#niyathi

When we first meet her, it's kind of like, "she's a little weird, but the whole island follows its own folk religion, so that's to be expected." And we see that she cares deeply about Andromeda. Then we see her romance with Lochie and think, "Oh actually, she's fairly chill." We see her grave robbing with Lochie, but we don't think much of it, because it's for Andromeda. Then the next hint is when Matthias leaves the island with Hari, and they have this conversation-

Matthias: you remember what we talked about?

Hari: Mumma isn't very well

Matthias: sort of. It's okay now while you're little, but you're a smart wee chappy, Hari. There's a lot of opportunities that she would keep you from.

And when I heard that, my ears perked up, because I had suspected there was more to her than we were seeing, but this conversation confirmed it. And there was an element of "oh but it's matthias, he's not exactly reliable," because at that point we all hate matthias, but it seems like a strange thing to lie about if he wanted to convince Hari to come with him.

And then episode 10 hits, and we see who she really is. And!! The thing is!!! She doesn't think she's presenting a façade!!! She thinks tricking her lover/situationship into killing her child is a perfectly reasonable thing to do because it's for Andromeda!!! She's certain that Hari wanted to leave her/St Kilda eventually, so why not make it sooner rather than later!!! All her rationalisations make perfect sense to her, that she doesn't even realise Lochie would hate her for this, and that's what kills her.

lachlan macgregor & niyathi 💔 (dont blame her! love drove her crazy?!?!? 🥲 )

[don't blame me - taylor swift]

As you can see, we are both very adamant on the theatre kid thing!

Image 1: Image: a 5x5 bingo chart titles ‘Hirtan Opinion Bingo’. Each square from top to bottom, left to right, reads the following: they look really hot in my head (stamped), deserved better (rip), I want them to have a spinoff show, I fear them (stamped), literally marry me (stamped), blorbo from my podcast, they have shit coming in s2, himbo (gender neutral), did not deserve better they deserved everything they got (stamped), sexy voice, I want to keep them like a pet hamster, I have so many headcanons, free space (stamped), would let them stab me (stamped), too relatable... oh no, I have no idea how they ended up in a cult, I hate them (affectionate), they wear a nightcap to bed and I know it, ex theatre kid (stamped), no. 1 most special boy (gender neutral), throw them in the gap, they have secrets for sure, would stab them (stamped), secretly a furry (ikytyk), I hate them (derogatory).

Apologies for skipping a week. I've been struggling with writer's block, and I am hoping that this may help me break it. Also, last week's episode felt like setup for what was to come.

So. The past two weeks, we've had more than a few developments.

First of all, we've gotten some information as to why Andromeda is so determined to have Lockie in her life. Her family's curse is killing her, and she thinks he can heal her. More to the point, she thinks Dubrach himself led Lockie to the island to do that.

Which brings us to this week, where we find out that Lockie's con artistry extended to being a bogus faith healer. And not only has his past come back to bite him in the ass, he's been put in the position where he's going to have to prove he can do what he claimed he could.

I do have to agree with Lockie on the subject of the journals. It seems odd that Cormac, who had been fairly verbose on paper, would suddenly clam up at a point, and that he wouldn't say a word in his journals about his little daughter Andromeda. There was some kind of major change in there, and Andromeda was probably too little to notice it or to know what happened. And, for my money, if there were journals missing, they've probably been destroyed.

I noticed that the fallout from that first ritual and the aftermath is still coming. The immediate political fallout has yet to hit, I think, but it's going to cause a lot upheaval when it does.

It's kind of heartbreaking that Angelique wouldn't even sell Wee Mary any cat foot because she decided to side with Mathias. Poor Toast was an absolute innocent in the whole mess and did not deserve that.

And on the subject of our favorite red-haired disaster area, does Mathias actually have any relationships that he hasn't screwed up in some way, shape, or form?

He alienated probably both of the Torrence brothers, and I can't see Wee Mary wanting anything to do with him. And given what happened after the attempted ritual, I can't see him being too popular with the community in general.

Whatever relationship he's got with Andromeda is probably gone after his attempted coup (whether that was what he actually intended or not) and trying to throw Lockie into a bottomless pit.

His relationship with Niyathi is probably shaky at best, considering she's his ex-wife and that they should probably have never gotten together to begin with. He's been carrying a torch for Andromeda since he was kid, and I don't think he was her first choice, either. The fact she's quite definitely moved on from their relationship and is getting involved with Lockie is not going to help things any. At this point, I'd say that the only thing they have in common at this point is Hari.

Hari, of course, is still an adorable little kid, and I know people guessed that Mathias was his father just from the way they interacted in the first episode. I've gotten the impression that Mathias loves him dearly, but has no idea how the hell to relate to him. The only time that child showed any interest in being in his father's presence was when Mathias was going to get him ice cream and then make the phone call that probably brought Preston to the island looking for Lockie.

The backbone, however, I don't think is as literal a thing as Niyathi and Lockie seem to think it is. For my money, it's probably a person, though at this point, I don't know who, and I can't see Andromeda being happy with the idea of them poking around her family crypt while chasing a metaphor.

Personally, I suspect it might be Mathias, but I don't know if that's just because I have a minor crush on Ben Meredith (I like his voice!) or because he's the only other character with the potential for a major story arc. Mathias certainly sees himself as the backbone of the community, even though everyone else seems to see him as a pain in the ass. Plus, I like the idea of Mathias and Lockie becoming reluctant allies and even more reluctant friends while they deal with whatever's coming.