From the stained glass tributes to true love’s kiss, you can’t deny that Mal and Ben have a perfectly magical Disney romance. With their relationship at the heart of the Descendants franchise, the King of Auradon and the leader of the VKs’ relationship screams OTP. But after Descendants 2 saw Dove Cameron working with her cute co-star turned IRL boyfriend Thomas Doherty, the shipping wars have gotten vicious. And now that we’re rewatching the Disney Channel sensation (over and over again), it kind of seems like Mal has romantic energy with a lot of characters in the film.
Incidentally, we were forewarned about the tension between Mal and Harry Hook ahead of time. "You know that scene with the hook almost got cut because the chemistry was so intense that [producers] were like, 'The audience is gonna think this is about Mal and Harry,'" Dove exclusively told J-14. The solution was that a backstory was conjured up about Mal and Harry having dated, Mal breaking his heart, and Harry having joined up with Uma as revenge.
Scandalous! Obviously this is the perfect kind of drama to fuel fanfiction for days.
But it doesn't end there. Backpedal and re-examine the Descendants 2 pairings that may have shook the #Bal ship… just a little.
Mal/Harry
We already touched upon this but let’s just briefly throw it out there again: that salon scene was sizzling.
"Still running errands for Uma or do you actually keep what you steal?" Mal asks when she catches a glimpse of her old BF, chewing her gum with a playful lilt in her voice. Uh, this isn’t a taunt, this is a flirt.
Harry responds in kind, literally leering down at the pint-sized villain babe and telling her Uma will never give Mal back her old territory. And then he legit strokes her newly magenta hair and says, "I can hurt you" before Mal grabs his arm and bounces back with, "Not without her permission, I bet."
AND THEN THEY SHARE THE SAME GUM. OMG.
Dude. There is heat here. It's palpable. Dove is flat-out coquettish with her put-downs, Thomas keeps his voice at a sultry low level, and even if we don’t expect to see Mal and Harry reunite on screen, we bet those two crazy kids will be together for awhile.
Mal/Uma
But then there’s this. When Mal and Uma meet up (Mal entering the restaurant with a well-executed “I’m ba-ack”) things are similarly tense. Sure, the hatred and resentment shine through here, especially on Uma’s end, but they’re still vibing in a weird way.
Again, this is probably credited to the way Dove delivers all of her lines, how she remains cool against Uma’s unfiltered loathing.
“You know I’ve dreamed of this,” Uma giggles. “You wanting something from me, and watching you squirm like a worm on a hook.”
“I’m so flattered that you dream of me,” Mal says. “I haven’t given you a thought since I left.” WHOA.
Sick burn aside, we think it’s at this point that the Mal/Uma ship is born. Uma so clearly feels rejected by the ways the Vks left her to rot on the Isle, and it feels like she’s especially salty towards Mal. You know what they say: love and hate are both birthed from passion. Suffice to say it’s a weird pairing, even weirder when the tentacles get involved, but hey, who are we to judge?
Mal/Evie
Ok. Like. We just. Alright, listen guys, we all already know that Mevie is very much a thing to the point where even Carlos points out they're always huddling up and running away together, but this movie really just hit us on the head with it. TO RECAP SOME OF THE REASONS:
A. Mal and Evie’s entire dress-fitting scene, just because it’s adorable and filled with a lot of stolen glances, such as:
B. The way Evie immediately runs to Ben about Mal’s disappearance and conjures up a sort of rescue mission.
C. How Evie is the first person to want to talk to Mal after Mal’s confrontation with Ben at the old VK HQ.
D. When they walk arm-in-arm together and Evie says she really thought Mal and Ben were endgame. Yeah, okay.
E. “I’m not coming back, Evie. I can’t. I really tried to tell you. But I mean, I saw the way your face lit up when we walked into those dorm rooms for the first time. And I couldn’t spoil that for you.” “If you’re staying, I’m staying, too.” Omg.
F. WHEN THEY LITERALLY SING A LOVE BALLAD TO EACH OTHER AND IT’S THE BEST SONG IN THE WHOLE MOVIE:
Okay, so maybe some of us here are a little biased. We also get the counter-argument that Mal and Evie are just friends, and Sofia Carson herself has a platonic read on it.
“It’s such a beautiful song about two sisters, which is what Mal and Evie are,” Sofia told Access Hollywood. We mean, that’s fine, not every close bond has to equate to romance, female friendship is very important, too.
But also, stop.
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