April: the first victim of the Album of Glurge....

You might think at first blush that Meredith is the first child in the Patterson family to get a distorted view of history by looking at old photos and listening to reminiscences, that Mike is the original unreliable narrator. Sadly, you would be in error. April is the first person to fall victim to selective memory and her victimizer was Elly. Based on the snapshots alone, April would probably think that Mike and Liz got on reasonably well. After all, she first started putting names to faces when Mike was in University and Liz in high school so she never directly experienced what a peevish, jealous, hateful, sullen, destructive, arrogant, unapologetic jackass Michael was or bore witness to the campaign of victim-blaming abuse Elizabeth was subjected to. Elly would never talk about what went on because she thought it was just a normal part of growing up. In her mind, it had no lasting effects so it didn't need addressing. Too bad she's wrong. Since Mike was never made to see what his insane and vicious hatred of Liz did to her, never acknowledged that he was in the wrong, that he needed to change, he grew up into the smug, reckless, empathy-free jerkwad we know and loathe. As for Liz, it warped her too. She never had the chance to feel really loved as a child, always had the spotlight stolen from her, never had anyone in her corner, had a third child plopped in the mix when she needed real guidance thereby turning her into the passive, wailing lump who plans to shackle herself to a morose toad because he's the only person on this Earth she's ever known to be devoted to her. Once April learns the truth about Michael, she'll be a lot more forgiving of Liz's eccentricities. Hell, she'll even stop calling her Lizardbreath.