Okay, this is interesting. I also watched that recent Simon Barry interview where he answered some questions and one of those was about Shannon and Mary. Basically he was like, no, I wasn’t really intending anything romantic, but watching it back, I see it and you know, actors can change how something comes out. I get that, there’s the writing and then there’s the acting and sometimes we lean on one or the other or a mix.
Here, I think the intention behind the writing had been to kickstart Mary’s arc through losing Shannon, so their relationship had to be highlighted separately from the others, so we get the ILYs specifically between them, I think someone else, Vincent (? or Lilith?) referred to them having a special relationship, obviously Mary at the start of the show not wanting to give up on her, going to Shannon’s room and being familiar in it. And then that would drive her vengeance and protectiveness over Ava, enough to fight Lilith. So that was the writing and as always, when you get a really strong f-f friendship even on paper, it’s like, wellll, if that were a guy and a girl… >_>
BUT THEN, I think the acting TOTALLY pushed it over the edge. The nuzzle at the start? It just all came across as more romantic than intended, so yeah, to answer your question, yes, absolutely, I think so. And I think in a world without BYG tropes and without having to worry that confirming it explicitly would make people then focus on Mary’s sexuality and how that was represented, they would have probably been like, yeah, they were together.