Very gently, Shane didn't go out his way to date a high profile person to spite Ilya. He went with Rose because she was the first girl he ended up clicking with and she just happened to be a popular actress.
Blaming Shane for that and completely absolving Ilya for having a numerous side relationships just because Shane doesn't personally see them together is just going to the other extreme from the Shane-favoring extremes you mentioned. How do we know Ilya hasn't been papped with other women? In real life, popular players' pictures with women can end up online because of fans. And even if Shane didn't know, Ilya will have had a reputation of having multiple lovers. That kind of gossip just gets around.
Whatever hurt Ilya felt was on him because they were not exclusive. This extends to Shane's side of things too!
Fandom gets offended on their behalf and blames the other, but the bottomline is that they were not together in the official sense.
When Shane decided not to meet up with him for 2 years, Ilya had not right to get offended because.... they were not together or exclusive.
When Ilya ghosted Shane, Shane's feelings were valid, but he was not really entitled to not being ghosted because... they were not together or exclusive.
And when Shane decided to see if he can have a normal relationship with a woman, Ilya's feelings of jealousy and hurt were valid but he was not wronged because... they were not together or exclusive.
The same goes for when Shane saw Ilya at the nightclub. Not together.
Don't assign blame to either of them. They share fault and TLG paints Ilya in sadder light because it's 80% from his depression-tinted POV. Everything feels worse and he's filled with resentment because of depression.
So, I never said Shane went out of his way to date a high profile person as a way to hurt Ilya or something. I adore Rose, and I love what she did for Shane. And I understand completely why he connected with her and started dating her. She was funny and sweet, invested and curious about him. She was also his last chance at a "normal" life. The one he always figured he'd have. The one that meant he wouldn't have to sacrifice anything or lose anything. She was safe and she made him happy.
But the fact still remains that Shane moved into a full-blown public relationship right after a moment of real intimacy between them, as opposed to Ilya who had random hookups, some of which may have gotten caught by the odd paparazzo. I never said Shane knew nothing about the women Ilya hooked up with, of course he did, it wasn't something that was hidden. I said he didn't have to see him in a full blown relationship which is reported on all the time and which has people saying "Oh, aren't they so in love?"
Those two situations are NOT the same.
Of course, I agree completely that neither of them were owed any kind of exclusivity, because they never had any commitment to each other until the cottage. That isn't my point.
My point is that so many people get mad at Ilya for hooking up with people, and then act like Ilya has the pain of his broken heart coming to him because of it. Ilya's heart isn't broken because he feels like Shane owes him some kind of loyalty. His heart is broken because he believes the man he loves more than anything has slipped away from him. Exclusivity has nothing to do with that.
In the exact same vein, Shane isn't hurt at the end of episode 2 because Ilya owes him something. He's hurt because he knows he's falling for him, and he doesn't think Ilya feels the same, and he knows how complicated and hard any sort of relationship with him would be. He's sad for the same reasons Ilya is sad, neither of them believe their relationship can be anything more than what it is.
I agree wholeheartedly that NEITHER of them should be villainized for their actions. They both hurt each other, they both get hurt, and they both want so much more and are heartbroken because of it. Both boys deserve all the grace in the world, and we should be sympathizing deeply with both of them, and I do.
My point in the original post is that I'm CONSTANTLY seeing (especially from reactors) people who give Shane ALL the grace he deserves, and give Ilya none.
As far as TLG goes, my point there was that I worry the idiocy of how some people see Ilya is going to continue on in S2 and the hate for Ilya will grow. Again, I know people are idiots about book Shane and claim he should have been more supportive of Ilya. But you're right, it's VERY hard to be supportive when you don't know the truth of the situation. But I worry that people will "understand where Shane is coming from" as they always do. And Ilya will get hit with, "This is all his own fault for not telling Shane!" as though talking about your depression is SO easy.
Anyway, I agree with you to a certain extent. Neither character DESERVES to be villified, but from what I've seen (and I'm ONLY talking about what I've seen) Shane rarely is, and Ilya always is.
