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dreadedcandiru2Watching Mike wale on Lizzie and watching Elly do nothing constructive to protect Lizzie from the looming shape of imbecile malice that warped her personality reminds us that Elly set herself up to fail when trying to form a connection with Liz and April by demonstrating a refusal to be for them when it counted. Elly did nothing but wring her hands feebly and whine about something she was never going to do anything to fix when Mike physically and emotionally abused Elizabeth and her reaction to the Jeremy phenomenon was to make pious noise about being nice to an angry lunatic who needed to be locked up and forgotten so it's kind of hard to sympathize with her when they turn to anyone but the mother who only thinks that she's supportive.
It's equally not hard to see why they'd turn to John for help. In Lizzie's case, she can exploit his hatred of Mike for being a slow-witted jerk who doesn't understand what he's doing to piss people off in order to have someone who'll barge in one fine day and cold wreck the Delicate Genius for being a raging shithead with the brain damage. In April's case, it's obvious that both of them have bonded over the realization that Elly ain't living in the real world. Granted, John becomes useless when they're adolescents because he doesn't understand that teenaged alienation shouldn't be taken personally but now that they're grown, he can revert to running interference when Elly witlessly counsels genuflecting to moron tormentors.
It's equally not hard to see why they'd turn to John for help. In Lizzie's case, she can exploit his hatred of Mike for being a slow-witted jerk who doesn't understand what he's doing to piss people off in order to have someone who'll barge in one fine day and cold wreck the Delicate Genius for being a raging shithead with the brain damage. In April's case, it's obvious that both of them have bonded over the realization that Elly ain't living in the real world. Granted, John becomes useless when they're adolescents because he doesn't understand that teenaged alienation shouldn't be taken personally but now that they're grown, he can revert to running interference when Elly witlessly counsels genuflecting to moron tormentors.
