expanding on this theory since some people think i was saying Shonda is controlling lukola/ is orchestrating them when i literally never said that in the og post and dont believe that at all.
having no dating contracts is standard procedure and me or my bestie NEVER thought it was done out of malice or to control Luke and Nic. i will expand on this later to.
she literally hates romance. why tf would she get involved with this mess.
she is a busy woman and i really don't think she has any involvement with lukola (or the adjacents) outside of what their characters do and their ability to act on screen.
okay now lets get more into it.
from my understanding of her other shows none of the MAIN cast ever dated each other while the show was airing. i think this potential clause in their contract is the CAUSE of the adjacents and why lukola would need to hide. again i dont think lukola thought they were ever going to fall in love or that this potential clause was done as a control/mean thing to torture them.
so many of her shows explore how fucking messy coworkers dating is (see the article i linked before) so she clearly understands this and probably doesnt want it to happen irl and only in fantasy. fantasy you can control irl its very hard (see this whole shitshow with the adjacents and how despite lukola trying to make it seem like they are with other people, people keep shipping lukola!)
also i got a 2nd job as a retail worker and even I HAVE a clause in my contract where im not allowed to date my coworkers and thats on a small scale where people leave all the time. these clauses are STANDARD practice NOT done out of malice but for protection for the company and workers. it makes sense to have a clause to prevent lukola from dating cause if someone breaks up (ESPECIALLY A MAIN COUPLE) hell even just couple fights are going to be fucking awkward and affect the performance of the characters, promo, interviews, writing/what scenes you can do etc. especially for actors who tend to be dramatic and feel things a lot more. thats a big point of intimacy coordinators is to help stop things getting awkward between coworkers.
hell even now we can see lukola are being separated in the promo so their insane chemistry doesnt overshadow s4 and so we dont get a repeat of what happened at the 2nd premiere where a bunch of people said they were never going to watch bton or netflix again cause of the papgate bullshit.
and remember the show only became a thing BECAUSE of Penelope/Lady Whistledown and Nicola is cast first. shes going to want to keep Nic/Pen on as much as possible since she is the main character and doesnt want anything (like a potential failed relationship, sidenote i dont think lukola will ever fail obviously but you get the point) to get in the way of that if she can help it.
also denying lukola as a couple lets the build up of that sexual and romantic energy bleed into their performance and makes it more impactful as an UNINTENDED side effect since its very clear they let out their feelings towards each other through polin and on the wt. we can already tell by that leaked carriage scene that is SOMEHOW CRAZIER THAN THE FIRST!!! especially knowing Luke in the past is a loverboy and likes to show his love PUBICLY. polin and wt is the only place he really gets to show his love for Nicola. and think about it. the mystery of whats going on is why so many people are here. like with tomdaya they still have shippers ofc but the hype for them has gone down a lot because its not really a mystery anymore.
ALSO! if lukola were allowed to date pubicly why haven't they already? there was a golden window between Luke and Jake breaking up and before his hbs especially since it would BE SUCH GOOD PROMO FOR S3. they couldve come public then but they didnt. why would they push so hard to be believed and risk their images tanking (for so long to) and completely acting out of character doing all this if they weren't hiding something especially since they signed to keep being on the show. IMO they want to eat their cake (relationship) and have their job too so the consequence of that is this mess.
