Because...Plot!

Reasons why they should bring Seb back

Now that they’ve gone through the trouble of killing Rebecca off screen (hooray! It’s about time!), it seems only logical that they would do the right thing and bring Seb back, which means I have absolutely zero confidence in them doing so. But here’s my list of why they really really should, as I have been advocating for years now.

Section 1: It would break Aaron out of character growth jail. Since Robert went to prison, Aaron has lost so much. He’s lost a husband and a sister. He lost being a married man, owning his own home and owning his own business. And one of the most important growth things he lost was being a father. He’d already lost Seb and Ryan leaving wrecked the surrogacy story. So bringing Seb back would:

1. Allow Aaron to fulfill the dream he had of being a father and having a family. So many characters just get handed unwanted children but Aaron actually wanted to be a dad and so of course he lost out on that. Giving him Seb would allow him to realize that goal again.

2. Allow Aaron to grow up again. Since his return, he’s been angry, mean, adrift, committing petty crime again for no reason. Seb being back would give him purpose and a reason to clean up his act. It would allow him to get to be an adult again, something the character sorely needs.

3. Allow Aaron to have screen time and positive story. Aaron has been off screen a lot, so much so that all of his current relationship story development has taken place almost entirely off screen. Seb being back would give Aaron an actual story to play out, especially if there were difficulties in getting formal custody. It’s also a story that would have a happy outcome, once he gets custody, which is something the show could really use right now in the midst of all of the depressing terrible stories. And Aaron has always had such a miserable time on the show so I feel like people would root for something good to happen to him.

4. Allow Aaron to have new kinds of stories. Single Dad Aaron opens up so man new possibilities for him, being able to take on a parental role, having to think about Seb’s needs and not just his own.

5. Allow Aaron to have a full circle moment looking after a troubled kid the way Paddy looked after him.

6. Allow Aaron to interact with new characters. Single Dad Aaron would have more opportunity to interact with the other parents in the village. It might give him more reason to have a proper friendship with Billy for example aside from silly illegal boxing stories. It puts him into new circles, which can open him up for new possibilities.

Section 2: Seb gives Aaron a permanent tie to Robert. For whatever reason, the powers that be seem unwilling to let Aaron fully move on from Robert (that’s another whole post I want to write) but this would give them real reason for Robert to be a constant presence in Aaron’s life without it seeming weird or needing Ryan back. It allows him to never fully move on. The Seb/Robert connection:

1. Allows Aaron to keep Robert in his heart through Seb. He can bring him up with Seb, helping his son love his father and making sure he knows who he was/is.

2. Allows Aaron to maybe hear from Robert from time to time. Robert might have to consent to Aaron being the one to have custody of Seb and Robert wanting that, would be a nice signal to Aaron to that Robert still loves him and trusts him.

3. Allows Aaron to maybe finally deal with some of his Robert feelings in a more productive way, in a more positive way. And because he’s raising his kid, in a way that perhaps even his mother could understand and allow.

4. Allows Aaron to bring Robert up in any new relationship, not just because the show makes him accidentally sleep with Robert’s long lost gay half brother. He needs to consider Seb’s feelings in any new relationship and part of that can be whether Robert would approve of said new man in his son’s life.

5. Allows for an even more interesting return story should they ever actually coax Ryan Hawley back.

Section 3: Bringing Seb back can be a part of rebuilding the Sugdens. Obviously that was a line they used in reference to bringing John in and we’ve seen what a joke that has been. However, Seb:

1. Is the son of the ultimate Emmerdale Sugden legacy character, Robert. And he’s not retconned in the way John is. He’s someone people can watch grow up and continue the family legacy, especially if they go the full mile and give him his proper name.

2. Allows them to bring Aaron more into the Sugden family. While, yes, Seb would probably get lumped into the Dingles at times because of Aaron, Aaron can also get brought into Sugden family time, such as it is.

3. Allows them to give Vic and Harry more screen time, and use Vic’s obsessive family tendencies to get Seb back, giving her something positive to do instead of just being annoying. It maybe lets Harry become more of an actual character if he has a cousin with story potential.

4. Gives the Sugdens, such as they are, someone to rally around in general.

5. Is actually related to people like the Merricks, unlike Vic, if they wanted to explore that connection as well.

Section 4: Bringing Seb back is the perfect opportunity to use the fact that Danny is good with the kids.

1. Danny is great with the kids on screen and off and the kids seem to love him back.

2. It would be a better way to use some of his more cringe humor.

3. If they actually cast a good kid actor that Danny can play off of well, they could be such a fun little duo.

Section 5: There’s no reason not to do it. There’s nothing stopping them other than their own inability to tell a good or even mediocre story.

1. They’ve already gone through the trouble of killing Rebecca off. What was the point of that if they’re not going to bring Seb back. They’ve already done half the work.

2. It’s not contingent on getting an actor like Ryan back. They can literally cast any red headed or blonde child for the role (hopefully a good one but I digress…)

So in conclusion: BRING SEB HOME!

Apparently I'm not done with my rant yet...

I feel like the other reason why Robron works better is that you know both characters. You know where they're both coming from individually because they're proper fleshed out characters with history on the show etc. But more than that, you see Robert's life with Chrissie and the Whites and how he doesn't quite fit. You see his struggles with Andy and Katie and all the trust issues between him and Chrissie that Katie is stirring up with her obsession. So you can see how much more relaxed his is with Aaron.

And obviously there's more context that's added in later on with the Jack retcon and his struggle with his sexuality and such but even without that, you can still see all of the above.

And you know with Aaron, he clearly saw a version of Robert that intrigued him, that he liked underneath all of the arrogance and facade he puts on for everyone else. He can see that he isn't that guy necessarily underneath even though he also sees the worst parts of him too. But he also see's a guy struggling with his sexuality and knows what that's like and wants to be there for him with that too. Which is also context that gets added in later but also is blatantly kind of said before the wedding when Aaron's talking to Paddy agonizing over what to do.

With John, we just don't know his story. We don't understand anything about him other than that he apparently has no interest in getting to know this side of his family. But because the powers that be refuse to tell a linear story these days, we just get this nonsensical vagueness where he's an asshole to everyone because they don't want to reveal whatever lame twists and turns they have in store for us yet.

So we don't know where John is coming from. We don't know why he's pushing people away. We can guess, but we don't know.

And they're not even having Aaron be intrigued by John in the same ways he was with Robert. He's not seeing other sides to him and investigating further. That might actually be a functional story if John were to open up to Aaron in some way. Instead Aaron's just like "whatever mate" and then they have Danny glance at him occasionally like there's something there but there's really not because they haven't put in any work.

Like they could have Aaron seeing a guy who's pushing people away and struggling and see himself in him when he came back and want to reach out and help him despite the Robert of it all. He could ask him if he's pushing people away because he's lost someone and then open up about his own experiences, including Robert.

But just like...none of that...no effort at all

We're laughing about the absurdity that Aaron would keep going back to John but watching affair era, Robert is just as bad and frankly so is Aaron. Haha.

He's like whatever this is, it's over, it'd done after the Lachlan drugs thing and then like the next day he's walking up to Aaron at the garage all like "so Lachlan's back home and everything is fine wanna meet up later?" And Aaron's all "you don't care about your step son at all" and then five minutes later he's like "kiss and make up? don't mind if I do!" They're so dumb.

But at least they've been at this for a month already and they've had like...actual conversations. And Robert is investing in his business. And they seem to genuinely enjoy spending time together. And Robert's been having problems with Chrissie this whole time so it's believable that he'd miss being with someone he can be more of himself with.

I mean look at that...character motivations! Haha.

But no really...the John and Aaron stuff is so baffling to me because they still haven't even had a proper conversation yet. They badly flirted over Aaron fixing the van. Had a stilted chat after they hooked up. Aaron accused him of knowing he was Robert's brother and they shoved and punched each other. The van stuff was more Mack and John. And they had that horrendous exchange where John was all "i know you want me" at Aaron so he'd try and kiss him and that's literally it.

The fact that they've never just had a normal chat or tried to get to know each other at all or even talked about the Robert of it all is just...

I truly don't understand how there could possibly be any feelings there from this. It's ridiculous.

I just love the whole "kiss and make up" text saga so much. The scene where Robert calls Aaron when they're at the bar gets me every time.

As is tradition on my birthday…here’s a robron drawing.

This year it’s brought to you by my need for Ryan to answer Emmerdale’s phone calls and say yes to a return.

Here’s some quick fauxbert nonsense for you. (I’m so rusty 🤣)

Happy Easter!

(You can really see how the cartoon art style developed over the years through these. Haha)

Let’s bring this nonsense back then. Haha

Robert sneak attack of love!

Since we’re all desperate for him to take us by surprise and just magically return someday soon.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

It was a good time....