diff --git a/Tusker/Screens/Timeline/TimelineTableViewController.swift b/Tusker/Screens/Timeline/TimelineTableViewController.swift
index c9fbcd0bd2..377aa5d69f 100644
--- a/Tusker/Screens/Timeline/TimelineTableViewController.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Screens/Timeline/TimelineTableViewController.swift
@@ -42,10 +42,12 @@ class TimelineTableViewController: DiffableTimelineLikeTableViewController<Timel
     }
     
     deinit {
-        guard let persistentContainer = mastodonController?.persistentContainer else { return }
+        guard let persistentContainer = mastodonController?.persistentContainer,
+              let dataSource = dataSource else { return }
         // decrement reference counts of any statuses we still have
         // if the app is currently being quit, this will not affect the persisted data because
         // the persistent container would already have been saved in SceneDelegate.sceneDidEnterBackground(_:)
+        // todo: remove the whole reference count system
         for case let .status(id: id, state: _) in dataSource.snapshot().itemIdentifiers {
             persistentContainer.status(for: id)?.decrementReferenceCount()
         }