You know the first thing I actively disliked about Malev, which has persisted from episode one to this day (even when I genuinely loved the show back through seasons 1 and 2), was Arthur's near total non-reaction to Parker's death.
"He was my best friend," Arthur said, after shoving his corpse in a closet and then bragging he was the best detective in town. Like a lot of people I chalked it up to shock and denial and repression. But after all this time, listening to Arthur only bring Parker up as a tool to use with John (either bludgeoning John with guilt, or as a learning exercise for detective work), and to the way Arthur treats every other friend he's had and made, it seems clear in canon to me: Arthur never really cared about this man, actually.
We already saw in Threshold 1 Arthur's big shrug over the fact that Parker was minutes away from being murdered by the mob. Threshold 2 seals it perfectly for me. I know lots of fans are happy to see him but really pay attention to Parker's whole speech here.
Parker went out of his way to befriend Arthur when he was low, he supported him and bought his gifts - he never pushed. He studied Arthur to learn his boundaries, to glean what he could of his friend's hidden backstory in order to be a good friend to him. He considers him a brother.
And he says not one word of anything Arthur did for him in return.
Parker bought Arthur a piano for his birthday - what did Arthur get Parker for his? He learned all about Arthur from studying him, does Arthur know what subjects not to push Parker on? Did he say or do anything to repay Parker for his saintly generosity and patience? Did they have a single private joke? If Parker really needed to prove who he was to Arthur, recalling one personal conversation they had would have sufficed, but instead Parker basically just says "I was obsessed with you" and we still have zero indication that Arthur ever made an effort to reciprocate. After seven seasons.
Maybe he'll give a grand speech about it later, but by that point it will just be performative, like most of Arthur's grand speeches. We've already seen the way he treated William, and Bella, and James. He fully admitted that he was mad to have to lose Oscar as a friend, not because he felt bad about having gotten the man mutilated, not because he particularly cared about Oscar specifically as a person, but because he liked the idea of having a friend who wasn't John again.
Ahh, John. Not even worth it to talk about how Arthur treats John anymore. Whatever.
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