Let’s talk about the Dylan 😒
Must we?, you may ask. Unfortunately, because I have a lot of thoughts and this urge to share them.
So I’m not gonna lie, the first time I started the game this season and there’s the intro and that panel with almost all the characters that we would meet this season, I immediately clocked in on his face in the lower right and thought, “who is that??” Yes, I’m that basic bitch. Mind you, I didn’t know anything about him then or any of the other characters really, I was coming in fresh faced and unspoiled. So I get the design appeal and why he was chosen to be this character.
Now I’m not bothered that he was a sleaze per see, but more so to how this was executed. I’m now a fan of the TV show and we all know that no one goes into the Villa to antagonize people if they want to play this to win, as he claims. If you go in and stir shit up you know the public is gonna hate you and there’s no way you’re winning in the end. At the very least you’ll antagonize the Islander you know the public hates the most if you have any kind of strategy at all (think Bethany in Season 1 or Theo in Season 3). Or you just don’t care about winning and you’re doing it for the clout.
Dylan was already such a walking red flag (even without any spoilers) that we’re immediately onto his shit. The game itself points it out to us even if we were oblivious to it and defeats the purpose of the conflict it could’ve created, if we had genuinely liked him and were torn between him and the other LIs. Imagine if after the whole thing we get to the end and find out Oliver had actually been playing us this whole time? That’s what the Dylan route should’ve been and it would’ve felt like a slap in the face but in a way it would’ve been sooo much more satisfying than what we got now.
(MAJOR SEASON 2 SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED ALL ROUTES YET: For those of us who have played the cheating with Returning!Lurik/Elisa routes of Season 2 - and didn’t sleep with Noah right before the finale - you’ll know what I mean. That reveal in the afterparty that they had been playing us the whole time and were just trying to win the game? I stood in shock for a good five minutes just gaping at my screen, feeling like I had been literally slapped in the face. But it was so well executed that I never saw it coming and I had to admit I loved it.)
I also think FuseBox is falling victim to trying to compete with other choose-your-answer type of story apps like Choices or Romance and their narratives that clearly have a hero and an antagonist and Love Island doesn’t need to be like that. The format of the irl reality TV dating show already makes sure there will be drama and you don’t need a specific villain to stir shit up. You do that by adding other players, challenges, Casa Amor, showing clips of things that happened that not all Islanders would know and watching the repercussions spin out, without the need of this good-vs-bad thing. Everybody is (supposedly) looking for love and it’s already enough drama in and of itself, with voting for people to stay or to go and recouplings and how fast things can change. Love Island The Game should stay what it is (a “what would you do if you were one of the sexy singles in the Villa” game) instead of trying to be something else.
