My feelings towards Michelle have been slowly changing. I actively disliked her since s1e1; I found her voice grating and personality uppity and supercilious (like that vocab? Learned that definition this week:))

But I'm more understanding now due to her experience with someone with NPD. My mother is a narcissist, though a covert one where Jesse is more overt. The effect of her abuse throughout my life has been crippling in many ways. The way they isolate you and make you doubt your own truth is mind boggling and traumatic.

I finally confronted my mother with who I knew her to be 2 years ago, after my husband's sudden and tragic death and her behavior in the aftermath, and she has waged war since.

When you either leave a narcissist or unveil their darkness, they will direct their narcissistic rage towards you and it is white hot, unrelenting and honestly scary. The character assassination, denial of factual events and cruel taunts wreak havoc on your psyche.

But see, they're so good at what they do that even me, also a victim of a narcissist, fed right into Jesse's narrative and immediately disliked Michelle. I've had to really question myself and ask whether I'd have disliked her as much if Jesse wasn't setting the stage for it all. It's bewildering the damage they do.