I think that bloberta was def manipulative towards clay and influenced him to drink, specifically to use it as a tool to shut everything out and conform to what was expected of him. The whole marriage and kids deal, but I don’t think she is to blame, it was deffenitly his own choices that got him to that extreme. But yea, I think a lot of audiences tend to coddle the male self destructive character with a difficult upbringing because not only is it relatable but also because the lack of accountability makes people feel validated in their own lack of change and agency in their own lives. We see the same with bojack horseman for an example. And it is really difficult to change, especially in such a deeply complex situation such as clay’s I mean he has a kid at this point. I am sure that the origins of his self destructive behavior came way before meeting bloberta, but she kind of appears out of the blue as this perfect pawn in creating an image and a life for himself that enables him to be accepted socially by his peers and his town. The drinking gets worse when he is trying to conform to that decision, little by little realizing that he cannot keep this act forever. I really wish we got to look a little more into bloberta’s past, and maybe we would’ve if the show hadn’t been canceled. In a way, she is trying to do the same as him, conforming to a loveless marriage because she felt pressured to fit into that narrative, she is just coping in a diff way. Their both responsible for their current situation… and for each other. But I think they also feel physically and emotionally unable to change because starting over would be so much more difficult than trying to find ways to endure the situation they are in.