#curtashi

For the life of me, I cannot tell if "Curtis" is meant to be in his late twenties, or his forties.

He also has no personality to speak of, outside of maybe liking animals, per a conversation he has with Acxa, rather than his "future husband", and Shiro only looks away from the Atlas's console interface to make eye-contact with him once.

In an entire thirteen episode season.

The showrunners had an opening to give Shiro and "Curtis" an interaction that would have hinted at some degree of chemistry, or even basic platonic affection for each other. When Shiro is slapped across the bridge of his ship- something I still deeply despise- "Curtis" could have rushed to his aid, expressing concern for his captain. Instead, it's Veronica, an actual character, who is at Shiro's side, checking on him and helping him to right himself.

"Curtis" does nothing more than sit and stand on the sidelines, soundlessly gaping at the events playing out in front of him.

That is why I call him a piece of set dressing. His only purpose is to fill out Shiro's bridge crew. They could have utilized any species of alien, a Taujeerian, a Balmeran, one of those deer-esque people from Season Three's Changing of the Guard, for the exact same purpose and absolutely nothing would have changed.

Since there seemed to be some sort of unspoken rule forbidding the show from having more than one LGBTQ+ main lead/Paladin, it honestly would have made more sense for Shiro to marry Coran.

They, at least, have a relationship.

Low bar, I know.

And, that's if you believe that Shiro needed to be in a romantic relationship for his sexuality to matter.

I don't.

Shiro, on his own, is enough. Adam dying didn't take Shiro's homosexuality away and turn Shiro straight. Shiro is still a gay man, whether he kisses a human male-shaped piece of set dressing onscreen or not.

I've made my feelings on Shiro/Adam fairly clear. Realistically, unless Adam underwent some intensive therapy and soul-searching to learn how to be more open, warm, and compassionate with Shiro, they never would have rekindled their relationship, even if Adam had lived and the desire to do so was still there. He and Shiro parted ways on poor terms, and while Shiro didn't appear to resent Adam for it, there would, undoubtedly, be lingering feelings of bitterness that a tearful reunion and rush down the aisle wouldn't resolve.

Shiro was brutally punished by the show's narrative for choosing his dream over Adam. Maybe Adam would feel some sort of regret for that, had he seen his ex return to Earth with a scarred face, prematurely silver hair, and one arm. But, going off of Adam's established characterization and how he acts like he's the rational man while Shiro is an irrational and hysterical woman, the temptation on Adam's part to lord the consequences of Shiro's choice over Shiro- "If you had just listened to me, maybe none of that would have happened"- would very likely surge to the forefront over any desire to offer comfort.

And, that's if Adam hadn't fully moved on and started a new relationship in the interim. Shiro's time in space amounted to two years for him, while it was five years on Earth for Adam. That's an ample enough span to have mourned his lost love, and begun at least considering getting back out there and dating, again.

What it seems to come down to is that people who are vehemently against the mere idea of Shiro and Keith being romantically involved with each other and have no desire to explore any other prospects because their true focus lies elsewhere (Keith, Lance, and pairing them together), but still wish to maintain the guise of wanting happiness for Shiro, pair him off by default with his canon love interests. Regardless of the fact that Adam was shown to be a not particularly great partner, and these authors have to invent a personality for "Curtis" whole-cloth, since he is completely lacking one in the source material.

They don't care how transparent it is that the showrunners hated Shiro and mistreated him at every turn, but still wanted to use his sexuality to garner praise and online asspats. They don't care that the sloppy, half-assed manner in which the wedding was handled unintentionally implies that married life aged Shiro twenty years in the span of six.

(As my sister said, they made Shiro look like he could be his own grandfather.

What did this show have against bishounens? How do you take a supernaturally gorgeous man and turn him into your average middle-aged salary man from any given manga or anime? He's supposed to be thirty-two, here, not fifty-three. I hate this aged-up design. Sincerely. The glasses could have been cute, though I don't understand why the staff needed the disabled man to have failing eyesight on top of everything else. ["You took my hand." Then his whole arm. "What more do you want?"] But, the hair and chin scruff are mortally offensive.

Just the other day, I came across a fan redesign that's a vast improvement on all fronts.

Shiro, sweetie, I'm so sorry that these clowns insisted on treating you like garbage all the way up to the bitter, loathsome end. TT___TT )