I think it's kind of funny (but also, incredibly irritating) that people speak about Half-Man the way they do. I've seen so many people on Twitter be like "if the barn confrontation is about Mona it will ruin the show!" I understand that the show employs soapy tropes as a device, but it's not actually a soap opera. There's nuance and double meaning to every scene, nothing is "either/or," it is always (to use the words of Industry) "both/and." The confrontation is going to be about and always was about the unspeakable and incomprehensible convergence between the constant (sexual) violence, latent erotic desire, and familial/romantic love that exists in Ruben and Niall's relationship. Mona (and Niall and Mona's sexual relationship) serves not only as a convenient stand-in for those characters to unpack that but also the textual embodiment of how deep those aspects go. Like let's be serious here!
