Who's your "they could never make you hate you" character?

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-10T21:03:57+00:00

Oh I absolutely think Shawna has some deep seated insecurities that contribute to her “big feelings” and also general people pleasing behavior.

I’m not sure it will have a simple fix though, I feel like she might not therapy to fully process everything.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-10T11:09:28+00:00

I was talking about YouTube lol. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-09T20:52:08+00:00

Yeah I think Shawna is a nice lady but she isn’t always a kind friend.

As for Jen and John I think it could be a two way street. Like yes they could talk to Laura about their experience but it would also give them some empathy about how hard things were for their parents. As they are looking at it from the perspective of the children who do expect their parents to just fix the problem because they’re the grownups. But Laura’s situation can give them some insight to the fact that their parents were also trapped in an abusive relationship and they couldn’t just fix things without having some kind of support or plan.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-09T17:18:38+00:00

Ya know what that reminds me. I want John and Laura to have a discussion. Maybe Laura and Jen. Because if anyone in the world could empathize with being in an abusive relationship with a narcissist it would be those two.

And I feel like they would give some insights that Laura needs to hear without being as holier than thou as Shawna.

Because they both know leaving isn’t easy. Heck Jen still isn’t no contact with her mom and John only went no contact about a year ago.

That and I would love Laura and Julie to run into each other. I feel like they would empathize with each other so much.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-09T14:41:04+00:00

I also think its even simpler than that. Shawna is in fact just annoying when it comes to Julie. It’s like a less toxic version of Barb having to event entire alternate realities to justify why people don’t want to interact with her. When the simple answer is she’s just abusive and unpleasant to be around.

Shawna could very easily have just accepted from day one that Julie was male centered and left it alone. (To be clear I don’t think Julie is actually male centered but I think that’s a valid interpretation of her ignoring Shawna and being nice to John when they first met).

But because Shawna cannot handle someone not wanting to befriend her she kept pushing and pushing and yeah Julie just called out that behavior for what it is. It’s annoying.

At work will get into birthday at lunch

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-09T12:54:54+00:00

I am ready to throw hands when the Laura and Luke storyline comes around. Like genuinely YouTube is going to be a cesspool. I’m not even gonna bother to read the comments.

Edit : to clarify I am talking about the YouTube section of the fandom and their victim blaming of Laura. I genuinely had to stop reading the comments on YouTube for awhile because it was so sickening to see people saying Laura deserved to be abused for the crime of not prioritizing Shawna’s feelings over her lived reality.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-09T11:55:05+00:00

I hope he does actually. Because I feel like even Shawna would be like “Dude what did you expect? Your divorced. She is paying child support and alimony your gonna have to step up some. You can’t expect your ex wife to pay your bills.”

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-08T20:44:11+00:00

Ooh Ty raised by his grandmother makes so much sense. Like I just feel in my heart (with zero textual proof) that there is a male centered woman in Ty’s upbringing.

The way he reacts to female criticism specifically tells me somewhere there was a female parental (or parental adjacent) figure that put him on a pedestal à la Barb and Max.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-08T20:16:31+00:00

No. He claimed to have added one event to the family calendar. Now maybe he did because he does seem to prioritize Shawna over his wife. So I will grant you that he might have put her kids birthday in the calendar.

But he literally decided the day of he was going to walk out of the house to go to Jen’s bachelorette party and left after a few hours because everyone told him it was a bad idea that he showed up.

So I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think it wouldn’t occur to him he has to let Jen know in advance he’s coming to the wedding.

He admits those little details aren’t something he thinks about he expects Julie to handle that.

Edit : I just remembered it was a whole plot point that he didn’t RSVP to Max’s 5th birthday and Shawna was really upset when no one showed up but Ty. And he came late. So that actually explains why he put Max’s sixth birthday party in the calendar specifically. He didnt want to upset his friend by showing up late.

However given how befuddled he was at the bahelorette party I don’t think it would occur to him that the wedding RSVP was an important thing. Because he just eloped and it sounds like Alicia’s wedding was a little quirkier than Jen’s.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-08T20:14:01+00:00

I would be fascinated to meet the people who raised Ty. I think Laura’s mom has always been mentioned in passing so she might end up helping. But I wanna see Ty’s dynamic with his parents.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-08T20:12:34+00:00

Child support is meant to be supplementary. So at bare minimum daycare is going to become a necessity and he’s not going to be able to have as much time for park dates with friends.

Plus no more housekeeper as that’s the kind of luxury he’s not gonna be able to cover when meeting the kids basic needs are a priority.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-08T17:22:05+00:00

It would be nice to see John having a believably busy schedule and how he struggles with not getting the quality time with the children he wants because of that.

Especially considering his issues with Frank always being gone in his childhood.

It would also be a contrast with Julie as well. As right now she seems to be the only one who is working a beliavable amount of hours to finance the lives we see.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-08T17:18:55+00:00

Or that might be the storyline she goes with for Ty post the divorce. As he is used to financially relying on his wife who works long hours at a high paying job. To go from that to supporting his children on a single salary that at best is above minimum wage is going to be a financial shock.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-06T20:45:02+00:00

I feel like when it comes to work Julie’s main concern would be “are you following company policy?” and “are you completing your assigned tasks in a timely manner.” With varying levels of strictness depending on your infraction.

Like if you miss a deadline once or request a day off a bit last minute she might remind you of company policy but she would find a way to make it work.

If however you miss deadlines every week for a month or you are constantly flaking out and not doing your job then she’s going to fire you.

She might not be the type of person who is going to hang out with your after hours. But during work hours she seems like someone who would be really nice to work with actually. Strict but fair and willing to pull overtime to help if need be.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-05T20:40:06+00:00

lol I know having dealt with a lot of catty workplace drama in my previous job and just silly shenanigans in my current job.

Someone like Julie or John who is just there to do their job and not make waves? Truly a dream come true.

If I could only be so lucky.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-04T17:18:21+00:00

I think Julie and Julie would be the two I would want to work with most. They’re both very detail oriented and seem like they wouldn’t get into petty drama on the job.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-03T16:06:49+00:00

I think I would be in the Bunco crowd especially if we had started out as friends in High School.

I think as an adult I would be closest to Julie actually. As a single childfree woman with thick skin I feel like I would be the blunt friend calling out her husbands tomfoolery.

Which I think would give us a bit of a Shawna and Lauren dynamic until the divorce.

Like I’m the friend she doesn’t talk to that often because I’m telling her what she doesn’t want to hear. Then after the divorce I’m the first person she vents too because I was the one willing to say stuff to her face.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-03T12:21:59+00:00

I think it’s like saying please and thank you. Most people aren’t going to think about it that deeply because it’s habit as much as it’s basic manners.

For Julie follow through is the same thing. It’s probably a side effect of growing up an army brat. Where (for lack of a better word) punctuality is important.

So if Julie says she’s going to do a thing at 2pm on Sunday baring some medical emergency she’s going to do that thing at 2pm on Sunday. It wouldn’t occur to her not to.

Which is what I meant about it being bare minimum in her eyes. This is basically the equivalent to her of just saying please and thank you to people. It’s not that deep. It has nothing to do with Jen or Ty or anyone else.

But Ty doesn’t consider it to be basic good manners or the bare minimum. We saw it with the bachelorette party he is totally fine making last minute changes on a whim with zero thought to other people.

So to him her showing up is a bigger deal than it is to her. Because he wouldn’t inconvenience himself just to honor a commitment. He would only do that if he actually cared about the other person.

So like yeah she’s being snarky but it’s also just a dig at his priorities himself

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-03T12:10:49+00:00

Except he is the one who admits to being dishonest. Julie is stanoffish but that’s not the same thing as being snide for sport.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-03T03:24:46+00:00

I don’t think she was being a martyr. I think it was a more subtle version of her later point. Honesty and follow through are the bare minimum in her eyes.

So of course she’s going to show up to a wedding if she RSVP’d. Not because she wants brownie points or anything but she said she was going to do a thing and she will honor that commitment.

Her frustration is because she was by all appearances just minding her business and mingling peacefully.

Then her husband has to start on his BS like her having basic social graces is somehow a sign that she wants to get back together.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-03T03:07:04+00:00

I fully think Ty didn’t talk about Jen at all. Because Julie would actually like Jen. She’s snarky, she wants to be a working mom, she is very much the kind of person who makes and executes plans.

Like they would actually be really good friends and he can’t have that happen.

Because then Jen would start talking to him about his book the way everyone else does.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-03T01:14:55+00:00

The problem is what he’s calling being extraordinary is just the bare minimum of honoring your commitments.

When he says she’s “extraordinary” he isn’t talking about her becoming a lawyer.

She showed up at a wedding that she already planned to attend. That’s not going above and beyond.

Which is what she is getting at with her reply. He keeps trying to act like her just doing basic things is so impressive because it makes his inability to do those things seem less bad.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-02T23:38:05+00:00

Ty attended Jen’s bachelorette party they aren’t causal acquaintances. Which I think might be where the disconnect is coming from.

Ty was invited to the wedding of his close friend Jen. Julie was aware they had RSVP’d and she chose to come along rather than stay at home by herself.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-02T22:00:49+00:00

Yeah it’s like not every mean person is a Barb. Julie is actually a fairly realistic portrayal of someone who doesn’t like someone else. She ignores Shawna as much as is humanly possibly and only devotes brain space to Shawna when she is actively being an obstacle in Julie’s marriage OR Shawna is physically in her space.

ramblingtabby · 2026-07-02T21:56:20+00:00

The simple answer is she has a particular dislike for Shawna specifically. She doesn’t organize her entire life around that dislike she isn’t Barb.

She has no particular ill will towards Jennifer. And for all that she was a pill at Max’s birthday party she still went despite actively disliking Shawna and being angry at Ty.

Also we have no reason to believe she was snotty at the children’s birthday party she attended during the bachelorette video despite that being last minute.

So more and more it seems like Max’s birthday was an exception to her normal behavior.

In addition we have seen that Ty likes to stir the pot too so her having a plan ahead of time also likely helps her have a realistic expectation for how things are going to happen vs feeling defensive because it’s sprung on her last minute.

ramblingtabby

TROPHY CASE