Diegoβs attitude toward Luther
I feel people tend to think Diego is agressive against LutherΒ in present times because of jealousy, but tbh ? I donβt think so. Diego was probably jealous of Luther when they were kids, but not anymore. As surprising as it might seem, Diego matured (we like to call him manchild but letβs not forget people are multifaceted. Heβs actually pretty mature on some points): he doesnβt care anymore to be number one in the classification Reginald forced them in. He knows itβs meaningless.
No, what he canβt handle is that Luther keeps defending Reginald and denying his own abuse (and by extension, his siblingsβ abuse). I saw some posts where Diego was denying Lutherβs abuse, saying he was their fatherβs favorite and basically beingΒ βget over itβ to Luther, and I highly doubt he would do that in canon. He says it himself in episode one:
Now, Luther defending Reginald is part of his abuse. Yes he was theΒ βfavoriteβ, but itβs not actually a place to envy, and Diego ended up realizing it. He actually took a step back when growing up, and realized that Luther had been abused just as much as them. It would make no sense for Diego to be still jealous of Luther.
Reginald used a known tactic of abusers with Luther, where he would show his good side regularly, in alternance with the abuse. This leads the victim to question their own perception of reality (gaslighting), to question if they really were abused in the first place, eventually deny it, and defend their abuser. This also leads the victim to always seek the abuserβs approval, to do their best in order to be able to see their good side again, toΒ βreturnβ to those good times. This is exactly Lutherβs condition: he will end up justifying abuse because heβs been conditioned to only see the good sides of it and deny the fact that Reginald caused him pain in the first place. Just like Diego, once again, underline it later in episode 4 :
Luther defends Reginaldβs actions asΒ βsaving his lifeβ, but Diego underlines that if Reginald hadnβt sent him on a particularly dangerous mission all alone, his life wouldnβt have needed to be saved.
Now, Iβm not saying Diego is doing it properly. Heβs hypersensitive and empathetic, but he doesnβt know how to deal with all these emotions, letting them take over, and ending up using anger and agression as a way to protect himself. And seeing people denying their own abuse is something that especially press his buttons and makes him incredibly frustrated, going as far as being agressive to Grace :
Doesnβt that look a lot like what he says to Luther ?
I guess my point is, I donβt think itβs right to see Diegoβs character through the prism of jealousy especially when it comes to Luther, or have him act against Luther and deny his trauma. He probably used to be jealous (and that does play a role in making him more agressive from the start because of association), when they were kids. But he grew up to realize the abuse Luther went through, and what makes him so angry against Luther is how he reproduce Reginaldβs ways to act (part of his abuse, Reginald manipulated him so Luther would be a tool to assert his dominance on the others) and how he denies his own trauma.
I know the scenes where Diego is likeΒ βIβm the chiefβ when Luther gives up could make it looks like jealousy, but tbh it doesnβt sound like this to me. He took this responsibility because he was number 2 and Luther wasnβt in the picture at the time. But heβs the lone wolf kind, and is used to do things in his own way, without a team. So once he has an idea in mind, he wants to do it, and will make sure the others follow his plan by asserting thatΒ βheβs the number oneβ for now. Especially in the Police station scene, he clearly didnβt think to use the capacities of the members of his team: he had a plan set in mind, that only included him. And he didnβt like to change from what he had in mind (that plus the fact that the police station is strongly linked to Eudora in his mind, making him feel even more like he had to do it). But he doesnβt really pick on Allison and Five mocking his leadership, and as soon as it was clear they needed the entirety of the Umbrella Academy to stand a change, he was the one to pull back Luther into action, and then later pushing him to act as the leader.Β
He wouldnβt have done that if the core of his relationship with Luther was still jealousy. In my opinion, itβs much more complex: a mix of frustration and individualism, and his own emotional management issues. But not jealousy, not anymore.
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