In the original few episodes he seemed almost too perfect, he was nice to absolutely everyone and was genuinely liked by everyone. The only curious idea was the fact that he was dating a girl in high school. Also, it is strange that a high school girl would fall for him especially since they are at various stages of development. Also, Jonah is a very nice guy, why would he be with someone so mean? I guess the simple answer would be that "opposites attract", but what if, in fact, Jonah Beck himself is not so innocent.
Who is Jonah Beck?
Well, at first glance he seems like a charming, charismatic, athlete that everyone wants to be. Of course for Andi, she is head over heals in love with him, or so she thinks. I believe that this is the way they would like us to view the character, but there are some strange things about Jonah that I hope to exploit. Just like many other viewers, I believed that Jonah Beck was absolutely perfect. I chose to ignore these flaws until the penultimate episode of the series. After Andi told him off I had to rethink the character and I noticed many flaws in the character.
1. Jonah Beck has a weird relationship with feet.
In the first episode, he mentions that he knows Andi from school and that he recognizes her feet. Who does this? I mean, it would be cool if he said he could never forget her shoes because they were cool, but he specifically said feet. Most people find feet repulsive but Jonah Beck is able to get away with it because he has a pretty face, and Andi falls for that every time.
2. He is huge on peer pressure.
Jonah Beck makes it very clear what he wants Andi to do from the very first episode. He pressures her into joining the Ultimate Frisbee Team. He specifically tells Andi that she enjoys doing this and that he knows that she enjoys doing this. Andi tries to explain that she doesn't really enjoy playing sports, but Jonah gets the best of her.
3. His popularity makes no sense.
In episode 2, Andi's friends are obsessing over the fact that she is playing frisbee with Jonah Beck. This highlights his popularity, especially since they all have gone to the same school. They freak out when he goes over to them, and they harp on his words. Buffy starts to get offended when he calls them "disc-heads", almost as though she was expecting him to insult them. The issue with this is that Buffy is surprised that he is down to earth, but there is nothing in the show to suggest where he developed his popularity. In episode 4, Cyrus feels like he is being attacked, Jonah said he needed to talk to him. This and the fact that Buffy felt like she was being threatened shows a bullying aspect to him that hasn't been revealed. It could be that Jonah is simply just a master manipulator. In the penultimate episode of season 1, Amber and her friends make fun of the fact that frisbee isn't a real sport.
4. He is vain
Most of the compliments he makes are because someone did something for him. He compliments Andi when he makes her a bracelet. He compliments a frisbee player when he injures himself at practice, he compliments Cyrus when he helps out the frisbee team(though, I am skeptical about the gnarly/girly text). He doesn't make remarks about the general character of a person, just their deeds in relation to him. Andi and Cyrus meant nothing to him until they contributed to the frisbee team.
Jonah doesn't take the time to care about others like when Cyrus threw up in his shoe, Jonah didn't reassure him that everything would be alright. Everyone just made things awkward by leaving silently. This is an embarrassing moment for Cyrus because he had just thrown up in his shoe, and he had to throw it away. Jonah does nothing to make him feel better about the embarrassing day that he had. This proves that he and Cyrus aren't really friends.
5. "You're a great boyfriend, but not a great friend"
This is probably the best statement made about Jonah Beck. Andi stated this in the episode "He said, She said" when Jonah didn't believe Andi when she said that she saw Amber drawing a heart on another guy. This was the first moment where Andi was able to see the real Jonah. He is a guy who puts his relationships before his friendships. This is also the first time that Jonah truly lets Andi down, and it breaks her heart.
He can be a real jerk.
This is made abundantly clear when he hangs out with Cyrus for the second time. That episode showed a very different side of Jonah. He and Cyrus had planned to match jackets from the game they went to, but Jonah hadn't followed through mentioning that he didn't want them to look "like a couple of dorks". This seemed out of character for Jonah, he didn't seem like the type to use derogatory terms toward anyone. Also, he implied that Cyrus looked like a dork, further hurting his feelings.What's next?
Well, I guess we won't know officially what will happen with Jonah's character, but for now, it is fun to see both sides of Jonah. He is not completely pure as the show had painted him on the surface, but that doesn't clear him of being an antagonist in some sense. Hopefully, we can go back to the Jonah we all know and love in season 2.
