Something that always comes to mind when discussing Jud’s backstory is the ambiguous way Jud talks about his history with addiction and poverty in the prayer meeting scene.
The specifics of it are kept vague but one detail that I keep coming back to in particular is the fact that Jud never actually said he was sober. When he talks about facing addiction in the past he says, "Christ saved me" but he doesn't actually mention sobriety or the process of recovery.
It makes sense that he wouldn't straight up say he's recovered because addiction isn't that simple and neither is the process of recovery. The distinction between recovered vs recovering are hard to define bc it doesn’t always align with how addictions actually work in the medical sense (elaboration under the cut)
He could've said ‘recovering from addiction and X years sober’ but he doesn't. Jud chooses his words very carefully and I think it’s an interesting dialogue choice if nothing else.
Obviously I’m not suggesting that Jud never went through recovery or whatever, because this part would just disprove that immediately.
Whilst battling addiction isn’t the overarching theme of the movie, it's definitely there and I think there are a number of details that are worth pointing out because it's a great foundation for exploring his past in fics or character analysis, even if he doesn’t live like that anymore.
If we suspend our disbelief for a moment and pretend the prayer meeting scene is real life instead of a movie, I don't think it's weird for him to brush over the deatils. It doesn't really raise any red flags or questions about his personality because he's literally at work.
Generally speaking, nobody would be expected to share such intimate details about their personal lives at work, especially in regards to private medical information. However, Perpetual Fortitude is not exactly known for being a well functioning workplace. The fact that Jud was able to just casually access Wicks' medical bills and find out about his radical prostatectomy is just insane on its own, so I can see why Jud might become cautious over time, if not a little paranoid.
(There's also the added element of the fact that Jud is a priest which is important to consider when disclosing details of his medical history because a Catholic church is obviously going to be held to very different HR standards than the typical rules you'd expect working at a Taco Bell or smth but I digress)
It's interesting how he uses this anecdote about his past to try to connect with people because it's quite a risky move, especially for a priest. The stigma of poverty alone is enough to make a lot of people uncomfortable at the the idea of 'a homeless guy' being their priest, let alone the fact that Jud struggles with addiction or that he killed someone.
I think he knows how taboo his very presence in the church is already, so he uses this story about his past to humanise himself and show his community that he's grounded and imperfect, just like they are. It's especially clear in this part:
He acknowledges his past struggles as being a crucial part of who he is now. He shows how he didn’t leave it all behind when he joined the seminary, and he chooses to carry it with him.
You can call that growth/maturity/trauma or even serendipity. Whatever it is, it’s important to him and he speaks about it with enough confidence and deliberate ambiguity to keep up his image of being an open book.
In the prayer meeting, he's attempting to emotionally engage with the flock and do some good priest work without inviting too many follow questions about his circumstances. Especially those that could make them question if he even deserved to be a priest to begin with.
Anyway my point is that when you have this context in mind, I think you could use a lot of these elements to infer that his relationship with addiction is much more loaded than he let on.
If done right, you could easily imply that substance abuse/risk of relapse is still an active struggle for him and it would be interesting to explore the how his role in the priesthood impacts this dynamic. And it has even more potential if you compare Jud's past to Samson and Wicks’ subplot about alcoholism.
Elaboration: It’s complex and this is a very simplified explanation but the reason "Recovered" vs "Recovering" is a hard to distinguish is because in real life, addictions don't really go away. So it's kind of hard to measure progress through recovery with such black and white terms.
Despite the stereotypes, addiction isn't just about willpower. People aren’t always addicts because they’re reckless and careless with their lives, it’s a chemistry thing more often than not. People can be sober for decades and not be tempted to turn back, but relapsing is still a huge risk bc addictions don’t really care about what we want. In simple terms, the difference between an 'addict' and a 'non-addict' is that the non-addict’s brain could consume a substance casually and have no problems stopping, but an addicted brain doesn't have consistent and reliable control over this even if the person has strong willpower and no desire to use substances again. That's how stuff like accidental consumption (spiking etc) or casual consumption can reignite the addiction again. So basically, addiction recovery isn’t about being cured by forcing the brain to stop being addicted to a substance as much as it is about the person developing healthy coping mechanisms and learning how to live a balanced life whilst managing an addiction.
Jud makes friends with the semi-domesticated cat that Wicks allowed to hunt rats in the church and lets her into the rectory and she prompty gives birth to 5 kittens in his bed
Okay I just started a collection of Victorian detective stories and this is making me feel CRAZY about Jud referring to himself as Daniel are you kidding me
whew what a long and stressful day of being a catholic priest with intimacy issues and getting crowded and manhandled by a gay old man that looks like daniel craig. good thing thought crimes aren't a big deal for catholics with undiagnosed ocd. haha wait [passes ou
it’s gonna be so weird when the next knives out movie comes out and jud is just Not There. like what dyou mean benoit blanc is just off to solve some other case? what dyou mean he’s not facetiming jud every evening with updates about the case and Soft Bedtime Chats? what dyou mean he’s not constantly mentioning “this wonderful priest i met on a case who challenged my entire worldview and who i’ve since fallen madly in love with”? what dyou mean those two aren’t unapologetically linked forever and ever now and we’re just gonna have to pretend it’s all in the past?!?!?!
I'm beating the dead horse again but it is absolutely foul that we don't have any close up photos of Jud's tattoos from behind the scenes. international tragedy. i'm still at the restaurant.
different anon but i feel like that moment where jud hides his bruised knuckles in shame after punching the deacon is also not talked about enough
i was gonna post the knuckles but then you got me thinking and this got away from me. one thing about jud duplenticy is he's gonna get his hands dirty one way or another, shame or no shame
"the part of my soul that cannot lie to Christ, or myself, or you" oh so you mean there are other parts that CAN lie to christ, yourself, and blanc, hmm? that's what you're saying? little liar man?
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