the thing about the wylers' toxic evil heterosexual divorce-marriage is that from kate's perspective, she needs the marriage to be over, because she doesn't trust hal, because hal is manipulative and reckless (true) and acts like he is singular in the world in a way that gets people hurt (also true), which is never truly punished because he somehow always comes out on top (white man eternally failing up, see 2.6). all of this together is repulsive to her. from hal's perspective, their marriage can't be over. he doesn't entertain it, doesn't believe it, will not let it happen. because he fucking loves kate. and he resents her a little bit, because he knows she hates him and thinks the worst of him, which is so ironic because out of everything he wants it's her that he needs the most. i genuinely think he would have given up the vice presidency had she told him to. she doesn't do that, because even while she hates his guts because it's happening again, hal wyler getting the world while she gets the damage, she's not selfish enough to sabotage his career. his career matters to him, as much as hers does--this is their work, this is what they do, that's what their entire life is built on. they're career officers. but i think kate misses, genuinely or intentionally, that what hal wants more than any of it is kate. it's against how they operate, it's impractical and anathema to who they are as people in their vocation, but he literally tries to give up his political scheming and meddling to be less maddening to her. and it doesn't work! because she doesn't trust him! because it's stupid, and it's not him, and it's not gonna stop them from getting divorced. and she doesn't see that he's trying so fucking hard to be good, because him being good is useless to both of them. the thing about the wylers is that kate isn't actually wrong about hal. he is manipulative and ambitious and doesn't follow any kind of protocol because he thinks so highly of his own ability to get what he wants, structures in place be damned. and he thinks the exact same of kate's ability--which is insane to her. he's insane. but he's not wrong about her either; she's brilliant. it's why they're so good together, when they're on the same page. and the thing about the wylers is they both at their core want to do the best work they are capable of. which is why they need each other.
dailybridgerton
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
