I don’t understand the incessant urge to pick sides when it comes to Lilly and Ronnie. They are both dealing with problems no one else could possibly comprehend at the time.

Ronnie’s dad, Hank is being falsely charged with the murders of several white children in 1962 (two years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act). Ronnie is probably well aware of what happens to Black Americans who get arrested. Even today, accused Black Americans are immediately convicted in the court of opinion and barely afforded the same grace that white people get when they are arrested. 

Knowing this, Ronnie is panicking because she knows her dad’s life is in imminent danger but she feels like she can’t do anything because the police won’t take her word at all. She doesn’t want to lose another parent but she feels like she can’t do anything to stop whatever might happen to her father. 

Ronnie feels very trapped and alone in her circumstances. She gets upset with Lilly because she’s white and therefore doesn’t understand that Hank being in prison falsely accused of murder won’t end the same way it might for a falsely accused white man. She knows he’ll get killed by the other inmates for being Black and accused of killing a bunch of white kids. 

Ronnie is completely valid to feel how she feels and I don’t think it’s fair she’s receiving a lot of hate so far. I feel like people dislike Ronnie because instead of being quiet and only being in the show to help develop her white cast-mates stories, she’s expressing her emotions and being rightfully upset about her father’s predicament. 

As for Lilly, she’s dealing with inner demons that no one else can possibly understand. She’s struggled with her mental health throughout the series and is obviously traumatized by her father’s death. It also seems like no one in her school was very kind or supportive to her during this, with the exception of Marge I guess. 

Then she finds Matty, someone who doesn’t let her mental health or the rumors made about her scare him away. For once, Lilly doesn’t feel so alone in the world which is why Matty’s disappearance affected her so much. She was mostly alone again after he vanished and even more so when Marge decided to ditch her for the patty cakes. 

Knowing how terrible asylums were during the 19th and 20th centuries, it’s no surprise that Lilly did everything in her power to avoid being sent back to Juniper Hills.  

She’s faced with a difficult predicament when she witnesses the brutal deaths of Teddy, Phil and Susie at the hands of IT. Lilly knows if she tries to tell anyone about the true nature of their deaths, she’d have a one way ticket back to Juniper Hills. She told the police what they wanted to hear so she’d avoid being sent away but also tried to do so in a way that didn’t directly implicate Hank. 

That being said, Lilly is still at fault for Hank being charged with the murders. She didn’t do it out of malicious intent or to hurt Ronnie but her words still sealed his fate and there’s no going around that. Ronnie is upset because Lilly only thought of herself in a situation that would send a man to his death and got him jailed instead of backing up Ronnie. 

They are both valid in their feelings. Ronnie has definitely been cold towards Lilly but for very understandable reasons and Lilly is scared to tell the wrong person what she saw because she’ll get sent away which is also understandable. Two things can be true at once.

I think both Ronnie and Lilly are great characters, they are both my favorites right now and I’m rooting for them to survive. I can’t wait to see where their stories go as the show continues 

