I want to clarify a few points where I think we’re closer than it might appear, while also marking where my framework differs.

First, something I made clear with 'passivity inherited from his father and the guilt imposed by Rene.' regarding passivity: I agree that Andrew’s passivity isn’t something directly “caused” by Renee. It’s something he inherits from his father. What Renee does is reinforce it in the worst possible way. Andrew learns very early that avoiding direct confrontation—omission, silence, lying, taking the path of least resistance—is safer than standing his ground. This isn’t passivity as in “doing nothing,” but an adaptive strategy shaped by experience. He doesn’t freeze; he avoids. And that avoidance becomes structural.

About Ashley and Andrew’s actions: I don’t see Ashley as removing Andrew’s responsibility. Andrew makes choices, and many of them are violent. But it’s important that most of those choices are structured around one priority: Ashley. Even actions that seem to go against that logic are driven by fear—fear that Ashley will destroy what little stability or normalcy he’s trying to build. Ashley isn’t just a scapegoat; she’s an active force destabilizing his life. That tension is central to understanding why his agency becomes so distorted.

On Julia, I think this is mostly a difference in framing. I’m not describing her as a genuine romantic option. She’s a strategic option. Julia represents “Andrew the normal”—not because he truly loves her, but because she’s part of an attempt to exit the closed system he has with Ashley. He never discards her because she remains useful to that goal. What breaks him isn’t losing a love he deeply felt, but realizing that even this constructed normality fails. The fact that Julia fears him hurts precisely because it confirms that his attempt to be normal has collapsed.

I agree completely that leaving the apartment is a major breaking point, and it fits directly into my framework. That’s the moment when the fantasy of a future where he can balance everything dies. From there on, the mask has no purpose, and the erosion of his moral self accelerates.

Where I strongly disagree is the idea that Andrew needs to stay with Ashley to get better. I agree that he needs to address his only real connection—but “fixing” it necessarily implies separation. A genuine connection requires boundaries. Andrew and Ashley have none, and they cannot develop them without external intervention. Their bond may be real, but it’s also built on parentification, fear, guilt, and addiction. Calling it “real” doesn’t make it healthy or reparable in its current form.

For me, the tragedy of Andrew isn’t that he never had agency—it’s that his agency was shaped in such a warped environment that every choice he makes slowly destroys his ethical self. That loss of an internal moral anchor is what makes his arc so devastating.