I might have to watch it again (HAH! Like that's going to happen
) but I really don't recall a lot of Jake/Rachel moments, they might have been worth a laugh though. Then again when I read Ender's Game I didn't even notice that Ender and Valentine were "too creepy close" for a brother and sister until someone pointed it out to me, so where any Jake/Rachel romance may have existed I may just have written it off as a family moment.
One thing that did bug me though when the show first came out was that none of the characters felt right
except Cassie and Jake. Tobias didn't look like the kind of kid who'd get bullied, I mean he looked like he'd
be the bully. Leather jacket, head taller than everyone else, yeah I can so see anyone trying to shove his head in a toilet ... not. Rachel was just wrong, her voice didn't really carry confidence, and she sounded weak to me. Maybe I was expecting too much too, but Marco just wasn't funny, and . . . what was with the hair cut?
But looking back I really don't remember a ton of Jake/Cassie moments either so . . . yeah, I guess even those two weren't totally perfect, then again Jake and Cassie kept their relationship pretty quiet until they kissed so maybe Jake appearing more interested in Rachel than Cassie just shows how in character his actor was, he was keeping his relationship with the Cassie-character a secret from the viewers
The idea that the show's writers might have pushed a Jake/Rachel pairing to avoid an interracial couple is an interesting one, and given the show's "quality" I wouldn't be surprised (disgusted and slightly ashamed of the human race in general, but by no means surprised). I mean it had a few surprisingly well done episodes but on the whole it was almost like they were trying to make it insufferably bad, so sure, why not throw in a bit of "she's my cousin but I love her" a side helping of "escape in butterfly morph, 'cause den we be so fast they no chatch us" and even throw in some Hork-rubber-chicken-bajir to boot.