Chaz, it is tough to comprehend, as most people would not want to admit they could stay in any type of relationship with a monstrous person.
However, I look at it in terms of a young girl who is having a relationship with say a young gang member. It is usually a girl who is from a troubled home (check), who is acting somewhat out of rebellion (check), who enjoys their protection (check), who also enjoys drama (check), and feels that her love can change the bad boy (no check here but possible). Tate is good looking, cares about her, is obviously in pain (which inspires some sympathy in her). Also, we do not know if she intends to stay in a relationship with him. Her actions could also be viewed out of fear. Many women stay with men out of fear violence from these men should they attempt to leave. So I am waiting to see how the writers play out the scenario...does she look past his actions and attempt to love the bad boy? Or is she simply scared, in over her head and desperate for an exit?
That Rolling Stone article has greatly influenced my perception of the show. The old horror show cliche of why the fuck do they stay in that house as allegory for the modern family....why the fuck do they stay together? Connie Brittons speech to her husband was so loaded with venom and hatred, it was very well done. She has made it clear she hates his guts and will punish him for the remainder of their association. She laid out the situation, you are done, I will never trust, love or even treat you with respect again. I understand the children necessitate some measure of contact between the two of us, but dont expect me to even be civil. The Husband is left in an impossible situation, he has to endure anything she throws at him in order to be a father to his children and extricate them from their financial difficulties. And no I am not taking the husbands side, he stuck it in a pretty young thing and is reaping what he has sown. They gave his reasons in his speech (she withdrew emotionally and physically from him after she lost a pregnancy). But that was merely set up for the situation the creaters are showing you. Two people in a hellish relationship who get tied deeper and deeper together through reacting to circumstance. What will the cost be to their child, to themselves? Will they forge a new relationship through mutual understanding and complicit guilt? Those are the questions I am hoping the show addresses going forward.
I also wonder if the creators read Danielwekis' House of Leaves, which was a (I think) great novel that explored marriage through the exploration of a mysterious house.
