Behind the Scenes: Belladonna Cove | Episode 7.1

Marissa and Jason bonding under the sheets …

The Cleveland family. Number 7. Out of 11. We're slowly reaching the end of the first season, and that's exciting because I see this first round as the foundation. Introducing everyone, getting to know everyone, meeting townies, and watching as unexpected events unfold. For some families, I think I know what will happen next - certain families and sims basically breathed in my direction and ideas popped up, pop pop pop-pop, but with others I'll have to see what will happen, where the sims will take me, you know.

And speaking about the families of Belladonna Cove, I thought about the Patel family while I was recording this episode. Just because of one little thing: Jason and Marissa are focused on their son and not on each other, like Ana and Ramir. Ana and Ramir are thinking about friendships and giving their little girl attention, but they're not romantic with each other. Well, they'll dance and kiss, but they don't roll woohoo Wants. Ana did roll the Want to have a baby, but that's it.

Right now, I'm seeing Ana and Ramir with Jason and Marissa. We just finished the first day in their round, of course, but neither rolled romance Wants. And then the wife's thinking about babies.

While I was recording, I did speak about Marissa's future. Does she 1) want to take a step out of her comfort zone and get a job because Justin's a teenager now, close to finishing high school? Or does she 2) want to have a baby because she's bored, because she knows that Justin will be leaving soon? But in the end, I decided to leave out that section in the final cut of the episode because I got distracted and didn't finish my thoughts. Though, as I now type this post, I think I'm going to go with option 2 because the Cleveland family can still live comfortably. Also, I think that Marissa will only get a job after something happens - and when I mean something, drama happens.

Right now, there isn't drama. We tested the waters with Tara. We had Marissa and Jason try for a baby. And now … I feel we should see what happens next, you know. But maybe Justin will eventually feel like he has been replaced by the new Cleveland baby. He'll see his mum's baby bump, but I think he'll leave before the birth - I'll probably turn aging back on in the next episode - and then, while he's at university, his parents won't have time for him. Of course they'll be on his case to do well, but that's it. 

But there's also the possibility that he doesn't go to university. He refuses, and then his parents, fed up and utterly disappointed in him, tell him to go live on his own and experience the real world. That could possibly happen. We'll see.