Hey! I liked your comment (so I upvoted lol) but I had to log off and couldn't answer before. This is long but you made me think too! Don't read if you don't want to.
I agree Sharleen didn't go far enough with Luke several times until now. And she does tend to play devil's advocate. I do appreciate that she called out some stuff and was at least was specific with words describing behavior, I like that she's detailed, that's very useful in these situations, but I've been disappointed too.
But the reactions to Luke have been so off in general and have made me want to pull my hair out that I'll be honest Sharleen's is one of the few recaps I tolerate anymore. How everyone has been reaction to Luke has been very interesting, and the most interesting thing is that it’s evolved for everyone. I don't watch every ep of every recap, but I've watched a few and sampled more and this is BN's take
Nick: he started the STRONGEST on Luke by miles. He disliked him from the get go. Episode 1, when everyone’s main beef with Luke was not giving Hannah a jacket Nick was writing tweets about Luke's religion and how he’d use religion to be an asshole because of the cross and the shower story. Nick was HARSH (deservedly so, but rare for ep 1). Then over the course of the season he started softening his view to: he believes what he says, he just seems immature and ignorant and terrible at communicating. And the shaming is not ok but it’s just unfortunate. He mainly blames his behavior on immaturity (which is a take I’ve heard in this sub a lot)
Bekah: went in VERY STRONG too; she was disgusted by Luke and if I remember correctly and the Luke hatred was their focus ep 1-3 before the actual terrible stuff. Then when the rugby date happened, weirdly, Bekah started semi-defending Luke and started bashing the men, Mike in particular. By eps 5-6 she didn't "like" Luke much, but she’s dismissive about his issues and toxicity and just blames it on him being dumb, and her focus has been on how the awful the men are and that BULLYING is the real issue this season, and the worst guy on this season is Garrett. I've had to stop watching because that perspective is NOT OKAY.
Rachel: the Strahan and Sarah recaps are shorter so they don't go into analysis. Rachel disliked Luke but she hasn't gone into any more detail, or debated these behaviors, or called it by the names (abuse, gaslighting). She doesn't like him and that's her opinion. I think treating this subject like it's nothing or like no woman would fall for him is a disservice for the discussion and becomes less informative. It happens to millions of people :( Still, better than defending him.
Ben H: horrible. Flip fops. Sometimes he defends, sometimes he doesn’t. I've only listened to 3 AF episodes, spread out, and I have no idea what he thinks of Luke. But I never have any idea what he thinks of anyone. Still insufferable.
Ashley: disliked Luke a lot but a bit linke Rachel doesn’t go deeper into it and never called out the abuse or explained the behaviors.. I also haven’t seen all of her multiple recaps. I know that recently she's also going the "Luke is getting bullied" angle so... I can't bring myself to watch.
So finally I do think Sharleen has been the one out of BN who has been farthest from giving me a heart attack. Also I just like her writing and analysis in general. I wish she hadn’t gone soft on him on a few episodes. You’re completely right. I'm very glad at her last post :)