I think the issue I have with Pike’s SNW concept is how hard it’s focussing on the aesthetics of disability - i.e., what should be the least frightening parts. Part of this might just be a lazy attempt at showing rather than telling, but it looks like Pike is primarily terrified of ending up in a (60s attempt at creating a) powered wheelchair, and of becoming disfigured through facial burns. So far, they’ve shown us Pike seeing his future self in reflective surfaces and recoiling from it, and it feels like such a horror trope.
I don’t mean to imply there’s nothing frightening about disability. I walk with a stick and am in pain 90% of the time, amongst other problems. My symptoms are getting worse, and I am frightened about what will come next. The things I’m frightened about, though, have nothing to do with aesthetics. I’m worried about how I’ll cope with the pain getting worse. I’m worried I’ll need to significantly change my lifestyle to accommodate a different activity level, and lose the ability to do some of the things I love. I’m worried I’ll end up in a wheelchair, yeah, but not because I’m frightened of the fucking chair, just because it’d mean I’d have to move somewhere without stairs and consider whether or not everywhere I want to go is accessible.
Show us Pike reliving the pain of the accident, flinching away from flames, since he’s said he lived it all out in his vision of the future. Show him pointing out all the doorways and steps he’d be prevented from going through in the chair, talking to other physically disabled people, planning in advance how he’s going to cope with this when it happens. Show us him musing on how much longer he’ll be able to live out in the woods riding horses. Just please, Please quit equating physical disability to death, and having his future face haunting him like a fucking monster