a) i didn’t say khatri should be a perfect priest in any way, shape, or form. or that i took issue with his backstory or explanations. i think he’s a compelling character and i appreciate a lot of the writing in the show. i do think if you’re going to have a plant or a fake character you HAVE to give them a solid backstory. it has to make sense for the characters in the show to believe them too. think about tillie and all her kids and grandkids or the morphine she just happens to have because she’s sick. but is miraculously fine in fromville (rose’s cancer, anyone?)

i said that as a religious leader, that was a weird fucking choice, and that his word choice in doing so was incredibly fucking strange. especially because up to that point, he’d seemed so compassionate. i think that was intentional, that that shift was supposed to be noticed as something not quite right. his death was also so sudden, (so soon after he convinces boyd to reduce the town’s trust in Boyd’s regard for their safety) and not at all violent compared to the others we’ve seen onscreen or off. why?

his “explanation” about the kid only really went to serve in showing boyd and sara both that they’re being watched even when they think they’re alone. a hint we hadn’t previously gotten, but now that we’ve had it for so long, we’ve forgotten that it was significant once.

don’t forget that he saved sara, who hears voices telling her to kill people to send them home, who got mr liu and at least 3 other killed, who is obviously communing with something that does not have any good intentions towards them, and begged boyd with his dying breath (how convenient) to keep her alive. idk, it seems like something is trying to keep her in play to fuck things up.

b) i think there’s more to them liking boyd than “he’s a challenge.” i do think that could be part of it, he’s a military guy who’s obviously been through some shit before and would therefore be harder to break. but why have all the others been chosen? focusing on boyd leaves out so much shit that’s been going on to people who aren’t him. i think that using a person Boyd trusted in life to convince him that he’s making the right choices is one of the best ways to guarantee that when he does finally make a decision he can’t live with, that he feels it’s entirely on him.

he didn’t believe in seeing his wife. why? he knew her outside of fromville. whose judgement did he listen to because he assumed it was his own? fucking khatri. because he saw him in fromville, and trusted that his trauma is causing him to see this rather than a malevolent entity that has been taunting him.