This queer relationship is not incidental but the foundational emotional and narrative driver, propelling the plot through explicit sex scenes, steroid use, murder cover-ups, and surreal body horror elements. Director Rose Glass and the cast, including openly queer Stewart, frame the film in interviews as an 'anti-love story' challenging stigmas around muscled women and delivering 'diverse queer stories' for mainstream audiences, embedding progressive normalization of LGBTQ+ romance in a traditionally macho crime-thriller genre.

Subplots amplify this with critiques of abusive men (Lou's brother-in-law beats her pregnant sister) and controlling patriarchs (Ed Harris's arms-dealing father), layering in anti-toxic masculinity undertones. While executed as pulpy entertainment, these elements intrude as ideological fixtures that prioritize queer identity exploration and feminist subversion over pure genre thrills, compromising broader appeal by making non-traditional sexual dynamics the inescapable core rather than organic backstory. Limited audience backlash exists, but the film's niche success masks how its activist intent alienates traditional viewers seeking unadulterated crime-romance escapism.