The reversal syndrome......

Watching Connie's doomed pursuit of Phil and knowing the resultant mess made me wonder something: how we would feel about the characters if Phil were the one doing the chasing. It could have been established that Phil wanted to settle down because he too longed for the bland, bleak respectability the Pattersons take for granted and saw Connie as his ticket to Squaresville. The target of his affections would then have to be pigeon-holed as being too devoted to raising Lawrence to 'risk' dating; perhaps when he was old enough that he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire when things went wrong, she'd try again but for now her son is the only man in her life. It seems to me that this putting of shoes on other feet would be a better way to have done things because it makes everyone but Elly look better. Everybody would be trying so hard to do the right thing, it would almost hurt to watch. The only difference is that it would be a good kind of pain.