The standard formulation of General Relativity is based on a geometrical framework where the spacetime manifold is endowed with a Lorentzian metric and its associated Levi-Civita connection. Since the affine structure is independent of the metric, it is possible to extend this geometrical set-up to allow for more general connections, thus giving rise to the metric-affine framework where the new actors are the torsion and the non-metricity. After discussing how these two objects can provide equivalent descriptions of GR, I will discuss how pathologies arise in modified theories of gravity along different directions in the metric-affine landscape. [please email a.held@imperial.ac.uk for zoom link or password]