Jared & Maddy Macgowan's Relationship (Jared & Friends)

Jared & Maddy are the friendly/romantic pairing featured in the series, Jared & Friends and one of the most iconic relationships in the franchise.

## Overview

Starting with a predication from one of his psychic visions and rumor spreads, Jared & Maddy first meet, leaving Jared instantly falling for her. As the series progresses, we see the friendship go on and off, due to Mission: Maddy, especially in Generation: Jared. Also, they usually never argue on Jared's terms, seeing he could never get mad at her (at least early on). Their relationship status is somewhat similar to Aisha & Nabu, meaning Maddy could have a soft spot for Jared. In a few words, Jared & Maddy are very good friends, and because of Jared initially being smitten with her, they have their ups and downs, but in the end, they always manage to pull through. They sometimes clash because of some of their different personality traits, with Jared being more free-spirited. childlike, open-minded and Maddy M being more cynical, sassy, and hard-headed. They do have similarities toward each other, such as both being hot-heads and being prideful at times, and that's why even though they don't get along sometimes, they are there for one another and can be good friends. Jared even sometimes teases her when she's being a little too dramatic as a way to loosen things up, much to her annoyance. But it's only because Jared likes Maddy as his friend and loves to have fun with her and he also just wants to her to loosen up sometimes when she gets too in her moods. However, that doesn't stop him from standing up to her when he feels he is being mistreated by her unfairly.

On Maddy's side, there are some hints in a few episodes to show she likes Jared a lot/has a crush on him, similar to Cindy's relationship with Jimmy on *Jimmy Neutron*. She has shown to be one of his best friends, but sometimes she doesn't like his crazy antics and big ideas. But in the end, she knows Jared means well and accepts him for who he is. She also loves to hear him sing. It is shown whenever Jared is sad or emotionally crushed, she always tries to comfort him and figure things out.

In the later episodes, we learn those hints are true as we find out that Maddy really has developed a secret and strong crush on Jared and it starts to be fleshed out more. However, this proves to be a challenge as Jared has started to date his friend, Natalia. So to cover up his crush, she sometimes teases him and berates him, but not on purpose, as she still shows signs of admiration toward him. Even after Jared's breakup with Natalia, she still harbors some fragments of those feelings.

Sometime between she did finally confess her love to Jared and the status of their relationship is clear and current: While Jared doesn't reciprocate the feelings as much anymore, she still likes Maddy very very much and considers her one of his best, closest and favorite friends and allies. This reveals that Jared still is very very fond of Maddy, but not to the intense point that he had when he had a crush on her and it shows that Jared knows Maddy belongs with whatever guy God has planned for her and that friendship between them is more important than having romantic crushes and love.

Despite all the good in their friendship, because of their clashing personalities and equally hot tempers, they tend to argue quite a lot. sometimes even over the smallest things. This is especially true in terms of Jared's imagination and psychic visions (and the trouble the visions spawn), as well as his idealistic personality and Maddy's more realistic, yet, cynical view of the world and being a bit of a drama queen. This demeanor in Maddy can cause Jared to tease her as well, but it's just his way of trying to get her out of her shell and showing how much he likes her.

### Similarities

* They both are the same age (although Maddy's 2 months older)
* They both love music (e.g. Jordin Sparks)
* They go the the same school/in the same grade
* They are both part of the Posse
* They both have (or had) a significant other (sort of, although throughout the course of the series, Maddy had two before)
* They're both rather hot-headed and impulsive

### Differences

* Maddy is a girl and Jared's a boy
* Maddy is born in April, while Jared is born in June
* Maddy has feelings for Jared, while Jared doesn't (he did early on in the show's run)
* Jared is more free-spirited, open-minded, and sometimes even a lot more reserved than Maddy, who tends be a bit of a drama queen with attitude and always says what is on her mind
* Maddy can be more cynical and hard-headed than Jared, who tries to see the positive side of things
* Maddy is much more practical and lowkey more responsible than Jared's childlike, imaginative nature

## Songs

As good friends/couple, they have a few songs

* Mission: Maddy Love Story
* Endlessly
* Best of Friends
* You're So Beautiful (90's version)
* Just a Cloud Away
* Return to Me
* Dilemma

## Significant Moments (in order)

* In Visions of Love, when they first met, Maddy seems almost as shy as Jared and he likes it. She also blows him a kiss
* In Halloween, Jared blushes when she sees him tangled in the streamers and helps him out, and she smiles flirtatiously and she says he always cracks her up, making Jared blush
* In the Season 1 finale, Mission Maddy: Homecoming Hoedown, in Jared's dream, they kiss, and also Jared tries to ask her, but his shyness gets in the way. In the end, they dance together and go into the photo booth
* In Fashion Show Frenzy, Jared wants to see Maddy in her fashion show, but it is hard to get inside the town nightclub. In the end, they go up on the runway together, showcasing Monique's designs
* In Semi Formal Slip, when Jared feels left out of the fun of semi formal, Maddy calls Jared to comfort him and cheer him up and Jared decides to tell her about Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus and she smiles happily with Jared being honest with her. Maddy also smiles at a picture of her and Jared at a dance from the previous season and blushes and giggles quietly. This is one of many obvious, albeit ambiguous, hints of her crush/complex feelings for Jared
* In A Sweet 16 for Maddy, Jared helps out with Maddy's surprise party for her birthday and understands it to be special.
* The Green-Eyed Maddy serves as a character study for Maddy's feelings toward Jared while he is dating Natalia at the time. She appears sort of jealous, which Wicked takes advantage of to make a clone from her from her envy. Maddy's double causes major trouble for everyone, playing tricks and wreaking havoc. Maddy realizes how being jealous can cause a great deal of trouble. and sets out to fix it. She then learns a lesson in being thankful and content with the people she has and she loves Ben truly.
* In the episode, the Wrath of Cheryl Blossom, this episode is made especially to finally make Maddy confess her secret passionate affection toward Jared to Jared and this episode gives an insight on how much she cares about Jared as a crush and a friend and to give their relationship some closure. When the team travels to the famous town of Riverdale, Maddy finds an arch-enemy in the local mean girl and teen queen witch, Cheryl Blossom and rallies to get Jared's singing voice and powers back from her when Cheryl traps them in her red brooch, in hopes of avenging her brother, Jason's death and also making Archie hers. In the end, she explains the reason why she worked so hard to save Jared and confesses about how much she cares about him and (finally) emotionally reveals to Jared that she loves him. Jared, dazed and perplexed, genuinely reveals to her that while he's not in love with her anymore, he does care about her a lot and Maddy is still one of his best friends. This reveals while Jared doesn't harbor much romantic feelings for Maddy as much as he used to (despite various hints), he still likes her and cares for her a lot. Maddy smiles and understands him and his confession and as a result, she, Ben, Jared, and the rest of the gang sing "The Most Important Thing is Being Friends" and Maddy and Jared hug, their friendship stronger than ever
* In Time for 2018, at the surprise New Years party in the lair, Maddy talks about Jared in a video that the gang made. She talks about how he impacted her life since they met. The clip of them at the Riverdale concert is shown as she explains. She also calls him a 'cutie for all seasons'
* At Barney's slumber party, she chooses Jared for Truth or Dare and they have fun trying to ward each other and the others in the pillow fight
* In Last Day of Summer, they share quite a few moments at the Jukebox Party, especially during Everything We Do
* In The Wizards Rise, when Maddy is unsure what to do next when Wicked and Gorog's plan begins to go into motion, she has a bit of a freak out moment and Jared teases her in his cheeky way about being a drama queen, by saying 'and the award for best dramatic outburst of the day goes to Madeline Macgowan', much to her ire. Jared just chuckles.

## Trivia/Notes

* The relationship is very similar to Jimmy Neutron & Cindy Vortex from *Jimmy Neutron,* Cookie & Lucious from *Empire,* Arnold & Helga from *Hey Arnold*, Keesha and Ralphie/Dorothy Ann & Carlos from *The Magic School Bus*, Lana & (Sterling) Archer from *Archer*, Arthur & Francine from *Arthur*, Matt and Jackie from *Cyberchase*, & Lincoln and Ronnie Anne from *The Loud House*

* The Mission: Maddy saga focuses on the story of their newfound friendship
* They share a few kisses in the series
* Some episodes almost prove that Maddy may have always had a secret crush on Jared. which was explored in the fourth season as a story arc for Maddy
* It is shown Maddy hates seeing Jared unhappy
* There were actually plans to make Maddy Jared's girlfriend after the success of what happened in Season 1, but for unknown reasons, the plans were scrapped. However, in Season 4, Maddy starts acknowledge that she has feelings for Jared (to add an extra element and plot twist, as well as explore Maddy herself as a character) but resorts to the classic 'put up a mean front' strategy and it also gives development on their friendship, however after the Riverdale episode, this was resolved and solidifies their development between them
* There are a few hints that Jared might have already had an idea of Maddy's secret feelings, but was still pretty skeptical about it, as shown in various episodes like Prank Day Peril, and through his confession/response to her confession in The Wrath of Cheryl Blossom
* Jared and Maddy have both said that the Riverdale adventure and the episodes of the iconic Mission: Maddy saga from the first two seasons are only a handful of their personal favorite episodes and their favorite quotes are of course "Supertastic" & "Wahoo!"
* The element of Maddy's crush on Jared is inspired by various relationships, particularly Jimmy and Cindy's and her past berating and complaining at Jared. Jared himself said he thought it would be nice, so he added it, but also kept it as sure as possible that it wouldn't botch anything up in terms of continuity and source material