I really think the biggest tragedy of AoS fandom writing off Deke and Snow’s romance in 608/609 is that by acting like it just existed as a punchline, it’s ignoring that Deke’s confession later in the season had everything to do with his offscreen conversation with Snow, and vice versa for Snow’s decision to defect and give the team info on Sarge’s plan for the bomb.
Both Deke and Snow are oddball fish out of water, who’ve both suffered loss of their people (Deke canon, Snow implied in this case), and both really lacked any stabilizing influence in their lives outside of maybe one good influence in a group of otherwise questionable coworkers (Trevor for Deke, Jaco for Snow). Both of them, in s6, ultimately needed someone who understood them and loved them unconditionally.
Yes, the scene of Deke and Snow being caught fooling around was 100% a comedic moment, but Deke talking about how Snow was the first person who really understood and valued him absolutely wasn’t. The fact Deke is quick to correct Jemma on her assumption Snow was the “psychopath” ex he was talking about during his breakdown (”I was talking about Sequoia”) backs this up.
On Snow’s end, there had been signs she was looking for someone who really got her outside of a professional/crew context- her discussion with May during their fight, her misplaced excitement at Daisy’s description of herself as a “hacker”- and being able to just talk with Deke was probably the first moment she had a connection with someone outside the truck. It served as a definite first step to her seeking validation from someone outside of Sarge or the crew (although this definitely does not lessen any her friendship with Jaco obviously, since that’s the one genuine friendship she was shown in onscreen prior to this- and I’m willing to guess that were Deke not standing next to her as she watched Jaco go to his death she probably would have handled it much worse, and that Deke likely comforted her on the way back to the Lighthouse), and in the beginning of 609, immediately after she defects, we see her in a very vulnerable moment for the first time as she has a nervous breakdown, the first of two for her in that episode. Her breakdown has almost a sense of relief and release for her, as though for the first time she can actually express herself without fear.
Later in that episode, we see that the relationship is far beyond a gag, but a truly supportive one, as Snow stands in the hallway outside the reunion party in hopes of confronting Sarge about his betrayal of her in 608. She fails to manage words but breaks down silently and Deke offers his support to her, in his own awkward way. As awkward and over the top it is, it’s clearly genuine and touching, and really proof of the understanding of one another the two forged in such a short amount of time.
Obviously the lack of any development for the pairing beyond the two episodes of screen time it got is a big reason more of the fandom considers Snowdeke a punchline. That being said, there were still more than enough clues given in those two episodes to it being a turning point in both characters’ arcs, and a fandom that delights in picking apart subtext in the tiniest gestures and lines needs to really give Snowflake her due for helping Deke out of his shell.
