I read the first chapter just to see what was going on, and it seems like Episode has checked off every cliche/stereotype that they could with this story:
POC best friend
Not one, but TWO bad boys
Excessive sexual references
Queen Bee bully character
Both of the bad boys “save” you from the bully
Ditching school (with NO repercussions)
No adult figures (where’s the rest of the teachers, MC’s parents, etc???)
Breaking into the MC’s house (classic It Starts With a Bra!)
MC not being phased that not one but TWO people break into her bedroom
Both of the bad boys being shirtless for some goddamn reason???
Them fighting for no reason (I don’t even effing know them for them to be fighting over me)
Love Triangle
One of the bad boys brings a gift … aka lingiere???
Mind you, we’re all high school seniors. Yes, there are 18 year old seniors, but a majority of high school seniors are underage (aka 17 years old). I cannot believe the AUDACITY of Episode right now.
you’re so right - except Wattpad does not claim to be an app for 12+ year olds(! I’d thought it was 13 at least but upon further checking… yikes). but even then the Wattpad porn did not prepare me for this (even though they’re for 17+). wow
The second chapter’s title is "Chapter Two: Is this story for real? Yes. Yes it is. Okay… Well, the police are here (for some reason) and Ryder (names on the list of ultimate BAD BOYS) is worried about going to prison. Well, you shouldn’t have broken into my bedroom shirtless if you were worried about being arrested…
Ryder: It was Shane’s dad… who put my dad in jail (Well it isn’t his fault for doing his job. I’m sorry you have daddy issues).
At this point, I’d be dead. Do you not know how apeshit my parents would go if they found not one, but two shirtless boys in my room?
So, I sneaked out of the house in my underwear. Okay… Now Shane wants to hotwire a car… in our underwear. Has anyone on the Episode team actually been a teenager???
We don’t get a choice to just go home, but we get a choice on what car to steal?
There’s a choice to kill the principal. You heard it right here kids. If you’re late to class because the queen bee of the school spilled juice on your shirt and the bad boy gives you a shirt, then the principal says you’re late, you need to hotwire a police car and run him over that night!
Now Shane is talking about a “kinky” game they play in a… I’m going on a limb here and say that it’s a sex club/party. What. The. Hell.
So now, Shane and I are cuddling in a car. I DON’T EVEN KNOW HIM.
Apparently Shane is Amanda’s boyfriend. LMAO, Shane is a horrible boyfriend. He literally tried to have sex with MC, I wanna say at least 2-3 times.
Thank you for bringing your concerns regarding the story “In My Bed” to our attention. We have halted the full release of the story for internal review to ensure that it stands by our guidelines. We want you to know that we are taking your concerns seriously.
You guys still have the story on the app still so you aren’t taking the concerns seriously. You guys know what you were doing when you uploaded this story like you’ve done with so many problematic stories. Please actually learn from your mistakes and get better. Or just keep making these problematic stories because in the end it just makes you guys money and brings attention to you. It’s getting exhausting that you guys keep uploading the same apology on every medium you own.
The two choices were “Stop” and “Speed Up”. I chose to stop but I think someone earlier chose to speed up (with screenshots) and you end up hitting and killing the principal.
I mean, there are obviously a lot of things wrong with the story… But what bothers me the most is how BAD is it? Like, yes, they shouldn’t break their own guidelines, and Episode shouldn’t be rated PG-13 if they’re going to release content such as this… But I probably wouldn’t be so offended if the story wasn’t so unbelievably bad? Like, the directing, the dialogue, the characters, the plot… And, like, can we stop pretending that teens are cool? Teens are stupid, and confused, and self-conscious about everything, and they talk about sex 24/7 but no one actually knows how to do it? Like, seriously, life advice: If someone acts cool and all teen-movie like, or whatever, they’re probably pretending. I mean… Seriously, teens are rather pathetic. I should know, I am one.
While I cannot speak to what will happen with it from here, I can tell you that my entire morning, as well as the mornings of many on this side of the app, has been spent discussing this. We give the same apology everywhere because we want it to reach everyone, but that isn’t all we are doing.
What would be really helpful would be detailed specifics about why the community is unhappy. There are a lot of generalities on the forum right now, but not much in the way of what specifically (i.e. scenes, animations, dialog) is seen as the problem. “It has too much sex!” is a good place to start, but more specific examples would be awesome.
There are LITERAL screenshots of what is wrong with this story. @EliseC has LITERALLY uploaded screenshots on her instagram feed and on this post alone. Other people have RUNNING lists of what is wrong. Really guys, you need US to explain WHY this story is problematic? We need to do the work for you when it is PRETTY obvious as to why this story is just horrendous?!
This is very upsetting.
Edit: @jade.cherry is the one with the running list of additional issues with the story.
Thank you for responding. I really appreciate that the team is listening to our concerns however, I’m a little surprised that a story like this made it through Episode’s review process. Community authors have been suspended over much less. For me, the issue isn’t just that they’re having sex but rather the way that it’s done. It’s insinuated that the MC and her best friend are nobodies and are boring because they haven’t even been kissed. They’re high schoolers who essentially make a pact to get laid (Episode’s words, not mine) and have a good time (so again, I feel like it’s being implied that in order to have fun and be exciting, these teenagers who could be under 18, should be having sex).
There also doesn’t even appear to be a plot to this story. I wrote a review on Instagram which goes into more detail (@/episodeaxiom) but essentially we have two “bad boys” who immediately want the MC (for no apparent reason) and rather than trying to get to know her they just want to “get into her panties” (which apparently she doesn’t even wear). I spent 25 gems for the MC to lose her virginity in a public pool (no mention of protection either). Based on other screenshots, the story apparently gets worse after episode 1 with the MC being encouraged to “out-sex” the mean girl. There’s also, I believe, a gem choice to have a threesome?
I could go into more detail but I honestly feel like it isn’t necessary. The story screams “INAPPROPRIATE” right from the very first line. I’m not usually one to complain about this kind of thing, but as an older member of the community, I feel really disgusted. There are 13-year-olds (and younger) that read Episode and I feel really dirty knowing that they’re reading this (AND playing as the MC who is having lots of sexy time). I also don’t like the messages. Like I said, to me it’s implied that you NEED to have sex while in high school in order to be “cool”. There are also several other bad messages in the story (burning down the school? running over the principal? unprotected sex?).
I have posted screenshots on here but am happy to send a support ticket as well.
