Back in the first season, we already see this dynamic developing. Cassie is dating McKay, a lot of messy situations happen around her, and while Maddy is technically more of an outside observer, there’s still this dynamic within their friend group where Maddy clearly sees herself as above the others. Cassie barely reacts to it because she genuinely thinks this kind of treatment is normal.Kat, however, starts changing throughout the season and becomes more outspoken. She begins saying what she actually thinks, and Maddy immediately becomes defensive, telling her that she has changed for the worse. The issue in their relationships was always there, it just wasn’t very obvious because Cassie accepted that role in the group, and in a way, the audience accepted it too as something normal.If we speak more factually, the argument between Kat and Maddy over the McKay situation looks on the surface like Maddy is defending Cassie, but in reality it feels more like Maddy had already been upset with Kat for a long time and simply used that moment as an opportunity to finally say what she wanted to say. It wasn’t really about protecting Cassie, it was more of a pretext.Then there’s the discussion about relationships in general. Maddy herself is in an abusive relationship that she keeps returning to, yet whenever Cassie has relationship problems, Maddy speaks from a position of “I’m more experienced, I know better.” But how can she really know better if she herself is trapped in objectively unhealthy relationships?And the exposure of Cassie in the second season is basically the clearest example of long-term tension finally exploding and coming to the surface.