On Themis [6.4 SPOILER]

[Brinne]

Even putting aside glorious FEMINISM, the other aspect of what's consistently frustrating about the common media depictions of "a parent/mother's love always bears out in the end..." or what have you, is god, how infuriating and awful must it be for victims of that kind of abuse to have it reinforced that they should also factor in that deep deep down, their manipulative and abusive parents loved them, were really just putting on an evil face or hurting them for their sake, etc, etc, all the tropes we're so used to seeing?

It therefore really did feel remarkably good and brave and gutsy for the narrative to not just have Athena being herself, but also have Erichtonios confront that question head on, get the answer he got, and then be empowered to respond (with unabashed venom) in the way that he did, overcoming her influence and claiming his personhood and agency for himself.

As far as Lahabrea goes, I was sort of charmed (in that delicious Athena way) by the way she obviously was deeply disappointed that her husband (and later, us) simply didn't get it, because she truly sees her own perspective as obviously natural and reasonable, and is eager to have others agree with her. Part of what's terrifying about people like Athena is that there's something... not genuine, but also not fully fake, in their behavior in being interested in having someone as a partner or colleague, but also being able to flippantly and instantly reject you and throw you away like trash as soon as you "disappoint" them. In a way, I think that can destroy you even more thoroughly than if someone was just hateful and cruel from the get-go.