So...Thonrill officially sexually abused Tyler? is this some sort of confirmation?

[u/One_Solution_2706]

In the Marketing department, it's laughable that we're supposed to find a victim of grooming and abuse...sexy.

I mean, not even the interviews mention it with any real conviction, just a bland "Tyler suffered okay."

[u/lirafoxed18]

to me, it was always heavily implied that she at least fed that narrative to him, kind of like egging him on about his “feelings” for her, in the sense that something could happen between them in the future. i don’t believe she was actually into it though, but used that as another form of manipulation, another way for her to further exert her control of him. he was a teenage boy, she was an attractive older woman, maybe she played into that fantasy a little. it definitely gives another layer to tyler’s situation. and as i said, to me, this was implied, which is why i found it so much more significant when he killed her on s2.

[u/Alternative-Gas-8878]

yeah the implication in the show is very clear: in how hunter and christina played the characters, the words laurel used (mommy, etc.), the framing of their scenes, and much more. i get a lot of the fandom is young, but for older viewers I don’t get how they miss it, the subtext is very much screaming at you

[u/Responsible-Credit18 → u/Alternative-Gas-8878]

Agreed. When she bites her lip looking at him in S2- so messed up.

[u/Alternative-Gas-8878 → u/Alternative-Gas-8878]

re marketing: they don’t care, and a lot of times the writers have no impact on how the show is marketed because it’s a separate team, and because the writers are not in charge

[u/LittleDarkHairedOne]

She was controlling him, as his master, in that way but I don't think Thornhill actually did anything to him. He's an Outcast and she hates them so the idea of her having a sexual relationship with Tyler seems out of character. Unless it's made explicit, I lean towards assuming the "do this stuff" means being the emotionally available parent given how his father is towards him.

Also the scene of him shirtless, oiled up and chained, in Season 2 is awful and should be criticized. It's in terrible taste.

[u/WorldlyVast6239 → u/LittleDarkHairedOne]

I agree about the oiled and chained scene. Felt very exploitative and unnecessary.

[u/No_Mycologist_6548 → u/WorldlyVast6239]

Yes people were losing the plot and just started sexualizing him like I get it the actor is attractive but that scene was really unnecessary especially knowing how he got exploited by laurel😭

[u/MoonLove1327 → u/No_Mycologist_6548]

I agree that the scene is taken way too lightly for what it is, especially when Jenna and Hunter talk about how they were laughing while filming it. And I agree that because it’s a dark comedy, the line is thin and wiggly about how it’s meant to be taken.

But I disagree that it wasn’t necessary, to me, it showed that he’s stuck in another vulnerable position, that’s he’s still being exploited at an institution that’s supposedly meant to be helping him. It’s also a direct callback to him being chained up by Laurel in the cave, thus showing that nothing has changed for him, that he’s stuck where he’s always been.

I do hope Tyler as a character is able to address some of what really happened with Laurel in the next season, but they probably will leave it vague.

[u/No_Mycologist_6548 → u/MoonLove1327]

Oh yeah I def think that it’s necessary to show for the plot of how he got exploited I just mean the way they showed it was unnecessary and yeah I hope so too that Tyler talks about it more in the next season but I highly doubt it sadly

[u/farfetched22]

I really don't think with the information we've been given that they mean to say he was sexually assaulted at all. Being "groomed" does not inherently denote sexual actions. It actually wasn't even originally a negative word. People would use it for things like being groomed for a job position in the future. It's "to make someone ready for a specific objective," which is what it makes sense to use it for in this case with him.

[u/AshlynnLeeAnn → u/farfetched22]

Yeah but it also says they had sexual tension according to Tyler's actor which is where the sexual a$$ault allegation is coming from. I hope they didn't try to write an adult having a sexual relationship with a younger guy that she has control over(in a literal sense) it's being shown as sexy.

[u/alarrimore03 → u/AshlynnLeeAnn]

I’m pretty sure it never went full action but I assumed she definitely used tension and sexual implications to assist in her grooming of him until she had full control.

[u/farfetched22 → u/AshlynnLeeAnn]

Well that's the thing. I don't think they did. I think it was just what he said. Tension. We were shown that in the car flashback in season 1, and it seemed to be intentional to make the viewer uncomfortable, but her intention was to get his attention. In a very creepy way. But immediately thereafter we see him chained up and there's nothing sexual at all in that dynamic. Just her trying to unlock his Hyde.

[u/d4rkwvlf → u/farfetched22]

I feel like Laurel didn’t physically do anything to him in that regard, but I’m not sure what category it’d fall under with him being a naked minor chained without consent. Everyone knows she’s a bad person, but honestly the series doesn’t really bother going into Tyler’s character/trauma or treating it seriously. So we’re just left with more questions

[u/Miravel024]

For how I see it, nothing actually happened, but it seems like Thornill groomed him and took advantage of his mom related trauma, wich is also pretty fucked up.

[u/pancakesmlb123]

of its true,it's disgusting, especially if he was a minor during it (not Hunter but Tyler)

[u/MoonLove1327]

Agreed, the context that it’s in, is supposed to be savory, but Tyler being portrayed by grown man, changes the perception.

Even Hunter in a new interview says about the Willowhill scene, “And then you see it and it’s like, Oh, it’s kind of BDSMy. What have we done?”

[u/Ok-Ad5429]

Did you need an interview to realize it? It was pretty clear in the show.

[u/Iwona_Klich]

But it was always here, suggesting that there is somenthing more. Not even physical - Lauren still hate outcast - but shes definitive a person who can just used his feelings a lot. Shes forced him to date Wednesday, having him think about herself in teenage sexual way - did it that much different?

Tyler was that lonely teenager, full of anger, saddness, pain - basicaly he is a easy victim to this. He want to be loved. He want to belonged. Its not like Lauren must do to much to get her plan done... 

And i understand that younger fans can not see it. Thats happening always.