It is absolutely baffling to me how anyone who claims to be a fan of Maya Hart can watch this series from beginning to present and deny the fact that BOTH an identity crisis and growth has occurred. In the pilot we are introduced to the cool, confident, rebellious force to be reckoned with that is Maya Hart. Throughout the first season we learn that she never thinks before acting, causing her to overstep and go too far at times. We learn that she is a creative artist who likes to color outside the lines and show things as she sees them rather than how they are. We witness several times throughout the season where she claims and proves that she is not afraid to take action and pushes others who are too afraid to act on their own to do the same. She shamelessly pursues what and who she wants even if they reject her because she’s younger than they are. Unlike her behavior around Lucas, where she treats him as she does every other boy in her class, teasing him for everything from where he is from to his “good” nature despite his many protests.
In season two we start to see some major changes in Maya.. We learn that she has found something to believe in (her art) and hope (that she could have a real family with her mom and Shawn) These are important steps for her. We also see her confront her father which allows her to stop blaming herself and let go of her anger and learn to see herself as a fortunate “us” rather than an unfortunate “them.” This is growth.
We also see Maya slowly losing herself as the season continues. Texas is a perfect example of the role reversal that has begun to take place. It is literally the hallway scene on first date in reverse. At this point Riley has made her assumptions and stepped back from Lucas. She then tells Maya that she needs to act (something Maya has never had any problem doing even when she likes a boy) and Maya refuses. Seeing this, Riley then channels her inner Maya strutting up to Lucas in a very confident unrileyesque fashion, calling him Huckleberry and asking him to dance, in order to spur Maya into action.
Instead Maya sits at the table confused (her own words) insecure, and too afraid to say or do anything with the conclusions both Riley and Farkle have forced on her about her feelings. When Maya still refuses to speak (again very unMayalike) Riley does what she knows Maya would do were the roles reversed and forces the situation by announcing her feelings (and don’t even act like she’s the only one that’s done this, home for the holidays, new year, etc)
(Side note for those who like to bring up Topanga’s necklace I agree that it has meaning, just not the conclusion you jumped to. When I hear hooves I think horses not Zebras. Lucas is not the Cory of this series, Riley is, therefore it makes zero sense that her wearing the necklace makes her Lucas’s Topanga. You know what does though? That this necklace is actually a hint to the identity crisis in process. Think about when we saw this necklace on Topanga; in the episode where she fears she has LOST HERSELF. A fear which causes her to re-evaluated herself and dig deep within to rediscover her inner Topanga, her TRUE SELF)
We see her insecurity and fear of change throughout the rest of the season as she begins to dress and act more like Riley. Don’t believe me compare Riley’s dress in Forgiveness to Maya’s shirt in legacy, or the way she begins tucking her hair when she is anxious. It’s all there.
Finally, we come to my favorite season thus far, season three in which the loss of her identity becomes too obvious to ignore. Not only because she now dresses and styles her hair just like Riley but because of her behavior and thought processes. At this point in the series Maya has completely lost herself. Even when she thinks she wants Lucas she has become completely passive in this triangle. At no point does she fight for him or anything else for that matter. When the art teacher asks her why she deviated from the assignment and calls her project incomplete she does nothing to defend herself or her work. In fact, she apologizes. When Riley tries to provoke her into an argument instead of pushing back Maya grows insecure asking if Riley thinks she has been selfish. Does this sound like the girl her confidently owns her brokenness or a girl whose greatest flaw is caring too much what people think?
Maya has NEVER been certain of how she liked Lucas or even why. In Texas she says she doesn’t know why she couldn’t watch. She asked Farkle to tell her what was going on with her because she didn’t know. She only claimed to like Lucas after both Riley and Farkle accused her of caring about him and even then the only reason she can name is because he is great or a good guy. In New Years she admits that she is still confused. She doesn’t know how she likes him she just knows she is happy he is in her life and so she tells him this. In triangle she was the one that connected her loss of self with her feelings for Lucas. Riley didn’t put that in her head. Maya was the one who came to that conclusion on her own, though she continued to deny she had lost herself until she realized that even her creative voice had become like Riley’s. She was never listening to her own inner voice throughout the crisis she was listening to Riley’s.
For those who say that Maya was always her because she kept saying Huckleberry and grabbing people by the shirt I say this, Maya cannot change who she is at the core. She can ignore it, suppress it, and take on someone else’s identity but who SHE actually is will still be there fighting to get back to the surface. As she embraced Riley’s identity and took on her persona completely the cool, confident, rebellious wild child has been screaming to be let out, to be in control because Maya (as Riley) was forcing herself into a position that the True Maya did not want and could not take.
Now that she has found herself again we have a Maya Hart who is still cool (except around boys she likes) but that does NOT undo her growth. She believes in art, in hope, that good things can happen. She takes pride in herself and her grades. She has an inner voice that warns her when she is about to cross the line from mischief to trouble. She is not afraid of change or action. She is not afraid to color outside the lines in life or art. She knows who she is and what (and who) she does (and does not) want.
She cares about Lucas. She likes him as a person, but she does not have romantic feelings for him. She never has (which is why she could never define them) Lucas is not Texas Lucas. He doesn’t enjoy breaking the rules. He is the kind of guy who brings a horse to school and makes a tiara for the girl he likes, the guy who raises his hand to ask her out in front of the entire class and asks her father’s permission to date her. He is the kind of guy who puts a jellybean in a ring box (SERIOUSLY WHO DOES THAT?!) Riley didn’t ask or even expect him to do these things. He came up with the idea and executed them himself because that is the person he is and wants to be. Maya doesn’t want these things. She wants adventure via rule breaking.
I realize there are people with their own skewed perception of Lucaya and the events of the triangle (that was never actually a triangle to begin with) so does MJ, that is exactly why he created this storyline, for those people to LEARN from it. For them to learn that boys who “step back” from one girl while having a relationship with another are not good guys and this is not acceptable behavior. For them to understand that a true friend would never want anything that would take from that friend or cause them pain, and going after your best friends crush or ex is not okay. Witty banter and chemistry (physical attraction) mean nothing without a solid foundation.
The couples that fit the opposites attract mentality are a great way to keep the “will they or won’t they” tension going until the end of the series, book, or movie, but there is a reason you never see them actually happily together for long periods of time. The audience assumes that since they are trying again and happy at that moment in time that they must have lived happily or adventurously ever after, but that’s not how real life works.
In reality, most of those couples end up being torn apart. They have a definition for it in divorce court, it’s called irreconcilable differences. It means that those two people want different things out of life and so for one of them to get what they want the other has to sacrifice and after doing this for so long they eventually realize it doesn’t work because someone is always unhappy. Even in the fantasy of the perfect Lucaya relationship, once their human nature took over one or both were dissatisfied with the dream of their life together.
Michael Jacobs has always been very clear about what this story was and where it was going. He didn’t just make this up halfway through and then change direction. He has always known this is where the story was headed.
1) He has said that Maya only liked one boy all of season one and that boy was Josh, meaning Maya never stepped back.
2) He has said that the triangle was never a true triangle, meaning not all three people had genuine feelings for both potential pairings. Lucaya was never a ship. It was a lesson.
3) He has said that the triangle would officially end in SL2 meaning no one has repressed or hidden feelings. At this moment in time Lucas likes Riley, Maya likes Josh, and Farkle likes Smackle.
4) During the most recent Q and A when romantic Lucaya was brought up he stated that he likes the relationship Lucas and Maya already have (their friendship) and would not change it for the world. So if they don’t have those kind of feelings by the end of SL2 (which we know they don’t) and that isn’t going to change, I’m 99.9999999999999% secure in saying any posters, food items, or coincidental clothing similarities that may be noticed throughout the remainder of the series do not determine Lucaya romantically ever happening.
5) And for those who think Riarkle will free up Lucas for Maya, MJ ruled that out too when he said that Farkle has never been in love with either Maya or Riley and only has romantic feelings for Smackle. He also said what makes Farkle such a genius is that he won’t choose between the girls. Not can’t, won’t.
6) And finally as if all of this isn’t enough, which it really should be, let’s look at this triangle from what we know of Lucas’s side. MJ has told us from the beginning that we would feel sorry for Lucas once we understood his side, meaning he is not playing the girls or leading anyone on. Lucas has known how he feels about Riley for a very long time. There are canon defined romantic moments, as well as canon declarations of intent.
Yes, Lucas almost kissed Maya (when she was becoming Riley) but even that was not enough to pull him in. Even after Riley called him her brother and pushed him toward Maya, he still chose not to kiss her. After almost kissing her and finding out she might have feelings for him of course he explored those feelings trying to make sense of that moment but even then his focus is on Riley. What he comes up with by legacy is that he has DIFFERENT feelings for the girls (it’s already canon how he feels about Riley) and that he doesn’t want to choose because he doesn’t want it to be the end of them (not because he can’t)
From that point on its all about evening Maya up to Riley (legacy, Jexica, triangle, even in Maya’s fantasy of their perfect life together) He chose at the end of triangle meaning every episode after that he was walking around toting a purple jellybean in a ring box, waiting until he could have his moment without it hurting Maya and damaging their friendships.
We see this reiterated in SL2 when he is talking with Maya and she says there’s only one choice, the right choice, the only one he could possibly make because only one makes his heart clip clop and he agrees until she assumes it’s her at which point he freezes because he can’t hurt her but he can’t choose her either. When he describes that moment in triangle he says he was trying to decide what he needed to do. He always knew who he wanted, what he didn’t know was what to do.
I’m not trying to tell people who they can or should ship. We are all entitled to our opinions, but to fool yourself into twisting the words and events to fit your own agenda is not only setting yourself up for major disappointment it’s doing yourself and the writers a great disservice. Their storytelling has influenced and improved an entire generation already. They have so much to teach if only the audience would listen to their story instead of telling them the way it ought to be told. One of the most fool hardy things any person can ever do is assume they have nothing left to learn. Do yourself, the writers, and the world a favor, and don’t be that foolish.
