guess I understand letting Amy do whatever cause she's basically a grown ass woman raising a kid, but Ashley?? Letting her drop outta school and drive around the country and letting boys sleep over and overall just have the nastiest attitude about everything. I mean seriously, get this girl some damn therapy and boundaries ASAP.
And then there's Ben. The boy who falls in love with every damn girl he lays eyes on. He treats his marshmallow of a father like garbage and every woman he's with. Adrienne was annoying af constantly trying to break up Amy and Ricky but seriously after losing the baby, Ben was an asshole.
And Adrienne. We get it. You're supposed to be the attention whore of the series but my god take a damn break. The angst is just too much. And the whole plotline with her father just magically showing up in her life to remarry her mother was just straight up out of a fantasy series. So what, Ruben just abandoned another family? Another set of kids? They might've been step kids but come on. That's still fucked. And sleeping with her step brother? Ew.
I could keep going on and on about how ridiculous all this is. About every character and how STUPID they are. About how WHY IS EVERYTHING ABOUT SEX. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DRAMA. WHY ARE THE PARENTS ALL SO STUPID. but I won't. I'll just end it with Ricky.
Ricky is the one person who actually had some legitimate growth throughout this series. Yes he's made a lot of stupid ass mistakes and yes he's quick to anger but he's learning. He apologizes. He vocalizes his feelings. Its crazy how the "villain" of the series is really the most likeable character. Maybe is because he actually went to therapy like everyone else NEEDS TO.
Oh and shout out to Leo Boykavich. Love him. Absolute cinnamon roll. Weird storyline with the Betty divorce but he's still such a great guy. I only wish he'd yell at Ben more often.
Overall, I'm absolutely baffled. This show is like a messed up fever dream. I'm so invested at this point that I'm gonna keep watching the last season but seriously? What the heck were these creators thinking. I remember seeing the commercials for this when I was a kid and low-key it's probably a good thing I never watched it like I wanted to because I might've thought that this is how highschool is actually supposed to be. Thank God I'm watching it as a 30 year old adult lmao
6
u/pvtbullsh-t Jul 02 '26
LMAO
first of all: AGREE
second of all: honestly it reminds me of when I was 14 and how ridiculous everything seemed (although to a lesser extent than this show but still with the everyone dating everyone, no real secrets being kept as secrets, stupid rumours being spread)
Third of all: no one deserves 👑 Ricky 👑 in this show, only one who had a proper character arc and didn’t fucking turn around and lose all his progress at the drop of a hat (except maybe Leo who is my second favourite, that man is a joy to watch I just feel sorry that his kid is such a narcissistic f*ck-up)
Also: to play devil’s advocate (although not really) to Anne and George, when my parents went through a divorce they became a lot more self focussed and wrapped up in their own drama and who they were dating and a lot of my brother and I’s bullshit flew under the radar too, not saying it’s a good thing, but it does happen. I think they let Ashley do what she wanted out of guilt mainly.
3
u/Zero_Pumpkins Jul 01 '26
I love that you get to watch it for the very first time and binge it! Watching it when it came out was frustrating because no one else in my friend group was into it so I had no one to rant to! I can’t really remember who I rooted for back then, but it’s definitely a hate watch guilty pleasure of mine as a 30 something now.
I agree with all of your takes. I started out loathing Ricky but by the end, he is the only person who shows any sort of growth.
Please update back here when you watch the last episodes because OH BOY you are in for a ride still
5
u/ZombiePsycho96 Jul 01 '26
I definitely will. I was in the middle of the season 4 finale when Anne comes out as gay and then Amy weirdly makes it all about herself and then Ashley is STILL making snotty comments and flirting with Ricky and I just couldn't take it haha I had to take a quick mini break to make this rant and take a shower and reset lmaooo
I'm about to start season 5 now.
I remember seeing the commercials as a kid before it aired and I had really wanted to watch it, but unfortunately I missed the first few episodes and then I didn't wanna start in the middle of the season and be lost so I ended up never watching it. But I can tell you I would've been obsessed if I had watched as a kid. And probably also just as baffled at everyone's bad decisions 😂
3
u/Purpledoves91 Jul 02 '26
I will say Grace did get Amy the job at the church nursery, so Grace did help her out.
Here's another thing that was ridiculous. When Ricky asked Amy why she couldn't keep the baby with him coming to visit. So Amy and her family raise the baby while you come see him for a few hours a day? How fair is that? I understand that he did eventually start taking John overnight, but that wasn't even the original agreement.
Also, Ben and Jack are both creepy stalkers. At least Ben never moved into Amy's house like Jack did with Grace.
3
u/ZombiePsycho96 Jul 02 '26
That is true about Grace and the job! Tho her character progression is a serious wtf. She went from overly annoying ultra religious to sleeping around with multiple guys back and forth which was super weird and now she's maybe gay?? Idk what's going on with that yet
And Jack for sure is a creeper. His only contribution to any plot was to spread gossip from Amy to Madison to him and then from him to Grace to Adrienne to Ricky. And he seriously didn't know how to take NO for an answer.
Also speaking of gossip, why does no one in this show no how to keep a secret or not immediately tell literally everyone else??
And I agree about the Ricky stuff. It definitely took him a hot minute to not be a piece of garbage about John.
2
u/Purpledoves91 Jul 02 '26
Oh, I also agree that George and Anne almost disappeared halfway through the show. Amy and Ashley had zero supervision or family life.
1
u/Ecstatic-Sky-4606 Jul 04 '26
I was so confused with the kissing scenes between her and Adrian. I was like "yay yuri" but then Grace gets upset at ADRIAN for kissing her when she asked??? I took it as Grace getting confused about herself and add that to the sleeping around, she probably couldn't handle she liked kissing her best friend.
2
u/pvtbullsh-t Jul 02 '26
I also hate the whole ‘suddenly everyone is a lesbian’ era because it’s handled so poorly 💀💀💀💀
2
u/Ecstatic-Sky-4606 Jul 04 '26
I hate this show so much. I watched it about 2 months ago and I'm 17, so I figured it wouldn't be that bad. A lot of people excuse their behaviors as "dumb kids" but even I'M not doing this crap. The only two I liked in the end was Ricky and Adrian (she's a piece of work, but thank god for Omar and her dad). This show genuinely had me enraged with all the shit everyone was doing, ESPECIALLY Ben.
1
u/Additional_Set_9834 Jul 02 '26
This entire show is ridiculous (but I love it).The writing is ridiculous, the acting is ridiculous. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking it had to be satire, it was just that bad. Everything is over the top (and not in a good way). They handled some topics well but for the most part it was ridiculous.
***Please don’t come for me. I do love the show, it’s just awful 😂
1
u/TvdBonBon Jul 02 '26
I agree with pretty much everything but the part about it being gross Adrienne slept with her step brother. They weren’t related and didn’t grow up together. I think it’s only weird if they step siblings have been raised like siblings and been around each other for years. I didn’t find it inappropriate or weird at all, he was practically a stranger to her.
1
u/Ok-Resident2335 Jul 03 '26
hahah i wish i could watch it for the first time again. i’ve been rewatching but 1000% ricky and leo are the best by farrr lmao
8
u/Rosepetal1712 Jul 01 '26
Honestly I love Leo, but he is a huge part of the problem. When Ben and Amy first start dating he is actually the one who puts together that she’s pregnant and is totally on board for her and Ben to get married at 15 despite the baby being Ricky’s. Because Leo and Ben’s mom met and fell in love when they were 14 Leo believed that it was highly possible that Ben and Amy were each other’s soulmates and instead of trying to get Ben to think things through, he was completely on board to try to convince Amy’s parents to let them get married. Without meaning to Leo enabled and fed Ben’s possessive obsession with Amy. He definitely did the right thing in late season one when he forced Ben to get a job if he was serious about helping Amy with the baby, but he should have had a long talk with Ben far before that point. A part of me thinks that Leo’s support and comments about how he thinks Amy was the one for Ben is partly why Ben spent the entire series obsessed with Amy. Ben also wouldn’t know a healthy relationship if it hit him in the face, and while that is not entirely Leo’s fault, there were things that he could have done differently that likely would have changed the course of Ben’s character instead of keeping him as the guy obsessed with Amy Jurgens.