#don't get me wrong i'm sure we'll get a bit more of a 3x08 esque argument eventually but

[raayllum]

clicked for me upon reflection that a lot of the backlash towards callum's treatment of rayla being too forgiving in s4/s5 overall is just... coming from a lack of maturity when it comes to healthy long term relationships (romantic or otherwise). if you love your friend/partner, you should not want to punish them when they mess up - even before they admit that they have. even if you do want to punish them in some manner, because we're all human, you don't because that would damage the relationship and the trust you're supposed to both have in each other.

callum is not going to purposefully punish rayla about anything; rayla quite often holds herself accountable even when he let things go (if anything she sometimes dwells too much on what she's done wrong), but she's also learning to accept grace - and by extension, help (and a lack of accepting help is exactly what led to their main issues in the first place; that was and is on her).

sometimes what's required for relationship repair feels backwards because it can be the things that led to the breakdown in the first place (rayla prioritizing callum over herself in leaving and in S4, because she needs to accept the feelings he does express over her own feelings/wants; callum offering help in s5 even after she's hurt him, because her learning to accept his help is crucial in not having another ttm happening).

relationships are complex. repairing relationships is even more complex. often times our best traits and patterns with one another are also our worst traits and patterns with one another.

and i think it's very cool and refreshing just how well arc 2 rayllum shows that in both its beauty and its hurt and with quite a bit of realism/nuance to boot