Five in a school setting would be weird as hell idk why people want that. he’s not a child. That would be the equivalent of his alternate self from s2 sitting in a classroom of 13 year olds. Its a very uncomfortable situation. That’s a 60 year old man. I truly do not understand the allure of it.

Pogo and Grace were accomplices to Reginald and his abuse and that’s why they had to die in season one I don’t see people talk about this

Even if Grace was programmed to obey him Pogo has no excuse even his loyalty/gratitude is a weak one on his part, they were abusers just as well as victims

People acting like Pogo was neutral or good even and Grace the people that hate her do for completely different reasons or love her wholly as if she didn’t stand by and let that shit happen (it’s possible she was unable to interfere, but it’s unconfirmed as far as I know and if so than how can she even still operate after Reginald’s death? I have questions)

I’m not saying you should hate their characters I’m just saying they weren’t by any means innocent and I never see anyone talking about that

Unpopular opinion incoming but Allison rumouring Luther in the SA scene isnt out of character

Hear me out

Our Allison that we’ve known for 2 seasons used her power rarely, she said herself to Ray that it has a cost. She was on her best behaviour, had built two lives for herself and was a ray of sunshine.

However, during the S1 montage of Allison driving to Viktor with Stormy Weather playing and we hear some of her rumours over the years, one is ‘I heard a rumour you loved me’

Now in the comics this is said to Luther, but in the show its left open to interpretation

Shes done this before just not in front of us, the audience

I loved Allison. But actually seeing that side to her has made her hard to sympathise with. I love and miss the Allison we knew, but she wasnt the full scope of this character

Unpopular opinion: my favorite version of Luther is season 2. I understand him and still like his character in season 1 but he's obviously not at his healthiest self and in season 3 he is too himbofied for my taste. In season 2 his arc is about letting go of his number 1 persona and while he gets more disillusioned this is healthy for him cause he gets to be himself without expectations and is not so dependent on Reginald anymore, he even stands up to him. A thing about season 3 Luther is he does face Reginald and tell him everything he has to say to him but for some reason i can't get involved with him as a character in season 3. I just love season 2 Luther for how he can be a himbo in some scenes but he still gets moments like apologizing to Viktor and giving Allison a speech about being "special" and sacrifices when they had to go back to 2019. He is still the flawed and conflicted character from season one but more likeable

Not to sound like a huge bitch, but in season 4, if Allison doesn't either end up losing EVERYTHING or DYING to save everyone else, I'm gonna be pissed 🤷🏻‍♀️ Tbh I never got good vibes from her character, and when she started going down that REALLY evil path, I lost all respect for her. EVERYONE in her family suffered tragic loss, the fact that she's blind to that and thinks she's the BIGGEST VICTIM OF THEM ALL - and even BETRAYS THEM ALL - leaves me with zero sympathy or love for her. Trauma is not an excuse to be malicious and cause harm. PERIOD.

Ok I still have issues (which I might complain about, apologies in advance) but in general I thought volume 2 was significantly better than volume 1.

My unpopular TUA opinion:

1. I genuinely like Viktor as a character but I have a hard time watching his scene lmao. I root for him in season 1 but I skipped a lot of his scenes with Leonard because their relationship makes me uncomfortable and I really want to stab Leonard in the eyes every time he shows up on screen. In season 2 I found his story low-key boring and in season 3 — it's hard to watch the thing with Harlan. I actually agree with Allison on her feelings for Harlan.

2. Sissy and Viktor's relationship is cute... But I'm not a fan of it. Mainly because of the cheating 😭. I know it's an unhappy marriage and they love each other and the husband is a huge dick but still, the cheating still didn't sit right with me (which is another reason why this particular plot is hard for me to watch). I once watched this drama where the male lead married this villain and sneaked with the female lead behind her back and i felt so bad for the villain even though I hate her gut lmao.

3. Allison's character arc in season 3 is horrible and I hate watching her character digress like that but at the same time I think it is kind of justified in a way. I mean, a girl can only take so much before she pops. But it's kind of frustrating that it's OBVIOUS that the whole siblings tried to give her support. Viktor is obvious, Diego took her out to release tension, Luther always looks out for her, and even when she was arguing with Viktor, Five asked Allison if she's okay when she's the one that dropped the not okay words to Viktor. You can't say that the siblings didn't try to be there with her but she still acted selfishly.

4. This is just a minor thing but the way the Sparrow treated Grace will never stop making me feel angry. Like bro, have some respect that is your MOTHER. Or could have been. It's just heartbreaking to see how Grace ended up in the end because we see in season 1 that she could have feelings and the brellies love her but in this timelimes she's being treated like a servant 😭 AND when Diego saw Grace and look so happy and relieved to see her and then Jayme said he's a creep. SHUT UP HE LOVE HIS MOM OKAY.

5. Am I the only one who kind of ship Human Grace with Reggie in season 2? Low-key ship them and it's kind of weird but I like the potential there? And there's chemistry there.

6. Klaus can be annoying sometimes starting from season 2. I LOVE him but sometimes I want to strangle him lmao.

7. Umbrella Ben will always be an innocent precious little cinnamon roll in my heart, but in the show he can be quite horrible lmao. Possessing Klaus without his consent, preaching Klaus with the "Luther would do the same for you" in S1. Like SHUT UP BEN NO HE WON'T.

8. Lila pissed me off so much in season 2 with her relationship with Diego because why was she angry with him? Girl, he did nothing but give you heart eyes, YOU'RE the one that lied to him, betrayed him, and drugged and kidnapped him. SO WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE HE'S THE ONE THE SCREW UP!? "I even introduced you to my mom" GIRL YOU KIDNAPPED HIM. He didn't have a say in that. Stop tripping. And the things she did with Stan, is honestly not okay, wth Lila? (But they do warm up to me in season 3).

9. The romance in the show is not the greatest tbh. I don't actually ship any of the ships in the show (except for Diego and Lila at the end of S3) because they all kind of happen so fast and I felt like as soon as someone gets a love interest, that will be their first priority, their family be damned. And maybe logically this is true (I never experienced love so who am I to know) but I'm here for the family love so to see that happen pissed me off lmao. I understand their actions with their love interest but at the same time GET A GRIP.

... Unpopular opinion: non me la prendo tanto con chi ha votato Meloni

L'intera campagna della sinistra era un "votate noi che di là è peggio, fidateve", mentre M5S non ha lo stesso appeal degli altri due partiti nonostante il faccione simpatico di Conte (e non considero neanche Noi Moderati)...

Il risultato era prevedibile anche perché avere una donna al Governo per una volta sembra una buona idea

Speriamo solo si vada a migliorare

In più l'affluenza alle urne è stata imbarazzante...

(Questa non è un'opinione da studiata e non voglio imporla, sono aperta al dialogo e spero questo ask non sembri troppo aggressivo) (Mi manca l'anon asking)

Ok sarà un po' lunga rispondere a questo ask

Assumo la tua provenienza, dico che vivi più a nord di Catanzaro, me lo suggeriscono molte cose che hai scritto in questo ask, ma va bene ti racconto io come funziona nell'Italia che non conosci

Condivido sicuramente la critica alla """"sinistra""", anche perché 3/4 post fa ho scritto la stessa cosa e vabbè.

Sui 5 stelle sbagli e alla grande, forse appeal non ce l'hanno nella parte ricca d'Italia (ed è qui che ho iniziato ad assumere la tua provenienza), ma ti assicuro che nella parte povera d'Italia ce l'hanno e come l'appeal, perché voglio ricordarti che i 5 stelle, per quanto merde, voltagabbana, incoerenti e senza mezza idea politica: sono l'unico partito d'Italia che si rivolge AI POVERI. Cosa che dovrebbe fare la sinistra, cosa che dovrebbe fare il PD, ma lo fanno i 5 stelle. Lo fanno male? Sbagliano tutto? Tattica per prendere voti facili? Quello che ti pare, ma il meridionale, quello che a fine mese non ci arriva, se deve scegliere tra votare IL NULLA, ovvero la sinistra, e IL NULLA MA CHE TI AIUTA AD ARRIVARE A FINE MESE, mi dispiace si butta sulla seconda scelta. E possiamo menzionare anche i diritti che vuole garantire la sinistra quanto ci pare, ma nel 2022 di questi diritti nemmeno l'ombra, e non tutti i gays vivono negli attici a Milano e non hanno problemi economici, ci sono gays che vivono nell'entroterra lucano e non sanno come pagare le bollette, e questi ultimi tra "promesse non mantenute" e "promesse non mantenute ma con un assegno in tasca a fine mese" si buttano sulla seconda scelta. Perciò in questo mare di merda ben venga la dipartita del Partito Democratico. Si facessero un esamino di coscienza, meno chiacchiere e più fatti sui diritti (che è vergognoso arrivati al 2022 discuterne ancora), e meno classismo, perché voglio ricordare che a togliere la maggioranza assoluta a Fr4telli d'Italia è stato il voto dei meridionali, quelli che hanno fatto arrivare i 5 stelle come primo partito in quasi ogni provincia, ed è a questa categorie di persone che la sinistra, quella vera, si deve rivolgere.

Guarda Gi0rgia M3loni sarà pure una donna, madre, come le pare, ma parliamo di una persona che se potesse prenderebbe a manganellate coppie lesbiche o boh, donne che non desiderano portare avanti una gravidanza. Quindi questa cazzatona del femminismo che ha vinto scrivetela altrove, allora appendiamoci in cameretta i poster di M4rgaret Th4tcher e chiamiamola girlboss.

L'affluenza alle urne è stata imbarazzante perché 1. l'italiano medio si è stufato di votare per la stessa merda, perché così è andata, Gi0rgia M3loni non è stata scelta solo dai f4scistoni (non tutti quelli che votano fr4telli d'italia sono f4scisti, ma tutti i f4scisti votano fr4telli d'italia), ma anche da gente che anni fa aveva votato la l3ga e prima ancora il pd, stavolta era il turno di Gi0rgia 2. si è abbattuto un nubifragio che ha trasformato 3/4 del mezzogiorno in Atlantide e ha reso alquanto arduo andare a votare, e la gente essendo sfiduciata non aveva voglia di farsi pure una nuotata per votare

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?  🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Let's start answering some of my pending asks!

🍬 ⇢ A part from his design and his roles in Future and Curse of the Arco arcs... I don't see the appeal of Fran as a character. He's cute, and a gifted illusionist, but... that's it for me. I don't actively dislike him, but I don't find the appeal in him. I'm sure it's just me though, I'm probably missing something, I just don't know what it is-

📚 ⇢ the last thing I wrote on my notes app (that app being Notion, you all should try it if you get the chance, it's really useful) is a piece of lyrics from one of my favorite authors. (TW: MENTION OF BLOOD, SUICIDE)

Gli disse lei ridendo forte, tralalalalla tralallaleru gli disse lei ridendo forte, l'ultima tua prova sarà la morte.

(she told him laughing loudly,/tralalalalla tralallaleru/she told him laughing loudly,/your last test will be death.)

E mentre il sangue lento usciva, e ormai cambiava il suo colore, la vanità fredda gioiva, un uomo s'era ucciso per il suo amore.

(and as blood slowly poured,/and alas his color was changing,/vanity coldly rejoiced,/a man had killed himself for his beloved.)

The song is called "La Ballata dell'Amore Cieco", by Fabrizio De André (do yourself a favor and go check it out, here's a link to it with English lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cPaDWsIiOU ). I always write down lyrics that inspire me concepts for Killer Whale... this one's no different. *winks*

Contemplating posting an unpopular opinion about TUA that nobody is going to care about because I’m a nobody lol

lila threatening klaus didn't make any sense because both her *and* diego followed reggie the next day :/

I know. :(

I'm gonna be candid here, and I know this is an unpopular opinion, so if people feel the need to unfollow or block, I won't take it personally. Here goes: the way Lila intercepts and threatens Klaus is really just one small symptom of a larger trend I see between Diego and Lila as a couple, that makes me very uncomfortable.

Put simply, I love Diego and I love Lila: separately, not as a couple. And I think she needs him much more than he truly needs her, but his sense of loyalty, his sense of duty/obligation, and his resolve not to become his own father, are keeping him with her; that, and the circumstances of the world ending, and Lila being the only person left that Diego has ever had romantic feelings toward. But "we're the only ones left and we've been through trauma together" does not a good relationship make.

Diego needs the space and the patience to learn how to verbalize his emotions. He's deeply traumatized, and he needs a partner who will help him work through his sense of insecurity and his determination to help others while coping with all his own problems silently and alone.

The entirety of the Stan "experiment" is not funny to me; when Lila told Diego in an insensitive and even almost snide way, about Stan's real identity, and he stuttered for the first time since Season 2 (the person who made him stutter last time was REGINALD, so let the implications of THAT sink in), I think my heart shattered into a thousand pieces. I admit to personal bias here: I'm an educator, and I work with kids who have disabilities on the regular, and I can tell you that that moment was indicative of major problems in that relationship. Diego stutters when he feels unsafe, when he feels undermined, when he feels insufficient. Lila is brusque and impulsive; she is insecure and will risk other people's wellbeing, their feelings, to make herself feel more secure--the reason why she hid her real pregnancy from Diego until she could "confirm that he could handle it." As much as Diego hates talking about things, that's what he needs, and Lila doesn't talk, she just acts, and often selfishly. She really is not equipped, because of her own (entirely valid) issues, to take on a romantic partner that way.

I'm not saying that Diego is a saint or that Lila is despicable. Again, I love and enjoy their characters, separately. I'm saying they both need and deserve to heal, but don't have what each other needs. Unfortunately TUA has never prioritized the pursuit of healthy relationships or healthy emotions. The series is too saturated in bitter gallows humor and the articulation of the whimsically, satirically bizarre. But that means Diego and Lila are likely to continue to be a canonical couple, and I genuinely fear that this will prevent either character from experiencing the sort of personal growth that we saw in Klaus, Viktor, and Luther this season (or even Allison and Ben, albeit backwards, in their case).

I think for a lot of Diego and Lila fans, part of what convinces them that she fits in perfectly is that she's the same kind of fucked-up as the Umbrella siblings are, so it's easy to imagine her as "part of the family" (according to Five and Klaus). Ideally, imho, she would become a much better sibling than in-law.

So yeah. I felt as irritated as you did, by that scene. It was controlling. Lila needs to let Diego make his own decisions. If HE wants to tell Klaus to fuck off, fine. They're siblings, and Diego has known Reginald as long as Klaus has, and has the right to make that call, about how much he wants to be exposed to their toxic father figure. That isn't Lila's call to make. Nor does she have the right to threaten one of Diego's loved ones with unending physical and emotional torture.

I know Diego's not great at self-preservation, but no relationship works if one partner calls the shots for the other, without involving them in the decision making process of their own welfare.

And I don't dislike or blame Lila for this. I blame the writers who thought that scene would be funny and that that dark humor overruled any problems of characterization that it might cause. Humor at the expense of characterization is one of my top five pet peeves of fiction, lol. Grrrr.

Ciao, ricambio il giochino chiedendoti anche io le domande della 01. Oppure un altro numero a tua scelta se lo hai già fatto. Grazie.

Ciao, scusa se ci ho messo tanto! Dato che non hai specificato un fandom, vado con la marvel, che al momento è dove sono maggiormente attiva.

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Matt Murdock

Least Favorite character: ooh difficile 👀 odio Fisk perché sì, ma razionalmente so che è un personaggio costruito benissimo

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Matt/Natasha, Matt/Claire, Matt/Frank, Matt/Kirsten, Pepper/Tony

Character I find most attractive: nessuno perché sono ace 😅

Character I would marry: /

Character I would be best friends with: Kate Bishop

a random thought: non vedo l'ora che esca The Marvels

An unpopular opinion: non sono d'accordo che tutti i prodotti recenti del mcu facciano pena, anzi, ce ne sono vari che ho apprezzato. Per alcuni condivido assolutamente le critiche (ciao Secret invasion!), ma prodotti tipo Ms Marvel sono venuti davvero carini.

my canon OTP: what is canon, anyway? 🤣

Non-canon OTP: Matt/Natasha

most badass character: Matt (ma anche Nat "did I step on your moment?" Romanov)

pairing I am not a fan of: Matt/Foggy come ship romantica 🥶

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Natasha :) (e Gamora)

favourite friendship: Matt & Foggy, stupendi

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: nessuno ahahah ma se proprio dovessi, adotterei Peter!

hum hum hum for the ask game... 5, 6 and 8? :D

Oooh, these are fun ones. Thanks!

5. If you could change one (non-death-related) plot point in the show, what would you change?

Okay, this is probably an unpopular opinion here, but: Agent Kallus's redemption arc.

I actually like Kallus, I like that he has a redemption arc, I really like that he lives through his redemption arc, and I actually more or less like what the show does with him after "The Honorable Ones." And I like how ruthless and dogged he is before "The Honorable Ones." And "The Honorable Ones" is a good episode. I also think that Kallus's redemption arc is the clunkiest part of the whole damn show. The payoff at the end of season three is really good, but the setup isn't there as much as it needs to be. It's not absent--there are little moments where you can kind of see that there is some humanity there--but I just. I needed a little more set up. The connective tissue isn't there. And I don't even necessarily mean taking out that part where Kallus totally murdered Minister Tua. Keep that. I like the idea that Kallus is completely ruthless no matter what side he's on. I don't even mind the fact that he seems to enjoy his job as an ISB agent. He can be an awful person before he gets the chance to change; that's fine. I prefer it, even.

What I would have liked to see, however, is some internal conflict in his early interactions with Zeb. Not in a shipping way--the ship is fine, just not what I'm looking at here--but in a "Oh, shoot, this person's existence messes with my ability to lie to myself about the Empire being good and right," kind of way. The whole idea with Kallus is that he's someone who joined the Empire because he believes that it's the right thing. Sure, they are a bit oppressive, but the oppression is necessary (in Kallus's mind) for the sake of keeping order. He's someone who would have probably been a young adult during the clone wars and welcomed the Empire as a break from all the chaos. Clamping down is necessary for the sake of peace. The Empire isn't that bad, or at least is better than the alternative. What? No, we didn't kill the Geonosians off. What would be the point? Except that, as much as Kallus questions the genocide of the Geonosians being the work of the Empire, Kallus knows that the Empire is more than capable of committing atrocities because: one, he's an ISB agent and he knows way more about the Empire's dirty laundry than the average imperial officer and, two; he was an active participant in one of those atrocities.

And you know what? I even kind of like the cognitive dissonace. I like the idea that Kallus brushes off certain reports as exaggerations, or that he's twisted up the memory of what happened on Lasan just to cope. After all, it's not really clear what Kallus's role in the destruction of Lasan was (the implication ofter "The Honorable Ones" seems to be that he wasn't actually the one who gave the order to wipe the Lasat out, that it wasn't supposed to happen, and I really like the interpretation that Kallus was a lower down field officer at the time and that he relayed (but didn't originate) the order to use the disruptors not really knowing what they would do, and that the results were so horrific that everything and everyone went completely berserk until the fighting was over--but we don't know that that's what happened because what Kallus actually did is incredibly unclear), and I can get behind the idea that he's been telling himself that the Empire didn't intend to wipe out the Lasan (they absolutely did), that some wires got crossed, that some of the officers lost control of their men, that the disruptors were supposed to just be a small show of force intended to make the Lasat surrender but that things got out of hand, and that all of that twisted logic falls apart because Zeb exists and knows how it all really happened because he was there. He's a living reminder of the things Kallus can't keep excusing. Eeexxccceeeepppt I feel like I have to read it into the show, because it isn't really totally there. At least, not as much as it maybe needs to be. For me, anyway.

And not much would have to change! It'd be little things, like, say, NOT having Kallus grin evilly at the camera when Maketh Tua mentions that she didn't think there were many Lasat left. Or just have there be a tiny little twinge of conflict there when Kallus goes to kill Zeb in "Droids in Distress." Have him aim his bo-rifle at Zeb and not be able to take the shot because he'd be shooting Zeb in the back and it doesn't sit right. Show him reacting or pointedly not reacting to news of yet another orbital bombardment. I really like the fact that Kallus is almost always fighting in front of his men and that he's always the first one to his feet after an explosion, they had clearly already thought out that part of Kallus's backstory--I just needed some implication that there was a human part of him that could be reached before "The Honorable Ones."

tl;dr: Rebels is tied as my favorite of the Star Wars shows with The Bad Batch and Andor, but Kallus's arc is the clumsiest part.

6. What are your two favorite ships from the show (canon or not)?

I'm still not super into shipping, as much as I'm invested in Phee and Tech at this point, but Kanan and Hera are very cute, and I do actually think Kalluzeb is fun, even though I do think Kallus's arc could have been handled better (and wish that Zeb's whole character in the fandom hadn't been swallowed by the ship).

8. If you could've added an episode/story arc to the show, what would it be about?

Overall, I'm actually really satisfied with Rebels, and even my complaints about the Kallus stuff wouldn't have taken an entire episode, just...changes inside the episodes that already exist. Soooo…something I think I would have liked to have seen…would probably be another scoundrel-centric episode. Bring in Hondo. And bring Lando back. Have it be a heist episode in some swanky space casino set at some point in season three, and have Ezra be the one in charge on this particular mission because he's the only one in the ghost crew who can really stand to deal with Hondo, but Ezra ends up very distracted by a shiny object (and the Force, probably), so everything devolves into absolute chaos within about two minutes. Unprecedented levels of double-crossing all around. Ezra wins big by cheating at space blackjack and pickpocketing everyone and everything and Kanan isn't sure whether or not to be proud while Hera's just happy that they have the money to buy proton torpedoes.

Im like halfway through s3 and like. I want to enjoy the diego & Diego/Lila moments but they’re tainted w this weird sexist pregnancy plot, which I really hate like it’s weird as hell, and I’d like the allison stuff if they were doing it well but they’re not. Love the Viktor stuff though that’s really good. Why do you think they did the lazy sexist plot w lila?

hi Sam ❤️

I honestly do not know. I personally found it deeply baffling that the majority of Lila's unresolved emotional conflicts from the end of the last season were just dismissed in favour of this utterly churlish test-the-baby-daddy act.

It's not even necessarily that the pregnancy plot in of itself is bad, but it's the fact it's the only thing defining/motivating Lila this season. I really had a Bad Feeling from the moment Lila was introduced having a sexy bath that this season wouldn't be good to her.

The only scenes where she seemingly had the same depth of character was in her scenes with 5 where she gets to talk commission stuff, but they're few and far between. She has a handful of scenes with Viktor that are lovely but her character truly is a shadow of her former self.

As you know, I'm a massive Delila shipper, but what S3 did with them was sooooo cliched and sexist which is SO disappointing after how compelling and complex they were in season 2.

Why did this happen? Well, I reckon that the powers that be behind tua planned out season 3 and knew they were biting a lot more then they could chew. S3 is so overstuffed and convoluted by way too many characters and side quests that for some unfathomable reason simply HAD to be done. But rather than actually economise these plot lines into something cohesive, I think Steve Blackman and friends just decided to keep everything they wanted to do and streamline it by just taking shortcuts in plots that weren't important to the big finale.

the major cliffhanger Lila is left on in s2 is whether or not she'll actually accept Diegos love and the umbrellas as family. S2 went to a lot of effort to show us why that's not an easy choice for her and how for lila it's choosing to love the people who killed the people who raised her, for better or worse. we don't know what she chooses and neither does diego. She just disappears.

And instead of oh idk actually allowing Lila the grace and space to work through that conflict, maybe see a few eps of her learning about herself, etc, S3 just goes "actually we don't have time for this women to have choice and autonomy so let's just have her be pregnant so it seemingly resolves the choice" and like, sure. I guess to the dudes writing tua, a pregnancy seems like a deal sealer but..... and this possibly an unpopular opinion.... I don't think Lila, at least the way she was written in s2, would allow a pregnancy to make her choice for her. But because this show is mostly written and produced by men who clearly see motherhood and pregnancy as some sort of trump card for justifying massively unfounded characterisation (just look at Alison as well), we get this contrived pregnancy plot. And it's all because S3 is so overstuffed, they don't have time for anything other than using sexist cliches as a shortcut for character development.

Im honestly still working through how disappointed I am with Lila and Diego this season after loving them so much in s2, only to wait 3 years for the next and get...this 😩

19, 39

19) C'è qualcuno che stimi profondamente?

@overdoseofemotion tra le persone che conosco è probabilmente quella che stimo maggiormente

39) Esprimi una tua unpopular opinion

Date le ultime elezioni le mie idee politiche probabilmente sono non popolarissime

Give me your unpopular opinion about TUA 😘😘

sleepover weekend!

Besides loving Allison’s arc in S3, which I think I’ve already rambled too much about on this blog LOL, IIIIII... think my most unpopular opinion could be that I don’t really care for Di.lil.a, not because I think it’s an unhealthy ship, but because I think it’s a badly written unhealthy ship, and that Al.luth.er is a much better example of a well-written one.

Absolutely no shade to anyone who does ship them, though. I’m definitely someone who believes in the old fandom adage “ship and let ship”, but they’re really just not my cup of tea. I wish they were, because Diego is one of my top favorite characters and I’d really like to enjoy what looks like his romantic endgame.

But circling back to why I don’t like them... I think my biggest thing is that with Allison and Luther, even though some scenes were framed in a romantic light (like the dancing scene in S1), you still knew that it wasn’t a healthy relationship. It was doomed to fail from the start, because it was born out of trauma, and it was clear that we were seeing things mostly through Luther’s rose colored glasses, who still hadn’t fully come to terms with Reginald’s abuse. Allison still had and has complicated feelings surrounding him, we can see that much in S3, but she never really committed and it was plain that Luther was more of a last resort security blanket. It’s psychologically fascinating and despite trying to play it as romantic here and there, the show doesn’t pretend it’s ultimately a good thing.

Diego and Lila don’t really get that.

Obviously an incestuous relationship is a totally different ballpark from two unrelated, troubled souls getting into a messy romance. But in Diego and Lila’s case, it’s still unhealthy, and TUA tends to ignore that.

Lila... has a lot of control issues. She frequently shuts Diego up when he tries to be vulnerable with her or talk about important things, like their relationship, or Stan, or the end of the world. Vulnerability is extremely difficult for Diego, so it’s hard to watch when he tries so hard to be open, and she changes the subject, tries to distract him with sex, or slaps him. It’s also pretty worrying that she goes out of her way to threaten Klaus so he won’t talk to Diego, or that she gives Diego the ultimatum of choosing her or saving the world (and by extension saving his family). It just... rrrrreeeally sets off my alarm bells for “the manipulative, jealous SO who won’t let you have any relationships outside themselves”.

Obviously Lila is as much a victim as Diego. I get that. I know why she acts the way she does. Anyone raised by the Handler would have mountains of issues. And if the show framed it for what it was, I wouldn’t be bothered. Unhealthy, toxic ships can be enthralling! But, unlike with Allu.ther, Di.lila is framed in a very “haha, my messy matches your messy and we have really kinky BDSM sex!” way that bugs me because it’s ignoring that what’s happening between them isn’t good for either of them. Diego is too scared to lose Lila like he lost Patch so he treats her like she’s something soft, and he doesn’t stand up to her as much as he should (which would help them both), and Lila is similarly too scared that he’ll hurt her so she puts him through emotionally manipulative tests and tries to control his decisions.

It could be fascinating to watch, but their bad behavior toward one another is almost always played off as sexy or funny, and in the rare instances when it isn’t, no one learns anything from it. Diego still bends because he has to play hero, Lila still gets her way, and they ignore their problems with another round of sex while the writing tries to convince us that nothing is wrong.

S4 could potentially fix some of this, because I do think they could be a good couple if they were more self-aware and worked through their problems... but I have my doubts. TUA doesn’t do romance well, and with a few rumors flying around that S4 might be shorter than 10 episodes, I’m not very optimistic that they’ll have time to deal with anything other than Reginald and, presumably, getting their powers back.