it is really sweet that tommy stayed a constant in thea’s life after oliver and sara couldn’t, and i don’t want to make it out like tommy canonically groomed thea, or meant to at least, i just think thea was 17 when he said she had grown up to be hot and we don’t really talk abt how fucking creepy that was. and she did develop a big crush on him.
analyzing their friendship gets murky because they don’t know they’re brother and sister while tommy’s alive so there’s uncomfortable implications. but tommy says himself that he accidentally crossed the line with thea, that it was “inappropriate” how much he treated her like a normal friend and talked to her about his own relationship troubles. and he knew she was on a dark path with drugs long before oliver came home. and there’s this flashback in s3e14 when thea’s like 15, where tommy says his birthday party is 21+ and thea says they both know that’s not true and then tommy says it is for her. specifically her. so now we have the implication that tommy regularly lets those under 21 get drunk at his parties, and thea’s only an exception because it’s oliver’s sister. and that line also implies she’s been to his parties before.
and he seems so surprised when thea makes it obvious she’s into him, albeit drunkenly, and she says you said i was amazing and that’s true, he did, and he also kissed her cheek and tells her he loves her after he said that. and then he’s shocked that he may have confused the teenage girl, because in his head he’s being brotherly, clinging to what’s left of the queen and lance families due to his own grief and loneliness, but thea’s still 17, and she makes it clear she doesn’t see tommy as a brother figure by literally telling him he’s not her brother.
she’s wrong, it’s just no one but two terrible people and a terrible dead man know that part.
i just. keep wondering where thea first started having addiction problems, i don’t think if it’s ever stated when and where her first drink or pill was? correct me if i’m wrong on that. what if she had her first swig/dose at tommy’s, when she was 13-14? like even after they find her at his birthday party in the s3e14 flashbacks they still let the 15y/o stay around with a bunch of drunk, druggy, partying adults. that wasn’t very responsible of laurel or of tommy, especially since tommy knew she was already an addict. earlier he felt the need to emphasize that she wasn’t welcome.
so we have the implication that underage girls crash his parties sometimes, that thea was already one of those girls (quentin scolds her for she’s following sara’s footsteps in that way), and that there’s always a shitton of dealers at tommy’s parties. so. yeah i think tommy has more to do with thea’s addiction struggles than previously thought
again- i don’t think tommy was sizing up thea to abuse her when she became “legal” (such a fucking gross thing to call someone) or something like that. i just think we don’t talk enough abt his carelessness when it came to how he treated her, which is wild because he admits to it himself in s1e6
i love analyzing thea’s addiction like this makes for such heartbreaking implications of just how much thea’s grief led to her crush on him and how much that crush had to do with her drinking and drugging herself up and quentin critiquing the way she dresses when she’s 15. she’s trying to act like an adult but the role models that gave her the most attention were playboys and partygirls
