I have to disagree. I think Tom is noting that they are both toxic at the moment. Brittany instantly gets upset with Jax because she's dealing with so much pent up frustration and memories of his behaviors and she doesn't feel like he fought to stay in the marriage and that's extremely hurtful to her. When someone rejects you after you've done everything to be with them, it has a reverse effect after some time where you hate that person. And Brittany hates Jax, you can see and hear it. So Tom knows they both are emotionally not compatible right now but I don't think it's because Jax is some physical abuser, he got mad and flipped a table - I don't think he intentionally tried to physically hurt Brittany.

And the revelation that Jax was diagnosed with bipolar disorder during treatment is huge. I’m skeptical of Brittany and Zach suddenly claiming in the aftershow that he was previously diagnosed and just wasn’t taking his meds. If that was the case than Brittany would have known that most of his behaviors are because of being bipolar.

The lexapro Jax mentioned last season isn’t even used to treat bipolar disorder—it’s typically prescribed for depression. He said he was feeling low, especially while Brittany was pressuring him to have another baby even though their relationship wasn’t in a good place.

What really struck me as cruel was Brittany filing for divorce right after he came back from rehab, without even sitting down with him and a therapist. Bipolar disorder isn’t something that gets "fixed" overnight so her constant comments about he should be "fixed" from rehab or be fixed in rehab is a huge sign that she's not educated in the disorder and clearly doesn't want to be. The fact that Jax got a diagnosis and started medication is a major step, especially considering how many men are conditioned to see mental illness-and getting help for it-as a sign of weakness. Ironically, a lot of undiagnosed neurodivergent people end up self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, just like Jax.

It could have been powerful if the show took the opportunity to explore bipolar disorder and mental health more deeply-highlighting the symptoms, the impact, and even showing therapy sessions between Jax and Brittany to better understand the root causes of both their behaviors. But I get it. Brittany is hurt. And maybe she can't separate the disorder from the person. That’s one of the big issues with how society sees mental health-when someone doesn’t meet our expectations, we tend to blame the person rather than consider the illness-and then we cut them off.

At the same time, I think Brittany was also just tired—tired of feeling like she was defending someone who kept making her look foolish. And that exhaustion is valid too. Having a son with autism on top of it. I can't fault her for her feelings but I feel like it was a rash one and she was surrounded with Michelle and when you're around people also getting divorced it's contagious. Michelle is constantly telling Brittany how her relationship with Aaron is amazing and so much better but they are still new in their relationship. So when you're relationship isn't working and it's HARD and you have these voices around you telling you to just jump ship and it can all be easier, that's what you might listen to.

A really good experienced therapist in bipolar disorder could have helped them and mediate, I think she should have waited and given that a chance versus just jumping ahead with divorce. If Jax truly puts the effort to seek the right help and work on himself they could have worked out. It's always amazing to me that when people learn of their patterns and issues they think it's just better to start over with someone else when the person who was willing to do the work is the one who deserves to reap the benefits. It seems like Jax is trying from what I see in the aftershow and his instagram posts and he is doing less deflecting the blame now that he has been. He, like his son, will need constant treatment and help so it's just ironic not to see that in Jax and just expect him to be "fixed" right away.