DISCUSSION
I get so annoyed by how they treated John throughout the series.
This is a kid dealing with PTSD, trauma, and consistent bullying throughout the entire series and once he snaps now all of sudden he’s the bad guy. Especially when he became king, he didn’t want that title it was forced on him to expose him and make him look bad he is not responsible for the school’s condition neither is he responsible for fixing them. The royals had a lot of nerve to judge and shame John for his actions knowing full well they themselves did worst by participating in a hierarchy that they were against.
That's kinda the point no? Like he is treated awfully but it still doesn't justify the terror that he brought to them either. The whole "two wrongs don't make a right" thing you know? Despite johns trauma he pretty ruthlessly beat people that were kind to him and trying to make a difference like Remi purely because other people treated him like that. The series is about the cycle of oppression.
It's not just the two wrongs make one right part. This guy actively fucked his friends over too. Claire and Adrion. He hated and cursed them for simply trying to reason with him. Forget actually listening to them, he caused actual harm when they tried. He only cared about his powers. Payback might be a morally grey thing but this 💀. Idek how this guy got along with Sera either. Seems out of character for someone who's hellbent on payback, since she mistreated him quite a lot in the beginning too.
Idek how this guy got along with Sera either. Seems out of character for someone who's hellbent on payback, since she mistreated him quite a lot in the beginning too.
We literally see how he got along with Seraphina. John had his mind torn apart and he had to mold himself into something he is inherently not to cope.
It was quite common for early John to try and empathize with others cause he wanted to see good in people and he wanted to give all of them a chance to be better and be like the hero of Unordinary, someone he could not be in his own mind.
He wanted to befriend Arlo too even when it was clear that Arlo looked down upon him and didn't like him. It was only after a certain line was crossed, when Arlo admitted to something as insane as plotting to have him bullied and abused for over a month so that he completely breaks down mentally, that he lost all hope in others again and his mentality went back to 'If others can't be better and won't let me live in peace then I won't let anyone else off the hook either'.
Plus there was a lot of projection of the parts he didn't like about himself on others once he was forced to use his ability, something he didn't want to do and felt very guilty for. It is very possible that even after having a rough start with Blyke (Him firing a beam over his head and all) that John would have forgiven Blyke and been very good friends with him, had Arlo not done what he did.
Who was really kind to John aside from sera? Ever since he came to that school as a cripple he’s been getting beat up everyday by mid and high tiers even sera beat him up when they first met but we let her get a pass.
I’ll say it like this, when you constantly get beat up on a daily basis over and over and over again and there are no adults that will stop it because there boss told them no your going to get pushed to the breaking point were crashing out is 100% justified you talk about terror as if high tiers weren’t terrorizing low tiers simply because they didn’t do there homework for them the royals didn’t do a damn thing about this issue because half of them were participating in it and they got little to no consequences for said actions instead there exempt and praised because they made a safe house after John beat them they’re cowards who couldn’t take accountability for there actions and admit to John they were wrong for how they ran the school.
The only interaction he had with remi was when she tryed to help him with his dropped papers and he called her a bitch and slapped her hand away, yeah he was in a bad mood and having it rough, but shes never treaded him bad
He was hallucinating a girl that he viewed as a betrayer at that moment and immediately tried to apologise when he realised it was Remi. Blyke then proceeded to try to kill him
Yeah but from an outside perspective no one knew that, like the original post talks about johns trama and ptsd like those wete comon knowledge then the comment i replied too op asks if anyone other than sera treated john right and the answer is remi
But its kinda fair he wouldn't like her, she perpetuated a system he was against and was suffering under. I mean Remi only made changes when she was getting her ass kicked
Sera didnt either until her disabling, I dont understand why she gets a pass on this but not Remi. We've seen from Rei someone that much stronger than anyone can enforce whatever they like but Sera never actually did anything about the system in school at all.
For the record I think it wouldnt have worked either way, but Sera didnt actually stop anything to any lower tier (Who also get bullied like crazy) but John, and her reasons for protecting John are inherently selfish, not selfless before she is disabled. Similar to when Arlo protects Sera after she is disabled.
Kinda par for the course, but the issue here fundamentally was that most people didnt stop to think how badly the system needed changes - Remi should have been active from the start, but unfortunately her arc appeared too late, its also kinda hard to change the system when most people don't see the issue even existing and it took John to snap to enable Remi to get support (or she is just a hypocrite, both work)
Point is, the principal knew John was the key to making others realise the underlying issue and propagating the change, but thats tragic in and of itself
In fact I remi if I tried to improve things. The problem lay in: first, he did not have the support of even his 2 friends, second, he did not know what the situation was like at the lower levels in general and that seems to be a ruse by the authorities, he cannot be blamed for that, and third, he needed a good part of the middle and high levels to have empathy and sadly he got all of that when Jhon exploded. But basically she was in a collective fight alone. Almost like volcanologists warning of a volcano about to explode. They see the problem, they know they will explode but they don't know how strong the explosion is nor do they know how to warn it.
Say kill him is an overstatement, Blyke has very high control over his beam's output, and Blyke has never really been the type of guy to be like that and just generally its unrealistic to say he is going to do that in the broader context of everything.
John has base taken hits from Zeke before, im doubtful a casual beam from Blyke even directly to the head would kill him based in what we've seen.
Said casual beam melting through and piercing the locker into the classroom behind it johns passive saved him if he had even one ability copied and his power on then yes it would not kill him
This Blyke cant do fingerbeams, this is a low power beam based on size for him. John has taken hits from Zeke, I dount this beam's power was higher than 5. Characters like Isen and Zeke are strong enough to stop speeding Semi Trucks, and John can take those hits without dying in base.
Realistically considering what we know John has taken before, and the context of the situation (You cant just kill a student and Blyke isnt really that violent of a person to get himself expelled for killing a guy, and blyke really isnt the type to do this he has very refined control over his output - see both times he sweeps Zeke effortlessly) i think its unrealistic to say Blyke was trying to kill John it just makes zero sense and he most definitelt wouldnt have done it in front of Remi.
That was a finger beam that Blyke did, even if John survives hits from Zeke which still leaves brushing and hurts like hell. A beam from Blyke are stronger and can leave someone bleeding and does pierce the body.
Blyke absolutely didn't try to kill him, he fired a warning shot after his friend was called a bitch and slapped at by someone she was just trying to help. He was reasonably pissed, but contained himself enough to not actually hurt John, and he never interacted with him otherwise.
When John came out about his powers she confronted him basically saying that he was wrong for lashing out only for him to tell her about all the problems going on in the school that she didn’t know about, then she pins the blame of the schools current condition on him when in reality she was also part of the problem again she brings up how her brother had a solution knowing full well that solution sucked and wasn’t going to work long term she didn’t even try to make the school better because somehow she wasn’t aware of it as a queen you can’t be oblivious to your surroundings because then at that point your a terrible ruler simple.
Yea the thing is Remi actually realizes this after getting out of her head with her own problems and actively tried to make changes after. Remi is the heart of the series. If you can excuse John's very aggressive actions you have to forgive Remi being very passive non aware because her brother just died and shes working through that without beating up everyone she sees.
Her brother died a year after all this happened I understand that she was going through a lost but when you have responsibilities you can’t afford to be in your own bubble and avoid them and act like everything is peachy your school is shit and it’s led by shit fix it it’s what her brother would have wanted
Brain dead logic, “she’s obligated to focus on everyone else even when dealing with her brothers death, and anything she missed she should be punished”
This arguably should have been Sera's job, unlike Rei, Remi isnt strong enough to force Arlo or Sera to do anything, she isnt the strongest like Rei was, I dont understand why Sera gets a pass for doing nothing about the school situation when Remi doesnt. Sera only helped John before her disabling and it was inherently self-interested, not to actually make the school or system better. And unlike Remi, Sera is actually strong enough to make everyone follow through with it.
Fixing the system was not one of Remi’s responsibilities as a royal, her being a royal was inherently based ON the system, and by the same system everything at the school was peachy, especially the parts she saw and interacted with.
If you’re saying it was her responsibility because she has the power to do something? Fair point. But its kind of hypocritical to say that she isn’t allowed to be in her own bubble and deal with herself first just because she has the power to make things better for others. Considering John is in the exact same position.
All in all, imo the argument of is john in the right falls apart when you remember he was also a part of the system, you asked somewhere earlier if anyone was ever kind to John except Sera, yes. Evie and the other low tiers, who actively tried to befriend him, and he ignored them because he felt superior. He may not have gone around beating them up but he definitely wasn’t friendly towards them. In the world of Unordinary John experiences the absolute worst of the system, he’s acts like he has power when he doesn’t (the perspective of the school at the beginning of the series),
John claims he wanted to be outside the hierarchy but he actually wanted the benefits of being at the top without any of the responsibilities.
Yea, i agree. I don’t find it fair nor like that people dismiss Remi’s dead brother since that is still family anyone (including John) would need time to process that and not be able to do things immediately. I understand Remi not acting sooner so I give her a pass. John, I give a pass to him as well for not fixing the system simply because of what he dealt with before the events of the story (I get it was his own fault but no kid deserves mental torture especially when it’s clear that kid is just misguided) and due to that misguidance he had no idea what to do. Just like every other character he is a misguided kid of a system that would rather break kids instead of teaching them what not to do and how to improve.
Serafina also hit him and treated him badly but it seems that they have already forgotten, now they are friends and that is how the others who are now friends started.__.
Justifies it to me . People are too soft nowadays if someone Walks up to you and punches you punch them back. But I do see where you’re coming from in terms of “two wrongs don’t make a right”
All I’m saying is the bullies needed to be taught a lesson and they have.
that’s what the story is saying is wrong. john became the exact thing that he was first fighting against, just like Spectre and Ember. this whole story is about the cycle of oppression and how vigilante justice simply puts another oppressor on top, rather than actually doing anything to fix the problems of society.
More discussion, plus easier to find like-minded people now, whoo
I've been in this sub for 4 years and literally only interacted in here for the first time a couple days ago, I don't know how the "fighting" managed to breach the algorithm
Important to remember this isn't our world. The values everyone was raised on from birth say the royals were acting perfectly reasonable while John was acting irrational. It would be like someone who grew up Vegan saying its wrong to get angry at someone for eating a dog when you eat pigs.
Remi only called John out when she and the rest of the Royals had already realized the mistakes they made and were working to fix them while John was actively making the situation worse. Yes John isn't responsible for fixing the school but that doesn't mean he has the right to ruin other people's attempts to fix it.
First I'd like to point out nobody besides Sera knows what he's truly going through, hell this is pointed out to the audience when Arlo asks John about the Readjustment classes, at most all they know is in his last school he destroyed half of his class. We can't expect them to give the same sympathy we have for him, because we know things they don't.
Second as the entire arc of Remi, Blyke, Isen and even Vaughn spells out for us, the entire Hierarchical system is flawed. John gets treated like a villain because from their point of view he is a tyrant going on a rampage, he is justified to a point, but from the second he goes through and fights Remi, he is no longer justified. Blyke sure, he definitely overreacted by shooting a laser at John when he snapped at Remi due to trauma (which again he doesn't know, he is just hotheaded and saw his saint of a friend get yelled at for trying to help.) Isen Sure, he broke John's hand and was particularly angry at the time thanks to Arlo being (justifyingly) annoyed at Johns protect sera tantrums. Zeke, sure he is Zeke.
But Remi has done nothing to him, admitted her faults and offered an olive branch to try and solve the problem. Is he entirely to blame, no his trauma has him projecting his self loathing and distrust of himself on to others. But he could have just gone after Arlo, Remi had never done anything wrong.
Now just to shut down any argument of they could have done something earlier if they are such good people I am doubling back to the Hierarchy comment to drill in that nobody can really be put at fault here, not John and not the Royals, (Except maybe early series Arlo dood was on something I swear, oh and Zeke always blame Zeke.) The reason the Royals didn't do anything sooner, why Remi didn't realize how bad the violence in the school was (besides her grief over Rei,) was because their entire society normalizes this behavior. That was the entire point of the Vigilante Arc, the lower tier districts are overrun with people like Waldo who literally terrorize entire city blocks and the Government does nothing, in fact EMBER are actively supporting the rampant crime. The Vigilante trio are smacked with this revelation, and it does change them even if they don't immediately correlate it to the Hierarchy at Wellston. Blyke does try to make amends, but because John is in the Trauma fueled hate spiral that doesn't go well.
And After John gets back from New Bostin in a better mental space? Remi gives John a chance to prove himself and even after failing to secure the votes and showing up anyway they don't just tell him to buzz off they figure it out. Even Blyke who earlier in this arc said he'd never forgive John has reached a unsteady truce with John and by the end of Season two is willing to risk himself instead of escaping to save John and gets Caught for it.
Only thing I disagree with is from John’s point of view if someone hangs around douchebags would not you consider them a douche too? I mean think about it Remi is hanging around people who hurt and make John’s life hell Arlo, Isen, Blyke plus he stated that he was going to take down Arlo hierarchy if anyone is to blame its Arlo he is the one who couldn’t mind his own business and brung the others into it the fact is John tried to change and be better that’s why he entered the school saying he’s a cripple.
Right like lets not forget one of her closest friends casually broke John’s hand because John didn’t like him digging into his past and she hangs with them with them like clockwork hell if we wanna be real Sera when she saw get beat up all the time or rather knew about what’s going on didn’t go as far as he did for her when she was actually crippled one of hismain motivations for taking down the hierarchy was to protect sera
My brother always told me that the people you hang around can reflect the kind of person you are. If you hang around assholes then you can be seen as an asshole by association, if you hang around thugs then you can be seen as a thug. We know Remi was not an asshole because we read the series but where at all did John have this info? He never met Remi until their very first encounter that was not off to a good start.
Bro fr I’m sick of people saying this like did they expect the characters not to have any negative reaction to what John was doing like what? It’s like the fans don’t want any conflict in the story
It seems like a weirdly large portion of the fanbase just wants to see John be perfect and never have internal conflict or appear negative in any way.
I honestly don't think I've seen another fanbase with such a black and white understanding of morality and frankly just basic lack of reading comprehension.
In my opinion, at the beginning of Joker's arc, John was doing a 10 by instilling terror in the face of low levels or medils, causing them to learn empathy that they would have learned in real life. The problem came when his traumas and Zeke got in the way.
not to have any negative reaction to what John was doing like what?
All John was doing was giving back what was done to him. I feel like literally everyone in this sub fails to address this one basic point - John losing it was the entire culmination of their actions in forcing him to that state. Not his own, theirs. He was under no obligation to give mercy or even conceive of it, because nobody even once stopped to do the same to him - and no, Remi doesn't count because she didn't raise a finger to do a thing until it was already too late.
Omg I’m not saying whether they had a negative reaction to him was right or wrong I’m simply saying of course they are going to be mad at someone who goes against what they have been taught there whole life again I’m not saying that they were correct
Honestly it's best to just move on as the readers and the fans. The author just couldn't give us what we wanted for this arc. And I'm not gonna let her mistakes make me an overall hater for this story
Deep down I really wanted all the characters who hurt john to genuinely apologized for what they did. But the world ain't fair. If you want some advice it's just fiction. Don't let it get to you
Im pretty sure Remi apologizes to John, or makes up with him even if she doesnt literally apologize around the s2 finale. At the very least they are on terms to where they have made up entirely, they get eachother a lot more.
Blyke blasted a beam at john and defended isen and arlo for what they did to John
Remi also defended, blyke, isen and arlo for what they did to John. So regardless they are all just as bad. Anyone that supports arlo, but hates john for being just like him are equally at fault and hypocritical
Chapter 182 reveals they are also bullies, Claire admitted and the author retconned it as the story progresses to make john the only bully at newbostin
That chapter only revealed that John was being a bully clearly they were just helping John get stronger fighting back the bully’s when Claire realized that John was going to far she tried to stop him
No, John is not a monster but that was the worst version of himself. John hated being that king, he hated every bit of that, and his actions, especially against the safe house, were neither rational nor justified. John was under severe mental trauma, but he was complacent too! He had all this power to change things, but instead he just sat there and let himself snap again. Remi, who was grieving her brother, who actually lost someone at that point, was also complacent in this hierarchy. And yet she did something to try and change things, it was just too late for John.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. And no, the Royals, while complacent, are literally incredible for even overcoming that doctrine in the first place. Just like John is for choosing to be better despite his trauma. People raised under these hierarchies don’t usually overcome their own biases to help others, and they get severely punished for it at every turn. Are they blameless? No, no one is except the weak and oppressed. But are you biased? Absolutely.
not biased tho, the truth is no one felt bad for john except sera and william, everyone else believes they are self righteous and doesn't believe john's a victim like themselves, when he really is
This sub has this same convo every week lol. John's entire situation is not fair, that's the point and what makes it tragic. He's still responsible for his actions, like any other character is, though. When he's putting people in the hospital consistently, of course, people are going to dislike him. These characters don't have mind reading abilities; they don't know Johns entire past situation, and he's too paranoid and angry to explain it to them. Some of the way John feels is valid, and even some of the people he beats up are valid. But it was a given he would end up as the bad guy after pushing everyone else away, turning the school into an even more chaotic shithole, and trying to stop all positive change.
2.) sending people to the school nurse is not the same as sending them to an actual hospital like John does. And a lot of the people John hurts never even did shit to him in the first place.
The only reason most of the shit John suffered didn't need further medical attention is because of Doc's tonics.
And a lot of the people John hurts never even did shit to him in the first place.
Oh yes, because I'm sure most of them were sympathetic when the cripple was getting his teeth beaten into the floor right in the middle of the hallway in front of them. Instead of, y'know, mocking him and getting a good kick out of his misery whilst they walk past him which we very regularly see in the first 40 or so chapters.
I think you missed my point, im saying that people in Wellston arent normally sent to hospitals because of fights they get into. At most they will go to Darren and get patched up. John is the only high tier we see consistently sending people to the actual hospital.
John beats on low tiers during the King John arc. These people have done nothing to him and couldn't have defended him against his bullies even if they wanted to. I don't believe that being a bystander means that it's fair game to put you in a hospital. Even if they were verbally mean to him, I don't think it's right for him to brutalize them.
I don't believe that being a bystander means that it's fair game to put you in a hospital. Even if they were verbally mean to him, I don't think it's right for him to brutalize them.
Under normal circumstances I'd agree, but those exact same low tiers scoffed at and ignored his suffering and we are explicitly told that many of those same low tiers treat those even weaker than they are with disdain - which John counted as during his stint as a cripple. I agree that him lashing out at those who never hurt him is unwarranted, but not only does hardly anyone at Wellston qualify for that title to begin with, but by the time John is tearing down the school hierarchy as King, he's completely lost the ability to distinguish between those who've hurt him (which is a majority of the people at Wellston he interacted with) from those who haven't - his delirium has made them all out to be the exact same homogenous mass, all equally "worthless" people who have contributed to his abuse either directly or indirectly.
Unlike most here, I'm simply not inclined to make John out to be a monster because of his actions no matter what people insist. These people picked on a scared, broken person because he had no ability to begin with for months on end (which logic would dictate, you don't hit a person with no power whatsoever hard enough they're gushing blood and knocked out on the floor which now has multiple new cracks running through it) and then act surprised and offended when the scared, broken person lashes out and doesn't stop lashing out. Wellston garners no sympathy from me in regards to how John reacted, because that's the exact sort of reaction they were pushing for.
John was a hypocrite. Throughout the story with Arlo he kept telling him about how the system is unfair to the lower ranks. What did he do? He was a tyrant twice. Instead of helping the lower ranks he simply started using his power to beat up anyone who looked at him badly or spoke badly of him.
When the safe house was created, he was paranoid and blaming Remi for trying to do something, so much so that he publicly declared how he would beat up anyone who was at the safe house and used Zake to find out the names of whatever they were.
You can tell me he was late but at least Remi tried something, unlike from John who despite having so much power never did anything good for the lower ranks, even when Sera lost her powers, he refused to use his to protect the only friend he had. In addition, he ended up pushing Sera away, who just wanted to talk and didn't want to judge him, leaving Sera in one of the most important moments when she was contacting her sister and it was Arlo who ultimately helped her with this.
So johns a hypocrite for not using his powers when he first came to the school? Mind you John just came from a school where he beat everyone up and then took “special classes” afterwards John was not trying to attract attention he though going in as a cripple would keep a low profile when it completely backfired he chose not to use them. It was only when arlo brought him out into the middle of nowhere jumped him and broke his phone that John snapped and arlo isn’t he held accountable for that action, everyone in the series treated John like shit including sera before she changed and remi because she was oblivious to everything around her.
You talk about the safe house as if the royals didn’t make it after John beat the shit out of them.
Arlo made one of the worst mistakes and that doesn't go away, Isen warned him and he ignored him, also Arlo got what he deserved by becoming John's dog which broke his pride and seeing his hierarchy destroyed so he wasn't free from the consequences of his actions.
That doesn't mean that John above all continues to be a thinking being and aware of his actions. John is the one who defends himself as the lower ranks in the hierarchy suffer and that is why he justifies his crusade as Joker, the problem? Once he defeats all the royalty he didn't care about the rest even if the lower ranks were in an internal war with several fake jokers, John didn't matter to him. And yes, Remi and the rest create the safe house after their beating, but I repeat at least he tried to do something to really help, unlike John, even Remi was still dealing with the loss of her brother. For me Remi's only sin is having been ignorant.
It’s not johns responsibility to care about low tiers you can’t put that type of responsibility on him because he’s a high tier, where was remi,blyke, or isen when low tiers needed help they were running not John better yet where was the principal the very same principal who hated said hierarchy but yet allowed it in his school this is the same clown who suspended a group of kids who kidnapped and beat up sera for a whole day and didn’t even know about it John is not responsible for no one but himself and he got tired of being treated like trash by people who terrorized those weaker than them.
I would agree if John hadn't defended himself against how the hierarchy is unfair to the lower ranks. If we assume John had no responsibility, then everyone else has no responsibility either. Why doesn't John have responsibility and the rest do? If John is just as capable as the rest, or even more so, at least the rest did something to really help. John didn't. He was more concerned with his personal revenge and didn't care about the rest. He never went out of his way to change the system, just to set the world on fire.
As for the director, were you paying attention? The reason he didn't do anything is because he wanted the students alone to create their revolution. And then he punished the students who kidnapped Sera.
John is not responsible for a school he just transferred to, the royals are responsible for how the school and some of them were oblivious to the things happening in there school. Where was the principal when sera got kidnapped? Where was he when he let a hierarchy which he despises so much fester in his school for so long? Why should John be responsible for a school that did nothing for him? He’s not Superman nor is he a superhero.
John ended up becoming the new King when he defeated the royalty so now he had a new responsibility that's how the hierarchy works in his universe if you defeat the royalty, but again he was more busy fighting his personal revenge, he knew perfectly well what it was like to live at the bottom of the Hierarchy and yet he did nothing to really help.
and as for the director I'm not even going to repeat it to you because I just told you, besides nobody told him that a Sera had been kidnapped.
John didn’t want that title it was push on him by isen and the school news papers like I said it’s not John or anyone’s responsibility to fix a school or a hierarchy that they didn’t create, the royals are hypocrites who let a system run rampant in there school and only decided to fix it after they got there asses whooped you make a safe house after getting beat up by one guy and saying “we now see that the school is unstable so we made the safe house.” They didn’t make it there concern when they were in power but once they got “dethroned” now all of a sudden you feel the need to step in fuck outta here.
but I repeat, at least they did something to really help, very different from John, who in his entire life never really tried to do anything to help, even though he knows what it's like to live at the bottom of the system.
and do you know why Isen exposed him in the first place? why the lower ranks were massacring each other internally in a civil war and paranoia over the fake Jokers, John knew it but he didn't care even if those Jokers were targeting Sera, Isen did it to avoid more fake Jokers and we're talking about someone who knew that if he did, John would probably kill him.
I don't even know why I'm repeating it to you if I answered the same point 3 times.
they did something after getting beat up, if that's something to glaze, then by that logic john is actually right, people only change when its beatened into them
Exactly he just gets all the blame and guilt for everything, but no one cares that he was enduring being a cripple for almost 2 years, nor that the royals abandoned Sera. Everyone is left in the dark of just what Arlo did to John why he started targeting the royals, Arlo even got away with manipulating Sera to turn on John.
Worse everyone just forgot John was a cripple they all just blindly follow the royals that pre Joker didn't give a shit about the bullying issue instead of giving the king who went through the same suffering as them.
Even with the safe house John's feelings towards it was well warranted cause the ones behind it have all wronged at some point or another and their entire attuited towards him. Yet they expect him simply to give them the benefit of the doubt and trust them when all they've done is give empty words and clearly shown they are against him. Seriously Remi was outright told Arlo ambushed and had his goons beat John when tried to get along with him yet she immediately included him demanding John trust them. Remi might be one of the better ones, but in some ways she is worse cause she has a bias to her friends and tries sweep what they did under the rug and make excuses. Its why her word means nothing to John later on cause she proved he can't trust her and cares little about what they did and that they were the issue.
Its the same with the fake Joker arc they simply blame John, but the fact is those who started it were the very people constantly abused by the system that they were so desperate and had nothing to lose in going Joker themselves. Yet again all the blame falls on John as if violence had gotten worse when all that's happened is those who had enough took a stand for themselves.
You'd be wrong, given that poster has belittled everyone arguing against the idea that John isn't a monster for his very justified reaction to compounding weeks upon weeks (plus prior years) worth of systemic abuse and has dickridden every post praising Wellston for shitting on him after he lost it, to the point of supporting posts outright claiming that the OP has made them "hate John more".
Then why did she only start when all the royal were fucked over? Yes she wanted change but she never did anything until the post joker, she didn't even stop blyke from shooting John or reprimand isen for breaking John's hand, atleast from what I remember, the only difference now is that the bullies are also beaten up
She didn’t just start then, she simply started to realize then, and why would she even have time to stop blyke from shooting john, when he was the one that slapped her and it happened as soon as he did
I was annoyed too at first, but the problem was he was attacking people who were actively trying to change how things were being run and preventing the school from moving forward.
I agree but upon rereading the whole comic I came to the conclusion that John is the main character and as the main character will sometimes have to go through some tough shit. The author doesn’t really write safe house as justified in their perspective on John (as much as it can seem like that when reading it week by week) just like what happened to John isn’t justified. The truth is some times you mess up because someone did something to you and you react and that doesn’t absolve you of your part in that. Another truth is in a postmodernist world two people can see a situation as completely different like John and safe house. Don’t get me wrong John is my personal favorite but he’s the hero he has to take the initiative to repair things and sometimes that requires accepting that even though it’s not entirely his fault he had a lot of stake in where it ended up and regardless it’s his responsibility to make the situation better as a hero.
Responsibility is something that is a tool used to make situations better and the way I see it safe house is understandably mad at John for going psycho which was understandable but John is taking responsibility and saying fuck It I’m going to try and fix this.
That is, mostly the point? John’s actions aren’t good, but we understand him. And its through those bad actions that the royals are forced to confront the hierarchy they maintained.
And John was eventually forced by Sera to stop self-destructing all over the place.
The important thing to note is that every single one of these teenagers is a victim of a corrupt society (allegory much). The hierarchy is a lie to trick them into creating increasing levels of victimization and in-fighting so they never notice that its fucked up from top to bottom.
To be honest? In a perfect world, none of that would have happened. But the whole point of unOrdinary is that it's not a perfect world, right?
The characters have all made stupid decisions. They could have treated John with more empathy or tried harder to understand and help him, I guess. But the characters are children. They've all got their own problems to worry about and they aren't just there to worry about John and what he's doing. What those characters see is an aggressive guy who hospitalized them, and most people aren't going to want to dig deeper than that, especially when the person in question has hurt them.
To them, he is the bad guy, because he's hurt them in a manner that they see as unjustified. Stories aren't about what the ideal person with knowledge of what everyone else is feeling and thinking will do, they're about people viewing the world through their own personal lenses and making mistakes.
When someone is sending you to the hospital and abusing your classmates, you tend to not think about the events in their life that have led them to harm you.
Seraphina is trying to get her ability back after it was stolen by a literal terrorist organization. Remi (and therefore Blyke and Isen) are fighting YET ANOTHER terrorist organization to try to expose them and avenge her brother. Arlo is...Arlo. That speaks for itself.
They have a lot more pressing things to worry about than John's mental state. It's not their job to heal or fix him, and there are hundreds of other students in the school. How would the royals single out John *before* everything came to a head and help him? They didn't even know who he was.
While the royals should have been helping low tiers in the first place (and by extension John), I think the role to promote equality should be on the adults running the school, not adolescents who just happen to have been born with better superpowers.
While I personally think John was in the right, the other characters were not created solely to revolve around what John is doing, saying, thinking, or feeling. To them, he *was* in the wrong.
tl;dr: the cast don't exist solely to hyperfixate on john's reasons for hospitalizing them. to them, he is the bad guy, because again, he hospitalized them. they can't magically see the world through his point of view right away, especially having grown up priviledged.
Something I really dislike is how the term 'royals' is used or rather overused. Only one of the season one royals was ever a genuine piece of shit, the other two were just normal innocent kids (Blyke was a prick at times but he wasn't that bad) in their world and their biggest crime was neglect.
Also, Isen, someone who wasn't a royal for most of the story was also a piece of shit early on. So people need to use this word better and not lump all of them together as if they are all the same.
Yeah I got annoyed and felt that Arlo and Isen were out of touch, a lot of times when they used to judge John or in general when they talked about him but the other two had the right to judge him and call him out, they both had tried genuinely being nice to John and were hospitalized by him.
I understand John's parnoia and why he didn't trust them but I also get why Remi and Blyke won't go to the lengths of caring about John's PTSD and trauma when attempts being nice to him were shut down. For Isen and Arlo it's a different story, they happily exploited John's trust and very directly contributed into the ruin of his mental state and had John been weaker than them, they would have continued to abuse him without any remorse.
It makes me sick of how they treated John is the same as the system in that world the weak serves the strong instead of the strong protect the weak and world of all corruption of all the cops
When looking back, let’s pretend John never went to that school and notice how messed up the hierarchy was and the way everyone treated each other. Nothing changed; the only reason they changed it was after John became the strongest opponent and made them feel like the victims before, the king and queen would bully the mid and low tiers left and right, and the mid tiers would bully the low tiers. That system was messed up. The forget the contents abused John went through as a cripple; even the low tiers felt they could bully him. All of them beside rem was probably a bully in their own way. Most of them were hypocrites too. The recent chapter where they found out another school was bullying or terrorizing for fun; rem ask why they’re doing that. Like their school is any better.
I dunno why people lump Blyke and Remi in with Arlo Elaine and Isen. Remi never really did anything to John, and even directly tried to be nice only for John to lash out at her, so of course after that Remi and Blyke arent going to like John after that.
Also knowing what Rei was able to do, Sera couldve relatively easily at least stopped this on the surface level to everyone, not just John, Sera is arguably at fault herself in a way before her disabling for not doing more to stop it if people want to say Remi should of, I dunno why everyone gets on Remi for not doing more but not Sera. Both of them didnt really realize how bad it was until respective revelations for both of them.
Also I will say similar to real life, no one is obligated to deal with people's mental issues, especially those who don't associate with the person, other people who are in very mentally tough times like "Rock Bottom" Arlo or with mental disorders like Remi's own PTSD don't just suddenly force everyone around them, who don't care about them, to cope and exist with their issues and when they try to they rightfully get kind of shutdown about it like when Remi goes off to people about Rei who arent really super close friends to her. John needs a therapist, not to try to get everyone else to validate his worldview.
People dont really have a choice fundamentally to not participate in the hierarchy, or often they dont know they dont have to as much as they are, its like choosing not to participate in capitalism in America, it just doesnt really work and one way or another you are participating in it even if you try not to.
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u/SmallMight2000 Jul 06 '25
That's kinda the point no? Like he is treated awfully but it still doesn't justify the terror that he brought to them either. The whole "two wrongs don't make a right" thing you know? Despite johns trauma he pretty ruthlessly beat people that were kind to him and trying to make a difference like Remi purely because other people treated him like that. The series is about the cycle of oppression.