i don't talk about debbie/cecil as much as i'd like to bc i feel like it will come across as Straight Nonsense or the assertion that debbie needs to rebound immediately but listen. listen
it's about the long-repressed pining, and the mutual heartbreak, and both blaming themselves for not seeing the truth, and finding strength & solace in each other despite that, and how much cecil respects her to the point of confronting someone with god-strength on her behalf, and how tenderly concerned he is for her despite his stoic government image, and how she still resents him on some level but also knows he's doing all that he can for her and mark, and how he hates himself for ever having to hurt her, and all the difficult bittersweet feelings of reconciling that, and how they have been deeply entangled in each other's lives for so long and will be probably forever. listen