Nathan's jealousy towards Jefferson & their relationships w/ women
I was just thinking about how so many girls in Nathan's life (friends, friends-with-benefits(?), sexual/romantic(?) interests, obsessions, etc etc) were all into/admired Mark Jefferson. Like, Rachel had a known sexual relationship with Jefferson and Victoria actively admired and sexually pursued him. Heck, even Max herself expressed an infatuation-like crush on Jefferson. So how did this make Nathan feel?
Likely jealousy— he was known for being sexually (and perhaps romantically) attracted to Rachel, and for her to choose a 'taboo' relationship with a teacher over his own advances probably hurt his ego quite a lot. Though it's unconfirmed whether he had any relationship beyond friendship with Victoria, her expressed attraction probably only bruised him further. Yet, on the other side of this jealousy must've lived some buried level of protectiveness for these girls— because Nathan knew what Jefferson was secretly planning for these girls, and how he himself was an accomplice to it.
It kind of makes more sense, in this context, why he calls Max one of "Jefferson's photo groupies" at the very beginning despite hardly knowing her. He'd likely heard about Max from Victoria and that Jefferson paid special attention to her, and assumed Max was just like Rachel or Victoria— attracted to someone dangerous, falling for his charming facade. (Which is why Nathan likely sees her response, "I'm one of his students", as a sassy deflection, hence his aggressive, "What-the-fuck-ever.")
I think it's interesting to consider his comment as a weirdly roundabout, condescension-wrapped, aggression-filled warning for Max— if you're willing to read into it that far. Kind of a, "you'd be an idiot for idolizing him" thing to both belittle and warn her at the same time, and possibly his own jealousy for Jefferson so easily getting female attention.
Which is also part of why I'm intrigued by the reasoning of why Nathan didn't even warn Victoria about Jefferson's plans in Ep4/5— just Max. Which begs the question: Why just Max? Why not protect his best friend, too? Is he just shitty and forgot, or was he overwhelmed with guilt and the need to apologize to Max for his sins, and also wanted to protect her life before accepting his own death? Maybe he assumed Jefferson would focus on killing Max first and foremost, and he prioritized that over Victoria's potential kidnapping, which he likely guessed would not end in her death?
Thoughts?
