It wasn't the absolute most alpha move, but the way he treats robert like an annoying gnat and easily beats him in the short fight suggests an alpha personality. Also he's gotta get back into Lena's life somehow for the plot to work and while that intro isn't "perfect" in my eyes either it's effective enough and gives a smarter, more cautious Lena character a reason to fall for Axel's manipulations again. If he just came back and was a dick and Lena melted in front of him it wouldn't make Lena as interesting, even if it made Axel more macho I guess. It would make both characters less interesting to me. This felt like a real way a manipulative dominant ex could get his girlfriend back into his machinations. He apologizes, looks like he just wants to have closure, gets her guard down and then manipulates her again. It may not be quite as straightforward alpha as Jack from GGGB, but I think it's a more interesting manipulator with alpha qualities, and I like that idea
That's an interesting point of view. I agree that, of course, we'll continue to see Axel in the upcoming chapters. Considering what Evakiss said in her last post, I think he's gonna be the main villain of the story, and not Seymour Ward, but that's debatable.
I'm sure not he has an alpha personality, that's more a stalker attitude to me : showing up at Lena's work, going to see her parents, slipping old pictures in her notebooks, even showing up at the club to talk with Ivy (probably to set up a photoshoot, but after all, she knows how much he hurt Lena so I found it a bit strange).
And during the 2nd photoshoot, Seymour Ward just dismissed him by snapping his fingers (that's an alpha attitude to me). Axel is manipulative, that's for sure, but my opinion (and it's only my opinion) is that deep down, he's just a desperate 10-year old kid who can't take no for an answer and needs to be told that the world does not revolve around him. that's why I'll jump on any occasion Eva gives us to get rid of him.
About all this, I'd love to see some sort of chess game between Lena and him :
- She does not have enough wits --> she gets tricked and goes back with him
- She HAS enough wits : she quotes Nietzsche when dining with Ward, he works with her and helps her to become "the master", ultimate goal of Nietzsche's philosophy according to him. --> she does not fall for him and dumps him once and for all.
- Another way could be if Danny won the photography contest, and Ward hires him instead of Axel. It could be an interesting scene too.
Regarding Axel, I hate him (I think you understood it
) which means he's very well written and necessary to the overall plot, I totally agree with you on that.