Trigger warning: CSA and other mentions of sexual assault
I really hope red barrels doesn’t re-write Coyle to be essentially “he’s evil and horrible for no good reason, he’s been like this since birth” becuase the CSA noted in his evidence file is just so huge to me. I have to preface everything I’m about to say by saying that no, Coyle is not a good person, he’s racist and he’s sexist and he’s homophobic and literally god only knows what else. I’m not trying to absolve him of those flaws at all. He killed three wives. He was a KKK member. All of that is on him. I’m just examining the seeds from which the weed grew.
I do think almost everything about him can be traced back to his mother. Even the racism, sexism, all of that does mostly from her, she was a very paranoid and bigoted woman. I think the childhood sexual assault he faced was at the hands of his mother, specifically. His father definitely played a part as well, I think if his mother was actively abusing him, his father was actively neglecting him. I think Coyle’s mom was molesting him even as young as when he was a baby, and continued until his late teens, when I theorize that he ran away as soon as he turned legal age, possibly even younger to escape her. And I think his mentions of his mother and his bathtub in some cut dialogue points to bath time being the most common time she would do this to him. It’s why he stinks the most out of the prime assets, according to some dialogue from aurora— he’s terrified of baths, and showers, and even when Murkoff allows the prime assets to bathe, he refuses to.
I also think this plays into the “Teach the Police Officer” trial, in which a tape plays of Coyle rocking himself and crying. I think Easterman, somehow, got ahold of information regarding the specifics of Coyle’s childhood sexual trauma, and threw it in his face.
Is this anything? Am I onto something? I really do think Coyle is just as much a CSA survivor the same way gooseberry is with her father.
