User blog comment:Rachim/Freddie's "crush" on Carly still exits or is fading/gone/@comment-3419317-20110221030655

Okay, here's what I don't get :

Why are people comparing Freddie's behavior in Season 1 to his behavior now, in the first place? How many kids do you know who acted the exact same way at the age of 17 that they did at 13?

He's bound to express his feelings toward Carly differently now than he did three years ago, whether he still has a crush on her or not.

However, it isn't just that Freddie has grown and matured. He has, but there's more to it than that.

I, too, have noticed that Freddie seems to have stopped flirting with Carly in recent months. My guess has always been that the writers did that deliberately, because of the major change in Carly and Freddie's relationship that occurred in "iSaved Your Life."

At the end of that episode, they agreed to re-evaluate their feelings for each other at some point in the future.

(BTW, contrary to what some people seem to think, Carly and Freddie did NOT agree to reconsider their relationship when Freddie's cast came off.

They agreed to wait until the "hero" thing wore off. That's an important distinction. The cast is gone, but there's no way to know how long it would take for Carly's emotional state to subside. Even months after the fact, it's still possible that she honestly doesn't know how she feels about Freddie.)

They've been in this ... frustratingly ... vague "relationship on hold" status for over a year now. (I've often wished that Dan Schneider would quit dragging his feet and just resolve it already, one way or another.)

But my point is that Carly and Freddie were no longer "just friends." Freddie didn't have to obtain Carly's romantic affection anymore (as he did in the earlier seasons). He already had it.

In the aftermath of iSYL, his goal was no longer to obtain it, but to avoid losing it. To that end, I can easily believe that Freddie would back off of Carly and give her some time and space, to figure out how exactly she felt about him.

Freddie may very well have been afraid that flirting with Carly during this time would annoy her to the point that she would decide that she didn't want to be with him, after all.

More importantly, he may have been worried that if he made a move on Carly now, she would feel that he was pressuring her to make a decision that she wasn't yet ready to make.

Also, if Carly felt that she HAD to make a choice quickly, but was still unsure of what to do, she would probably err on the side of caution and tell Freddie no. That was the last thing he wanted.

As I said, my guess has always been that the writers did this on purpose ... Freddie stopped flirting with Carly because he didn't know what state her emotions were in, and he wanted to avoid alienating her or making her feel forced to make a premature decision.

Really, it's not about "hiding" his emotions. It's about showing Carly that he's matured, and is capable of being more sensitive of her feelings than he has been in the past.

(Ironically, this could have precisely the opposite effect of what Freddie intended. By trying not to put any pressure on Carly by making any moves on her, he may inadvertently give her the idea that he's no longer interested in her, and she will move on herself, as a result.

Some fan fiction stories have explored this. I remember one story that explained that the reason Carly and Freddie never resolved their "relationship on hold" status after iSYL was because HE was waiting for her to make a decision about whether or not she still wanted to go out with him, while SHE was waiting for him to ask her out again ... Yeah, that's what happens when people don't talk to each other.)

... or, alternatively, Freddie's crush on Carly really HAS faded away.

I don't know.

And whether any of you folks realize this or not, neither do you.

There is no way, at this point, for us to know what the writers are planning. Either they're trying to show us that Freddie's feelings for Carly have faded, or they're trying to make it LOOK like they have, to fake us out later. Or some third option. Time will tell.