#look i don't normally write meta because i can't organize my thoughts coherently

[bestillmyslashyheart]

alright buckle up because I’m about to defend miluca (somewhat)

first off, in case it has somehow missed anyone’s notice, I do not like miluca. I think the entire relationship was a mistake and it did neither character involved any favors and the screentime that was spent on them could have been better spent in other ways, one of which would have been making them friends. In part because Michael desperately needs a best friend and also because I hate the narrative idea that Michael needed a different relationship from Alex to grow as a person when he should have spent time focusing on himself (with the help of an awesome best friend in Maria) but then again this show doesn’t seem to know how to write friends who don’t have sex with each other and aren’t related soo that wasn’t going to happen (also the writing on the wall from the writers, cast, and the writing itself was that miluca wasn’t going to last so I never understood the point in wasting what was clearly valuable screentime on a relationship that was going nowhere but i digress)

that being said! the finale royally fucked Maria and miluca. Regardless of how you feel about their relationship (and as previously stated i didn’t like it), the fact remains that they had a relationship. And as best I can figure from all the time jumps and the comments made in the finale, it lasted on and off for about a year. That’s not an insignificant amount of time. Hell, from what we’ve heard from them it’s possible it was the longest relationship either of them have had. It’s huge! And it was completely swept under the rug IMMEDIATELY. Literally the very next scene after Maria broke up with Michael (for choosing to put herself and her desires for her life over her relationship which I applaud because better she choose for herself then decide to remove herself from malex’s path which was slightly hinted at the end and I could’ve done without), the writing reminds the audience that Michael and Alex are ‘cosmic’ and it does this by directly paralleling them to Tripp/Nora. They get the same use of the word cosmic to describe their relationship and its that relationship which is partially responsible for Maria’s existence, right? Tripp protected Louise because he loved Nora. Ergo, Maria is alive because of a love/relationship that is directly paralleled to Malex. (I’m not entirely sure what conclusions to draw from that but it doesn’t sit right with me)

AND THEN we get the song in the bar. I love the song. I loved the looks between them. I loved Michael deciding it wasn’t his and Alex’s time right now but that it would be one day. I hated that the reason their time isn’t now is because of Forrest and NOT because he literally just broke up with Maria. The narrative literally said miluca meant nothing to Michael because he was immediately hopeful again (and almost ready until he saw Forrest) to jump back into things with Alex. And yes, we’ve seen throughout the season that their connection and the love between them is still very much a thing but we’ve also seen Michael rejecting it in favor of Maria until suddenly that doesn’t matter??? Just because Maria dumped him doesn’t mean he stopped loving her. The reason he walked away in the finale should have had something to do with that and with the fact that he really shouldn’t be thinking about a new relationship just days(? weeks? idk how long its been) after ending his relationship with Maria and yet we get nothing to suggest that she factors into his decision at all. It’s bs.

And one more thing. Isobel. Isobel who told him to move on from Alex in s1. Isobel who has been relatively supportive of Maria and miluca throughout s1. Isobel who has never spoken to Michael about Alex SINCE telling him to move on. And now she’s suddenly on board? Now she’s trying to get Michael to stay, to remind him that there’s hope for him and Alex? How is the audience supposed to interpret her lack of giving a shit about Maria and the relationship her brother just got out of? To me, it tells me that Maria and miluca was a stepping stone back to malex and now that they’re done (now that Maria broke up with him because Michael couldn’t even do that even though he’s then immediately ready to go back to Alex?? If he was ready he should’ve/would’ve ended things with Maria on his own) it means nothing. All of it, every scene following their breakup told me that miluca meant nothing and that’s a complete disservice to a relationship they spent a season on and that the characters spent a year on. It’s also a huge slap in the face to Maria who’s entire narrative was Michael this episode.