Lowkey one of the best things that come out of DaD is agustus and saps not going with the whole family stuff the hostel was doing cause in what world like genuinely do you find these random fricking people and immediately slot them "ah yes daughter. Ah yes brother"
Did we all collectively forget the concept of chemistry 😭. You can argue The Truth Seekers are more family, but no, they chose to be friends because all the characters are fricking ADULTS. Jonathan and Spidey makes some sense since jonathan is like double spidey's age. But the hostel are all so close in age, what in the nuclear family...
Saps and Agustus going "F*ck NO!" with hostel are so real, the consideration of connection that is nearly impossible to be form in a situation like DaD could've been so much more nuanced. The conversations you could have of the complexity of bonds, friendships form from trauma, apathy of loss and death, and the effects of the apocalypse have to your mental health.
LIKE THOSE ARE SO INTERESTING! The complexity of stella and saps' dynamic forged from attaching one's self to the first person you meet due to the trauma that has been inflicted upon you from loss and loneliness. The first few moments of bonding in moments of vulnerability because you don't know anyone here and the separation effecting you in a way you become more attached. But the other person doesn't feel the same way despite experiencing more loss, having felt numb to it and avoiding any meaningful connections instead; not only because of what deaths has caused on his mental, but also they haven't known each other for very long, there is no reason for him to be attached especially when he himself is going to leave this person one way or another (suicidal)
I'm not even going to get into how its always the women that are assigned roles but that can be an essay of its own, maybe one day.
Jawn and Zora has such a nice progression and one of that is because they didn't immediately consider each other family but instead friends. I know my own preferences are subjective and i acknowledge that.
But in what world do you see 2 grown adults, one experiencing mass hysteria due to effects that are not in her control causing her to wanting to hurt people she cares about, and your takeaway from that is "he is such a good dad, look at how soft he is to his daughter aww" the f*ck. Are you telling me you consider trying to calm someone down by not trying to freak them out via softening your voice and coming off as harmless and gentle is father coded?? What happened to friends caring about each other, or strangers having empathy, people sympathizing, or just wanting to calm a situation in a way that is simply human nature of lowering yourself to seem harmless to something that is scared
On paper, hostel is so interesting but the family dynamic is taking away its nuance
Agustus, saps, jawn, zora, grayleigh, rotation, ymi, snowbird, and magic my absolute goats
The progression of character relationships and the complexity they give with not wanting to be tied down with family dynamics but showing how care can form from bonding and helping each other in the worse of time. Being able to say "i care about you" and mean it without having to put a title of what that care is
You are not my family, you may have only helped me a bit, we have only interacted a handful of times, you may be more than i can handle. But i care about you
Maybe we are friends, maybe we are not. But i care about you
Thats all that matters. The human nature of caring...
