Aw, I love this one. And meta wise, I think outside the Dash episodes, this and the 'Dead Letter Office' most strongly support a queer reading of Mars.
Devon at least seems to like Melanie on some kind of genuine level (so much as young teenagers can) - it's interesting that Mars says he likes Melanie because she's 'living on the frontier of life and death' (as is Devon, of course, with his little death wish, and later literally) whereas Devon terms his feelings as fixing her problem ('I'd give her my heart!') rather than liking her because of she's 'weird'. (And yeah, giving her a crappy present!)
It's also Mars who first identifies the competitive aspect that lead to their threeway bonding (lol) with his 'Not if I get there first!' remark.
It's pretty much 'subtext rapidly becoming text', imho, (within the confines of a bunch of 13 year olds in a kids show, lol) - there's the 'I hung out with him because in Eerie, we were both outsiders' line; how Melanie is explicitly linked to Mars' feelings for Devon, both because of the heart and because of their shared 'weird'ness and association with death.
Then how kissing Mars makes Devon's heart beat faster; and Melanie giving Mars Devon's heart necklace at the end... (Oh, and Mars exiting with Simon, Casablanca-style.)
I also love how hilariously grown-up all the kids are, not just with the Romeo and Juliet plotline, but how the boys consult each other on whether it's okay to ask out Melanie, as well as Marshall's 'Welcome to Mars' line. (And Devon must have had some extraordinarily well-prepared parents with how quickly his heart was donated. I'd expect nothing less from Eerie, tbh.)
The 'Melanie had changed' bit is funny, like she's active and takes risks, oh noes! I mean, you get what they're trying to do, but the paternal 'Do you think you should be doing that?' to her...playing with a pencil is ridic. She's spent her whole life unable to do anything, even aside from Devon dying, there's reason enough to go a little ott.
no subject
Devon at least seems to like Melanie on some kind of genuine level (so much as young teenagers can) - it's interesting that Mars says he likes Melanie because she's 'living on the frontier of life and death' (as is Devon, of course, with his little death wish, and later literally) whereas Devon terms his feelings as fixing her problem ('I'd give her my heart!') rather than liking her because of she's 'weird'. (And yeah, giving her a crappy present!)
It's also Mars who first identifies the competitive aspect that lead to their threeway bonding (lol) with his 'Not if I get there first!' remark.
It's pretty much 'subtext rapidly becoming text', imho, (within the confines of a bunch of 13 year olds in a kids show, lol) - there's the 'I hung out with him because in Eerie, we were both outsiders' line; how Melanie is explicitly linked to Mars' feelings for Devon, both because of the heart and because of their shared 'weird'ness and association with death.
Then how kissing Mars makes Devon's heart beat faster; and Melanie giving Mars Devon's heart necklace at the end... (Oh, and Mars exiting with Simon, Casablanca-style.)
I also love how hilariously grown-up all the kids are, not just with the Romeo and Juliet plotline, but how the boys consult each other on whether it's okay to ask out Melanie, as well as Marshall's 'Welcome to Mars' line.
(And Devon must have had some extraordinarily well-prepared parents with how quickly his heart was donated. I'd expect nothing less from Eerie, tbh.)
The 'Melanie had changed' bit is funny, like she's active and takes risks, oh noes! I mean, you get what they're trying to do, but the paternal 'Do you think you should be doing that?' to her...playing with a pencil is ridic. She's spent her whole life unable to do anything, even aside from Devon dying, there's reason enough to go a little ott.