similarly, the hive's love for carol is of a biological imperative. they love her simply because they can't help it. it is an instinct, it's what they were made to do. it's unconditional in its worst form. unchanging, unevolving. and they want to fix her too, don't care what she really wants because they've decided they know best.

helen made a choice, to love carol. she kept making that choice for 20+ years, even when it wasn't easy. she didn't intend to fix carol, but she wanted to help her, to push her to be better, because that's what a good relationship is. and she knew how to do that, how to stop her from going too far, from hurting herself. she didn't claim there was something wrong with carol, and certainly not that she was the solution, but she wasn't enabling her either.

manousos, too, is making a choice. to cross a continent and risk his life to meet her. to not leave when it isn't easy, to stick around for her so she can eventually choose him too.

 Sophomore year was tough. Course it doesn’t hold a candle to this shit.

She has solid morals. She cares about others. At the same time, she doesn't want to be close to others besides Helen, and she doesn't care about fluff or proper behavior.

She'll lend you a cup of sugar if you ask, but she'll also glare at you and ask how you could have started baking a cake without checking if you had all the ingredients.

And having her contrasted with "Zosia" (i.e. the Hive), who is the exact opposite-- nice, smiling, pleasant, but beneath it manipulative and controlling and thoughtlessly cruel --GOD that's such a good juxtaposition.

The hive is, implausibly, charming! It's likeable! But it is a literal parasite that killed over a billion people and brainwashed/possessed the rest!

Carol is a bitch right now, she's angry and grieving, depressed and lonely and traumatized. But she has real morals and kindness in her. She's a person who cares about other people's well-being and freedom.

Carol might glare at you and insult you while she fights tooth and nail for your right to live as an individual.

The hive will smile at you and offer you whatever will make you happy while it fights to eat your personhood and life, while it tries to make your body into its own possession

Because they're not trying to protect themselves, or they would have done it sooner. They're trying to protect their secret. And it's barely even that, because they could have told Carol to her face that they were leaving. They didn't have to give her the cold shoulder before they left. They could have had someone manning the phone. They could have left someone behind to do the delivery/pick up instead of using a drone. They could have told her they'd be back after a break.

They're trying to hurt her. They want her to feel bad. They want her to be sad and lonely and scared. And they're emphasizing that by isolating her even when it's safe for them. They're emphasizing it further by emptying out the entire city and refusing her any contact or even the ability to see another person.

It's such a classic abuse tactic, turned up to 11.

She has solid morals. She cares about others. At the same time, she doesn't want to be close to others besides Helen, and she doesn't care about fluff or proper behavior.

She'll lend you a cup of sugar if you ask, but she'll also glare at you and ask how you could have started baking a cake without checking if you had all the ingredients.