Please rant about the Patterson’s as you see fit, I would love to hear your thoughts if you don’t mind sharing them!
honestly my thoughts about the patterson’s are just different projections that have accumulated into Bad Vibes but here’s the rundown for you, bestie
im gonna try and keep this as close to things we know in canon as possible (though i could go even further with my interpretation and experience as a musical-kid-with-musical-parents-who-still-aren’t-supportive. i could. but i wont)
luke was clearly a passionate kid, particularly with his music. we know as an audience that this doubles as his way of communicating. so for emily to reject a part of him so significant must feel invalidating as hell
whether you think the garage belongs to bobby or alex, the fact that luke felt more comfortable there than in his own home must say something about the environment and atmosphere his parents have created
luke may be an idiot, but he’s not stupid. he’s seventeen and very self aware of the music industry, how cutthroat it can be. he says that he’s not in it for the money. but he must know that equiptment costs, travel costs and gigs don’t exactly pay well. but his parents were offering so little in terms of financial support that he figured he would fare better without them
luke felt more like himself when living on a couch in a friends garage than when he was safe and home. how many times do i need to repeat this before it sinks in that running away from home in order to feel yourself is not conducive with having good parents??
from my years of passively listening to my mum and dozens of other so-called ‘childcare professionals’, the only thing they say that i always agree with is: it’s never the child’s fault. yes, this applies to literally everything, every single one of their actions, even the ugly stuff. children’s brains are constantly changing and developing and they can’t always process consequences and implications of events (this particularly applies to teenagers and neurodivergent children - so, luke). most of their behaviour is a response to someone else or as a result of things that have happened to them. so, personally, i find it really harmful to defend the patterson’s by saying that luke also had some fault in their failed relationship. he is a child. a child is never responsible for holding together a strained relationship - particularly when that relationship is with their parents. parents should be providing their children with a healthy environment in which the child wants to keep that relationship, and they should never have to work harder than the parents for that.
tl;dr luke shouldn’t be blamed for his failed relationship with his parents. and they aren’t ‘good’ parents
