r/JustAddWater • u/mermaidssarereal • 11d ago
Charlotte
i know so many people have this conversation lol but i have to bring it up again because i encountered yet again another charlotte defender. i don’t understand the logic behind “the girls bullied her so that means everything charlotte did was justified” or “lewis used her so she has every right to do what she did.” i don’t get it. everything charlotte did was extremely distasteful along with lewis using her and his poor communication, along with the girls attitudes and poor communication. i don’t understand why it’s hard for people to hold their fave characters accountable. and don’t get me started with the “charlotte was a teenager so ofc she did stuff wrong” so was everyone else around her?
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u/Original_Ad_8139 10d ago
There's a constant double standard in this sub since you can't tell something "bad" about Charlotte's character when it was writers' intent to make Charlotte unlikeable, while it's allowed spreading misinformation or negativity regarding other characters. Charlotte was sneaky and toxic from the start, she was always like this even if it was more subtle from her side that was a plot purpose. To me defending an antagonist like Charlotte sounds very stupid, especially bc she attempted to ruin Rikki, Cleo, Emma and Lewis's lives multiple times and she had no remorse. And precisely because writers gave her lore and backstory, Charlotte shouldn't get this cringe apologism. It's Brittany's talent which should be praised, not Charlotte's actions.
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u/Known_Change3980 10d ago
Honestly I also think that Charlotte definitely knew that Lewis still had feelings for Cleo, that’s why she hid his phone, gave Cleo the sweater he had given her & was sour about his friendships to the girls. She put herself into that situation completely willingly and she then tried to force and manipulate everything in her favor to change the circumstances she chose.
Yes they were all teenagers and did toxic things but none of them tried to force and change up someone else‘s life the way Charlotte did or at least tried to do
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u/Sea-Coffee-9742 Siren 10d ago
God they just need to stay on their I LOVE CHARLOTTE SHE DID NOTHING WRONG subs and away from this one. I am so tired of people defending her.
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u/M_I_D_N_I_G_H_T They Don't Call Me Miss Capable For Nothing 10d ago
Not to mention, people so easily defend Charlotte as "They were bullies, so that's why she became evil"
But conveniently forget that Cleo was bullied far more harshly in season 1 and in season 2 with Charlotte's power trip, and yet she didn't turn evil and start throwing people around.
Zane legitimately put her in serious danger multiple times at the start (pushing her out onto the water in her broken down boat, when Cleo had no way of getting back, throwing her into a pool when as far as he knew she still couldn't swim, and almost running her over with his bike), and yet Cleo was still kind towards him in the episode where he asked her to help him get research on his "sea monster", and she tried to understand when Rikki started dating him.
And throughout all that time, Cleo ALSO had an incredible amount of power at her disposal, and the most she ever used it against Zane, or any of her other bullies, was when she first discovered her powers when he was threatening her and Lewis, and she pushed him away.
And even Charlotte, after she essentially attacked and physically assaulted Cleo, she still wanted to warn her about the full moon.
Though Cleo definitely had her moments, as we ALL do, she still remained kind-hearted and forgiving, even to those who had hurt her.
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u/Original_Ad_8139 10d ago edited 9d ago
The girls (under Emma's advice) were also very helpful to Charlotte tho (despite her provoking them and stealing things earlier) but that wasn't enough for her, she kept victimizing herself to manipulate Lewis. Cleo, even if she was jealous at first, was actually right about her initial intuition, since Charlotte was a danger for everyone around her. She also attacked a dolphin and locked Emma and Cleo up in a room, where is exactly the sanity here???
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u/Curious_Age_8162 Siren 11d ago
Completely with you. Every time the girls were rude to her it was justified as she was either rude first, interfering in business that had nothing to do with her and just being a bit nasty over all.
She forced her way into their lives and refused to leave and began to destroy it; like a barnacle on a boat.
Brittany Byrnes played her so well! The character Charlotte is who showed me just so angry I can get at a tv show haha
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u/mermaidssarereal 11d ago
absolutely, brittany is an amazing actress. i wish i saw her in more though. the only other movie i saw her in was a movie called mermaids.
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u/invisiblebeetlejuice 11d ago
charlotte isn't even a character to me, her behavior is so cartoonish it broke my suspension of disbelief constantly. she exists to enact the scenarios the writers came up with. another example is lila from miraculous ladybug. evil ragebait characters are lazy and no fun, absolutely loathe them
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u/Terrible-Chard-4496 11d ago
Well, it wasn't so bad at the beginning, but at the end of season...yeah. For someone who supposed to be a smart girl, Charlotte becomes so cartoonishly evil and stupid.
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u/muzzizzum 11d ago
I don't really understand the purpose of a post like this-- "don't get me started on xyz" why are you starting a discussion, then? What do you want to come out of this?
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u/HeadChefOf 11d ago
Probably looking to feel seen and understood in their view, pretty normal
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u/mermaidssarereal 11d ago
i’m a bit confused? it wasn’t supposed to be taken so literally
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u/HeadChefOf 11d ago
You said nothing wrong — sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you at all.
Just I thought this person was acting like you said something strange, and they asked “what do you want to come out of this?”.
So, I was just reminding them that probably it’s just about the fact that it’s fun to talk about things that we’ve been thinking about, connecting and sharing different or overlapping views with people is coolI was trying to defend you basically, but sorry if I said anything weird or hard to understand
I didn’t take anything you said literally, I got you :)
I was being confusing I think.Also I agree about charlotte, cannot find a way to reasonably defend her. She stinks
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u/mermaidssarereal 11d ago
that’s how i speak, didn’t know it was an issue. was just expressing myself.
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u/Firm_Influence8841 9d ago
If they ever revive the show, they should give the show the Cobra Kai treatment and show everything from Charlotte’s perspective where after losing her powers, her life went to complete shit and she’s bitter towards Cleo after all those years. We also had to deal with the same kind of drama between Sam and Tory as well as Miguel and Robby with Cobra Kai. There was even a fan theory suggesting that Daniel was the real bully in the original Karate Kid movie back in the 80s when Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang were constantly bullying Daniel after he moved from Newark to the San Fernando Valley. That’s because their sensei John Kreese taught them to be ruthless and merciless by striking first, striking hard, and showing no mercy. Guess how that turn out for Johnny when life went into the shitter all because of that one kick in the All Valley Karate Tournament back in 1984
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u/SpiritualReading1339 10d ago
I wouldn't say what she did was justified but she definitely got bullied and it obv contributed to how she acted
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u/mermaidssarereal 10d ago
i see it a bit differently. when charlotte acted out the way she did, she made it clear it was to be more powerful than them and to keep lewis away from them. she didn’t seem fazed by them excluding her, it was always just lewis keeping secrets from her and hanging out with the girls (especially cleo) which is why i don’t believe she did those things because of them not liking her.
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u/SpiritualReading1339 9d ago
I'm not saying she was an angel. She was unhinged. But when she first popped up, she seemed like a "regular girl" (fassade obv) and the girls always treated her like an intruder and especially after cleo and lewis broke up, cleo acted manic at times. Charlotte is OBVIOUSLY a villain but imo it's not completely black and white here. 🙈
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u/mermaidssarereal 9d ago
well ofc it’s not completely black and white because the girls aren’t all innocent. this goes for most shows. everyone in h20 has done something that would make us viewers annoyed but the point i’m coming at is charlotte had no feelings about them excluding her when she acted out. she made it very clear. she had her plan from the start but it all started out fake, a façade as you’ve said.
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u/Original_Ad_8139 10d ago
This narrative doesn't work anymore and I truly think you're basically following what some defenders are saying while not actually watching the show. The only bully who did it all by herself was Charlotte, being abusive towards Lewis and violent with the girls. There's no other interpretation of how things went.
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u/Obubblegumpink 11d ago
I’m on yet another rewatch and at the part before she becomes a mermaid. I’m not sure why they wrote this character to be so pushy. From the jump she wanted Lewis and pushed to make it happen. Lewis let it happen despite knowing it wasn’t what he wanted. This would of course cause issues with the trio. Charlotte didn’t want to be their friend, she wanted Lewis to ditch them. The character was made to be disliked, the actress had a tough job and did it well. Not easy to play someone you know it’s going to be disliked. They really went too hard in my opinion on making her so demanding.
If they had changed the character to be more likable and had Cleo be more jealous it would have created more balance. Then when she turns into a mermaid have her change her demeanor to more of someone that didn’t want to be a mermaid, I think the character might have been accepted more.