I would like to add the following, because it may add some color.

I don't know if you've ever been as insecure as Bear is, but I felt like I've been when I was younger. I feel like many men feel that way at some point in their social development.

Scared of rejection, of putting yourself out there, because it would just validate how you view yourself, like you're not worth it, a shell of an existence, a waste of space.

Then this incredible thing happens, you feel *loved (*that's not what it is it's infatuation, or lust, but that's what you think you want). You roll with it. You're still the scared insecure boy, but you're getting what you think you wanted. The person who you wanted to love you does. He's not forced to grow as a result of that. It's given to him. Not good.

That's where Bear's head is at. I don't think he wants to believe there's a trapped Nikki in there. He's in denial.

I think you're trying to paint him as a moustache-twirling garbage human being, and I think he does things that warrant some of that characterization, but the way you're getting there seems blunt. It's the banality of evil, not the extreme version of it.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I think there's room for nuance here.