Yeah, I was thinking the parents from Astolat's story as well. Also, it reminded me an episode of the West Wing, "Ellie", where the President and his middle daughter are fighting, and he accuses her of doing something just to make him unhappy. When she denies that, he says that she sure wasn't doing it to make him happy, and she yells back that she doesn't know how to make him happy, he has her sisters for that.
And there's this moment where they stare at each other, kind of shocked at what's just been said. I feel like maybe John's relationship with his father ended up permanently stuck in that same emotional moment, only unsaid, of two people completely misunderstanding each other's feelings and motivations.
Of course, in the West Wing, it gets fixed because the President is able to see past his own anger and frustration and hurt, and tell his daughter that the only thing she has to do to make him happy is come home at the end of the day. And Outcast hurts me because it implies that maybe John's father wanted to say that to his son, but now never will. And John will never know.
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And there's this moment where they stare at each other, kind of shocked at what's just been said. I feel like maybe John's relationship with his father ended up permanently stuck in that same emotional moment, only unsaid, of two people completely misunderstanding each other's feelings and motivations.
Of course, in the West Wing, it gets fixed because the President is able to see past his own anger and frustration and hurt, and tell his daughter that the only thing she has to do to make him happy is come home at the end of the day. And Outcast hurts me because it implies that maybe John's father wanted to say that to his son, but now never will. And John will never know.