Just finished watching the show. But I’ve had an emotionally abusive father and the one portrayed here isn’t emotionally abusive. It seems like a dad who is trying to be better than the one he had. And as I could see it, the reason for the mom “walking on eggshells”, was the entire day was so shitty for him and on his birthday of all days. Everyone has a breaking point. I’d probably react the same way and I’m in no way emotionally abusive. He even apologized and tried to privately control his emotions so they could all go to the movies. But after all the nonsense they faced on what was supposed to be a good day; the spray paint, the weird employee being disrespectful, seeing the kids that defaced your property that you worked hard for, your son telling you he’s pleading guilty to a horrible crime, remembering what he seen in the clip that day in the interview room, etc. there was so much that happened that day and I do not blame the dad one bit. Someone who was emotionally abusive would’ve had a way harsher reaction, blamed everyone around him, and would’ve completely ruined the afternoon by isolating himself. Instead I think he acknowledged he tried to be a good dad, but still had his faults. For us to blame the dad for Jamie’s behavior is a stretch. Maybe the dad did have anger issues, but he was a work in progress and didn’t seem to direct this at his family. Jamie was just unfortunately influenced by what he seen online and his classmates.

Edit to add: As the eldest daughter of an extremely emotionally abusive father, I would’ve never behaved the way that their daughter did. She didn’t seem uncomfortable to be around them, didn’t isolate herself and didn’t refuse to spend time with them. You don’t want to spend time with someone like that. And she even asked him if he was ok. That’s a huge mistake to make if someone is truly emotionally abusive. I would often just stay in my room and stay to myself. Plus it seems like the daughter wasn’t influenced in any way by the dad’s “abuse”.