You know what, the whole Anya decision actually says a lot about Rachel’s mentality when it comes to characterizing Shane and what she thinks about him as a character.
You gotta remember: the main character trait that Rachel has settled on for Shane is that he is mostly exactly the opposite of Ilya. (“Ilya is cool, Shane is NOT”, “Ilya carries grief + trauma, Shane does NOT”, “Ilya is VERY intelligent, Shane is NOT”). Well, if Rachel has decided that Ilya is Right All The Time, then what does Shane’s opinions and characterization actually matter? It doesn’t, obviously.
So the Anya decision. It goes like this:
Rachel had to make Shane just a little more dislikable and opposite of Ilya by making him not interested in having a pet vs Ilya LOVING dogs
Because obviously Ilya’s opinion about pets is superior and more important and his decision was the correct one and thus didn’t need his partner’s input, Ilya gets a dog
Shane rolls over and becomes a doormat immediately because of course Rachel made this potentially interesting situation (Shane has every right here to be pissed; his life is imploding and his partner just made a huge life decision and commitment to what is essentially a toddler that will never grow up) into a nothing burger specifically to showcase that Shane’s personal opinion was not only stupid and bad but also objectively the wrong choice for himself and Ilya knows best.
Look, he actually enjoys it pretty much immediately! Ilya didn’t need his future husband’s consent to get Anya! Because he is right all the time! And Shane is wrong all the time!
Fuck off
