ok i will be honest and keep in mind i often do hold the haters spirit as pretentious as i am but i do not care for jonmartin myself as it presents in canon, which is to say i do not think it is compelling. i dont think they ever built up the structure *in the story itself* for their relationship, and instead relied too heavily on the preconceptions of the fan base at the time. like, by banking off the fact that people already shipped them, they failed to add substance themselves within the story to support the idea that these two characters would be romantically involved. because, ultimately, by the time the relationship is suddenly established — it’s just like. oh okay. well. you didn’t build up to this essentially at all and these characters, independently and within the pure context of the story, have no real chemistry. like ok we got martin crushing on jon. but it was never really reciprocated. and then suddenly, they’re boyfriends…! like ok. well i simply do not care. you didn’t make me care. you relied on the idea that i already cared. which is not a strong writing choice toooo be honest like as the writer it is your job to convince me to care by adding elements to your story that preclude and support a given development. which makes season 5 so so so so uninteresting imo. boyfriends with no chemistry trot through the fear-wasteland. and then the individual plots of the episodes aren’t even as interesting as the prior seasons. sigh.
this is also what bothers me with fan portrayals of jonmartin, have it be in fanfiction, fanart, or analysis…. like the way they are characterized and discussed by fans is often so radically divorced from their in-podcast interactions and characterization that it’s nearly incomprehensible as the same thing. they’re not all cutesy and loving. martin strikes jon in-show and is wholly intolerant of his avatarhood, a major aspect of his self, because he sees it as fully contradictory to jon’s humanity. YET he regularly uses jon as an attack dog, or at the least goads him towards the role — taking advantage of his status as an avatar. like, if you enjoy jonmartin, why ignore this? these are interesting scraps of development that the two have, and some of the only development the two have. low keyyyyyy. and these pieces were NOT even acknowledged to their full extent in-show, which is another reason i find the canon of them uninteresting. it was as if there was no confidence in the writing room for these elements to be explored, despite their existence and explicitness. they had no consequence, or were exempt from consequence.
i also don’t like how wishy-washy the team was when commenting on jon and martins relationship and jon’s sexuality in their talk episode. like girl we can telllll you weren’t committed to it even without you saying it’s ’up to interpretation’ or whatever. just a bit cowardly imo. either have a romance between the two, or don’t. you can also really tell here (in s5) that they didn’t like the characters they were playing. which sucks!
but ultimately, the canon of jonmartin is one thing (underdeveloped) and the fanon is another (detached, disappointing in its own right). and it sucks because it could have been good if handled appropriately and with better characterization and dynamics, and better…. writing? relevancy? jon and martin being boyfriends could be excluded from the plot and not only would there be no major overall impact, it would be better overall as far as cohesiveness of character and plot direction goes. sighs. like, even if they wanted to keep the romance element in their horror podcast, something which they originally didn’t even want to have iirc, they could have set up ANYONE ELSE. grabs you. why jon and martin? and don’t answer with fanon interpretation. realistically the more logical and thematically interesting choice would have been jon & jonah/elias but i digress. rips my eyes outttttt
anyway to dispel anyone who might just box this as overt no-nuance haterism, i think it should be said that i am so deeply critical of tma because i loveeeeeee it its my favorite podcast. i love to rip apart my shows. im like a dachshund with their favorite toy. i believe in all of the things i said though do not get it twisted. i am a hater. i loathe my show. but i love my show. ok? duality and nuance? ok. 🌈☮️🌻