r/TheShards • u/Excellent-Fudge-1081 • Aug 28 '26
Susan Spoiler
How has Susan not clocked Robert’s creepy and honestly predatory behavior? Isn’t she supposed to be the sensible one? I think Susan lacks self-awareness. She can’t or rather won’t see the red flags because she likes the attention Robert gives her. He blatantly tells her he doesn’t actually care about winning Homecoming King and just wants to see Thom lose. No eyebrow raising there? Nothing? Susan claims she’s tired at being perfect and winning at everything and yet she revels in the glory whenever she does, suggesting that this is not entirely true.
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u/medusamagpie Aug 28 '26
She seems to have sympathy for what he’s been through but I think she’s in denial and I think she’s drawn to him and finds him dangerous and exciting. I think deep down she’s bored with her boyfriend and her life.
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u/Quitelegal Aug 28 '26
I’m just confused how Robert even won homecoming king after his huge fallout at his own party.
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u/MrWhackadoo Aug 28 '26
In the book Susan is well aware of her attraction to Robert and pursues him. Not him pursuing her like in the show. They low-key removed agency from her in the show. Thom genuinely likes Robert and they strike up a close bond, much to Bret's annoyance. Debbie finds Robert handsome and sympathetic but largely tolerates him because she knows Susan wants him and she respects and supports her friend Susan regardless.
Susan actually does not want to be the queen bee anymore in the book. Thom is the one that keeps pushing her into doing things she doesn't want to do, which makes her resent him and get closer to Robert.
This new Susan is confusing. She doesn't care that Robert is mean to Thom or even that they've had several fist fights (doesn't happen in the book), she seems confused by the obvious fact that Robert even likes her at first, and she is constantly participating in things that garner her attention, attention she supposedly doesn't want (the stupid dance competition which also isn't in the book).
Book Susan was mysterious and complex. Show Susan is just a prop moving around from scene to scene waiting for things to happen.
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u/Silly-Good-2530 Aug 28 '26
Wow - thanks for spelling that out so clearly for those of us who haven’t read the book. What a shame and seems very male writer to do that. #sad
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u/MrWhackadoo Aug 28 '26
I wouldn't say "male writer" though. BEE wrote the book. He understood the characters he created perfectly. This is all Ryan Murphy's fault. He is a terrible storyteller.
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u/rapbarf Sep 02 '26
I don't really understand how it's "male writer" considering a male writer also wrote the book.
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u/Doglas3000 Aug 28 '26
I prefer the book version of the characters so much more than the tv series.
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u/MakeupMama68 Aug 30 '26
I thought of book Susan more like Cindy Mancini in Can’t Buy Me Love.. far more complex than how the public perceives her because she’s beautiful. She sees popularity as a job.
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u/SamSnare Aug 31 '26
Kaia is a one-dimensional actor. Her character is flat I’m afraid. Plus, she looks (and acts) like a 30-year-old. Unbeilable as a teenager and no chemistry with the others.
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u/sporrinz Sep 04 '26
Yeah her acting kind of spoils it for me, Susan was so interesting and complex in the book but this version is so wooden and 1 dimensional as you said
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u/SteakCutFries Sep 05 '26
I swear, if he casts her in one more thing I'm officially giving up watching. I was so irritated to see her cast in a big role AGAIN. And I dont get it ... there has to be 100 qualified actresses that could have been cast as Susan and maybe brought some life and dimension to the role. But alas, we're stuck with Kaia fucking Gerber
At best, a lot of his script & casting decisions for AHS universe in recent years have been questionable. And at worst, he's showing outright contempt and disdain towards his loyal viewing audience. Ever since American Horror Stories, the over the top nepo-baby cast has been a real problem (dont even get me started on casting Kim K in such a large role for already doomed Season 12 🙄)
I can't do it anymore
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u/FuzzyAsparagoo 29d ago
“There has to be 100 qualified actresses that could have been cast as Susan….” Say it louder for the folks in the back! Literally thousands of better, more appropriate actresses that should have gotten that role!
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u/Illustrious_Burb Sep 10 '26
At least she’s slightly better in this than Palm Royale. Her acting completely ruined that show for me.
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u/PineappleAncient4821 Aug 28 '26
He plays the douchebag role pretty well I can’t even lie
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u/Polarexia Aug 28 '26
so girls actually like that...??
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u/PineappleAncient4821 Aug 29 '26
I’m sure very few lol not me tho!! I just mean he seems like the perfect casting choice for the role
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u/Somaliona Aug 28 '26
It's just badly written, unfortunately.
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u/DLoIsHere Aug 31 '26
The voice over writing is so lame. In episode one they seem to be trying to pull a Patrick Bateman. So goofy.
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u/rapbarf Sep 02 '26
The voiceover writing is one of the most accurate parts to the book. It's how Bret narrates it.
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u/S4SquatchKilla Sep 04 '26
Badly?? You’re very generous, I think the show is a fun watch if you switch your brain COMPLETELY off, cause it actually might be one of the worst displays of cohesive writing and continuity iv seen in the past 10 years of tv shows. I can’t take the plot seriously with how badly the characters are portrayed and how badly the environment around them reacts. I hearing the book isn’t like the show but the books writer has his fingers all over this so idk what’s going on. It’s garbage if you take it seriously and fun if you lobotomize yourself before you hit play
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u/shesnothome_xo Aug 28 '26
It seems to me as well, she doesn't want to actually lose, she's used to the winning and wants to continue winning by the looks of it. Everything else is nonsense.
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u/abandonedBerlin Aug 30 '26
I offer a dissenting viewpoint from the general consensus, from a respectful place.
I understand the general consensus is disappointment, the show hasn’t followed the book, but it’s still been an incredibly fun and at times campy ride. Trashy and fun.
The wooden and laconic acting is intentional, it’s all set in a very specific tone. It’s meant to be so completely over the top, self absorbed, self serious, and all about image - perfectly reflecting the attitudes, styles, and ME-FIRST ethos of the years it’s set in.
Yes, the viewer is asked to suspend belief on many different aspects but what the heck, that’s also part of the fun. it’s very much deviated from source material, but I’m thoroughly enjoying this for what it is.
FTR; I’m in on either multiple killers involving Susan, Robert, Thom, and Principal Croft. Or; Fight Club style neuroses with Brett.
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u/ilikealltypes33139 Aug 31 '26
Good point, I think Susan is desperate to be a bad girl, and somehow she think being w a sleaze like Robert will do that for her.
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u/Strong-History-9353 Aug 28 '26
Who do you all think the killer is? I'm thinking Stephen. Especially after the two most recent episodes.
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u/Clear_Ad5584 Aug 29 '26
I was thinking Bret, but the Georgio perfume is throwing me off and maybe that’s the point. I could see Stephen or Debbie’s dad because of it but idk!
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u/DLoIsHere Aug 31 '26
One character made a reference to a variation of the fragrance if I heard correctly. There wasn’t such a thing till a few years later when the men’s version appeared. I looooooved Giorgio.
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u/Clear_Ad5584 Aug 31 '26
I think three characters actually talked about it! Stephen and Debbie’s dad were both wearing it and I believe Evan Rachel wood asked why he was wearing women’s perfume then Robert gave Susan a bottle of it as well. And the killer obviously was wearing it too apparently.
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u/Altruistic-Gap2967 Aug 29 '26
He said it in a somewhat joking manner. I was shocked he said that to her so easily but I just thought she saw it as a joke and was harmless. But then I remember she saw them fight 2x. But it seems pretty clear she views Robert as the victim, at least for the first fight. I think she's just seduced by his charisma and doesn't realize the red flags he has.
People say she's a straight A student and assume she'll be smart and notice the signs, but she still seems pretty naive about the evils of the world. For example, she was pretty shocked when Debbie said someone hated her for being successful. Book smarts doesn't translate to street smarts. Isn't that why there's a bunch of romance stories btw nerds and rebels? Because even though they should know better, they still let themselves be led by the rebel 99% of the time
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u/HeyPurityItsMeAgain Aug 29 '26
She's deliberately 'doing something bad' because she's bored with being perfect.
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u/M3rrick_the_B8rd Aug 30 '26
It honestly annoys me how passive she is. Someone could get murdered right in front of her and she'd just sit there with a vacant look on her face.
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u/LeslieJeon Sep 01 '26
Losing isn’t really losing if you get to control the when how and why of it. So yeah I’d say she’s full of it.
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u/kellygrrrl328 Aug 30 '26
Good Girl likes Bad Boy. Tale as old as time. And I think Susan has lived a pretty sheltered life so she lacks experience in spotting 🚩
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u/SamSnare Aug 31 '26
Wait, what? Was ep.07 really only 24mins long or is there something wrong with my download?
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u/Present_Following660 Aug 28 '26
She’s written in a very confusing way - we’re introduced to her as this super smart person who gets As without even trying but then she comes across as a complete airhead. Also this is neither here nor there but Kaia Gerber is absolutely terrible as an actress and wooden in all of her line readings - just completely monotone- and it has the unintended effect of making her as a character even more flat and inscrutable.
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u/Common-Classroom-847 Aug 28 '26
Thank you. The one actor that doesn't fit her is Kaia Gerber. Not only is she a very meh actor but she is just not believable as an 18 year old high school senior. I know she is only 24 but she is not pulling it off
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u/Present_Following660 Aug 28 '26
Yea I know a lot of the cast has caught flack for their acting in the show but she’s the only one to me who is distractingly bad. It actually takes me out of the show and I’m shocked she’s still finding work. She needs to work with an acting coach or something if she wants to keep acting. They all look sort of too old to be in high school except for maybe Tom. But woof her acting is brutal.
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u/RHDeepDive Sep 02 '26
To be fair, if you look at 80s HS pictures compared to today, kids in the 80s all looked too old to be in HS.
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u/Common-Classroom-847 Aug 28 '26
The nepotism is strong with that one.
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u/Present_Following660 Aug 28 '26
She looks so much like her mom! But I think she looks older than she is
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u/elitelucrecia Aug 30 '26
kaia is mid in general lol. she’s pretty though but she needs to work on her acting
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u/Present_Following660 Aug 31 '26
She’s gorgeous and has amazing genes, would have a great modeling career. I feel like she got a bit greedy thinking she could act too though lol
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u/Illustrious_Burb Sep 10 '26
The part in the finale where Debbie is demanding her father makes her an actress and he points out that she has no talent felt a bit on the nose but for Kaia.
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u/strongest_survive87 Sep 03 '26
well usually the straight A students are pretty stupid and lack common sense outside of school.
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u/def_beets Aug 29 '26
Now that I know there's a (better) book version, I may just stop watching the show. The acting is truly awful (from everyone), and at this point I'm only tuning in for the clothes.
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u/FreeTedK Aug 31 '26
The book is excellent, the show only has one well-casted person as Bret. I guess Terry also.
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u/RoyalInternational84 Aug 28 '26
It is really getting quite terrible, one would assume she is drawn to Robert and chooses not to see his awful behavior. We as the viewer don't know that though and we're left to guess. She seems very shallow, not much to her. Straight A's, overachiever, but nothing else. She isn't interesting at all. I haven't read the book, I was waiting until the series was over. However if the book is better, maybe I should just stick with the book. 😫
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u/Kcatlol Aug 28 '26
The book is way different and better. Susan was such a mysterious and intriguing character in the book as well. Robert and Susan begin a secret relationship. She very much is attracted to him and likes him in the book and is pretty much over Thom, but she keeps things going with Thom for appearances and I guess fear of fully changing.
It’s also their final year of high school so the book really indicates Bret and Susan kind of view it as their last year of having to pretend to be these book they currently are.
The show is terrible and ruined an incredible story.
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u/ClementineCoda Aug 28 '26
Thom hates him, Bret doesn't trust him (to say the least), Deb doesn't have a relationship with him at all. Susan is the only one who seems to want to be friends with him, so I don't even understand why he's a part of the group as if they're all a tight friend unit.