Nothing but troublesome couples in this week’s episode.
No sympathy for Mr. and Mrs. Austin
You can’t see it in the screenshot, but the teacher’s hand is trembling. Can’t really blame him, though. Being held hostage by terrorists at gunpoint has got to be traumatic, and he shouldn’t be the only one with issues. We find out later that some of the kids are having nightmares as well. Still, we rarely see anime characters actually reach out and get any sort of mental help. I mean, when’s the last time you actually saw someone go see a therapist in an anime? Welcome to the NHK? Perfect Blue? Those works are “ancient,” though; some anime fans weren’t even born when they came out. Point is, getting mental help sadly isn’t people’s first instinct when they’re suffering like Mr. Austin.
But for Mr. Austin, it actually goes deeper than the busjacking incident. Right off the bat, Loid suspects that Mr. Austin lying to him. He also suspects that the man is having marital problems. Sadly, Mr. Austin takes this very badly. He tries to deny it at first, but when the truth slowly creeps in, he has a meltdown in the middle of Loid’s office. I don’t think people typically crash out this hard in therapy. I only say this because getting mental help is already heavily stigmatized. As such, we don’t need to exaggerate and make people like Mr. Austin look so cartoonish. So many people refuse to get therapy because they often think, “Why do I need to get help? There’s nothing wrong with me.” And you can see why it’s easy to have that stance: “Look, I’m nothing like that guy. He’s having a meltdown. I don’t do that!” But like with physical illness, mental illness can be insidious and sneak up on you.
Mr. Austin eventually asks Loid what he should do. In response, the latter tells his patient to confront his fear. Sadly, Mr. Austin isn’t innocent. He’s actually a pretty shit husband. How does Loid know? Well, our favorite psychiatrist had Fiona do a little snooping. This can’t be normal, right? I’m talking about Loid and not Mr. Austin. Certainly, you shouldn’t lie to your doctor. At the same time, however, did you hire a doctor or a private eye to pry into your life? Could you imagine going to your general practitioner only for them to tell you that they’ve looked into your general habits and daily activities? But again, Mr. Austin sucks as a partner, so it’s hard to feel any sympathy for him. He blames everything on his fear of his wife, but it’s the chicken or the egg problem all over again. Maybe she only started yelling at him, because he’s been letting her down for so long.
It’s hard to feel sympathy for his wife too, though. Why stay in this marriage when you’re so unhappy? Why spend your days sniping at your shitty husband, turning yourself into a nasty person instead of just leaving? Personally, I’d have called it quits a long time ago. They’re both pretty old, y’know? They’re not on death’s door, but they both have maybe a couple of decades left on this planet. Why spend those last couple of decades in misery? Why spend any decade in misery? If staying means you become toxic, then it’s just not worth it. But maybe Ostanian culture frowns on divorce or whatever. Or maybe they’re both afraid to be alone. So instead, Loid tries to help Mr. Austin confront his fear, and it’s played for laughs. Welp, color me disappointed. Whatever, I’m ready to move on from this story.
Is that what we’re gonna do today? We’re gonna fight?
Guess what? We’ve got drunk Yor again. It feels like every time she and Loid are destined to have a moment, alcohol is involved. Okay, maybe not every time, but it happens way too often. Immediately, the gossipy coworkers start pressing Yor for deets about her marriage. When they hear that Yor honestly has no issues with Loid, they are incredulous and start lobbing all sorts of wild accusations — wild accusations that are ironically true. Loid only seems perfect because he’s a liar. But Yor is also lying to him, so I guess it’s okay? Anyway, some couples honestly don’t fight, though. I think people have a misunderstanding about how relationships are supposed to work. It’s normal for couples to have disagreements from time to time. No one’s disputing that. But people tend to leave out the “from time to time” part. You’re not supposed to be arguing on a weekly or even monthly basis. Nevertheless, some couples act like if they aren’t fighting, then someone clearly doesn’t care enough — someone clearly isn’t invested. Personally, this is such an asinine position to hold about relationships.
At the same time, you can’t take Yor’s coworkers’ words too seriously. They’re just having fun. For instance, the women start complaining about their partners, but they’re not actually unhappy in their relationships. They’d look at you funny if you tried to suggest otherwise. This is one of those tricky, fine line situations. Commiserating with your friends is a way to vent and destress. Life is all about compromise and finding ways to cope with our issues. Your spouse might have a few flaws and you want to fix them, but you also don’t want to harp on them all the time. So instead, you complain to your friends. But if you go too far, you might end up poisoning the well and making your friends hate your spouse. Again, there’s a fine line somewhere. These ladies likely have an unspoken agreement that nothing they say is that serious. But Yor being Yor, she has a hard time grasping social norms. She’s taking every word they say literally.
With Yor, it boils down to two main problems: not only is she inexperienced with relationships and love in general, she so desperately wants to be normal. As a result, it’s easy for her to be swayed by others. She initially thinks she has to fight with Loid. Thanks to the alcohol in her system, this somehow turns into killing Loid. Luckily, she loves Anya too much to make the child an orphan. So now her coworkers has Yor expecting a welcome home kiss from Loid, a huge improvement over killing him. Plus, it is actually true; a welcome home kiss is pretty normal for most couples. Too bad we won’t get to see it. I know it, you know it, even her coworkers know it. All we get is Loid catching Yor in his arms. But hey, at least she got some friendship points!
Even the kids have “marital” problems
I’ll just let the screenshots do the talking:
The green-eyed monster strikes again.
Stray thoughts & observations:
- I don’t have a problem with couples sleeping in separate beds, but damn, at least get bigger separate beds. I dunno, I’d feel too claustrophobic on a twin or full size bed. I guess I’m spoiled here.
- Loid is supposedly renowned? By who? Or is Mister Henderson just talking up his favorite “elegant boy?” I know Loid is popular at his job, but “renowned” makes me think he’s won awards or been praised in publications.
- Hell, I feel guilty for thinking, “Huh, how exactly is treating this guy going to help Loid’s mission?” But Loid’s has the same thought, because he’s planning to pump Mr. Austin for information on Eden College’s alumni. On the one hand, this does feel kinda scummy. This man is coming for you for help, but you see him as a resource you can mine. On the other hand, Loid and his team are trying to prevent another major war from breaking out. Eh…
- Oh look, another terrible boss. I bet he has a shitty marriage, too.
- Yor’s relationship with her coworkers has come a long way, hasn’t it? I mean, when we first met Camilla, she literally accused Yor of being a prostitute just because she was jealous. Well, she’s still no saint. Sharon ends up being the one to extend a dinner invite to Yor, which surprises the other two. Basically, Camilla and Millie still have a lot to work on.
- Y’know even though Sharon never reprimanded her friends for being mean girls, she has also been the least toxic of the trio. I think she just has no energy to spare. She always looks exhausted or bored. Hell, the woman isn’t even passionate about her husband. Hopefully, her kid is the exception.
- Sweet omelets? What the fuck?
- Yor doesn’t realize that her complaints might come off as humble bragging. None of her coworkers are buying it.
- You can tell these women aren’t good friends with Yor yet, because none of them try and stop her from leaving with a knife in hand. The restaurant staff actually has to step in.
- Yor’s got a pretty wild imagination.
