Spoilers for Centaurworld Seasons 1 and 2! You should watch it if you’re gonna because I need to talk about it’s whole deal now that I’ve finished it. It’s worth your time, though maybe don’t get a Netflix subscription JUST to watch Centaurworld alone. Though, tbh, I wouldn’t regret spending my money to do just that. It’s up to you.

I managed to finish Centaurworld just in time for my Netflix subscription to end. I mean, I probably still had time on the clock but it wasn’t much when I finally finished the final episode (I spent a lot of time that afternoon managing my workshop, crafting projects, and some weekly tasks in Final Fantasy 14, so it was difficult to focus enough to finish it). Overall, while there were a few beats that could have landed better in the final episode with a little more time or a single additional expisode, none of them didn’t land. I mean, the only thing from the whole show that didn’t land was the episode about the birdtaurs and that’s mostly because they proved largely inconsequential and could have easily been covered in half and episode, which would have left room at the end of the show for the stuff I actually wanted more of. Overall, though, it was a great ride from start to finish and every bit of narrative foreshadowing and setup they did paid off. No Sea of Stars fumbling here. An absolute delight full of fun little songs–a few of which just live in my head now–and a whole lot of heart. Which is absolutely crucial to this story considering how most of it is about love, after all. It’s not exactly a love story, at least not in the way you’d think if I described it as such, but it’s kind of a love story. A love story that played out years ago, leaving a pair of broken worlds in its wake.

That’s one of the things you don’t see addressed often in these kind of “I must reunite with the person I love (not always romantically)!” type stories. Recklessly pushing forward in pursuit of your goal, even in the name of love, doesn’t excuse what damage you might leave in your wake. We see the first hints of this is season 1, as the protagonist, the horse named Horse, rushes to get all the pieces of the key she is told is her only route home. She hurts feelings, upsets delicate balances, disrupts more than one society, and generally leaves a mess in her wake as she often resorts to theft to acquire what she needs. We see this recklessness reflected in the hints at the backstory of the villain of season 1, The Nowhere King, who speaks of love and longing and implies the lengths to which those things might drive you–might have driven him–in the confrontation with a mysterious woman who has haunted the show since the third episode. And then it all comes home to roost in the second season as we see Horse take responsibility for their actions and while she might have some more lessons to learn, it is clear that she is fostering healthy relationships.

Compared to The Nowhere King, who lets his love warp him into something unrecognizable, something destruction and painful, in the name of seeking acceptance, it makes it pretty clear what is actual love and what is unhealthy obsession. I mean, the Elktaur who’d eventually become both The Nowhere King and The General (who I expected to have a heel turn, but not quite like this, though it is so clear in retrospect) literally changed himself into two people, separated both halves of himself, in order to be accepted by Humans. As the Elk eventually points out, when he suggests they undo the separation, they didn’t even try to see if she’d love them as they were before pursuing such drastic measures to fulfill their obsessive need for acceptance.

That’s not love. Love does not lie, perpetuate horrible, decades-long wars, and lash out when it is hurt. Possesiveness does. Obsession does. Love accepts and forgives, which is something we see more from The Nowhere King who has hurt both worlds with his lashing out in pain than we see from The General who does unspeakable things in order to maintain his position and place by the side of the woman he is obsessed with, that he’s hidden the truth from for over a decade by the time his scheme is revealed. Compared to the love Horse bears for Ryder, that the various centaurs bear for each other, that all these found families have built even as they’ve struggled and butted heads, it is pretty clear that the show is trying to make a statement about the lengths to which you will go to satisfy what you feel are your needs and how even a true love (again, not necessarily romantic) is not worth endangering all of existence. Which feels like a bit of an obvious statement to make, but the show slowly hones that in from being broad–about endangering existence–to being incredibly specific–going against the wishes of someone you love in order to do the right thing. All set in a fantastical world that never demands you take it seriously but slowly builds itself into something you would struggle to take lightly unless you weren’t paying attention.

None of this should be surprising to anyone with basic empathy and their decency intact, but it feels more necessary than ever to have stories reinforcing those kinds of basic ideas. We live in a world being torn apart by people who don’t care at all about other, who couldn’t muster up a shred of empathy until they are directly suffering–and that’s even assuming they actually take it to heart and don’t exploit their tragedy for personal gain. We need more stories reminding us all what it means to love each other, the important of finding and maintaining love, and the limits we must place on where we will let our own interests and emotions drive us. I’m not saying everyone should watch Centaurworld to get that, but I think we need more stuff like it, not less: good, basic messages wrapped in an eye-catching wrapper. It’s just also a bonus that this particular one is perhaps a masterclass in narrative structures and foreshadowing.