Amanda, no extortion. You’re post-character-growth.
↓ Transcript
ANDI: Can we be serious a moment?
AMANDA: No. Hee hee.
ANDI: I'm glad you seem to be taking this well.
AMANDA: Why wouldn't I?
ANDI: I didn't know how to ask you what your feelings were about me dating.
AMANDA: It's okay. Plus, I'm gonna get better grades now.
JESSIE (VO): NOT like THAT, you aren't!
JESSIE: I'm really sorry to barge this in on you, Mister Smith.
TODD: Don't worry about it.
POHL: Since that seems settled may I, as physician, make a small suggestion?
POHL: Have Amanda stay the night here, for observation.
AMANDA: No. Hee hee.
ANDI: I'm glad you seem to be taking this well.
AMANDA: Why wouldn't I?
ANDI: I didn't know how to ask you what your feelings were about me dating.
AMANDA: It's okay. Plus, I'm gonna get better grades now.
JESSIE (VO): NOT like THAT, you aren't!
JESSIE: I'm really sorry to barge this in on you, Mister Smith.
TODD: Don't worry about it.
POHL: Since that seems settled may I, as physician, make a small suggestion?
POHL: Have Amanda stay the night here, for observation.
Todd's grateful for something to distract the conversation, frankly.
Sneaky Pohl. But clever. This *is* the easiest answer for the moment, though.
Pohl, you slyyyyy devil!
I still feel that Pohl and Todd should have at least been semi honest with Andi, they don’t have to tell the whole thing just tell her that it’s something that’s classified, but Amanda isn’t in a danger and an Agent will talk to Andi about it.
I’m totally there. Like, that’s one of the things I hate SO MUCH about so many ‘secret keeping’ storylines. HOW HARD is it to say “Yes, there’s something I’m not telling you, but it’s because I’ve been sworn to secrecy by government/magic/people that will kill me if I tell you anything about it.”
The person doesn’t feel like the secret’s about them anymore, they’re hopefully not going to pry anymore, and you might even get an ally if someone else starts prying.
I know that the best way to keep a secret is if nobody knows there’s a secret, but if you’re unable to do that, the second best way is to get people to stop trying to figure it out!
I know just SO many people that wouldn’t work on. If anything, it would make them try even harder to find out.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but let’s not forget that Andi lied to Todd about Amanda’s very existence for eight years. Not telling her something for extremely important security (and yes, political, but mostly security) reasons certainly has more justification to it than Andi’s “secret” did. For Amanda’s own safety, the fewer people who know about this right now, the better.
If The Humans find out about Sarnothi “magic,” and then find out that there’s a subset of humans that may also be able to learn it … this is something that has to be very very carefully introduced to society or there’s going to be massive problems. As much as I love her, Jessie is absolutely not the person to know right now.
It’s interesting to think about how well Amanda is taking it compared to how well a child in different circumstances would take it. Afaik, a child raised by both parents would want Mom and Dad to get back together and resent Jessie as an impediment to that. A child of a single parent might have to adjust to a “just the two of us” family becoming “the three of us”, with all the good and bad that implies (extra attention from the new parent, less attention from the first). Amanda, however, only recently got a mother, so the status quo hasn’t really been established yet. This might be why it’s so much easier for her to adapt to the changes, especially since from her perspective, those changes are purely additive. She’s been steadily gaining family since her adoption; Jessie is just one more bonus.
While i won’t deny that line of thought, i’m betting on the “i’m gonna blackmail her into giving me better grades” tactic as being in the forefront of her attitude right now… i think the “family-ness” of the situation hasn’t had a chance to percolate thru her mind yet…
Yeah I’m guessing as a former orphanage kid, Amanda is a whole lot less picky about what her family looks like as long as she has one (and they treat her reasonably well of course).