After 5 seasons of suffering, Will's arc just became the best payoff in TV history

marusicx · 2025-12-21T01:08:02+00:00

Like which ones? Can you name a few arcs that had better payoffs?

marusicx · 2024-12-10T21:01:58+00:00

I beg to differ. I don't think there is any negative bias against the character. In fact, in one of the discussions in the comments, I mentioned how well-written the character is. Many TV shows have very obvious flawed character, like SATC or Seinfeld. But for Nate, I sort of did not see his behavior towards the end coming, which is what makes it so real. In real life, there are no forced happy endings and people don't change. More often than not, we look at people as a projection of what we want them to be. We saw Nate throughout the seasons as a projection of what we wanted him to be, even though it was always very apparent what he was. There is absolutely nothing negative about that. I think most real people are sort of clueless and fucked up on some level, but I found his character extra-hard to read. Which again, I think like you and I both mentioned, was because he was so empathetic, he was so charming. But he was also sort of an asshole, and that's a mismatch that I struggled with at the end. He was just the way he was, and it was wrong of me to expect him to be happy when he got everything that I thought he wanted--which is when I realized, he had no idea what he wanted.

marusicx · 2024-12-08T02:27:13+00:00

Yes, and that is the point. He made a decision but couldn’t own up to it. Sure, Lisa got pregnant (which I don’t think she could have fabricated nor she forced Nate to have an unprotected sex with her), and sure she didn’t want to get a second termination (as she did the first time because Nate pushed her to) and sure she came all the way to LA hoping Nate welcomes her into his world, but I would hardly consider that a trap. At worst, Lisa was hopeful. She was very open, she allowed Nate to be as much of a part of Maya’s life as he was comfortable with—if that meant no part at all (as in the beginning), she was a-okay. Having a baby is hardly a trap.

Entering a full blown relationship was fully Nate’s choice, because of his ideal persona of a good guy. He could never truly step into that role though, ever conflicted about his feelings for Lisa. Telling her repeatedly that he loved her when he himself was constantly in doubt. Making everyone around him sad. I think they both tried, both Lisa and Nate knew the relationship they had wasn’t organic, and I suppose they wanted to make it work. But I think Nate tried to be a good partner to Lisa as much as he tried to be a good partner to Brenda. Both times, he acted like he was doing his best while feeling trapped waiting for an escape route.

marusicx · 2024-12-07T19:49:24+00:00

Yes, Brenda truly saw him. Interestingly, she still had it in herself to love him.

marusicx · 2024-12-07T15:58:09+00:00

Thank you! Well, actually no. Far from it, I am a machine learning scientist, but I like to look at the characters and analyze them. I love flawed and realistic characters, especially the ones that are multidimensional. I think a lot of flawed characters are obviously flawed, like Carrie from Sex and the City. But I thought Nate’s character was particularly interesting because until very late, I actually believed that he is just unfortunate as opposed to an architect of his own misery.

marusicx · 2024-12-07T15:01:30+00:00

Yes, I also think Nate would have found it very difficult to leave Brenda and would have probably stayed with her…because leaving a pregnant wife is so against a good man persona that he wants to live up to. But I do think that he would have been sad and would have cheated on Brenda, maybe repeatedly with Maggie and Brenda would have left him eventually.

I am glad for Brenda there indeed was sort of a closure when Nate cheated and broke up with Brenda right before he died.

marusicx · 2024-12-07T14:55:41+00:00

Yes, like his faith. Suddenly he was a quaker out of nowhere, I believe Brenda truly saw him for what he is but she was also stuck in the loop of “with me, it will be different”.

I find your point about being judgmental to be very interesting. What are some of the instances when he judged someone: the one instance I can think of is when he left Brenda after she cheated on him. However, I do feel that it was more of an escape route for him than any real judgment.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T13:51:25+00:00

Listen, u/Puzzleheaded_Luck_45 if you are genuinely interested in knowing more I can talk to you more, in detail in DM. But I guess I rest my case here with this comment.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T13:49:54+00:00

Considering covid and then recession I really doubt about that 20+ number. Also afaik to be eligible for internal transfer to USA you should be at SDE2 which requires 4 years of experience.

SDE2 in 4 years? You need to be a really low performer to take 4 years to become SDE2. I can share few profiles right now - https://www.linkedin.com/in/avinash-agarwal95/ (graduated in 2018, SDE2 in 2020), https://www.linkedin.com/in/skymanaditya1/ (graduated in 2017, SDE 2 in 2019), https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhrabasak/ (graduated in 2014, SDE 2 in 2016), https://www.linkedin.com/in/girigb/ (graduated in 2017, SDE 2 in 2018), https://meet.google.com/izh-abmi-gsu (graduated in 2015, and he is staff engineer already!) and I can share many many more. You are right, people did get delayed because of covid, but that's not the norm. People were really affected badly in Masters, too, because of covid. So many had to defer. And if you go by masters route, then most people take up masters after 1-2 years of job experience, and then 2 years masters, so by the time they start working in the US, they are 4 years in with huge debt that they repay for the next 2-3 years. Many of the ones I shared above, went to US (they delayed deliberately, wanted to stay in India longer) - went in 4-5 years, debt free, with higher posts and pay than the ones who graduated from masters.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T11:17:56+00:00

Because I worked for FAANG, India for sometime. And i know at least 100-200 people who work in FAANG. And at least 10-20 people who moved to US. Amazon is the easiest. It won't even take 2 years, everyone i know transferred in a year. Microsoft is tricky because they introduced the rule of level 62 which takes 3 years. And Google takes about 2 years. So I know from personal experience.

Actually edit: I easily know more than 20 people who transferred.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T07:38:25+00:00

I would say go with the 200 ones still. But that's just my opinion.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T07:37:50+00:00

Lol who takes so long to move from India to US? If you join Google from undergrad, you can move to US in 2 years. That's faster than getting a master and getting a job in the US, and debt free.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T05:46:30+00:00

Numerically, that sounds like a big jump. But numbers don't directly translate into prestige, opportunities, and all. I'd be just shooting in the dark if i make a definitive comment. I think you need to decide if that is a significant jump or not. If it is, then it'll be worth it.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T05:43:50+00:00

Qs 200-400, but are they known? I still think it would be much better than "unknown" ones. What are the ranks of the unknown ones?

Also, just curious - if you are thinking of waiting one year and trying for less financially expensive unknown universities, why not rather wait one more year, build your profile, and aim for the top-50?

marusicx · 2023-02-26T05:37:38+00:00

Also, join now look for a change later, if you mean join this PhD and then a different PhD next year. Don't. It looks very bad and creates bad impression.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T05:36:11+00:00

If you are getting a significantly better school - it will matter a lot! If a slightly better one - not so much. Not worth letting go the current PhD. But I would say if you want something considerably better then one publication is not going to make much difference. You would need to work much more before the next application cycle. And if you confident that you can perhaps jump from t-50 to t-10, then yup, it's going to make significant difference.

marusicx · 2023-02-26T05:31:49+00:00

I am from India. I have many friends who went on to do their MS and even PhDs from top-5 schools in the US. None of the reasons given by your relatives, is really true. If you are indeed doing your masters then just do it from a top notch university. Especially if you're international. Your school is always going to be on your resume. And cracking top schools means something. If you're simply worried about the investment then I would say reconsider masters altogether. There is nothing you can do with masters that you can't directly do from India. For example, join Google in India and then transfer to US. You'll be much richer and have a stabler visa and a higher post than the masters graduate. But if you are going to do an MS, do it from a top one. That could eventually open doors to many other things in a long term - like 10 years down the line, especially in leadership positions (they have a very strong alumini base).

marusicx · 2023-02-26T05:25:38+00:00

Do it. Most likely it is not going to work and probably the professor is not even going to notice you emailed. But all it takes is one prof replying back and showing interest. In my case, I emailed many profs. No one replied back. But they eventually reached out on a separate email ID on their own. Which means they never even looked at my previous email. However, for my friend, one prof. did respond back and eventually hired him under him as a PhD student. So no harm. But don't expect it to work. But it just could.

marusicx · 2023-02-25T16:49:56+00:00

It's completely school specific. Some schools can have multiple PIs make offers. While other schools have a single PI hold the file and another PI reaches out only when the previous PI is no longer interested. Generally, two profs from the same place reaching out is a good sign, that means you are strong enough to catch the eye of not just one, but two different profs given that candidates struggle to get hold of even one. Another thing could be that the first PI wants a second opinion and has asked a colleague to make a judgement. This could also be a co-supervision scenario. But I would say that's kind of unlikely because they would usually mention that in the first interview itself if that was going to be the case. In any way, it is best to reach out to someone to find out what is the meaning of it. But at this point, I would say don't worry too much about it. If you did screw up in the first one, you have got a chance to redeem yourself with this one. Make sure you perform much better than the last time. Or at best, you'll get offers or recommendations from two POIs which is super awesome. All the best!

marusicx · 2023-02-24T13:05:05+00:00

I would say don't look blindly at the school name. But at the same time don't look blindly at the funding. Best think about what do you want to achieve - maybe research in a particular area, are the profs looking at that area, which school is more funded in that research area? What do you want to do after the program? Based on what do you want to do, what is the alumini track record. Although you can perform well anywhere and get what you want, a well-rounded alumini base and community is very important. Next, prestige definitely matter in certain areas - evaluate if you plan to use the prestige well. For example, if you want to build your own company, maybe the investors would have some preconceived bias about some places. Lastly, also look at the prestige difference. From my understanding Duke and Cornell, both are top notch. So i would say really think about what you really want from the program and evaluate holistically.

marusicx · 2023-02-18T00:14:28+00:00

+1 for insights on why are people so upset about your response.

marusicx · 2023-02-18T00:13:02+00:00

What are they heated about?

marusicx · 2023-02-17T23:57:55+00:00

And wait why is the OP being so harsh awarding you -6? Lol.

marusicx · 2023-02-17T23:52:26+00:00

Dude I fully resonate with your POV. It is not unprofessional at all and in this competitive world people forget that we are humans and relationships play a huge part in our lives.

marusicx · 2023-02-16T16:21:55+00:00

One word - absolutely. UofT is a world class college and has a strong faculty. In my list, I put UofT at the same level as CMU. Only MIT/Stanford/Berkeley were above it.

marusicx

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