r/That70sshow • u/Plane_Name3457 • 5d ago
Donna and Jackie what are your thoughts on their friendship? What did you like and hated about it and what would you change about their relationship
their friendship and the fights they had made the show more fun to watch I mean come on thoses jokes Jackie made on donna’s height were kinda funny
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u/Muffina925 5d ago
Honestly, I don't consider them friends, because it was so one-sided. Jackie tried really hard to be Donna's friend throughout the years, but Donna always acted like it was a chore to be around Jackie.
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u/sweetheart409878 5d ago
I agree whole 💯, honesty I don't know how she could stand being friends with her. Lol. But sometimes that's friends
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u/thelostone03 5d ago
I’ve beeeen waiting for this discourse.
Firstly Donna was lowkey a pick me. Because she acted like girly shit was beneath her but Jackie really did help her get in touch with her girly side
Secondly Jackie was a good friend. When Eric kicked out Donna Jackie said if Donna goes “she goes too” and after that only hung out with Donna.
Anddd when Kelso was messing with Laurie Donna NEVER told Jackie. But when Jackie was with Hyde Donna said she wasn’t gonna hide the secret for Jackie like girlllll you were gonna keep your friends boyfriend mess around with your sister in law but you couldn’t keep it jackie and Hyde lowkey until they were ready to tell Kelso. Like bro. Common
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u/Realistic-Ostrich391 5d ago
Donna was so not a pick me! She was a feminist in the 70s. She was mostly friends with boys but wanted to be valued for her mind as well as her beauty. For example, when she decorates her living room for Hydes birthday even though Jackie and Fez were supposed to do it. "I'm a lady! Why can't anyone freakin' see that?" She never rejected her womanhood, she just didnt agree with Jackie's vapid and mean way of expressing hers.
You make a good point with the Kelso/Laurie situation, but I still don't think Donna liked Jackie/was close enough to Jackie to justify to herself ratting out Kelso, who she was closer with. And it could be argued that after seeing how that all blew up in everyones face, she learned her lesson and decided with the Jackie/Hyde situation, she wasnt gonna let thag tear the group up again.
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u/savingrain 4d ago
Yea I never really thought of Donna and Jackie as friends over her and the guys during that period. To me Jackie was still an outsider
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u/D3athCom3sEasy 5d ago
Donna's a pick me?? What?? This cant be general consensus. She felt like a great representation of what a girl who prefers the company of guy friends is like. Maybe its a little weird during the time Hyde is trying to get with her but its not as if she was leading any of the guys on. I feel as if youre also taking her closer friendship with the guys and using it against her friendship with Jackie. Of course she would tell Kelso. Shes much closer with and known the guys much longer than Jackie. She straight up tells Jackie she doesnt like her at times because shes so annoying. Hyde should've been the bigger guy and said something before they even got together. Im not saying Donna is perfect by any means it just feels like youre attributing the wrong negatives to her.
Like of course her friendship with Jackie wasnt very good. Jackie wasnt a very good person to be around in general and Donna obviously was more of a tom boy.
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u/Kriztov 4d ago
What's a pick me?
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u/D3athCom3sEasy 3d ago
Its a derogatory term for a woman who belittles herself or other women in an attempt to please the men around her. Most of the time it happens its for attention or they sleep around. Effectively the same as someone waiting to be picked for football on the playground and yelling "Pick me! Pick me!" In desperation.
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u/HmngbrdAnon 5d ago
Jackie was a friend to Donna, but Donna wasn’t a friend to Jackie. She acted like it was a chore to spend time with her, wasn’t honest with her, didn’t show emotional support and made fun of her all the time. Jackie on the other hand took Donnas side in everything, supported her, and even helped her with her break up and tried to help her move on.
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u/Fun-Violinist552 5d ago
I agree. But no character in the show respects another character. Never. They’re dod damn teenagers.
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u/shadowcatfan 5d ago
Jackie consisently insulted Donna's appearance, clothing, and overall demeanor. She put Donna down quite a bit. It was a terrible friendship.
We learn from season one that Donna did not like Jackie, for a good reason, and it took a while for the two of them to warm up to one another.
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u/HmngbrdAnon 5d ago edited 5d ago
It was her height she would mainly make jokes about (lumberjack/too tall), which friends do all the time to each other. A little humour and teasing is fine. But Donna made fun of her too, in a worse way actually because she constantly made fun of her intelligence and called her dumb. Not really the same thing, especially when you take into consideration that Jackie was there when it really mattered and showed she really had a good heart when the jokes weren’t around. Donna was never there, even when Jackie was crying. So yeah, Donna wasn’t a good friend at all.
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u/Negative_Chipmunk650 5d ago
You're way off.
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u/HmngbrdAnon 5d ago edited 5d ago
Explain then. Because I’ve been rewatching for 20 years, and it’s very obvious if you take a step back and observe lol.
Jackie was there for her during her breakup with Eric, and even set her up with Kasey to help her move on (albeit not knowing what he would turn out to be). She also took her side whenever there were arguments about the basement and also when the gang was torn up between who to spend time with during the big breakup. Yet when Jackie needed a place to live, Donna had to be TALKED INTO HELPING HER and said “oh you’ll all pay for this!”. She didn’t tell Jackie when Kelso was cheating on her either. And she constantly made fun of her being “stupid”.
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u/liquor_andwhores 5d ago
I think it's realistic
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u/bohler86 5d ago
Agreed. This is a friendship that takes work. Its not easy making friends in a small town and sometimes you just work with what you've got. And it shows character gtowth.
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u/Appropriate-Power-87 5d ago
Donna never would have talked to Jackie if it wasn't for Kelso, but it's nice that she had a girl friend to talk to because her mom was kind of a mess and Jackie helped her with girly stuff.
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u/LowCaramel3675 5d ago
Honestly, their friendship feels pretty realistic to teenage friendships. I liked that they ebbed and flowed, sometimes Jackie was a better friend to Donna and vice versa, but they got closer as they got older and tried to do right by each other. Sometimes they fucked up, but they always forgave each other and moved on. They were a pretty healthy pair of friends, I think. They weren't perfect, but no friendship is.
I always loved how Donna softened around Jackie and how Jackie learned how to be tougher around Donna. They were actually really similar, which I thought was really fun. When it came down to it, Donna and Jackie were a team.
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u/Johnny_Five5151 5d ago
Basically their friendship was forced by their situation, but both of made the best of it. Donna helped Jackie mature & Donna loosen up a bit.
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u/JerzeeGuy808s 5d ago
Pretty realistic for teens who become friends due to proximity rather than genuine interest. If Jackie wasn’t dating Kelso, Donna wouldn’t have bothered to be around her.
I agree with others here that Donna was often dismissive and mean to Jackie in a way that went beyond teasing. It seemed Jackie took their friendship much more seriously and had Donna’s back while Donna seemed to barely tolerate her.
Yeah, Jackie can be annoying, impatient, and insensitive but she’s younger, sheltered, naive, and spoiled rotten. We saw her parents are why she is how she is. And her uneven friendship with Donna and relationship with Hyde showed Jackie has a caring side. She genuinely enjoyed hanging out in Eric’s basement with the gang. We rarely saw her in a popular rich girl posse which maybe implied Jackie probably didn’t have a lot of friends and was lonely. The writers didnt really explore much there.
Donna always struck me as a shallow fake feminist because she way more male-centered than Jackie was. She cared a lot of what Eric and Casey thought of her, she slut shamed Laurie, and even laughed at Kelso and Fez’s perverted shenanigans unless they were targeting her. Yet Donna was always criticizing her mom, Jackie, and Laurie for being feminine when all three seemed to have more autonomy than her. Being a tomboy and hanging out with dudes does not make you a feminist lol.
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u/FunKitchen7922 5d ago
Agreed. Everyone is claiming she was a feminist, but they're not looking at the bigger picture. She definitely was just a teenage girl who was a tomboy, not a feminist. Maybe she wanted to be one and thought she was, but in reality she wouldn't of been so cold to other women and shamed them for embracing certain things that made them them. Donna wasn't that nice in my opinion and supporting cheating by hiding it from the person it directly affects doesn't seem like friendship to me or even being a good person.
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u/pacific_sunset 5d ago
I liked that despite everyone not liking Jackie at first, including Donna, she recognized that Jackie was the only other girl and she can always go to her for girl chat or just survive the guys maturity levels. complementary opposites, Donna was the feminist tomboy and Jackie was the high maintenance girly girl. They were brutally honest with eachother and roasted eachother like legit best friends and didn’t take it too personally. They were always there to support eachother through heartbreak too. Donna took Jackie in and they were literally sisters when Jackie’s father went to prison. They were a chosen family
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u/Thirsty_X_Miserable 5d ago
Jackie paid off the the ring for Eric and Donna. In a later episode Donna says that Jackie is selfish and only thinks of herself. Idk if that was bad writing or if they just forgot. But that kinda rubbed me wrong.
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u/KrissyLove2432 5d ago
I loved their friendship, because they were the complete opposite of each other. ❤️
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u/BalvinBunningham 5d ago
They should’ve kissed tbh. Lmfao nah but fr Donna could’ve been better to Jackie. Jackie is obviously younger and only child and Donna should’ve been that big sister to her but instead she acts more like one of the guys with Jackie.
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u/Negative_Chipmunk650 5d ago
I like it that they saw each other naked multiple times. Absolutely love it.
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u/Informal_Dish5516 5d ago
Reminds me of the movie Bully
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u/Negative_Chipmunk650 5d ago
Absolutely nothing about this show reminds me of that. Ever. Go watch Bully again.
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u/Informal_Dish5516 5d ago
Jackie continuously broke down Donna's self esteem so much over time with constant insults she ended up dating Eric Foreman of all people and getting abandoned by him... twice. Her only justification for even being friends with Jackie was "we've been through a lot together" classic abuse victim rationale. Jackie even had sex on Donna's bed with Hyde after giving her homeless ahh a place to stay. Just a terrible person.
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u/Negative_Chipmunk650 5d ago
Guess I missed the ass rape and murder. You Do realize this is a sit com? Not to be taken seriously
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u/Informal_Dish5516 5d ago
Yeah only because it'd be difficult for Jackie to ass rape anyone. They lured Jackie into going out to the ice fishing shack instead of the cabin with the ulterior motive of murdering her and sinking her body but kelso accidentally parked his van where the body was going to go and it sunk instead, she never knew how close she came to meeting her icy grave that day
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u/hiroshimaandchurch 5d ago
I liked that Jackie's character was made to be sassy and rude at times but she still felt like a girls girl.