The Nevermets (Channel 4)

[Maid22]

It was cute! Then he started to literally eat her face off

I know, I was like a mix of and

 

[chizontiz]

duck me, not even through the first ep yet and had to see if there was a thread on this!

Channel 4 (and his parents) normalising actual child grooming is bleeping mad, I can't believe what I'm watching. I haven't got to them meeting yet, but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that she's naive and immature enough, and perhaps her circumstances are also driving her to find a 'way out' which is obscuring her judgement, that she perhaps doesn't realise that she's grooming him. So then when you have two fucked up families on either side encouraging it, and Channel 4 come along and say "oh wow, this is GREAT, let's film it!" instead of "duck me lads, this is an actual child protection issue that we absolutely should not be associating with or endorsing" then of course all the main characters within it are going to lean into their narrative that it's all fine an whimsical as opposed to massively fucked up.

It should be a Dispatches ep on how much this stuff goes on and how vulnerable terminally online teens are to this type of grooming, not light-entertainment family viewing! ffsssssss

 

[Maid22]

I've just finished watching, that Leah, obviously something very dodgy about her, her 'home' absolutely nothing in there, no food, no bed! Think she just wanted her 15 mins of fame, backfired imo!

Oh and agree about the first couple, he was too young, I found that quite uncomfortable viewing.

 

[chizontiz]

Although the age gap is problematic, I don't think the 17 year old has been groomed. There's no real evidence of that. Just because there's the age gap it doesn't also automatically mean she groomed him as well. He seemed too surprised by the rush to marriage, and was also quite comfortable/confident to not go along with it and speak his mind.

I think the cultural differences in relationships and marriage were stark.

i hear what you’re saying - I suppose the fact he was able to talk to his parents about it and she isn’t putting any pressure on him to hide the relationship is what makes it all seem “okay”.

But still, they both admit that the energy in the relationship comes from her. She’s the one who encouraged/pressured him to speak, show is face, then go out there etc. when it comes to the bedroom, I’m not convinced she wouldn’t pressure him further into things he isn’t ready for. Who knows how she is funding the relationship too.

He’s still in school and yet up all night talking to her - if she was also a school girl then fine; but she’s not! She’s a fully grown woman using an actual child to fulfill her emotional needs and doesn’t give a duck about the impact on him - her choosing to be the tired for work the next day is very different to a 17 year old staying up all night talking to their 27 yo girlfriend.

Yes, it’s still his choice and he can hang up if he wants to, but the power dynamics are very different (we also don’t know how she responds when he tries asserting boundaries in any way). She’s acting impulsively imo but it still feels v groomy to me and I do not like Ch 4 trying to make it seem otherwise.

His parents seem completely ill equipped - like they’re almost handing over the parenting to Veena because they don’t know what to do anymore and she seems to be helping him? which isn’t their fault but is still sad. If he’s been this open about it, I don’t understand how somebody from his school hasn’t intervened before now. He was clearly having difficulties before he started talking to Veena and it seems there are parts of his relationship with her that do benefit him so it is infuriating to me that somebody hasn’t looked into what the underlying issues are to get him the proper, long term support it needs. Because is obviously isn’t a 27 year old wife.