(Guest post by Joanna)
I’d never been in a fandom before, and as I stumbled on “Brave New World”, and then caught up with all the Berena scenes, I was all caught up. I wasn’t as invested as others, but I was certainly invested enough to care.
Let’s face it when Elinor died it was doomed, but the fact they kept it alive was great. But before Catherine’s return you could tell she wasn’t that interested – the Lorraine interview, and her likes regarding Digital Spy. But that two-parter in June really felt like a forever, and that’s when I get angry.
Why play people like that? How did it help the narrative when 3 months later Serena was preening over a new hairstyle because a much younger F1 wanted to shag her? From the moment Leah appeared, Berena and Serena were destroyed. The ultimate betrayal.
Simon Harper and, I believe, Catherine definitely wanted a clean slate. We have all been thrown under the bus, ignored. What makes me sad is other members of the community have done that as well. “It’s a drama, all relationships end,” “Jemma wanted to leave” (no proof of that), “It’s not real”. They’d rather pedal that narrative to keep a straight actress who has shown she doesn’t care happy.
I feel played, ashamedly so. I’m not a stupid person, but when someone goes all in as an ally, you believe them. What are the people who hang on Catherine’s word seeing, that so many of us aren’t? We can’t all be wrong. The sad thing is, I believe she’ll play this card again. Berena probably will reunite when Catherine leaves, but sooooo much work has to be done on and off screen.