#but yeah like. rlly I think the apology angle to it is more an example of May’s character than the actual morals the show intends to present

[chipjrwibignaturals]

honestly i know a lot of people were upset with mays discussion w jay abt jayson, thought it was too… sympathetic, pointing to redemption etc, but i liked it for the depth it gave him (as well as may, who’s characterized further then as a kind of tragic “i-can-fix-him” type who tries to give everyone the best she can even if it’s ultimately just at her detriment, but that’s not the point)

may says that jayson acts the way he does because he’s ultimately just desperately seeking approval from his commander and mother.

i don’t think it anyway excuses his actions (making your daughter execute one of her best friends and all that is pretty fucking unredeemable), but it contextualizes em. it doesn’t make me sympathize with what he’s done (especially since it’s implied he’s been fairly abusive even since jay was a little girl) , but it sure makes me pity him.

he’s changed then from just An Asshole to a tragic asshole— we know what caused him to change and spiral, the fatal flaw that drove him to worse and worse actions all in an attempt to finally achieve something that, frankly, I doubt he’d ever truly receive (validation, love). it doesn’t make him right. there were countless paths he could’ve taken, ultimately what he’s done is on him and him alone, but. you know why he’s done it. yknow?

this is a man driven to the extreme on a search for something that he can never have, and the tragedy lies in that he doesn’t know that. so he’s kept going and going further and further until he’s discarded so much of himself in pursuit of this thing that to give up now would be to give up everything. might as well go all the way, you’ve got to be so close to getting it now… right?