Yes, I love that Ewen is so gentle in how he uses his strength. And I think that fits in with the pattern you mention where Ewen's relationship with Keith parallels & echoes his relationship with Alison: when Keith is his prisoner (even though he's a rather troublesome prisoner!) Ewen is always gentle and courteous to him, never using his strength to intimidate, just as he is gentle with Alison here when he's asking her to hurry up their wedding.

And yes on the contrast between Ewen's loving circle of friends and family versus Keith's emotional isolation! And that ties into the fact that Ewen is more open than Keith (generally speaking; as we saw last week, he can lie quite well when he needs to!): unlike Keith, he doesn't feel the need to be on guard all the time.

How DO you solve a problem like Lachlan? Clearly the problem is quite beyond poor Ewen!