heaven sighs

I'm the sort of person who saves a long comment for the end of a work, usually on a second read so I can really gather my thoughts. that's what I planned to do with that fic, but by the time I went back it was gone :/

what she means: why did the dark writers put aleksander in his early 20s in the 1980s when regina was 16, if he was played by an 18-year-old who didn’t read as older? his relationship with regina is so endearing because dark frames them as two outcast kids who were lost until they found each other and grew into the best couple winden had ever seen. the timeline doesn’t even depend on his birth year. make him 18 or 19 instead of 20-something and he could still plausibly be a mysterious fugitive with the training to work for claudia, but the age difference is far less significant. nothing about the show or his storyline changes, except for a number flashed on-screen for maybe ten seconds. his birth year is so inconsequential it might as well be invisible, yet it still tacks on a needless ick factor to what might be the only genuinely functional, supportive, loving relationship in that godforsaken town of adultery and betrayal.