Being a fan of his since 2014 (and now a friend) made me privy to his struggles, and when I say I am so mad at the higher ups in PH sports bodies (esp PH/SU) I mean it. I’m glad he’s gonna compete for fun and for himself this year 🥹
children rely on the adults around them, their feelings are always ignored. they get abused in any form bc they’re children. they’re treated as property, never people
People see Mary as more innocent than Clark, not as much of a bad person, but I'm not sure that's the case. She's less obviously destructive, but...
Mary's treatment was a loop I think, as in, she probably used the same style treatment for everyone (as suggested by her tapes, being literal copies of her message.) Clark came to her for help, and she kept on the same treatments over and over that clearly weren't working. In particular, she kept roleplaying as his wife, who (he thinks) took everything from him, making him relive a terrible memory.
Of course he hates the roleplay! It's just bad memories and positioning himself as the bad guy. And maybe he was, but why would anyone like that? Mary doesn't ever seem to even give him a little slack about what happened, when if what Clark says is true, it would have been a very stressful situation to live with.
But she forces him to roleplay and relive a terrible night multiple times, so in the dinner scene he forces her to do the opposite: roleplay again and finally see him from his own perspective. Mary wanted to act as his wife, so he rubs it in by forcing the hair on her to make her realise how horrible the whole memory/situation is.
This isn't to say that Clark isn't shirking responsibility (he is) and that he's actually a good man (he isn't), but Mary didn't really try to engage with Clark despite him begging her too. Clark reached out to Mary for help and her treatment only made it worse. It's no wonder he took a chance to escape when he could. Mary was right to be terrified when entering the Backrooms, being a reflection of his mind, because she hadn't really entered it before.
I think she does it because of her mother. Her mother was delusional, and you can't entertain those delusions at all when interacting with them. Clark is angry and shirks responsibility, but he isn't delusional. Mary, stuck in her own loop, treated him like she would her mother. At best her blind treatment of Clark just didn't help him, but at worst it actively made him worse.
It's probably (at least partially) why she smiles at the end during the interview/interrogation. She's finally understanding what it's like to have someone try to analyse you without really engaging. It's patronising and probably going to make everything worse. We even see a Still Life of her sitting utterly terrified and distressed in that exact chair, suggesting that was how Mary was feeling, while all that Phil had to offer was questions he already knew the answers to and a vague threat that she'll be taken away.
I don't think Mary is a good person, honestly. She's not that different from Clark in the end, although her method of coping is at least (usually) more helpful than his. But it's more destructive when it isn't, because as a therapist she works with damaged people and helping the wrong way leads to real harm.
the strangest lost painting by fernando amorsolo ever recovered is a still life scenery of a woman staring into a bahay kubo. the interior of the kubo depicts a room that shouldnt exist until the 90's. nobody knew about its existence until its discovery.
(1920)
#backrooms
This makes me sad, honestly.
The streets would remember I had everyone trying to watch this show.
Kipo had one of my favorite iconic coming out scenes in animation.
Oh. Benson, you’ll always be loved & cherished by me!
re: the ube discourse, this reveals how people outside the ph know virtually NOTHING about the Philippines besides lumpia adobo and beaches,,,, the number of times i’ve seen our english fluency downplayed, the lack of knowledge about our history and culture and even just
Gems being made for one specific purpose and never being taught how to handle anything outside of it is by far one of the most tragic thing any fictional species could have gone through
Replacing the best man for the job at this point is a great insult to the people who want nothing but the best for this country.
For as long as people like the DDS exist, the Philippines will keep struggling to deserve better. 😒