kinda pissing me off how people talk about swarm 2023 as if it's only about being obsessed with an idol, when it's not even about that.
it's about dre's grief pushing through boundaries til the point that dre thinks that violence is the only way to connect with her dead sister. the killings give her a purpose. it doesn't absolve her for not picking up marissa's call, it doesn't make marissa less dead. but this one ni'jah shared love was what drove them together on their earlier years, and to maintain her own sense of self – in an ironic way, since dre is clearly psychotic – dre puts everything behind to follow the dream.
but it's not even about ni'jah!! when dre finally reaches ni'jah, she can't even see her face!!! instead, she sees it with a blur of marissa's face. i mean, sure, dre says what drives all these killings is protecting ni'jah's name, but that's because that's what her and marissa used to do at their golden years. dre is stuck with grief and that is shown clearly on episode 4, when we go through her mental state.
that girl is an unreliable narrator and she only wants her sister back so she can be loved again. the show is about dre trying to get this back.
