Why Therese is evil, crazy, jealous and mean.

[dreadedcandiru2]

It occurs to me that I might have just hit on why it is that Liz hates Thérèse so blasted much: as Anthony's Liography teaches us, when Anthony first talked about Lizardbreath, Thérèse sized her up as the sort of big-eyed blond type who lived to humiliate wives by latching onto entitled jackass husbands. What seems to have doomed her to a life of being treated like a monster was that she made the mistake of assuming that Liz knew what was going on around her; she saw the people guiding Liz's destiny for her and blithely assumed that Liz would have to know that a crap-load of people had her back.

This is, of course, a ridiculous thing to think. Sure, Liz is an entitled jackass who bleats piteously about how unfaaaaaaaaaaaair it is that she can't barge in and simply be with Anthony whenever she takes a mind to and she might be an immature little twit who selfishly decided to show an unfortunate up at her own wedding because she was mean to her and said bad things about her but she's also someone who doesn't understand what the consequences of her actions are. It always seems to astonish her that Thérèse isn't going to be wonderful and let some pasty-faced blond twit take over her life; to her, having to understand and empathize with the fear Thérèse has of having to swallow her pride and console herself to being a well-kept fool like her mother is like asking Elly to understand that human agency led to April "toppling" into the river. Since Liz combines a blindness to what the effect her behaviour has on other people with selfishness and a lack of empathy, Thérèse is thought of as an irrational, selfish villain.

The problem is that she's not alone in being cast as a monster because she assumes certain facts not in evidence. If you assume that a Patterson is paying attention to his or her immediate surroundings, if you act as if a Patterson has a realistic understanding of the consequences of his or her behaviour or if you look at a Patterson and see a person who can function as an adult, you, my friend, are a super-bad person who is unfair, has to win all the time and leave them with nothing and wants the family to writhe in the dirt as you enslave them in your family politics.

You are also someone who would not waste time trying to enlighten the Patterswine. Not only do you know what futility is, you'd not want to be in their company if you could avoid it. I should think that if the strip were allowed to continue, we'd be dealing with a conversation between Thérèse and some third party in which she realized to her horror that she was dealing with a crazy, stupid person.

Comments

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Therese can be forgiven for the assumption because the thing is, she never really got to know Liz; Liz was always just the woman her husband kept sneaking off to speak with at parties. Between Anthony's side in the emotional affair and the fact that the her husband's friends and employer likely didn't even bother to hide their assumption she was just Anthony's first wife, it was either assume Liz was in on it or grab her and yell for her to get away while she still could.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

My GOD!! Can you imagine what would have happened if she were foolish enough to warn Liz what her parents and 'friends' were doing? She'd have gone from being that mean and jealous woman to that crazy and stupid woman. Liz 'knows' that her parents wouldn't drop hints about how little they cared for the idea of Anthony not being married to her just like she 'knows' that her friends wouldn't tell Thérèse that she was just there to keep Anthony warm until Liz made up her mind. Doesn't matter that Gordo as much as told her that, she won't believe it.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Maybe. Maybe not. The pre-"WAIT!" Liz had two brain cells to rub together. She was rough around the edges, but actually seemed to care if the kids learned something in her class -- and she was doing well enough to attract Paul. The further she got from home, the saner she seemed to get. What if Therese got through to her, Liz clued in to what her parents were saying, and Liz responded by spending her summers in Mtig instead of reverting to childhood every summer?

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Which would lead to a rather horrific outcome......John and Elly trying to get APRIL to marry Anthony so that they could continue to wield a club over Gordon's head.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Cue April frantically helping Gord plant evidence of Anthony's embezzling, followed by an email letting Therese know it'd be a good time to sue for custody (since she'd have documented evidence of having PPD from that therapist, her statements at the time she left would be considered invalid).

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Followed immediately by John and Elly getting arrested for publicly threatening to dismantle her for ruining the life of a good man.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Gord would hire her as a live-in nanny until graduation, in the fallout. It'd basically be what she was doing for Mike, except with kids who are used to accepting authority and money to put aside for university.