User blog comment:Mroddy/Let's Talk: The Cast of Eclipse/@comment-5424252-20180717123656/@comment-3350823-20180718043526

Hmm...this is hard. I think at the moment I vote maybe to Leo.

If Hannah/Andre/Emmett/Zania were the most pitiable, than Leo maybe Tide's most pitiable. At least people still remembered Blake in the Rites of Passage; only Cherry remembered Leo xD

That said, if you have trouble writing a character, then I don't want you to bring him back for you to struggle, especially when there are so many good choices (in my opinion).

I think honestly maybe Leo should have returned instead of Damien in hindsight; Damien seemed like the better choice at the time, but Leo could have filled the same role with how Mana wanted him to be executed. I loved that scene of Youri and Leo, but I think it probably showed Leo won't be able to become the role of a villain. Or at least not a revenge driven one.

That said I've tried to brainstorm a few ideas about what Leo could do.

It seems Leo's kind of made amends with his past, but there could still be some lingering worries there. Some of his teammates may not trust him right away given his past, and if Leo does end up doing something in a moment of weakness or to survive or forced to make a hard choice by the show's circumstances..I could see him really feeling guilty and ashamed.

You know the way Leo interacted with Youri, I kind of could see him being a big brother type. While not necessarily a leader, that would probably go to the more experienced boys like Andre or Emmett, I could still seem him being a voice of reason and support on the guys.Leo just has more life experience than most of the other teens; it was why he was able to help Youri and I can could see him giving advice to others.

Leo also kind of has a foil in Kaleb; both are performers and their season's respective second boots. But Leo has achieved fame before even being on the show and is a nice guy while Kaleb hasn't and is a diva. So if Kaleb is back, I could see Kaleb trying to undermine him all the time.

And what about him and Mana? Given the school theme I'm just headcanoning Mana being Professor Mana, trying to take a teacher role. Will this cause conflict with the 'students'? I could see Leo's friendship with Mana putting him in a weird place or even being called a teacher's pet.

Finally, if Leo's vote between the final five did confirm anything, it's that he can be a kind of sarcastic guy. So all else he could be a funny sarcastic guy.

And if Cherry returns then that conflict is alive and well. Some established rivalry to help build the girls vs boys rivalry. I'm sure he'd see Cherry as villain (which could be trouble if she's trying to change). A little ironic considering he could just as likely be judged as a bad guy for his own past.

This is also totally silly, but an idea I could see for him or Kaleb is that they weren't asked back as a veteran...but got back on by disguising themselves as a newbie and Zac didn't realize it cause he doesn't remember them xD Given their actors it could work, especially if they have to keep in character or risk being voted out.

I admit, these are a lot more ideas than I thought I could come up with Leo. Still, I don't know if they would work, especially if you feel like you can't write him. But I think there could be potential and I'm not opposed to it. Maybe Mana could have also ideas?