Oh dear, I'm very afraid I mostly disagree with you @Mojochi, I don't feel at all it's fair to blame Jenna for how things turned out, I don't feel she misunderstands Data at all. She dated him to learn if a relationship between himself and herself would work, and I fear a worse case of judging would be to think you really know a person before you give him a chance, you know what I mean? I feel that's totally the whole point of dating, to see if someone will work for you, and it's good trying different types of men and not just assume you know everything about someone before hand.
I feel I agree with you to a point, how Data will always be devoted, however I fear he'll never be passionate. Both are different types of relationships you can have with your lover, and for some people devotion might be enough, but I feel Jenna learned she really needs passion, which Data just can never truly provide like she needs it. Rather than learning something wrong about Data, I fear she learned something about herself from her relationship with him, she thought he might be enough for her but through her experience she learned she needs more.
I feel there are so many attractive qualities about Mr Data, but I completely agree with Jenna's feelings. She would matter to him, but not "truly" like she says, how she feels she needs him to. She would never be everything to him, she's not even first on his mind, and you can even see how when she ends her romantic involvement with him how easy it is for him to let go, which really in my mind reinforces her feelings.
I feel it's a very interesting episode, like Jenna is really a placeholder for women such as myself, who might find Mr Data so incredibly attractive and imagining ourselves being with him, and he in this episode certainly lives up to all my expectations. He's so kind and compassionate, and warm towards her, you know he'd never have built up expectations of you in his mind that he'd expect you to be. He's never going to feel possessive of you, he's never going to expect you to submit to his desires, he will always make time for you and be considerate of your feelings and needs. Isn't he perhaps just the absolute perfect man, in theory? Maybe, which I think is where this episode's starting from, and oh it's so easy to imagine yourself in Jenna's place and to envy her, and even get frustrated how you feel she blows her chance. I feel it's a really wonderful study into romantic needs and wants, because when you have absolute safety from your romantic partner, will that be enough for you, or are you going to want more, which unfortunately he can't provide?
I myself feel it's just brilliant they chose Jenna as just a guest character, because it's easier to pretend you're her, and after she learns about herself you never need to see her again, which really helps with that too, you know?
I do feel Data made a mistake deleting his subroutines, for several reasons. Even if they're just for her, he'd still have something to build on for his next relationship, and I do believe you absolutely do need your past experiences for next time. Also I believe he did that just to show how right Jenna was, how she really didn't mean enough to him for him to want to permanently dedicate part of himself to for her, right?
I've found myself in love with Data before, especially after I came out of my last abusive relationship, he was really comforting as such a perfect man, he was the exact opposite of my ex boyfriend so you can imagine how comforting it was to imagine being with him. He'll always have a very warm place in my heart, but I'm finding it so much harder to have those same feelings now that I'm in a very healthy relationship, and I'm realizing that like Jenna I need passion more than just devotion, as attractive as I might think that'd be. I feel I need those little things, like knowing just what it does to him when I send him an amorous text message when he's at work, and such and such, and without those little things I just can't imagine being wholly fulfilled in a romantic relationship. I don't blame Jenna at all for feeling she could fall in love with him, and I don't feel it's her fault for not knowing him enough before hand to coldly decide he won't work for her, and I also don't blame her as her fault for realizing her relationship with him won't work, I feel she did everything right by recognizing what a wonderful man he is and for being willing to try things with him, and also for understanding herself well enough to not play games with him when she realized he ultimately isn't right for her.
Oh please don't get me wrong, I still absolutely love our dear Mr Data, but I'm more and more feeling my love for him is like as a little girl. My earliest memories were from when I was a child, when I first saw "Pen Pals" I was about the same age as the actress who played Sarjenka, and I was the same age as the actress who played Gia when "Thine Own Self" first aired, and I really identified with those characters, especially Gia (she's a lot like how I was when I was a little girl). And especially having an abusive father, imagining Data as such an ultimate caregiver and father replacement is just such an amazing dream, and I feel in a father-daughter relationship is where his devotion nature is just absolutely perfect, you know what I mean?
I feel I agree with you to a point, how Data will always be devoted, however I fear he'll never be passionate. Both are different types of relationships you can have with your lover, and for some people devotion might be enough, but I feel Jenna learned she really needs passion, which Data just can never truly provide like she needs it. Rather than learning something wrong about Data, I fear she learned something about herself from her relationship with him, she thought he might be enough for her but through her experience she learned she needs more.
I feel there are so many attractive qualities about Mr Data, but I completely agree with Jenna's feelings. She would matter to him, but not "truly" like she says, how she feels she needs him to. She would never be everything to him, she's not even first on his mind, and you can even see how when she ends her romantic involvement with him how easy it is for him to let go, which really in my mind reinforces her feelings.
I feel it's a very interesting episode, like Jenna is really a placeholder for women such as myself, who might find Mr Data so incredibly attractive and imagining ourselves being with him, and he in this episode certainly lives up to all my expectations. He's so kind and compassionate, and warm towards her, you know he'd never have built up expectations of you in his mind that he'd expect you to be. He's never going to feel possessive of you, he's never going to expect you to submit to his desires, he will always make time for you and be considerate of your feelings and needs. Isn't he perhaps just the absolute perfect man, in theory? Maybe, which I think is where this episode's starting from, and oh it's so easy to imagine yourself in Jenna's place and to envy her, and even get frustrated how you feel she blows her chance. I feel it's a really wonderful study into romantic needs and wants, because when you have absolute safety from your romantic partner, will that be enough for you, or are you going to want more, which unfortunately he can't provide?
I myself feel it's just brilliant they chose Jenna as just a guest character, because it's easier to pretend you're her, and after she learns about herself you never need to see her again, which really helps with that too, you know?
I do feel Data made a mistake deleting his subroutines, for several reasons. Even if they're just for her, he'd still have something to build on for his next relationship, and I do believe you absolutely do need your past experiences for next time. Also I believe he did that just to show how right Jenna was, how she really didn't mean enough to him for him to want to permanently dedicate part of himself to for her, right?
I've found myself in love with Data before, especially after I came out of my last abusive relationship, he was really comforting as such a perfect man, he was the exact opposite of my ex boyfriend so you can imagine how comforting it was to imagine being with him. He'll always have a very warm place in my heart, but I'm finding it so much harder to have those same feelings now that I'm in a very healthy relationship, and I'm realizing that like Jenna I need passion more than just devotion, as attractive as I might think that'd be. I feel I need those little things, like knowing just what it does to him when I send him an amorous text message when he's at work, and such and such, and without those little things I just can't imagine being wholly fulfilled in a romantic relationship. I don't blame Jenna at all for feeling she could fall in love with him, and I don't feel it's her fault for not knowing him enough before hand to coldly decide he won't work for her, and I also don't blame her as her fault for realizing her relationship with him won't work, I feel she did everything right by recognizing what a wonderful man he is and for being willing to try things with him, and also for understanding herself well enough to not play games with him when she realized he ultimately isn't right for her.
Oh please don't get me wrong, I still absolutely love our dear Mr Data, but I'm more and more feeling my love for him is like as a little girl. My earliest memories were from when I was a child, when I first saw "Pen Pals" I was about the same age as the actress who played Sarjenka, and I was the same age as the actress who played Gia when "Thine Own Self" first aired, and I really identified with those characters, especially Gia (she's a lot like how I was when I was a little girl). And especially having an abusive father, imagining Data as such an ultimate caregiver and father replacement is just such an amazing dream, and I feel in a father-daughter relationship is where his devotion nature is just absolutely perfect, you know what I mean?
