Not to be autistic but Sandy (Bear’s cat) being dead specifically in front of his door is reminiscent of one of the first scenes in The Shadow Knows by Diane Johnson where she too comes home to a dead cat. The Shadow Knows is also about obsession in a way because our narrator is being stalked, and she suspects it’s her recently divorced ex husband is the one terrorizing her.
It’s hyper specific and has probably been in a lot of media I just haven’t seen but I’m book autistic asf and immediately thought of Shadow Knows. Similar themes and such too, since N (narrator) contemplates the concept of deserving to die by being murdered. Murder as release is played with in Obsession with Nikki, she’s at Bear’s mercy and killing her would actually be mercy rather than the situation he put her in.
Both also play into the “hysterical woman” trope if you’re looking at their situations as an observer. But even then Nikki and N are both dismissed by others as “going through something” when they’re clearly in duress with an actual dangerous situation. They’re also both suspected of being malicious or manipulative in their distressed states, as if their crisis’ are a ploy for ulterior motives. So the narrative plays into it too. But in the end it’s about womens suffering at the hands of men and the patriarchy.
Both end in suffering too, Nikki is left with all her friends dead and N still has no idea who is stalking her and why. Both situations getting to their epicenter because they did not want to be with a specific man
Just thought it was interesting, I’m curious if anyone on the writing team is familiar with Johnson’s work now
