I think in regards to Gabe latching onto Dan as soon as Diana leaves, I completely agree with the take I've seen that he's not a parasitic demon looking for his next host... he's grief that is striking at the worst possible time. Dan avoided his grief by throwing himself into being the caretaker for his wife. He ignored his grief for years, pretended it wasn't there, while Diana became lost in her grief and attached herself to it, loved it, coddled it, even worshiped it.
But once Diana leaves... Dan has nothing to distract him. There's nothing to pour himself into. So that creeping dread and grief that he has repressed for 17 years has the opportunity to strike, angry and screaming into his face about being there the whole time. Gabe had been sweet with his mother because she had tenderly favored her grief for years. With Dan, it was going to explode out with a vengeance. And there's no duet, there's no give and take, Gabe is screaming Dan's exact words directly back in his face like you would scream into a mirror.
Which is why it breaks my fucking heart when Dan finally has the choice to tenderly, gently touch the wound of his grief, and turns away at the last minute because of his shame at seeing that moment witnessed by Natalie. He survived by always being in control, holding his grief at arm's length. And his precious son's memory curdled because of it.
Notably, in other versions of the show, he embraces his son. In the 2025 West End version, the only time the two touch is at the very end, when Gabe grabs his father and holds on for dear life. There is no tender embrace. There is only the desperate grasp of a child holding onto his parent, and the near-touch of someone about to make a breakthrough and pulling back at the last second.
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