my brain dulls the events of PDH S2 after sometime, and then i rewatch it and am reminded just how downright creepy most of the guys are towards aphmau
what the fuck was gene (fully graduated btw) doing BUYING PICTURES of aphmau from EIN???? and him having this fully thought out plan of manipulating her with the help of gene?????????? Not only that, but then this motherfucker goes onto stalk the fuck out of them in EMS, and we all know how that turns out.
and iām pretty sure his viewpoints are hinted at very early on (i.e his prejudice towards humans, as well as how he views treats Aphmau as a pet basically??) Of course there are also some pretty evident red flags, like how quickly heās able to gain Sylvanna and Aphmauās trust. However, heās still being treated as a ānew kidā with good intentions, but there are a million alarms going off in your head you canāt really explain whenever heās on screen.
And then we get to the point where he gains status within the werewolves in PDH, and by then he practically already has what he needed all along. So he slowly loses the act, and itās horrifying because he:
1) avoids discussing the decisions he makes with Aphmau
2) full on convinces people heās in a relationship with her
3) actively tries to sabotage her other relationships (isolation) for the sake of gaining her favor and getting what he wants
4) when that doesnāt work, he FOLLOWS HER HOME AND CONVINCES HER MOM THAT THEYāRE DATING???
thereās a lot of smaller details that you miss if you blink, but these are the ones that really stood out to me; as well as how his respect towards Aphmauās consent is portrayed through the chocolate he constantly offers her. At first, itās a silly/endearing action, contextualized as him trying to adjust to being around humans and dealing with finding them as weird. But it slowly becomes a metaphor for how he really doesnāt value her autonomy, and thinks he knows what she wants or whatās best for her.
and it isnāt just ein that treats her weirdly, obviously, but I think he (as well as a majority of the characters in PDH) is a great example of misogynistic themes when it comes to writing Aphmauās conflicts in Jessā earlier writing. Which, i think at this point in time, most people in the fandom have already had conversations about and try to rewrite it in our brains or in AUs.
Of course, I think maybe the misogyny could be/is an intentional part to Einās character, as he already has a very strong prejudice towards humans. It isnāt surprising.
itās just that now that iām rewatching this as iām older, iām fully coming to terms with the fact that these guys are in HIGH SCHOOL š Ein is probably pulling this off as a 15-17 year old??? Thatās creepy as fuck. I would be putting in a restraining order.