Okay so I got this comment and I wanted to talk about it because this is something I’ve thought a lot about. Not just Joyce specifically but virtually every adult in El/Jane’s orbit.
“And that Joyce would NEVER have just snatched Jane away from Terry like that. The way the show forgot her bio family was so gross.”
I really want to give Hopper the benefit of the doubt that he had good reasons for never bringing Terry up to El/Jane for that entire year in the cabin. I’m assuming the biggest reason he didn’t is the same reason she can’t go see Mike or anyone else for that matter. If he tells her about Terry and Becky, it’s just going to be one more person(s) she’s not allowed to go see. But while unconfirmed, another reason I speculate him not telling her is because of Terry’s current state. Even if he could coordinate El/Jane being able to see her, she would have to grapple with another thing that the lab took from her.
And to be clear, I think it was 100% important for her to know and not up to anyone but El/Jane what she could handle knowing. This is just what I speculate went into the thought process. That said, I don’t understand why he seemingly never told her that she has a real name. I would think he would want her to know she has something more than a lab number (or nickname of that number).
Honestly, all these characters are way too comfortable with using her lab number or the nickname of it. I know she never corrected anyone, but for the first season and a half she didn’t know she had another name. And past that point, I would think the adults of all characters would encourage her to use Jane. Both because they shouldn’t necessarily be comfortable using the lab name and out of respect for Terry Ives.
As for Jane’s one and only interaction with her biological mother and aunt, I have a lot of thoughts and none of them are organized so I apologize if this gets messy.
To Becky’s defense, she had a lot to unpack when El/Jane opened the door using telekinesis and demanded to see “mama”. It’s actually pretty heartbreakingly dark because she has to grapple with the living proof that her sister wasn’t crazy, that everything she said was entirely true, and that she didn’t believe her. But I love that Becky acted as her sister’s voice by showing her the untouched nursery and telling her that Terry always believed she’d come home.
And this is where I have conflicting feelings because you really get the impression that Becky is on the same side as Terry. I’m sure she’s still dealing with a lot of guilt, as proven when she asks El/Jane to apologize for not believing her. But she’s accepted that this girl is her niece that her sister fought tooth and nail for and that she belongs there. She explicitly tells her that this is home. But we are ultimately left with her calling Hopper, which I’m still not entirely convinced on what to make of.
Logically, I know that the odds are stacked against them. Terry is never going to recover, Becky is already her full-time caregiver and it would be a lot to take in a child on top of that. Let alone one that is traumatized, hunted by the government, and extremely powerful. That morning, she didn’t even know Terry’s baby was alive or that her sister’s “delusions” were true. So I don’t blame her if she wasn’t able to take in Jane as well, because she’d be risking everyone’s lives on top of the added stress. I just never understood the disconnect between telling Jane she’s home and calling Hopper.
As for Terry’s perspective, I absolutely hate the fact that she’s only ever mentioned in passing. Because this episode gave us explicit proof that Terry’s mind is still there. She is trapped inside her head and can’t verbally communicate, but she recognized that her daughter was there and did everything she could to communicate that fact. If El/Jane was a normal human child, having a parent that can’t react or talk would be a non-starter. However, she’s not a normal child and she can fairly easily communicate via the void. Which also would allow her to stay safely in hiding if needed and still have somewhat of a connection to her mom.
And again, while I get there’s a major safety concern at play with the lab still being a looming threat for most of the series. They have to be careful not to attract attention because one wrong move could get her thrown back in the lab and everyone around her killed. I don’t believe that Joyce wouldn’t have tried to facilitate a relationship. As I mentioned in my previous post, Joyce and Terry were living very similar realities. Joyce was horrified in the car that Terry had been waiting over a decade for her missing daughter. I can’t see her ever not trying to find a way for El/Jane to stay connected and know her mother. Both as a mother herself who fought against the lab and nearly ended up like her, but as someone who explicitly wanted El/Jane to have every shred of normality she could offer.
I think I might have gotten long-winded…
Justice for Terry and Becky Ives!
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