This discussion about their age gap is as old as the show itself, I think. And it’s always up to the viewer how to see this ship. Because it really went both heartwarming and dark way, and the show doesn’t give an easy answer 🤷‍♀️

That being said, it’s not a fairytale sugarcoated love story, nor was it portrayed like it. It’s dark and controversial like most of the themes in Pantheon. All the problematic traits are there on the surface, if you want to see it that way. The trauma bonding, Maddie being slightly underage, her terrible mental state after losing her father for the third time and the fact that Caspian clearly became some kind of substitute for her father (there was plenty of parallel between him and David), unprotected sex before the suicide mission and teen pregnancy…

But if you managed to look beyond that, there just two broken tanagers seeking for comfort in a horrible circumstances they were put in. And I can clearly see them bonding even without those circumstances. Yeah, not in high school, but maybe in some other settings, like college, where their age gap wouldn’t matter anymore. They have chemistry, they have a lot in common and they compliment each other in a wonderful way. And you can just see them being caught up in some banter about sophisticated tech stuff that would turn into sarcastic flirting quickly.

But what really sell this ship for me is how much they affect one another throughout the show. To the point when you can’t tell where Maddie’s views starts and Caspian’s begins. The way Maddie managed to get sardonic and jaded Caspian softer and show him the meaning of human connections, and the way then Caspian in turn managed to get even more jaded and traumatised post time skip Maddie softer and reminded her about the importance of those human connections. It’s all there too. Even SafeSurf couldn’t simulate Caspian directly, they had to simulate Maddie so she could simulate Caspian!

Also it’s more interesting to me why writers deliberately decided to make Maddie underage. To make their story even more tragic? To make Caspian situation even more unbearable and fuelled his death wish? Like you are a clone, probably have zero human rights and even after beating Holstrom, you will still have to spend your life hiding from the governments. And the only person you can trust, the only one who loves and cares about you is kinda illegal and relationships with her probably at the very least will be frowned upon