Wow...all good points. However, I'm not sure if I would necessarily call him a "jerk" for every single thing you listed.
1. Lucas trying to justify Maggie's dad dating a coworker. He justified it for his own benefit to show Maggie that he wanted to be with her.
True, he seemed to be persuading Maggie to accept her father's new girlfriend to bring up the fact that age differences--and specifically, his and Maggie's age difference, aren't a big deal. But is it so bad to play devil's advocate? Maggie was going to have to accept that her father left her mother for a much younger woman, and rather than be bitter, "keep an open mind" seems like good advice.
2. Maggie criticized for wanting to make friends in the cheerleading squad.
Yes, Lucas was snippy with Maggie during this scene. He was 14, had no money, had a hard time fitting in, had no home life that we saw, and he was probably in "love" for the first time in his life. He was terrified he would lose Maggie. Maybe he could have handled it better instead of talking about how "superficial" cheerleading is, but again, he was a kid. His anger and his fear was justified. At that point, we--and Maggie--had seen just how cruel that football/cheerleader crowd was to Lucas. And anyway, despite her speech about "wanting to meet new people", we all know that the ONLY reason Maggie became a cheerleader was for ONE person that she already knew, who happened to be someone else's boyfriend. 😒
3. Lucas acting possessive and manipulative with being only Maggie's friend.
When? Initially he introduced Maggie to everyone he knew.
4. Setting up a date with Maggie to the dance without asking her first and embarrassing her for "needing acceptance".
LOL, the needing acceptance part was jerky. And hilarious. The announcing Maggie would be his date at the dance--giving Lucas the benefit of the doubt, maybe he really did think she would want to go with him as much as he wanted to go with her. After all, she HAD just given him the "I'm new here, I don't know anybody" speech.
5. Getting upset with Cappie for not wanting to go to the dance after his breakup, after being invited with both Maggie and Cappie for pizza.
Totally disagree. If anybody was the jerk here it was Maggie. AND Cappie. Maggie should have told Lucas that day in the hallway that she wouldn't go to the dance with him if she never intended to go. Letting him think they were going, as a date, then ditching him at the last minute was soooo wrong. Especially since he bought shoes and a tie, and rented a tux. Then she and Cappie invited him to THEIR pizza date as an afterthought? And they weren't even going to do that without Lucas trying to insist that Cappie go to the dance with him and Maggie. How was he supposed to feel? I don't blame Lucas one bit for being upset and acting the way he did! "Don't let me spoil your depression" was the perfect thing to say.
6. Getting upset with Cappie for getting with Maggie. They were never together.
No, they were never together. And Cappie tried to explain that. But hey, Lucas got over it. I don't think that makes Lucas a jerk.
7. Lying to the principal and threatening him for not letting him get on the team.
What did he lie about? He didn't threaten the principal, he threatened the coach. I actually thought it was kind of cool to see Lucas stick up for himself. He couldn't always do that with the mean jocks. It was nice seeing him use his intelligence and be assertive. Kind of like a glimpse of what's to come for his character after high school.
8. Disobeying the principal and suiting up for the game anyways.
Does this make him a jerk? Or just a rebel? He's the one who paid for it with his injuries.
9. Getting upset with Maggie for not liking him, after he treated Rina the same way.
I would totally agree, except for the end, when it was clear that he was changing his opinion about Rina.
10. Dissing Rina for caring and reaching out to him after noticing he was upset.
Yeah he was a bit rude to her during that part, but I don't think it makes him a jerk. He had just had his heart broken by Maggie and he was sitting alone, listening to the dance he was supposed to be at, thinking of what might have been. You could see he was on the verge of tears. Haven't you ever been so upset that you couldn't be cheered up, even by a well intentioned friend?
Lucas was lucky to have friends. I agree they were patient with him, but I don't think he was a "jerk".
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telmarine (380)
2 years ago
I think Lucas was acting like a kid lol I suppose all of us did one of these sorry acts at one point in our childhood. But all of them rolled together in a matter of days? Yea. Kind of jerky and manipulative.
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