User blog comment:Nalyd Renrut/Total Drama: Pahkitew Island Review - A Rope of Sand/@comment-1376932-20140821040308

I really enjoyed the review, Nalyd! There was one thing I wanted to rebut, though:


 * "Sky is a generic "empowered woman" who makes it to the final two. She's just there to fill the spot of female role model for the viewers, so she's not a fun character. I don't think they wrote her well though. Gwen was strong and fun to root for, Sky was just preachy and there. So when things went south for Dave, it was uncomfortable more than anything else."

Truthfully, I still think TDI is given too much praise (despite it being my favorite season) and I see a lot less strength and humor in Gwen than a lot of people give her credit for. Anyway, that's still not my point... I was wondering if you viewed this take on a female character as intentional (perhaps in response to fan criticism regarding TDRI's all-male final two) or not. Personally, I don't think this was Sky's purpose. My opinion is:


 * They ran out of whacky, goofy stereotypes.
 * They always have a few "normal" characters, people to contrast to all the wackiness, and this season, it was Sky and Dave.
 * She was, in my opinion, kind of an apology Zoey to everyone that was p/oed about Zoey's suckishness in the last two seasons.

I highly doubt the producers care about feminism considering how many times the show has come off as unintentionally problematic. Even if they did and they wanted to bring in a strong female character to prove that girls can do anything, why not just settle with Jasmine? Anyway, like I said, this review was pretty spot-on and I'm glad someone else likes Max as much as I do. Furthermore...


 * "Jasmine was another strong female character, but there was no more to her than that. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have a Jasmine who can handle herself than a Bridgette who is just there to be a pretty love interest, but I also want a more complex female character who doesn't have to be strong all the time, who can break down and feel. The accent was good though, and reminded me of a certain old user from here who I used to skype with. Jasmine just came across as so generic, though her pairing with Shawn was alright."

I'm glad someone could put this into words without fearing the backlash it could get. Jasmine is my second-favorite character of the new cast and I enjoyed every moment she had onscreen, but I can't stress how overrated I think she is. She's a personal favorite of mine because she's relatable, but if I had to rank the show's strongest characters from least to best, I don't think Jasmine would even crack the top fifteen.