#moral orel help

[spacizia]

the want to fit in

[moraloreldeservedbetter]

important question for y'all

how old do you think clay and bloberta were when they first met each other??

personally i think clay was in his early twenties

as for bloberta i think she may have just turned twenty

but im not sure myself

what do y'all think??

[glaze7724]

[rarilee33]

The Hymentacts and the Puppingtons HC Bloberta is around 22 here before she gets married, and ofc Clay is 12 as depicted in Passing

[moraloreldeservedbetter]

important question for y'all

do you guys get annoyed when people blame bloberta for what happened with clay??

because i uh kind of do

and by kind of i get extremely annoyed

[moraloreldeservedbetter]

It's been FAR too long since we've last talked, but I recently rewatched the series and I really wanted to talk about Bloberta and Shapey (And Bloc) because those two kids have always been very oddly endearing to me.

We all know that Bloberta is a negligent mother to both Orel and Shapey (and later on, Bloc), but I personally think that while Clay is physically abusive towards Orel, Bloberta is emotionally abusive towards Shapey.  We see in "Help" that she manipulated Clay into marrying her because she just wants someone to help, and I think she does the same thing to Shapey in a way.  She claims that she is "weaning him" but really it looks like she's teaching him to be quiet until she wants to be "helpful."  As in, she feels like she is helping him when she nurses him, so she doesn't wean him, she intentionally makes it so that he's dependent on her BUT only when it's convenient to her.  That's why one minute she happily allows him to nurse with no resistance, and then the next she'd rather do something else and sprays him with a bottle like he's a pet cat and ignores him.  He's just a means to an end for her, and in doing so she emotionally manipulates him, to say nothing of how her ambivalence must affect how developmentally stunted he is already from the constant neglect from his family.  And all this is underlined by Clay- who Shapey probably thought was his dad up until the season 1 finale, if not then he probably still thinks is his dad -openly hates him, and Orel- the one person who cares and tries to help -is constantly told by his parents to "leave Shapey be" (aka perpetuate his neglect) or risk being punished.

(And yeah, Shapey does hug Coach Stopframe and yell "MINE!" but I think realistically he saw his mom and dad "hugging" him and thought "Well, now it's my turn!"  I don't think he knew he was illegitimate at the time, and it's possible he still doesn't know.  I also highly doubt he knows Stopframe is his father.)

Idk what Poppet was doing to Bloc, but when he and Shapey got switched, Bloberta didn't notice the difference.  Bloc must have been through something close enough for Bloberta to continue doing what she was doing without resistance.  I do think it's interesting that Bloberta is so manipulative to Shapey all for her desire to be helpful, but never even noticed when she wasn't even with him anymore.

Had we gotten the episode "Nurture" and Shapey and Bloc gotten their character arc, I wonder if they would have ever explored the idea of them both weaning themselves.  Like, if their friendship made them bolder and they decided to grow up on their own and ended up rejecting Bloberta even despite her apparent manipulating.  I think Bloberta would have had some kind of breakdown.  Maybe she wouldn't lash out at them or double down like Clay does with Orel, but I think she would throw her own kind of fit.

Idk, at the end of the day it's just a theory, but in my mind, Bloberta is destructive towards Shapey and Bloc the way Clay is destructive with Orel (albeit in her own way).  And it really proves how selfish she is, first manipulating Clay into marrying her under the guise of being "helpful," then doing the same towards a son she otherwise wants nothing to do with, AND THEN doing it a THIRD TIME with Bloc.  Like, girl had so many chances to get it right and didn't.

HOLY SHIT

LOOK Y'ALL

ACTUAL ANALYSIS!!

THIS WAS FANTASTIC HUN

[moraloreldeservedbetter]

im annoyed to hell and back by all those accusations bc like sure, she pressured him to drink but it was AT a party, which definitely does not mean that you have to continue drinking with the same potency EVERY day afterwards. people tend to get waited at parties, they don't go on to become violent alcoholics the next day because of that, even if they were pressured to drink by their complainy.

if we assume a total objectivity of Help ep, and Clay like never had alcohol before in his life, the most that bloberta did there is introduced him to how does in feel to be wasted. She was not encouraging him to drink every day. Just bc she convinced him to marty her doesn't mean she also 100% single-handed caused his addiction.

His mother also had those addictions, it may be simply a matter of hereditary predisposition too. Clay also has a tendency to immature coping strategies, he never grew out of his 12 self's, mindset, so no wonder he chose escapism.

You see, there are so many angles and causes to their problem, it's just a disservice to the source material to simplify the problem to just 'stupid woman made him drink'.

holy shit nonny this has obviously been building up for a LONG time and im glad you were brave enough to send this

[moraloreldeservedbetter]

I mean, she DID pressure him into drinking... and she didnt exactly try to stop him ever. I see where theyre coming from, but also, Clay is still a grown adult who SHOULD have better judgement. That being said, i dont like it when ppl try to blame a woman for a man's shortcomings

you should have seen the shit ive seen in 2017-2018

it was a hellscape at one point/gen