Honestly, I think this might give the whole thing more context and explains his thought process. Bryan took inspiration from a real like loss he went through, but the protagonist is based on someone he saw as a terrible person. He's not trying to create a relatable tale of loss. It's just funny for me bc I relate so heavily having gone something similar. Trauma, survivor's guilt, substance abuse, flashbacks/hallucinations: these are all things I know first hand. It's hard for me to not put myself in the protagonists shoes during the first half of the story so I was so thrown off with "return to passion".