Okay, so while I dislike Kent’s ending on so, so many levels, I’m actively squicked by the implication that Jack was allowed to have anxiety and issues during his time in Juniors Hockey (which we know he did, especially in regard to living up to his dad’s hockey legacy), but that Kent wasn’t, and that Kent was somehow responsible for managing Jack’s anxiety/mental health.
I’ve been reading Crossing the Line: Violence and Sexual Assault in Canada's National Sport by Laura Robinson, which is a book that examines the toxic masculinity and rape culture within Juniors Hockey, where Kent and Jack were playing. It is a deeply troubled system that allows vast power disparities between coaches and players, fails to prevent extreme hazing even when there’s express bylaws against it, is ripe for giving predators continued and unhindered access to victims, and is overwhelmed by the idea that women exist to be used by men, mistreated, and then unceremoniously disposed of, and that women who try to speak out about sexual assault are “attention-seeking troublemakers.”
And above all, there is a prevailing attitude of homophobia--that not living up to traditional masculine standards and breaking from the group in any way is a betrayal of the team and hockey itself.
However, Kent’s story arc ends on the conclusion that he was at fault for Jack’s anxiety during this era--him and no one else, because he was involved with Jack and therefore should have been looking out for him. (Even though they were only hooking up a few times and not officially together, if we go by Jack’s final word on the matter. Somehow, Kent is still responsible.)
Think about that for a moment. The pressures of Junior Hockey, with all of its homophobia, misogyny, and hazing, and their effect on a queer teenager with anxiety, somehow aren’t the responsibility of the straight white men who built and maintained that culture. It’s not the fault of the coaches who turn a blind eye to hazing or seek to enable it. It’s not the fault of a system that allow flagrant homophobia to run unchecked. It’s not even the fault of Bad Bob, who knows what the Junior Hockey system is like but is never shown objecting to or even worrying about Jack’s participation.
Instead, all of the blame for Jack’s issues is passed onto Kent, another queer teenager who was just as helpless to stop the system they were a part of as Jack was. Check Please, for all that it’s praised for fighting against toxic masculinity in sports, ultimately decided that toxic masculinity wasn’t the problem--but that a young closeted queer man was, for not being as supportive of a friend (or rather, as supportive of an occasional hookup) to Jack as he should have been.
