Whereas O’Connor is on record as saying that the re-write was Stimpleton’s idea.
“I mentioned that I thought that we could tell such a story with the newly arrived Rob Titchener and Helen Archer … A man like Rob might just provoke a woman like Helen to violence. … The next day Tim rang me. Had I ever heard of ‘gaslighting’? … We consulted domestic violence charities…”
Sounds like a collaborative effort to me. Also thieves falling out – I wonder whether each is trying to disown it now they have realised how unpopular it was.
A Former Poster on Peets & here stopped listening, as she had suffered terrible abuse from her first husband & had no help/support around the corner. As soon as he started hitting her in front of their child, she made plans, and, eventually got away.
I have been Pondering the OP all day-I listened this morning rather than last night.
We all know how complicated RL is/can be . My Stepchildren’s mother did die, when they were almost 12,&14, & they both reacted differently:
Stepdaughter had ‘unfinished business’ in that her mother had made promises that she was unable to keep,& The Lad needed to know where his Dad was until the day Mr C died.
Learning what becomes the ‘Noo Normality’ is a precarious process, & we aren’t always at our best, but the Responsible Adult is just that, & has to do their best, however Shite/Angry they feel .
I think that trying to maintain everything ‘as it was’ puts unreasonable pressure on everyone. Things are never the same again . They can become very good indeed, but different , & it all takes a long time
I would have expected my appetite for ‘Helen being abused’ to be insatiable, but firstly she did not get enough - hsrdly any, in fact - of the beatings she so richly deserves; and secondly, the whole implausible set-up was somewhat insulting to those who, unlike Helen, don’t have a whole, well resourced, support network on their doorsteps.
Now there I agree, and I also agreed with the point upthread, that the thing Mia and Will needed to do was talk to each other, and I would add, even more, listen to each other.
Theirs is no longer a viable relationship. Will desperately trying to placate Mia in the car in the face of her refusal to speak to him was horrible, and I can’t help hoping that when she is living in the Promised Land (ie in Andrew and his squeeze’s flat/house – and I see no reason for it to be large because why would a childless couple have got a flat or house with bedrooms for children who visited only occasionally?) she will find that this does not magically solve all her problems, because she doesn’t deserve a quick fix. As for Will, he has behaved very stupidly, not least by taking advice from his stupid mother and trying to implement it without thinking the matter through and in a clumsy way, and he really doesn’t need in his life someone who will shortly become very spoiled.
I’m inclined to believe the Stimpleton account, not least because it was given at the time—i.e. while they thought they were producing the greatest SL in history (see below). SOC’s is untrustworthy because:
(a) it sounds suspiciously like post hoc rationalisation (and, yes, blame spreading);
(b) it’s SOC
