that part in canon where jon tries to compare his feeding on people without their permission to daisy literally actually murdering people and basira gets mad at him because it’s “not the same thing” because “daisy didn’t know what she was doing” is like. The most blatant hint that yes, daisy, but ESPECIALLY basira are characters for cop criticism…. yes, the cop that murders people is obviously horrible, but what about the cop that watches it happen and swears that their partner doesn’t know what’s going on? who covers for them? who doesn’t try to stop them, unless it benefits them? idk how that’s any better and idk why the fandom is so focused on daisy as the evil cop when basira is… absolutely equally horrible
like literally this isn’t saying that basira is WORSE but that “cop murders people and that’s bad” is the most basic level of cop criticism. like yes we all know cops who murder people are bad. but the quiet partner who simply chooses to allow their partner do that. who defends it. who pretends that it’s okay. who has internalized the cop mentality of us vs them so thoroughly that to them stopping murdering people is betrayal. i think that one is… a more idk. less on the nose yet more prevalent irl type of cop
one thing i love about tma is that it constantly avoids the idea of a ‘redemption arc’ where the person redeemed is horrible and then dies nobly and is redeemed. instead, it forces people - like jon and daisy - to live with what they have done, and commit themsleves to being better and doing better.
it HURTS to live, and grow, and acknowledge what you have done, and that it was wrong, and decide to do better. it’s very hard. it’s easier to just decide you’re a monster, incapable of change, unfair to expect better of you. it hurts to be a person who has choices.
but tma doesn’t flinch from saying that its characters are people who have choices, and sometimes make bad and harmful ones, and i appreciate that.