I would have to watch the scene again, but while I thought much was wrong with their behaviors, I did not see anything non-consensual. He was conflicted between going all the way through and finish in her and doing what he could to pull out and in the way I saw it, chose to keep going and then ask her why. I didn’t read the book so I don’t have the full picture of the scene other than what I interpreted. But at no point does he say “no” or uses any outright rejection word or gesture.

I also didn’t think Simon bluntly lied, but he never quite explained what cannot give you meant or care to check if she understood or explained why he wouldn’t have children, and instead let Daphne believe what she understood of it, which is as wrong as lying. But he didn’t not say he could not physically have children.

I do think she tricked him into marrying him and not the other way around and then tried to change his mind. But other than dealing with troubling memories that were holding him back, I didn’t think he deep down wanted to walk away from the options that life was putting in front of him. I actually think that’s the whole point of the story.

The show does subtly mix current times issues with history, but this is set in a time were men clearly dominated and did as they pleased, so I don’t think it would have been a case of her overpowering him and manipulating him from a physical point of view. It did have a few flaws in the way some aspects of the story and relationship were brought to life and put together, but rape was not one of them in my opinion.

Great writing though, I definitely enjoyed reading it and seeing a different point of view that challenged my understanding and interpretation