Formatia trans sicere educatorum

Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Season 1 & 2 of the ABC Family Show: Greek. The Author is not responsible for anyone who reads this and learns things they don’t already know about the show.

The relationships which form after those of family and friends are those of sexual and enemies. They are the most difficult relationships to understand and to deal with though they are just as vital to who we are as humans as the others. Greek provides us with ample examples of both of the latter relationships just as it does the former. The relationships which form between males and females within the show on a sexual level are interconnected to those of the friendship and familial levels. For better or worse these relationship help to spur human passions and life to a level that the familial and friendship based relationships cannot.

And yet finally we come upon the actual sexual relationships within the show, Evan and Casey, Cappie and Rebecca, Cappie and Casey, and Rusty and Jen K. All of these relationships are an example of what makes Ashleigh and Calvin’s relationship so difficult, at least for Ashleigh. Cappie and Casey are the original Greek couple, hooking up in their freshman year only to end because of Cappie’s on going desire to be in a constant party. While the glimpses we are shown of their relationship demonstrate that they were truly in love, and both characters acknowledge this at different points in the first season, their relationship is ultimately doomed to fail. Cappie is too much about himself and unwilling to focus any attention on others, which is possibly attributed to his age at the time. They break up because Cappie can’t be trusted anymore and Casey leaves him for his former friend and roommate Evan. Evan and Casey seem to be the perfect couple, with the exception that Evan cheats on Casey and Casey in turn cheats on Evan at the beginning of the show. While we are unsure of exactly how Casey feels about Evan, there are examples that she truly loves him but that comes after they break up and in season one we are only left with the impression she wants to use him. When things get rough between Casey and Evan she immediately turns to Cappie, either because she knows it will hurt Evan or because she has never lost her true feelings for him. Evan assumes, based on misinformed information from Frannie, that Casey is only using him to get what she wants, which is the ZBZ presidency.

The two youngest relationships on the show are between Cappie and Rebecca and Rusty and Jen K. Rusty and Jen K. seem to be a great couple; they are very much alike and get along famously. Rusty is inexperienced in relationships while Jen K. appears to have more practice. On the outside looking in Rusty seems to only want a girlfriend because everyone else is dating and feels left out. Jen K. appears to be truly attracted to Rusty, most probably for his social awkwardness which she can relate to no doubt. Jen K. ultimately betrays Rusty and the rest of the Greek system by publishing her expose on the system and airing out all the problems of the first season, which oddly enough all go back to either Rusty or Casey. Initially Rusty wants to take her back but is pressured by his Greek brothers and sisters to break it off because of the article. The relationship between Rebecca and Cappie seems to be of the same kind as Rusty and Jen K. in a lot of ways. They first meet while Cappie is attempting to earn money to pay Casey back for bailing him and his KT brothers (including Rusty) out of a $250 bill at the local strip club. He volunteers for a pysch field test which is proctored by Rebecca. There are hints that Rebecca wants to get with Cappie because she can sense Casey is still in love with Cappie. Nevertheless, after almost sharing a moment during the test the two finally are seen laying in bed together at the end of season one and we find out throughout season two that they are a couple. Rebecca might only be with Cappie to get at Casey, while Cappie seems to have truly moved on and wants to be with her..though it might just because she is extremely attractive.

These relationships appear to be based around the few feuds within the show between Frannie and Casey, Casey and Rebecca, Cappie and Evan, and Rusty and Evan. Frannie and Casey begin out as sisters in the ZBZ house but by the end of season one that friendship is broken by the lies produced by Frannie. Casey, while naive, wants to do what is truly best for herself and those around her which leads her to sell Frannie down the river to the ZBZ National Rep at the end of season one. But initially, from flashbacks in season two, Frannie always wanted what was best for Casey. At the beginning of season one things might be a little different in the present-day as it was Frannie who encouraged Casey to take Evan back after he cheated on her. Their relationship is further strained by Frannie’s desire to use and befriend Rebecca, whom Casey hates. Casey and Rebecca have their main contention in that Rebecca slept with Evan and Casey just doesn’t seem to rub off well on Rebecca. From their first, pre-cheat, meeting Rebecca has no interest in Casey and Casey goes through hell to get Rebecca to pledge ZBZ. When she finds out that she slept with Evan, Casey is furious and is out for revenge against Rebecca. In a similar way is the relationship between Evan and Cappie, though it began on much better terms. Friends from summer camp, Evan and Cappie room together freshman year. It was Evan who got Cappie into the Greek system to begin with and it was Cappie who helped get Evan into the Kappa Taus. Evan eventually leaves KT to pledge Omega Chi after being nick named “Bing” because he was only in the KTs because of Cappie. This drives a wedge between the two friends as they exist in separate houses; this wedge is only further driven deeper as Casey and Cappie hook up. Eventually Casey turns to Evan when Cappie fails be a good boyfriend for Casey. When this finally happens at the Greek Ball their freshman year we see Cappie and Evan finally turn into complete enemies.

Enemies and lovers, war and peace, they both go so well together and describe each other so much. The writers of ABC Family’s Greek do a great job showing us the complex relationships within human life on all levels, family, friends, lovers and enemies. We can see so much within these relationships that reflect on each and every one of the viewers. While at times these relationships are over simplified and dramatized to the max they are great reflections we should all take the time to understand.