I'm with you. I don't understand how people are seeing Danny's speech as manipulative when it's essentially her telling Laura "I'm doing this for these reasons because this is what I believe in and if something happens to me, it was my choice and it's not your fault." That is the opposite of manipulative.
I don’t even think Danny’s endgame Laura reaction to that would be “Dude! Just realized I’m madly in love with you! Sick! Let’s save the world together!”
All it felt like she wanted from that conversation was Laura to understand that all Laura had to do was stand by her convictions of a better tomorrow. The loss of anyone fighting against that didn’t mean it was her fault. If something happened to Danny, or Carmilla, or anyone on campus. Laura isn’t some omnipresent force. She’s just a girl doing her damn best.
And Danny is just like “Don’t let the fact that making the world a better place is harder than you thought it would be, almost impossible at times, make you want to give up and change who you are.”
Like, which is what Laura needs?
Laura is so tired. Her reserve for dealing with bullshit is so deep and I could have understood her giving up and finding a way home months and months ago. But that’s not who she is. And Danny sees that, and in her own self-hating way (honestly, Danny’s deathwish saddnes me), she’s just like “If this is what I can do, then I’m doing it. Free will babe.” Which on a spur of the moment thought just makes me proud of Danny S2 vs S1.