#not to mention i don't see any in world reasoning behind daniel doubting armand's backstory

[gh-0-stcup]

I'm gonna be honest, I really don't get the take that Daniel was saying Armand was lying about his backstory. Given the context of the scene, it seemed like a pretty clear jab at Armand's identity issues.

Daniel had just toppled a 77 year relationship built on a tower of lies. And not just lies to get out of trouble or keep Louis close - lies that Armand crafted and held onto as a preferential version of reality.

Armand wasn't just lying to manipulate, he desperately wanted to live the lie. To be the person he was portraying to Louis. To have their relationship be something different than the sad reality. If he fakes long and hard enough, eventually he'll make it. If he acts like the Good Partner well enough, eventually the harm he's done won't matter.

Armand has been trying so hard at this act that it's suffocating both him and Louis. They're weird, uncanny valley, Stepford versions of themselves in Dubai. He's trapped them in this bubble of faux kindness, faux supportiveness, masking all the resentment that lies underneath.

Armand can't confront the reasons behind his own actions to himself, let alone be honest with other people.

Armand identity is centered entirely around his role in other people's lives. He is who others see him as. He molds himself to the whims of others and has almost no concept of who he is outside of this. When the role he's inhabiting comes into conflict with the actual person he's buried deep down, it incites a breakdown. Sometimes he lashes out violently. More often, he'll gaslight or use his powers to force everything back into his preferred neat little box.

Armand is a foil for Louis in this way. Louis has also spent large portions of his life holding on to lies about himself and his relationships. But Louis does want to figure out the truth of things. He can be resistant to it because the truth tends to be more painful than self-delusion, yet he soldiers on. Louis ends the season resolving to learn to live honestly and finds empowerment through that. Armand clings to the lies and ends up alone.

So with all the context of the last two seasons and all the points made on identity and self-delusion, it seems bizarre to me that people think Daniel is saying "you lied about being raped" to Armand.

Armand, Amadeo, Arun - who are you? When did you stop living like a person and start putting on carefully crafted masks? What is real underneath all of that? Do you even know?

To me, this seems to be much more in line with what's happening in the show.