i just know if black was still around (if white hadn't replaced him) there is NO way yok would be brave and stupid enough to bring dan around . black would just beat the shit outta both of them and drop yok outside the garage like "don't come back"

I wouldn’t forgive Dan,

but i do understand him and his reason.

I wouldn’t forgive him because that betrayal has to hurt, but I would not hate him, he was in a rough position and had to make a choice, I can’t blame him for that

IT’S RIGHT THERE ON WHITE’S THOUGHTS

Not everyone can fight back

Look at that face :((

I have to confess tho, when Gram spit in his face I did laugh- it tOOK ME BY SURPRISE IM SORRY

The more I think about it, the more the Dan plotline is an incredible one, but one that needs so much more fucking time than it's actually been given

Dan is an incredible, fascinating character. He's someone who fucked up, did something awful without meaning to and regretted it immensely. He is someone who, from the start, wanted to do good. Who believed that he could create change in a fucked up system but fell prey to it anyways. He's a good person who did something terrible and has been eaten up by it, who desperately wanted to atone and receive ANY type of consequences but never did. He turns to art to channel his guilt and his anger at a system he hopes can still change, that he can still change it.

You can tell that he is actively a good person, and that he hates the corruption and power that plagues not just the police force but society as a whole.

Like, yes, acab, but we also have to acknowledge that there are people who DO want to change the system and they either get corrupted by the system or they leave it because they can't stand what the system makes them do. And that's what Dan is meant to represent. Someone who became a cop because he genuinely believed he could do good.

And then he meets Yok (whilst breaking into Tawi's house and doing political graffiti in it) and they get to know each other and Dan sees people actively DOING something, actively making a difference.

He and Yok fall in love, hard and fast. He shows the darkest parts of himself and his NEED to do good. Not just because he needs to atone but because he always wanted to do good in the first place, and he's realizing that the way he's gone about it this whole time wasn't doing any good at all.

And he goes and tries his best to help Yok and the gang but he finds out that the corruption is so much deeper. They know he's UNAR. They know where his parents live. He's realizing that no matter what he does, someone he loves is going to get hurt. Because again, good cops don't exist because they either get absorbed by the corruption, they leave, or well. They die.

I don't think Dan is going to die, but I think he's learning that he can no longer hold onto his dream of helping people if he's still a cop.

And I think this is an important story to tell.

But God do I wish there was more time for it.

Well said OP 👏👏👏

Not Me Rant Ep 13

I feel like I am watching a different show than other people or maybe my line of right and wrong is different because the Dan storyline has shown some things I find super disturbing in this fandom.

I will start by saying the way I view this show is layered and complex. There are no absolutes. No one is all good. No one is all bad and how we digest the story in of itself is a commentary on political strife. I have way too many thoughts but for today I will focus on Dan/Yok and why this story is so important if people can get past their hurt feelings and see the bigger picture.

Dan Is Not the Enemy The System Is

I can’t believe after watching this week’s episode I still see comments like “Dan betrayed them.” “I knew it was him all along” “I hate him for hurting Yok”. At face value I get it but what happen wasn’t that simple. To get to this point we have to go backwards. Yes Dan killed Sean’s father. I believe this act defined how some people see Dan and really, they have been waiting for him to be the big bad they have decided he is. Let’s look at the shooting, a rookie cop, a bad shot, he actually showed remorse, but the department covered it up. He didn’t intentionally take a life. Now should he have gone to jail for it? Yes!! So I will forever be upset about that since he did not he decided to fight injustice in his own way. He still believed in the system. That it could be fixed from within. It may be naïve but it’s not pure evil. This doesn’t make him bad it makes him idealistic. There were moments where both Black and White have shown idealism.

In any fight for justice there is no one way to achieve that goal. You need everyone, those who are willing to get their hands dirty and those who work within the system. Honestly if all parties worked together you have a better chance overturning the true enemy which are those at the top and system that keeps them in power. But you can’t yell a system so we choose to focus on people. Enter the Dan hater crew.

Fast forward to his confession on the roof with Sean. In that moment he was prepared to take his own life. Twitter was WILD with people saying they didn’t trust him cause he hesitated. Angry that Yok (who was in love with him) and Gram weren't supporting Sean’s thirst for vengeance. Taking a life is not the cure some of these people on line think it is. If you don’t think Sean would have been haunted by that then I question your humanity. Plus a dead cop on the roof would not have been good for anyone. If Gram and Yok had not been tough on Sean they would not have stopped that from happening.

Now we reach Ep 13. Even in this episode Dan was loyal till he was threatened. No Dan was not a secret agent. He never intended to turn his back on them. He did exactly what he promised. He thought he found someone he could trust. Yes he was naïve and too altruistic. We can all say he should know better but when you believe in the system it’s hard to see it any other way. The moment in which he betrayed them was after he was kidnapped. The old man threatened his family and he made a choice. He believed he was saving everyone’s life. That jail was better than death. He did not want Yok to die or his parents. Even after all of that when the time came he helped them escape putting himself and his parents in danger. How is he still getting slander? What should he have done? This was not a black or white situation. It’s like the trolley question. It’s an impossible choice. To act as if he’s some big bad who was “just what you expected” is so short sighted.

Why Aren't We Talking about the OLD MAN?

OP... 👏👏👏💖💖✊✊✊✊

OP said everything. The system is the enemy and it takes everyone working together to stop it.

And its amazing how there is more hatred for Dan than questions about that old man. Like.. I know Dan has done a lot of wrong stuff, but it's been clear since episode 1 that he isn't the bad guy. Smh people keep forgetting the UNAR aspect of his character 😥😥

I had a sad thought. What if Dan dies and then Sean (and maybe Yok?) takes up the mantle of UNAR, thus carrying on the legacy of his father? Because UNAR was birthed because Sean's father died and from Dan's guilt and need to right his wrongs.. what if that is passed on to the son of the man for whom it started?

Nooooo you're gonna make me cry 😭

I'm sorry. 😭😭😭

But seriously things don't look good for Dan. 😔

I think I need to stay out of the Not Me tags this week lol.

Between Twitter and Tumblr, I’m like…ARE WE WATCHING THE SAME SHOW??? 

Folk saying Gram and Yok invalidated Sean’s feelings when he was facing the cop that killed his dad, Dan, and I’m like SEAN HAD DAN HOLD A LOADED GUN TO HIS HEAD TO SHOOT HIMSELF. Sean was out of line; Gram spoke to Sean in he way that would reach him.

And then folk saying that Gram BETRAYED Black. Like HOW??? Black broke up with Eugene; she was no longer Black’s girlfriend. It irritates me when I see people still calling Eugene Black’s girlfriend. I’m like, NO. Also she never gave Gram an actual answer as to whether or not she would go out with him, so her wanting to dance with him wasn’t odd.

Seriously…I get that Black and Sean storylines makes us emotional, but a lot of people are missing the details here.

I honestly didn't like how the Sean scene was handled and wish that White was there to provide him some support while also helping him keep a clear head (as much as you can keep with your father's killer standing in front of you).

But I guess that wouldn't have matched the story's sequence. Still it seemed very odd that the next day he is shown to be laughing alongside Yok. I'm not saying that Yok and Gram shouldn't have stopped him. No. Sean had to be stopped from making Dan kill himself. But where's the hurt? Where's the feeling of betrayal? Because Sean and Yok are best friends. The situation between them is now complicated as hell, especially with Sean knowing that Yok knew the truth and kept it from him. It's a complex situation and their next scene together just doesn't match it (maybe there's been some discussions in between, maybe they'll show it to us or not, but for now the transition from 'my bf killed your dad' to 'let's laugh at the fact that White and Black are twins' seems very odd).

I think with Gram, there's a terrible mob mentality going on which sweeps up people and at the end everyone is just repeating the same 'oh he's so bad' mantra. It's tiring and I've had to scroll past many toxic posts that give me a headache. Before passing judgement, we must look at things from the perspective of other characters and how the storyline is impacting them. Yes, I love Black, he's my child of the dark night and I will die for him... I kind of forgot where I was going with this, head empty, only Black and White twin shenanigans here. Byeeeeee

They could’ve changed just a few things about the Dan and Sean scene to make it work better, tbh.

They could’ve written things to pop off and Yok get between them when it seemed like Dan was really gonna kill himself because that really was too much for Sean to try to ask. But still not try to invalidate Sean’s legitimate feelings with Gram’s proselytizing which felt very out of place since Gram and Sean frankly don’t seem close enough to carry the weight of that kind of talk. 

Now White could’ve showed up there and calmed Sean down to help them mediate. Especially since White finally leveled with Black about not wanting to give up on Sean and the boys so him coming to the gang the next morning would make sense…

But my personal choice would be Sean storms off after not resolving things with Dan and meets up with White alone to actually unpack his trauma about learning that his friend’s boyfriend is the man that killed his father with White in a safe space. Maybe they do this while they do the mission to take pics of the drugs. Sean then comes to a decision to allow Dan to help with this last mission while not fully forgiving him yet because it’s simply too soon for that.

Then we also get an after scene with Dan and Yok dealing with the fact that Dan almost blew his own brains out and actually confront Dan’s suicidal ideation and help him work through healthier ways to repent.

Then Sean and White come back to the group to give an update about the spy mission and there is when he tells Dan his decision to let him help take down Tawi. Sean can make it clear that everything is not forgiven and forgotten but the least Dan can do is help take down Tawi and then have Sean demand that Dan expose the truth about what the police did so it’s no longer a dirty secret.

After they come to that uneasy conclusion, then they can reveal the fact that White is a twin and use that to reveal that Tawi and Todd actually connected and reveal that Black was in a coma this entire time, thereby connecting the two major plots of the show as the team realize they are fighting the same war from two fronts.

I go back and forth on whether Black should also be there for the last scene. On one hand, keeping the narrative integrity of Black pushing everyone away and going Lone Wolf means not having him in the scene. 

On the other hand, we could’ve had this be the moment when Black realizes that he needs his friends and his brother’s help to complete his mission of taking down Todd and Tawi. Black could’ve been turned around on this stance during the talk with White on the pier when he realizes that White is not going to stop and that doing things his own way with Todd (and with Eugene, White, & Sean tbh) has not been working. Perhaps Gumpa and White’s way of being a team and working collaboratively is the better play.

At the end of the day, we got what we got, but I’ve had a couple hours to think about it and wanted to get out some rough thoughts on the situation.

Thank you so much OP for writing this. I did not like how the scene was handled and how Sean's feelings were just completely pushed aside. It just left a bitter taste in my mouth (and no I don't agree with him trying to get Dan to kill himself). But Sean desperately needed someone in his corner, who would care for him and hold him while also stopping him. Basically, I wish White was in that scene so bad. 😔

And yes. Dan needs therapy. He needs to tell the truth and may be leave the police force and then he needs counselling 😢. Honestly, so many characters in this show need it, starting from our twins Black and White (White has suicidal tendencies from being separated from Black, that much is clear, whatever he says and Black.. oh where do I even start with my poor boy who treats his life as disposable, who cares for everyone but doesn't seem to care about himself) and then Sean who's channelling all his trauma of losing his parents into this anger and violence that is simply not good in the long run. Yes, White makes him feel better and makes him want to live, but that's not healthy for their relationship. Because relationships cannot substitute therapy or make our mental health get magically better. They might help for a while, but how long will it be before you regress or get triggered and your trauma comes back full force?

FRIENDLY REMINDER: WE DON’T HAVE MUCH LONGER WITH THEM

I will NEVER get over the fact that Yok flirts with a man that's like 10 years older than him and he's actually so good at it???

Yok, write a book or something, I need to know HOW?

Reveal your secrets Yok. 😈😈😈

I think we should collectively give First a round of applause for his acting because Yok’s giddy gay gaze has made all of us go feral

I know right! His gaze makes me want to DIE from the feels 😍😍😍😍😍