the contradiction that we call Jordan

[igor]

Sorry,the question above was mine.I forgot to log in.

[tridentdps]

I think Jordan drinks like most young adults in his situation.....does it because that's what they do to pass the time. He has been seen with a bottle of beer in his hand a few times, hangs out at parties, is unsupervised most of the time. I could see him toking a bit too, but all these things are just socializations. Not like Graf, who has a serious problem and knows it.

[grim4746]

I agree, Jordan's drinking etc, is probably social/recreational and he's probably not an addict. I'd say he tokes sometimes, I think that's why "he's always closing his eyes like it hurts to look at things" and falling asleep in class.

[pistolpeg]

we've also seen him using visine

[Hunee]

I think that the funniest episode is pressure when Jordan comes to pick up Angela and he is sitting in the kitchen and Brad asks him if he has a major and then Hallie is all like well you would know if you did and then Jordan is all like I think I would have got a letter or something!!! and then Angela calls Graham and is all trying to get out of it and Graham is like what does meeting a person prove!!! I JUST FIND THAT SO FUNNY!!! I mean Jordan can be a jerk and the countless of times he hurt Angela but I mean even with the countless things that is wrong with him that scene is self esteem when he grabs her hand out weights them all!!!

[Guest]

Jordan Catalano?Yeah, that guy sucks big time.He's stupid,obnoxiuos and has greasy hair.Oh yeah,when Angela said that maybe he has dyslexia,I don't think that's true.He was just way to stupid to learn how to read,but of course she's so into him that she is too blind to see it.Oh well, what can you do?

I never posted anything here altough I like the show.I just wanted to say that your comment remind me of highschool.I was skinny girl back then and people used to make fun of me all the time(especially guys).I just wanted to say that it's not nice to make people feel bad about themselves.It's not nice to call somebody stupid just because he has a learning disability, or if he has problems.Because people are hurt by it and they remember that.I mean, altough it's been like ten years, and altough people often complement me about my appearence I still don't feel good about myself.
So, I'm sure Jordan is aware of his problem and feels bad about it , so it's not really necessary for other people to rub it in.

[hollis28]

I never thought Jordan was stupid. He'll never be an acedemic type, that's obvious, but he isn't stupid. He just doesn't know what he doesn't know. If you don't know what a major is, you just don't know what a major is, it's as simple as that. Take the 'ironic' example - he didn't know what it meant. After the word was explained to him, he understood it. He's capable of learning, obviously, he's just not an academic. His skills lay elsewhere. It's like the breakfast club situation - Jordan is the guy who can make a lamp.

[Sophia CH4]

I never thought Jordan was stupid. He'll never be an acedemic type, that's obvious, but he isn't stupid. He just doesn't know what he doesn't know. If you don't know what a major is, you just don't know what a major is, it's as simple as that. Take the 'ironic' example - he didn't know what it meant. After the word was explained to him, he understood it. He's capable of learning, obviously, he's just not an academic. His skills lay elsewhere. It's like the breakfast club situation - Jordan is the guy who can make a lamp.

completely agree, jordan is not the intelectual type, but frankly even if he was, i don't think he would be as attractive, he's more of a person who can fix things, his car, probably stuff around the house, one word is a real man, who's not afraid to get his hands dirty, and i think that's sexy

Angela, go for it girl, 'cause that guy can fix your engine any time

[Guest]

Yes, he's a real contradiction, one minute he looks like he's full of self-confidence and the next minute he's all shy and sheepish, or how he constantly tries to push Angela away but on the other hand he's all "come here baby, I wanna be your daddy", or when they broke up he's like "see ya tomorrow", which just shows that he doesn't wanna loose her, but he doesn't want to wait for her to be ready either because that way he would have to admit that he has emotions.

[Christina_in_color]

I know the last post was about four years ago (oh, how time flies), but I just want to say that I understand Jordan. He does act like a jerk, but these behaviors are learned. His futile attempts at connecting with Angela are big events for him, too, because he views sensitivity as a weakness. To make himself vulnerable at all is a big step. Let me explain with personal experience...

My father is dyslexic, but he was passed through school without any of his teachers noticing that he couldn't read. He wanted to be held back. He wanted to learn, but nobody cared enough to take the time. His father was mostly absent, traveling in the military, and he had to become a man without a good male role model. As a result, he became angry at the world. My father fixes things. He's memorized countless diagrams of car engines and solutions for how to fix problems that seem complex to my disinterested ears, but he still spells the word 'copy' with two P's. And though my father and I aren't close, due to my bitterness about being "knocked around" from his words for too many years, I understand that he is smart in many ways. It's hard for him to be affectionate now that I'm a young adult (if I could still claim to be young while on the cusp of 25 ), but it was even harder when I was a child. There are many qualities that are parallel between Jordan and my father but also between Jordan and myself.

What I find gold about Jordan is the way he begins to confront the errors of his ways. That is not an easy thing to do, nor is it normal code for him to come to terms with the consequences of his actions, leading me to believe that Angela is a special case. He has probably run away from his problems most of his life, but there's pain behind his "THEN LEAVE!" attitude. The desire to resolve what he would have formally left unresolved is a clear sign that he cares about Angela. This is how I feel connected to Jordan, how he tries to break the cycle to be different than his father. I get that.

Perhaps being female, I channeled my emotional disconnect and desire for a happier family into almost obsessive nurturing instead of standoffishness, but I believe that Jordan is very empathetic under the guise of a jerk. The way he treats those who are below him on the popularity scale, such as Rickie, with a natural respect is a testament to how he understands what it's like to be on the outside. Even "Brain", of whom is the biggest nerd, was never slammed into a wall or even talked down upon by Jordan. Though Brian thought of Jordan as stupid, Jordan accepted Brian as his tutor without any putdowns or sarcastic remarks.

Jordan's mistakes are plenty, cringe-worthy, and ultimately understandable. I yelled at the screen when he drunkenly hooked up with Rayanne and yelled louder when he used Brian's letter to apologize. It is not a lack of self-respect or blind lust that brings Angela to forgive Jordan after reading the letter. On some unconscious level, she knew that she was the impetus for his change. Perhaps time would allow her to fully trust him again. And perhaps because I've dealt with similar demons in my own life, I understand what it's like to come out closer to the other side of adulthood as a better person. And perhaps because I believe in hope, I see them breaking into adulthood and finding a meaningful relationship together.

Wow. I didn't mean to rant for so long...

[MeNotYou08]

Okay, this is my first post, and I'm a pretty new fan so I could be wrong. But I was reading the post by "Guest" and it made me think. Jordan broke up with Angela because she wouldn't have sex with him and he wasn't willing to wait. But in Resolutions, he says that if she really wanted to help she could sleep with him. I don't know, it just kind of struck me that maybe he was "waiting". Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked her that, because he could just sleep with anyone else he wanted, whenever, right? I'm probably reading too much in to it, but it just sort of made me think that yes, he does have feelings for her, he just didn't want anyone else to know how much, not even her. Especially after she bailed on him and lied to him (in front of his friends(?)) in Pressure.
I just think that Jordan's biggest problem is that he's been hurt a lot in the past, and especially by people he trusted to love and take care of him. Like his father, but probably also by a lot more people as well. Speaking from personal experience, after you get hurt enough, you do tend to retreat into yourself, and hide away your heart, more or less. It's just easier to be "bad" or distant than it is to expose yourself to another chance for pain. I think that Angela's obvious viewing of him as a person and not just someone she can have sex with is what scares him and causes him to "act out." He's not used to that anymore (if he ever was). I think he knows, on some level at least, that she, probably more than anyone else currently in his life, has the potential to hurt him again, just like other people have done before, and he's fighting it by trying to hurt her first. If she hates him, then everything will be easy again. Yet at the same time, he doesn't want her to hate him.
Anyway, like I said, I'm a new fan, so maybe I'm wrong. It's just what I think about the whole thing so far.

[oaksand]

i think that was a spot on analysis of Jordan

[Jody Barsch*]

Chivas you've changed my mind about Jordan (again). Well I also just watched the entire series because I finally bought my own box set. I'd never seen resolutions before and though I'd read the script, seeing it has changed how I think about a lot of aspects of the show. For now I'll stick to Jordan. I think Chivas is right that Jordan is

truly is a mystery but not an evil guy that hurt Angela repededly on purpose.

Although I watched the show on ABC, and when it was re-aired on MTV, I too had never seen "Resolutions" until I bought the dvds (i only had the first set of vhs tapes); it was a really interesting missing link in terms of the Angela-Jordan relationship.

I just find it easier most of the time to write Jordan off as a dumb ass jerk then to admit that somone can cause pain repeatedly and still be the good guy.

Love this.

[grim4746]

That's weird that we'd both seen the show quite a bit but not Resolutions. Having memorized the rest of the show before finally seeing it has left me with little memory of what happens.

Maybe I wouldn't have called Jordan a jerk just now in another Jordan thread if I'd seen the old quote of mine you stirred up.

I'll reserve judgement until my rewatch in the new year. It's been a long time since I've had the chance to see Jordan (and the rest) through someone else's fresh eyes. I've grown lonely and bitter over the years though so I might be less inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[myso-calledlove]

I remember watching (and loving) this show when it first aired, so when i found it on my Netflix instant Queue, I re-watched it (and fell in love all over again). One thing i found interestingly ironic is that even watching this show now through "adult" eyes, my feelings toward Jordan Catalono had not changed even an ounce. I always had faith and still do in the Character that is Jordan.

When this show first came on i was at the height of my pre-pubescences, just starting Middle School and just beginning to learn the ways of the social world. I am not even going to deny what it was that first drew me to Jordan (those eyes! talk about "it hurts to look at you") but i always knew that there was more to him than just his baby blues. Even at my young age i understood the kind of patience that Angela reserved only for him and not in just a "waiting for him to notice you" sort of way. MSCL is so masterfully written in the way that the show will take a stereotype and turn it on it's head forcing us to see who the characters really are. This is where Jordan comes in: he is the slacker, loser type who doesn't really care about anything or anyone, but is that maybe because no one has ever really taken any time to care about him? Not all of the "Jordan Catalono's" in the world are hopeless jerks.

Now i am not so naive as to think that this rule applies to all such boys (a fact i could not state in my first go-round with the show). I have had many Jordan Catalonos in my life and while some ultimately fulfilled their loser potential, some were certainly worth the wait. The point is that I always had patience enough to see which path they would choose. Only now as an adult do i know that you cannot "change" somebody, but sometimes it just takes more time to realize a person's full range. Angela is not intending to change Jordan Catalono, she just wants to see what really lies behind that cool exterior which i think is more than even he himself realizes. Sometimes it is only after you smooth some of the rough edges do you truly realize the value of your treasure.

I did not marry any of my Jordan Catalono's (ironically enough, my husband is more of the Brian Krakow sort) but i still look back at the Jordan's of my life with a sweet fondness knowing that while our relationship didn't last I hope that my investment in them has paid off for some other girl in their future. So when you come across a Jordan Catalono in your life the important thing to ask is not whether or not he will end up an A-hole, but whether or not he has experienced an Angela (aka his chance NOT to be an A-hole) in his life, and if not, are you willing to be his Angela knowing full well that the investment you make may not yield your desired end result?

The Jordan Catalono's of the world need us Angela's to show them that they do indeed have a choice. The only difference between my young Angela self and my adult one is realizing that it is ultimately Jordan's choice to make.