deeply amused by all the potential problems claire and owen not changing their last names could cause. namely the confusion at maisie’s future public school over whether or not maisie has divorced parents. it’s a whole debate. there’s the one 30 something new hire who’s all “it’s the 21st century guys. women don’t always take the husbands name anymore” who gets boo’d by everyone else because that’s city nonsense. there’s the suggestion that maybe they’re together but not married which displeases several staff because they’re living in sin. but them being divorced isn’t satisfactory either because divorce is also a sin.
of course it doesn’t help that owen is the primary school parent (as established by the PTA owen saga) and claire is a School Events Only type of mom. he doesn’t t wear a ring which fuels the divorce theory but he also speaks abnormally well about her for possible divorcees. very confusing stuff. owen also pointedly avoids any attempt at single mom flirtation which is either a sign he’s married or not interested in moms as a genre (clearly the former. claire’s milf-y status has only endeared him further). but an even more wild theory emerges that they ARE divorced but he wants her back. for those in the PTA specifically it’s clear he has some kind of feelings for his co-parent but it’s less clear if she’s reciprocating. the thing about claire is that you need to be a claire whisperer to really get what she’s expressing so to the outside observer she will always seem less reciprocal than she is. she cares deeply she’s just autistic. and by jove does owen love that autistic woman’s autistic ways. claire is, on average, pda averse (hates feeling exposed) so that really doesn’t help either. suddenly the narrative isn’t that they’re amicably separated but that owen is hopelessly pining for this WITCH who won’t give him the time of day. sad.
they think he "deserves better" which is the story of his life at this point (girlfriend who went on criminal trial for corporate negligence and the deaths of 250 people is apparently a BAD thing now 🙄🙄) and it’s the most annoying thing ever to him. he would’ve been visiting her in jail if he had to. #MyEvilWife. he is exactly where he wants to be and it's very pretentious to pretend like he isnt. maybe he should just change his name at this point because it's getting ridiculous. he'll be owen dearing who fucking cares.
















