Golden
is the eighth side story to Stranded. Unlike the previous side stories, this one was written by Luiz 4200. Sam's parents find out her grandmother is a Golden Guild member.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer:
- Donovan Loadman seeks to become this to Sam and Colette so he'll get his rich lifestyle back by obtaining a wealthy wife through an Arranged Marriage. The Mansons and Jean-Luc, however, are having none of that as they know their daughters would instantly refuse to have anything to do with him.
- Colette is still this to Danny to the point he's hoping Jean-Luc makes her marry Donovan just so she'll finally leave him alone.
- Aborted Arc: Dash only agrees to ruin Star and Danny's date at the country club if Colette pays him in advance. However, this isn't followed up on as he never appears at the club. Later on, when he and Paulina encounter Danny and Star at Nasty Burger, they inform the couple that they refused to help Colette, meaning Dash probably reneged on the deal offscreen ("Blackmailed" would confirm he ultimately decided the money wasn't worth it).
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Colette declares she wouldn't date Tucker Foley "even if he's the last boy on Earth", Kwan retorts that she would if he was dating Star.
- Blessed with Suck: Sam admits to her friends that a downside of being rich is having to deal with creeps like Toadman trying to get their greedy hands on your wealth.
- Blunt "Yes":
- Jean-Luc when Colette asks if he thinks she's acting crazy regarding her feelings for Danny.
- Reginald says this in response to Donovan's question if his father actually expects him to get a job to have any money.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Colette as usual is trying to meddle in Star and Danny's relationship, this time trying to rope Dash, Paulina, and Kwan into helping her.
- Double Standard: Discussed. Jean-Luc tells Colette that, had he been that obsessed with a girl who told him "no" as many times as Danny told her, he'd be in jail or in some mental institution.
- Dramatic Irony: Jeremy and Pamela insult Danny as a Gold Digger mooching off of Star when seeing them eating together in the Platinum Room. Just before that, Danny was uncomfortable with the high prices and ordered one of the cheaper dishes despite Star's assurance that her mother's tab will cover it.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Dash and Kwan are both Dumb Jocks but even they correctly point out that Colette's obsession with Danny is unhealthy and she's better off moving on. Dash even says she should date a guy that's available, mainly himself.
- Entitled Bastard: As far as Donovan is concerned, his father is supposed to provide him a rich lifestyle regardless of his heinous actions.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Jean-Luc is a huge snob who has a wandering eye, but even he finds his daughter's obsession with Danny to be exasperating and concerning.
- Dash is creeped out by the extent of Colette's actions to be with Danny, and refuses to ruin the latter's date with Star even when she promises to go out with him in exchange because he "won't date a girl that obsessed with another guy no matter how beautiful, rich, and popular she is." Colette has to resort to bribery to get his help.
- According to Dash, Colette's fixation on Danny is causing her to lose her popularity, indicating the rest of the A-Listers and Casper High are also freaked out by it.
- Kwan might want to get Star back, but he still refuses to help Colette sabotage her relationship with Danny since he doesn't want to force it as she's happy with Danny. Also, even Kwan finds Colette's continued fixation with Danny disturbing.
- Paulina refuses to help Colette sabotage Star's relationship with Danny anymore and even tells her she went too far by following them to New York.
- Reginald says he would let Donovan's future children inherit his future after their father's death.
- Eleanor is a nice and open-minded person but makes it clear that she regards Jeremy Manson as an idiot. While she hates Sam’s parents, Eleanor is willing to let them visit the country club as Ida’s guests, although makes it clear that they’re on thin ice and will be kicked out if they cause any trouble.
- Even Ida can’t bring herself to disagree with Eleanor's above assessment about her son.
- Even Reginald doesn’t like the Mansons for being pretentious, social-climbing snobs but he does try to be civil with them.
- While Donovan was banned from the country club for his actions in "Visited", Reginald is still welcomed as a member.
- Even Jeremy and Pamela know it’s a bad idea to try to marry Sam off to a Spoiled Brat like Donovan Loadman, especially since Sam would never agree to it and considering his abusive treatment of Star. Pamela even warns Donovan not to bother Ida by asking her for permission to marry Sam since Ida won’t approve because she and Beatrice Traville are as different as night and day.
- Even Jean-Luc won't force Colette to marry anyone, especially not Donovan, disinherited or not, as even he's disgusted by the way the former rich brat treated Star, to the point he'd prefer his daughter marry Danny instead (if not for the fact Danny made it clear he won't dump Star for her).
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- Colette actually questions why Pierre likes Star more than her, even though she's done nothing to endear herself to her baby brother and prefers to ignore him at best.
- As far as Donovan Loadman is concerned, marriage is just a way for wealthy families to combine their fortunes, and he can't fathom any other reason why people would get married.
- Donovan is actually surprised that the Mansons and Jean-Luc want nothing to do with him after the way he mistreated Star since he didn't think anyone would have a problem with his bratty behavior or that, unlike Beatrice, they actually love their children and would protect them by keeping a spoiled, selfish Jerkass and potential Domestic Abuser like him away.
- Donovan can't grasp why Jean-Luc is disgusted with his harassment of Star since he's under the belief that being an elite means you can do whatever you want. Jean-Luc counters that being an elite means they need to have standards and present a resectable image to separate themselves from the common people, and Donovan's violent actions have made it clear he's no better than the unruly peasants.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Jean-Luc is so tired of Colette's obsession with Danny, he calls her "Colette Anastasie Marie Bevier".
- Glad You Thought of It: Colette accuses Stella of pulling that trick on Jean-Luc to convince him to send her to a boarding school.
- Hated by All: Neither the Mansons nor the Beviers want anything to do with Donovan Loadman after his actions in "Visited". He's even been banned from the country club.
- Internal Reveal: Jeremy and Pamela find out the former's mother is a Golden Guild member.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- For all of his faults, Jean-Luc is right to worry about Colette's obsession with Danny as it's becoming seriously unhealthy. He even considers sending her to a boarding school as a solution.
- Sam and Ida call Sam’s parents out on their troublesome behavior for antagonizing Danny since they’re putting themselves at risk of getting kicked out of the Golden Guild.
- Despite her hatred for her stepfamily, even Star understands why Jean-Luc refuses to let a creep like Donovan Loadman marry Colette.
- Sam's parents want her to have a rich husband but even they know it's a bad idea to try to marry their daughter off to Donovan Loadman, especially since Sam would never agree to it due to her intense hatred for him. Pamela even tells Donovan not to bother asking Ida for permission to marry Sam since she won't approve of the idea either because Ida and Beatrice Traville are as different as night and day.
- A Lighter Shade of Black:
- Even snobs like Jean-Luc and Sam's parents look down on Donovan for his cruel treatment of Star and refuse to let him near their daughters, nor do they want anything to do with him.
- Unlike Beatrice, Jean-Luc and Sam's parents wouldn't force their family members to marry anyone, especially not a brat like Donovan Loadman regardless of the status of his inheritance.
- Jean-Luc and the A-Listers are becoming increasingly disgusted with Colette's unhealthy obsession with Danny, to the point the former is considering sending her to boarding school to deal with it while the latter no longer want anything to do with her schemes regardless of her bribes and manipulations.
- Like Father, Like Son: Played With. Ida admits that her son Jeremy inherited all of his father’s negative qualities and few of his positive ones.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Vlad contemplates killing Alicia when the love potion wears off as he's willing to pay off lawyers and the jury (or just overshadow them) to get out of a murder charge because he sees it as cheaper than whatever Alicia would take from him in a divorce.
- Never My Fault: Donovan, as always, refuses to acknowledge he did anything wrong and thinks his dad is blowing things out of proportion in regards to his mistreatment of Star. He also blames Danny for turning Star against him while ignoring it was his own despicable actions that did that long before she and Danny started dating.
- Not Helping Your Case: Sam’s parents want to get into the Golden Guild but sabotage their chance by antagonizing Danny Fenton, who the owner Eleanor is fond of.
- Off to Boarding School: Jean-Luc threatens to send Colette to a boarding school to stop her obsession with Danny.
- Pet the Dog:
- Eleanor dislikes Jeremy and Pamela, though is willing to let them stay at the country club as Ida's guests despite their revoked membership, provided they behave themselves, of course.
- Jean-Luc makes it clear to Donovan that even a middle-class boy like Danny would make a better husband for Colette than a violent Spoiled Brat like him.
- Star offers to have her dad help Sam if her parents or Toadman become a serious problem.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jean-Luc gives a short one to Donovan about how his unacceptable behavior toward Star has made him unfit to be an elite and that he'd rather let a peasant like Danny marry Colette (if not for the fact Danny made it clear he won't leave Star for her) over "some disgraced brute that's little better than the commoners now".
- Stalking Is Funny If Its Female After Male: Averted as everyone notes that Colette's growing obsession with Danny is unacceptable and completely disturbing. Team Phantom is annoyed to no end with her antics and even trying to get a restraining order against her, her parents struggle to control her and are even considering taking extreme measures like sending her to boarding school, and even the A-Listers are creeped out by her fixation on Danny to the point it's having a negative effect on her popularity, and causes them to refuse to get further involved with her plans to break him and Star up no matter how much she tries to manipulate or pay them off.
- Take That!: Sam is NOT a fan of Monster High since she doesn't approve of "monsters acting like typical valley girls".
- The Reveal: Colette was cut off by her father and stepmother after what happened in "Costumed" and has been using money from a secret stash since then.
- This Is Reality: When Dash suggests Colette use tomato juice to get rid of her lingering odor, she says, "It doesn't work like some cartoons suggest, unfortunately."
- Thought They Knew Already: Jean-Luc assumed that the Mansons already knew about Ida's membership. They didn't.
- Unwanted Spouse: Donovan tries to convince the Mansons and Jean-Luc to let him marry Sam or Colette by promising to combine their families' fortunes but they refuse out of disgust toward the Spoiled Brat's despicable actions toward Star.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Jean-Luc is the one who informs Jeremy and Pamela about Ida being part of the Golden Guild.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Jean-Luc is disgusted that Donovan would physically harm a girl for a petty reason like rejection and makes it clear that this is the reason why he won't let him near Colette.
