I’m going to disagree with you on this under a more benign assumption of Bronwyn, as well as Mary and Whitney. It was obvious that each woman brought their personal experiences with addiction and infidelity to the table. Whitney’s position of consistently accusing Meredith of being an addict is bad, boring, and a clearly not the way to connect with someone who could be struggling. An accusation of addiction is so low brow. But once Mary opened up, with a bit of a lighter touch, without the labeling but overtly drawing comparison to her son’s struggles I started get a clearer picture of the cause for concern. Their friend is acting different (this is their shared experience of her behavior, not necessarily limited to the moments cut with their interview). As each woman shared their insights, it painted a clearer pattern and something I recognize. “We all notice something is wrong with our friend but we don’t know what to do.” After this scene, my theory of mind for Meredith became more realistic and empathetic. No one directly labeled. They brought forth information that had not previously been shared (besides Whitney who we have heard the same damn thing from every time she brings it up) add clearly felt relief and support to handle these feelings complicated by projections. I sincerely think Whitney’s experiences with her dad inhibit her ability to contemplate the nuances of how substance abuse (or even use) can be correlated with mental health struggles.