User blog comment:IEmbargo/iCarly - What Do You Think?/@comment-14284535-20140323020935

First, thank you to everyone for the thoughtful opinions. As I have said before, one of the things I love about iCarly fandom is how passionate and thoughtful the fans are.

First, to reply to a couple of criticism, yes, it does occur to me that there may be iCarly reunions, that the Creddie kiss was to throw the Creddiers a bone, etc.

I just don't think so. Does anyone else remember the reaction on the Seddie page to:

1. Nickelodeon putting a shot from the elevator scene on the entry to the main iCarly page with the caption clearly stating that you would never see Sam and Freddie together again; and

2. how triumphant-sounding Dan Schneider's wife was shortly before iGoodbye aired about the influence she has and her being Creddie.

They were so provocative that I can't imagine them being an accident.

Creddie kiss awkwardness:

Given my assumption that the Creddie kiss was romantic, I think that Dan Schneider should have made it crystal clear. But he didn't. IMHO, the obvious interpretation that a casual fan would have for both Carly's and Freddie's awkwardness after the kiss was because their friendship had crossed into the romantic area - and they realised that there is no going back. Remember the aftermath of the Seddie kiss in iOMG was similarly awkward - except that Sam was more honest with herself and what the kiss meant.

Sam & Cat canonicity; are Carly and Freddie secret dating:

I don't know why anyone thinks Sam & Cat is AU. It is pretty clearly intended to be a continuation of Sam's life after iCarly and Cat's life after Victorious. Similarly, I don't see any evidence that Carly and Freddie are secretly dating. I do not see anything in iCarly that clearly points in this direction - no dialogue and nothing aside from the fist pump. If it had been that important to imply that Carly and Freddie are dating, that would have been clearly shown or said in iGoodbye. Freddie celebrating his kiss with Carly is not clear evidence. Yes, you can make the inference, but there is no need to make that assumption; hence, I don't. Heck, if Creddiers can make that assumption, then why can't Seddiers make the assumption that reality set in and Carly and Freddie realise they don't work as a couple (justification: the end of iSaved Your Life). Fair is fair.

Thus, although in the iCarly stand-alone universe, I agree that the end ship is Creddie, I don't think that is true within the universer of iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat. What I saw from TKTJ clearly indicates that Carly and Freddie are not dating and that Freddie has somehow moved back to Sam again. Thus, I think that the universe that contains iCarly leans more towards Seddie.

My concern for kids and teeens:

My problem isn't that the characters have conflict - they should; otherwise, the series would be boring. I mind when things are played for laughs that should not be or when a situation that can be interpreted as appropriate when it isn't.

For instance, not only do I not like the joke about Sam not hitting Freddie in the head, I really don't like that the series, as written, makes it look OK for Carly to tease Freddie but keep him at arm's length and string him along just in case she gets interested in him. I really don't like the implication that Freddie should use Sam while he waits for Carly. I really, really don't like the implication that Freddie could and should wait for Carly.

I have been told that kids take these implications more innocently. I would not have wasted my time on iGoodbye had my niece not asked me to watch it because her friends were referring to the Creddie relationship when justifying "encouraging the nerds but not too much," and "waiting to see if maybe there is something with the nice guy" while dating a jerk.

I actually don't think Freddie thinks Sam truly hurts him by season 4. (It would have been nice to confirm this by, say, Freddie wrestling Sam to the ground to kiss her in the Seddie arc somewhere.)  But that's more of why I don't think Seddie was ever realistically in the cards - it would have been set-up better.

iLove You.

The scene in question starts at 17:40. 18:09 - Carly calls "Time Out" on Spencer and Jenna. 18:30 - Sam and Freddie come down the stairs. 18:43 - Carly says, "I know, but..." 18:45 - Carly looks directly at Sam and Freddie before sitting down. 18:47 - Carly asks if Spencer and Jenna are forcing this connection they have into a BF-GF relationship. 18:51 - Reaction shot of Sam and Freddie. Carly asks if it feels a little bizarre and unnatural. 18:59 - Carly tilts her head and glances at Sam and Freddie. She says the should not feel bad and just be friends or something. 19:02 - Reaction shot of Sam and Freddie. Carly says, "But stop pretending you can be boyfriend and girlfriend..." 19:06 - Come back to Carly finishing her sentence with, "...when you both know it is weird and wrong." 19:08 - Sam and Freddie dejectedly walk up the stairs.

So Carly looks at them twice: just before making a point about forcing the connection; and then just before she makes the point about just being friends. If you don't know what I do about how scripting and directing interact in the production, you wouldn't and probably shouldn't make the next inference. IMHO, it is quite clear that Dan Schneider is drawing your attention to what thinks the Seddie relationship is to him. That re-inforces my idea that Creddie was the default ship.

I should also mention that I intensely dislike what I perceive Dan Schneider's attitude towards Seddie. Hands down, the Seddie arc shows us the most mature and realistic romantic relationship in the entire run of the show. Carly's BFDJ (boyfriend du jour) re-inforces Seddiers' beliefs - and mine too - that Creddie won't work at the end of the series. (The implication that it will just work magically because it is "meant to be" makes me cringe.)  So of course, you should expect at least some kind of mature (repeat, mature) handling of their friendship afterward - but it didn't happen. One of the reasons you and I found iOpen a Restaurant and others so jarring is because after the maturity of the Seddie relationship, why does Freddie suddenly act like a love-struck 11 year old again?