The election episodes were good, but it could have been a longer arc than just two episodes. They were abolishing a monarchy and the nobility was probably not all for that, plus while it'd make sense for there to not be that many pro-Frans people after all the political and economic upheaval that could be traced directly to Frans, there should probably still have been people who'd have wanted to keep the monarchy (there are still ordinary people who are pro-monarchy in 2025...). Not to mention a lot of citizens who openly wanted the fascists back.
But the big issue of the arc was that Dolf was somehow not only not immediately arrested for high treason when he returned to the country, but he was allowed to run for president too (he'd overthrown king Frans and established a fascist dictatorship earlier!). Like I get what the the election arc was trying to do, but what the fuck?! Clearly many people were still pro-Dolf, but Frans and his court remained in power until the elections were over and could have prosecuted him or at least detained him. But Alfred had to prove Dolf had committed a new crime after returning before the police would (try to) arrest him.
It'd have made way more sense if some underling, Wannes or some new villain, had ran for president instead of Dolf, and Dolf was secretly in charge from Morena or something. Or if this had been before the NCP arc.
But season 2 never really showed the characters or Frans' government dealing with the aftermath of the NCP rule and kind of just talked about the fascist takeover arc as a thing that happened. And used several unnamed NCP characters' designs in crowds, not to mention the last episode showing Dolf's right hand man apparently having gotten a prison guard job in the same prison where Dolf was being held in, which makes Waterland's legal government look like they just let literally everybody off the hook. The background guys aren't the writers' fault, but the rest though....
Some of these are jokes, but some of them are serious. I even have a name for one of them.
I never really get as... "enthusiastic" about ships as everybody else seems to. I don't really "ship" in that sense. Either i ship it because it's funny, because it would add more characterization/drama, or if it makes sense story-wise (like with the queerbaiting in Marvel, i just take it and go all the way).
Dolf x Alfred (Dolfred) - While Dolf did bully Alfred as a child, but considering how Dolf was a child of a mixed-species family, his mother died when he was young, and his father was implied to be an abusive alcoholic, i think it was, at that point, just about being jealous of Alfred's happiness. And before his famous fascist coup season 1's last episodes, Alfred remained sympathetic or at least polite to Dolf. Alfred would try to help Dolf get by, and they would just... become a thing. Alfred would try to be there for him and he'd latch onto Alfred because he doesn't have anything else to live for. Alfred would ignore his career as a petty criminal as long as nobody gets hurt. The relationship would suffer from forced secrecy (interspecies relationship seem frowned upon) and from Dolf's psychological issues as he becomes more and more of a criminal. When he goes abroad somewhere before the Crows Party arc, he might just leave without saying Alfred anything, and Alfred would be left wondering if Dolf abandoned him or if it was somehow his own fault. When Dolf returns to Waterland with his political revelation he thinks Alfred will be on his side because he has always been, but Alfred still think that Dolf has gone insane, and he's been gone for so long that Alfred's already into the process of moving on because he didn't think that Dolf was going to come back at all. Dolf takes Alfred's refusal more personally and sees it as a great betrayal because Alfred was the only person besides his mother whom he ever loved and trusted. When Dolf actually does form NCP and goes full-on evil, Alfred still storms his office and tries to convince him to stop before it's too late, and Dolf still doesn't listen. Alfred brings up their love and tries to use it as a bargaining chip, but it doesn't work. Dolf would still have Alfred summarily arrested, but not for execution. He would want to keep Alfred around in the deluded hope that the duck would change his mind once he saw all the "good" NCP would make. Alfred would still escape with the other prisoners and the rest of the arc would be exactly the same. Dolf flees the country after NCP collapses, and Alfred would eventually move on and finds a new love in Winnie. Dolf would find out about Winnie and eventually also about Alfred's personal involvement in NCP's collapse. He would assume that Winnie had came along earlier and that she was the reason Alfred rejected him. Dolf would swear revenge at Winnie for "ruining everything" and at Alfred for "betraying" him. Alfred would be reluctant to fight -let alone actually kill- Dolf. Winnie wouldn't know about Alfred's and Dolf's past relationship because Alfred would be a little scared to explain the whole thing. The last episode(s) would be very different as a consequence, but Winnie would still get in harm's way, Alfred and Dolf would fight, and Dolf would still go to jail for good. Or maybe he could even die.
Von Paljas x Stoppel - It wouldn't be as dramatic or impactful as Dolfred, but it would not be a joke either. I just like the idea of them being together because they're both such good people and they were cute together in episode 41. Stoppel has a good marriage and wouldn't cheat on his wife, but polyamory would be an option, or an au where he isn't married. How would their society/time period -which seems to be all over the 20th century and maybe a bit from 1800's- would react to polyamory could create some drama. Or there could also just be no drama at all because it's a very fictionalized world, and nobody was ever shown having a problem with Ollie being (canonically!) transgender, so maybe LGBTQA+ people and relationships just are equal to straight people in AJK's world.
Dolf x Geppe - This is a crack ship. In the case Geppe went unnamed in you language's dub (like happened in finnish), he's the Crows Party hippo who shows up in that arc as Dolf's second-in-command. He seems to follow Dolf everywhere and generally seems very attached to him. Geppe even returned in the last episode as a prison guard and risked himself by helping Dolf escape. I originally just thought Geppe and Dolf having a thing would be funny, but in hindsight of my Dolfred plot, it could be that Dolf tries to replace Alfred and grabs a first loyal NCP member who's a gay dude. Geppe might or might not know that Dolf doesn't love him and that he's just a substitute. If he did know, he'd be in denial.
Henk x Johan / Henk x Anna - Another serious ship. Henk appeared to be very close to both of them before the series began, so he could've had a thing with either of them at some point in the past. Maybe with Anna, and they'd still be friends as exes. Or, though polyamory isn't that common, it too could be an option. They lived in a field in the middle of nowhere, who would've stopped them? It'd also be exellent at making episode 2 (where Johan, Anna, and the children minus Alfred all die) worse, as it'd hurt even more if they were more than friends. Alfred would be too young to remember his parents and siblings, but Henk would spend his whole life haunted by their deaths and thinking it was his fault because he suggested going to that town and that's the only reason why they ever were on that road that night. He keeps thinking that he should've been with them or that he should've gone first. (i do think that Henk also lives in survivor's guilt in canon, but a romantic relationship would add to the tragedy). There wouldn't be any coming-out moment to Alfred, because Alfred would have always known about it.
Rangpang x Poen van Kale Koen - A crack ship, i guess. Rangpang is the orangutan colonel and Poen is the turkey who borrows Alfred's money in episode 21 and is imprisoned by NCP in episode 21. I just randomly saw somebody's (joke?) drawing of them being together and i went like "i guess, why not?". More plot elements that don't directly involve the protagonists.
