I know Andrew beating the shit out of Ashley isn't to be cheered on and I know it's supposed to be bad...but on the other I don't really feel bad for her, considering she's been doing everything in her power to drive Andrew to the limit and make him mad, even making up bullshit excuse after excuse to be on the right (which is the same thing people complain about Andrew pretending to be normal), hell she even threatened to kill him and hit him while expecting Andrew to never retaliate (hell it's the same thing that happened while they were kids, Andrew was expected to be responsible for everything Leyley did and never ever retaliate).
Like yeah I don't cheer...but I don't feel bad about it either, at least not in the pity Ashley sense but more on the "These two are an abusive relationship that should long ago split up for their own good, but they're too broken and can't find anyone else so they have to stick with each other because it's all they have" bad.
I don't know what to tell you man.
The point of those two, especially in Decay, is that they're both horrible people who hurt each other. Yes, Ashley started many fights. Yes, Ashley chained Andrew to the radiator. Yes, Ashley afterwards essentially raped Andrew. She tries everything in her power to exert control over Andrew, and they get into that situation because she just wanted to eat a camper so badly despite Andrew's warnings.
But I'm not going to look at someone bruised from face to legs curled up on the floor sobbing in sheer panic and think "ah yes, bitch had it coming"
(also tbf to her, she chained Andrew because he literally tried to kill her. He had become a danger to her.)
Ashley is not abusive because she finds it fun. Everything she does, stems from a deep, deep insecurity that tells her that she is an unlovable monster and the only way she can get part of the love she craves is by forcing Andrew. And in Decay, Andrew deliberately pulls away from her, making her more desperate. Does it mean Andrew deserves what Ashley does to him to exert control? No. I'm not justifying Ashley's rape, not even her constant verbal abuse. Does it mean Ashley deserves to become Andrew's punching bag? No, because there is nothing cathartic about that.
Let me put it this way. Both siblings are violent to each other. But while Ashley's violence is emotional and short lived (pulling Andrew's hair and hitting his head while screaming at him), Andrew's violence is calculated and possibly deadly (strangling her, forcing her to plead for her life, leaving bruises on her neck). I cannot see it as him "finally growing a spine", it's him succumbing to his worst instincts.
I can pity both siblings for what they have become in this path.
