#and your trauma and pain bleed out of you in ungentle ugly ways

[keepthetension]

been in the Bad Brain place lately, so i've been struggling to finish writing about why chef mhon's character makes sense to me, because of

a) the long-term effects of the WORLD SHAKING trauma of your life partner abandoning you AND of being unable to feed yourself and your children b) being unable to process said trauma much (if at all), as you then hit the ground running to make a living in the aftermath (in a new city with no support and with who knows what marketable skills) c) the stigma of being a divorced woman in a society that will blame you for being the reason your marriage failed in the first place, and will also blame you for any way your children step out of line d) the difficulties of achieving success as a working mother when employers see women as flakier, less-worthy hires, especially in a male-dominated industry

and how no amount of money or stability will ever seem like enough, and how difficult it is to trust anyone plus how easy it is to see everything as a potential danger to the stability you fought tooth and nail for, and how it makes sense for a traumatized person who never had the time and support to work through their trauma to project all kinds of things onto their kids

but apparently she just kinda. walked it off?

#last twilight the series #not trying to say that the way she treats her sons is justified because she's traumatized! #just felt that these aspects of her life were missing from the general discussion about her behavior #and like i WAS kinda disappointed mhok's trauma never came up again so i guess i should be glad that was foregrounded this ep instead #and i didn't think she'd like FORBID forbid day from seeing mhok given her relative chill at seeing them together at the end of ep 10 #just like. would've been nice to get a bit more of the journey she went on #ANYWAY there's no need for me to finish the long-ass post i was writing! so here's a basic summary instead! #again i am NOT saying she gets a free pass because trauma #just fascinating that there's sympathy for some kinds of trauma but not others. and some expressions of pain and trauma but not others #and i get it! she's not just making decisions for herself so ofc the audience reaction will be different! #but i feel like this show is about grief and trauma and support and recovery #and chef mhon is an excellent example of what happens when you DON'T have the support you need for recovery #and your trauma and pain bleed out of you in ungentle ugly ways #(i suppose the other example is rung though that is a COMPLEX situation that is NOT simply about lack of support)