saw some takes on both robby and langdon while I was still catching up on episodes and thought ok what the hellll did they do 👀 but now I'm there and still don't know how they see either of them as a villain. this almost feels like certain times in a certain other fandom where I didn't understand how someone was selfish and evil for..having emotions?
yeah, people tend to oversimplify characters' reactions and behaviours until they can get all the way down to "good" and "bad" and to some extent i understand the need to make things fit into neat little boxes because confrontating the idea that good people do bad things and make bad decisions and hold biases we know are unjust is a hard pill to swallow, especially when it's out of our control (if they were real people within arm's reach, we could tell them off and try to educate them)
at the same time, i think the people doing all that have been through some extremely draining, confusing and scary times (just recently covid put a number on all of us, even though we are mostly acting like it never even happened...) and simplifying things, especially things of enjoyment (tv shows) is a way for them to not have to confront all that turmoil inside
all that being said, the pitt portrays some incredibly realistic behaviours, from trying to help people in need to misogynistic microaggressions, racism within healthcare, hierarchy issues, people bringing their baggage to work and so on and if we allow ourselves to be a little uncomfortable and think about why we feel that way, maybe that's not such a bad thing after all