The way Ein is treated in PDH S2 is genuinely so frustrating as someone who loves to pick apart characters and their mindsets.
This first section is built on speculation, but I feel like it’s heavily implied that the all-werewolf school he transferred from was very traditional in the way they handled pack politics and daily life. Sniffing people upon first meeting, strict adherence to werewolf rules and customs, how confused and/or uncomfortable he gets when things are settled in a more “human” manner, etc. Like how the fuck is he meant to know things don’t work that way there…? They keep throwing curveball after curveball at him and getting mad when he doesn’t react like everyone else. And it’s not like any of the other werewolves were gonna explain to him how things work at their school considering they all hate him, and Aphmau can’t help with that either because she’s absolutely fucking clueless about the culture she’s shoved herself into and doesn’t bother explaining to him why she leads the way she does outside of “this is how I do things!”. He suddenly went from a very rigid form of the pack system to this weird, mixed-up version, not to mention suddenly going from an all-werewolf school to one with students of all kinds of different races(?) with no adjustment period. Moving schools is already a difficult process for kids but I can only imagine something like that would make it a million times harder. Especially with no support from your peers.
Also I’m sorry but I do not feel fucking bad for Dottie, Daniel, and Rylan having to pick one of them to be the omega. Love them but they didn’t give two shits about bullying and isolating the omega until it got turned around on them and they realized it wasn’t fun being harassed. Maybe I’m just a petty bitch but if I was in Ein’s position and I could get back at someone who bullied me by putting them in my place I would do it too. “Oh well he went too far with it!” I don’t fucking care! He is a 15 year old child who suddenly went from being hated and harassed by his entire community to being in charge of all of them within a day. Obviously it’s going to get to his head. OBVIOUSLY he’s going to do stupid shit because he feels suddenly untouchable. I’m not going to blame a child for not being mature enough to responsibly lead an entire group of like a hundred other children or handle his emotions properly!
Anyway, proceeding to show Aaron keeping his role as omega instead of picking one of those three to make Ein look like an unreasonable asshole was also just an insane thing to witness cuz how on gods green earth was he supposed to know he could do that. The teacher’s reaction in the flashback shows plain as day that that is not something that’s happened before and it’s not like he told Aphmau or Ein they were allowed to do that so how the fuck was he supposed to know that was possible. And it’s not like he was even in the wrong for picking an Omega in the first place because he was LITERALLY TOLD TO. “Oh it’s different bc those three are pups! They can’t defend themselves!” and yet the weakest members of the pack are ALWAYS candidates to be the Omega? You can’t tell us werewolf rules and then expect us to think Ein is in the wrong for adhering to them, that’s fucking stupid.
And, a little bit of a tangent, the fact that the scene of Ein telling Kai he can’t compete to be the werewolf alpha is framed in a way to make it seem like EIN is the one in the wrong is actually fucking bonkers. Kai is not apart of that culture. He has no fucking right trying to insert himself in their politics let alone LEAD them. Ein was completely justified in telling him to fuck off no matter his intentions. Sorry not sorry.
And, love Jess to bits, not trying to come for her, but the entire “Ein was manipulating Aphmau all along” twist was fucking stupid. It relies almost entirely on you watching Emerald Secret alongside it in order for it to not be obviously out of left field. And I’m sorry but if you need to watch an entirely different series for your twist to work, it fucking sucks. The only actual hint toward it is the other wolves being weirded by him but even then it’s implied that’s because he’s 1. A transfer from a different pack and 2. The omega??? So it’s like okay what else do we have. Him finding Aphmau being the alpha as a human weird? Okay well that’s not a hint either cuz it literally IS weird considering she is not apart of their culture. Him insisting Kai can’t compete to become the alpha? Also not a hint because YEAH THATS FUCKING CRAZY???? Not to mention there is no 15yo on this planet who is that good at manipulation. Sorry but it’s true. I think the plot would’ve worked a lot better if they’d gone the “power corrupts’ route instead of the “secret evil master manipulator” route. But yk we can’t have TOO many people sympathizing with our villain, or else they might realize a grown man coming back to beat up this high school sophomore is fucked up! Speaking of.
The fact that we, as the audience, are supposed to see Aaron, a grown man, sneaking into the school in a stolen uniform, beating the shit out of this 15yo child because he tried to sabotage his relationship with another 15yo (which like, technically a dick move but also get away from that little girl), and then throwing one of the kids who is SHOWN to have bullied Ein out with him to make it look like he did it, and view that as a GOOD THING is actually horrific. Aaron gets a pass for this and all the other weird or straight up awful shit he does but god forbid Ein step one foot out of line or else he’ll suffer the narrative’s wrath!
And then he gets manipulated and exploited by a literal demon from hell and somehow he is still the devil! Yeah man! Whatever!
Anyways, rant over. I hate this series and this fandom for the way they treat Ein and refuse to see the nuance in his character.
