I originally posted this as a reblog of an ask to the kind soul @emily-deetz who encouraged me to make it its own post so here it is.
I think we as a fandom really do love Delia but she deserves so much love and appreciation and here are my thoughts/reasons:
In one of the first interactions we see between Lydia and Delia, Delia calls Lydia weird and scary. This doesn’t seem to faze Lydia, especially considering we know at the time she’s trying to be weird and scary, so arguably, it could be taken as actually sort of matching Lydia’s sense of humor.
Or, at the very least, it’s showing us Delia cares about interacting with Lydia and it’s the starting place to show her growth by the end of the show.
Not much later, we hear Delia say to Charles, “I don’t see race.” The line is played for laughs because we as an audience know that’s not the right response to what Charles is saying (that Maxie Dean could be his white whale) and, in addition, we’ve all heard the reasoning for why not seeing race isn’t a thing and doesn’t solve anything.
I think, though, the fact that Delia says that tells us that, while she’s not always the brightest, she really is always positive and trying to be good, compassionate, and open.
In one of the next interactions we see between Lydia and Delia (possibly the next one, I can’t remember), Lydia takes a picture of Delia and sort of sarcastically says she wants something to remember her by when she’s gone.
Delia immediately responds in a very kind, gentle tone that she’s not going anywhere, and she doesn’t say it like she thinks Lydia is messing with her or challenging her or anything like that. She says it like she doesn’t want Lydia to worry.
Delia was hired to be Lydia’s life coach to help with the loss of her mom, and Delia and Charles have been together for a bit at this point, so I figure it may have already crossed Delia’s mind at least once to consider the concept of Lydia being her stepdaughter.
I can’t help but wonder if, in that moment, Delia thinks Lydia is saying she thinks Delia is going to leave just like her mom (and Delia might even think Lydia is starting to see her as a maternal figure but that could be a stretch) and Delia wants to make it clear to Lydia that she’s not going to lose her, too.
Delia tells Lydia she knows she’s paid to care about her but she wants them to be real friends, and she really seems to mean it and be excited about it.
Then she tries to dab, which is of course again played for laughs, but she probably sees kids around Lydia’s age doing that and she thinks it will make her relatable and cool and maybe give her more appeal as a possible friend for Lydia.
Delia tells Lydia she bought her a dress for Charles’s dinner party and maybe she just did it because she was trying to help Charles and knew Lydia wouldn’t have a dress that he thought was good for the dinner, so maybe this is a stretch, but I think it’s also possible she figured Lydia wouldn’t want to go shopping so she went and got the dress so Lydia wouldn’t have to go shopping.
I also think it’s worth noting that the dress fits, so Delia knows Lydia’s size.
We also see later when Lydia does wear the dress that she’s also wearing white tights and light-colored shoes to match, which we don’t see or hear Delia mention, so maybe Lydia already had them, but it’s also possible Delia got them to go with the dress and had to know those sizes, too.
Delia says that the dress says, “I’m warm, I’m friendly, and I think about death only a normal amount,” and the phrasing of that feels very in tune with Millennial and Get Z speech patterns and senses of humor, so even though it could be taken like it’s Delia sort of judging Lydia for being so focused on death, I think it could also be her actually sort of understanding Lydia at least a little bit.
Delia then offers to help Lydia clear out the attic and build a dark room for her photography in it.
She’s paying attention to Lydia’s interests and offering major support for them, and what she’s offering is definitely not a small task. She’s committing.
While “No Reason” is funny, not always containing the best advice, and a little too personal at times, it’s really well-intentioned and full of different ways to try to think positively.
Delia, speaking as the universe, sings, “You’re on the right track, girl / I got your back, girl / I’m helping you grow” which shows us that she wants Lydia to feel like the universe is on her side even when it feels like the world is against her and things hurt and don’t make sense.
Also possibly a stretch, but while Delia is pretending to be a voice for the universe, I think it could also be taken as her herself, saying that Lydia is on the right track and she’s got her back along the way, because she had to get the thought for the universe to say it in the first place, and we have seen Delia seem to be committing and wanting to stick around for Lydia.
During the song, Delia does a dance from Fortnite which, again, she probably saw some kids around Lydia’s age doing and thought it would make her seem cool and relatable and less like some strange adult or her life coach, just not realizing that that’s not how adults trying to act like teenagers come across.
Our girl has actually been through a lot.
It’s all played quickly and as humor, but in this scene and in the proposal scene, we learn that
1) Delia lived in an apartment in Queens that probably didn’t have air conditioning because she says it was really hot, and the doors locked from the outside.
2) She was kicked out of a band when she felt like she was just starting to belong.
3) She was rejected as a disciple of Vishnu when, again, she felt like she was just starting to belong.
Furthermore on that point, wanting to be a disciple of Vishnu says a lot about her, because Vishnu is about good destroying evil, restoring Dharma, and relieving the burden of the earth.
Also in the proposal scene, Charles expresses concern that Lydia needs something more stable, and Delia says Lydia is stubborn but that she just needs more time. She’s not ready to give up on Lydia.
When Charles proposes, he specifically states that he would like Delia to sign a prenuptial agreement and, obviously, become his second wife.
Delia doesn’t even hesitate. She says “You bet your ass I will!” She doesn’t care that he wants her to sign a prenup or that she’ll be his second wife.
She doesn’t consider it a competition with his deceased wife or anything like that. She just loves him so much, and I think she loves Lydia too already, and she’s so ready to become part of the family.
Right before Charles’s Very Important Dinner, he asks Delia for an update on Lydia. Maybe he had kept track of her earlier in the day, but at least for the last while, he’s left it up to Delia.
So, maybe Charles knew from checking in on Lydia previously, or from Delia if she was the one who checked in before, but Delia knows that Lydia is locked in her room and says “still” like she knows she’s been there for a long time.
Delia also tells Charles that Lydia is still locked in her room with a voice that doesn’t sound judgmental or harsh but rather concerned.
I will say, this could also simply be because Delia appears to be coming downstairs after finishing getting ready and it would have been convenient for her to check on Lydia while she was up there and that Charles could have been checking on her and was just hoping that maybe, now that the dinner is approaching, that Lydia is getting ready.
When Lydia suggests that Delia give a toast, Delia thanks her and calls her “future stepdaughter” and holds up her engagement ring, which is clearly showing off a bit, but I think she’s also genuinely excited to know that Lydia will be her stepdaughter and that she’s marrying Charles.
During her toast, Delia calls Charles an “amazing, amazing man” and at some performances, she begins to cry as she says it. She has so much love in her heart and she’s so happy.
So much of what we see of Delia has her quoting her guru, Otho.
She clearly really respects and kind of idolizes him. Before she met Charles and became like part of the Deetz family, Otho was probably the first time she felt like she belonged somewhere and wasn’t pushed away.
She repeats his quotes frequently, seeming to figure that they’re catchy and that if they worked for her, maybe they can work for other people, too.
She trusts Otho so much that when she and Charles go to try to rescue Lydia from Beetlejuice, she cancels the exorcist and calls Otho instead. She wants Lydia back and she believes Otho can do that.
On a side note of that, this woman is a true ride or die.
She doesn’t even get what’s going on. All she knows, or at least thinks she knows, is that their new house is super haunted, the ghost scared the living shit out of everyone, the ghost is clearly violent and pretty merciless, and the ghost took Lydia.
But Delia is having none of it. She believes this ghost took Lydia and Delia is ready to fight to get her back.
When Otho reveals on Beetlejuice’s spinning wheel of death that he’s not at all who he says he is, Delia calls for Beej to spin the wheel.
Obviously that’s a pretty harsh reaction, and is again played for laughs, but can show us how hurt and betrayed she feels by someone she had put so much trust and faith in.
When Juno tries to threaten Lydia after she thinks she’s gotten rid of Beej, of course everyone starts to surround Lydia and announce that Juno’s gonna have to go through them first.
Interestingly, though, and maybe it’s for staging purposes because Lydia is shorter than the other characters and they don’t want to block her, everyone gathers behind her.
Except for Delia. Delia firmly announces that she doesn’t understand anything that’s been going on but she’s a part of it, and she moves in front of Lydia, sort of on the side but closer to the side Juno is on (which I will say, again, could be for staging purposes so no one is upstaging Lydia).
Not only does she place herself in front of Lydia, (I think) she’s the only one to get in a fighting stance. She crouches and raises her arms like she’s ready to fight to protect Lydia.
Basically Delia is a ride or die who would do anything for these people she’s made her home and I think she deserves so much love
