I’m So Normal

It's interesting to see the varied response each of these characters has to being "alone" and left with nothing.

I've said plenty about Jasper being a trauma-locked character. The extreme version of "no one was there for me, relationships are transactional, I look out for myself only, fuck everyone else." Isolationist, deadened compassion. People are tools; people are hurdles.

Doris seeks out companionship. We're not given Keves' age when Doris "adopted" her but considering the thematic parallels, she must've been around 8 or 9 (pic of bb!Keves has her missing an upper central incisor and that's circa 6 to 7 years old according to Google, but that's typical shed and not everyone is typical, so I'm going to go with interesting rather than real). Doris removes herself from the equation. I continually make the point that it is noteworthy that Doris does not seek out Helen, the literal only blood family she has left. Instead, she creates her own. Please note that this is not restricted to a strictly mother/daughter interpretation of Doris and Keves; the salient point is that she moves on. She doesn't try to use what she knows of the Talamasca against them; she doesn't look for Helen or make contact. And she basically does the same thing with Guy: grabbing the nearest baby bird. I'm not saying this is healthy lol. This is just in contrast to Jasper, who's moralized his loss into A Great Vendetta, whereas Doris is just Trying To Get By.

Helen adopts the viewpoint of the system that used her and split her from her only family. She expresses gratitude - "they gave me a life when I had nothing." She exploits the ever living fuck out of Guy, much in the same manner as the Talamasca exploited the ever living fuck out of her and Doris. Helen's journey in S1 is purely plot - find my sister, use Guy to expose London. I really want S2 to be fallout. Is Helen going to have any insight, or is she absolutely entrenched? To me, it's telling that after her reunion moment with Doris, her next scene is recruiting Ridge lol. Is she going to unpack ANY of the shit she's learned? Jasper is her biggest parallel, and Jasper's in an Amsterdam basement having A Really Bad Time. I assume that's going to be his humbling moment, so what would be Helen's humbling moment, if there is going to be one? I kinda like the idea of Jasper and Helen mirroring each other, and one might have a change of heart and one doesn't, insofar as Helen feels sympathetically portrayed at first until you really think about what she's doing and what she's done to Guy, so if that becomes more explicit? She'd make a more interesting "villain" than Houseman. Not driven by pursuit of power but her vain belief that she is serving her institution. Doing wrong things for the wrong reasons while believing that she's doing right. Which is what Jasper has been doing. It'd be funny if he changes course and Helen doesn't.

Finally we come to Guy, and I suppose I don't necessarily have much to say given that I've gone on at length about him already (I'm lying; I have tons to say; this post is just getting way too long). I will just reiterate my love for his compassion despite the hand that he's been dealt, and again, the show doesn't unpack the telepathy suitcase, but I still stand by the fact that if you can hear other people's thoughts and still be a kind person at heart? Guy Anatole, you rare creature, you. I do have something brewing about Guy vis-à-vis his optimism/naivety/gullibility, but for THIS post, it's for the sake of seeing him in contrast to all these other characters who had nothing. Helen assimilated, Jasper seeks to destroy, Doris retreats. Guy is too good of a person to want to destroy. He's disillusioned with Helen and unlikely to align himself with the Talamasca. We've seen time and time again that he pushes forward and doesn't hang back. A criticism of Guy is that he's passive, reactive. I'd argue that the trait being displayed is perseverance. The other three persevered in their own way; how will Guy persevere in his own way?