the dennis and frank interaction seemed weird because it was meant to.
dennis is constantly in a subservient role. heās always fawning and agreeing and anticipating others needs. heās surrounded himself with these kinda volatiles personalities who have power over him. granted, he has curried their favor, but he is painfully aware of just how quickly they will push him away, how easy it would be to punish him for meaningfully stepping out of line.
thereās the obvious dynamic of dennis and robby. robby is his boss, his mentor, his quasi-friend even though they arenāt really supposed to be friends. dennis sees what itās like when you lose robbyās favor with samira and frank. he knows that robby can get petty and snappy and will use his position to limit someoneās opportunities. samira not asking him for the letter of recommendation because she canāt trust him, and frank being assigned to triage comes to mind.
dennis literally said he finds it hard to say no to robby, even when itās a personal favor and completely unrelated to work. robby and dennisās relationship is very unequal, and dennis knows that. he knows he could never question robby or demand anything from him. dennis knows that robby gets to define him, and that theyāre dynamic with each other is completely on robbyās terms.
but there is this largely unexamined power dynamic between trinity and dennis. she is responsible for his housing and presumably some of his other necessities like food. dennisās justification for letting himself accept living with her is that he could fix things. trinity has an immense amount if power over him, even if she never intentionally uses it to get her way.
dennis wasnāt even sure if they were really friends who enjoyed living together until almost a year later. he thought trinity was anxious to see him leave. he thought she orchestrated the house sitting with robby to get him out of her hair. he truly perceived himself as an unwelcomed guest, a hanger on.
so yeah, heāll eat her avocados and mildly annoy her with his habits, heāll tease her when heās sure he can get away with it, but he canāt really set boundaries with her, mostly because of how tenuously he himself perceives his position. he is incredibly aware that her kindness could be revoked on a whim, even if the audience is mostly sure she wouldnāt do that.
so itās been months of him finishing his rotation with robby, whom he has to be the golden boy for. then he had other rotations, where he probably had no agency either. he helps out amy, who is a grieving single mother, who he probably feels he has no right to make her life any more difficult. and trinity is benevolent now, but he understands that it could turn on a dime, because he doesnāt even know her that well, particularly in the beginning.
and then thereās this outsider. frank, who has fallen from grace, who has nearly no allies. frank, who basically has no power over him, and yet is constantly trying to little brother him (at least in dennisās mind). dennis has no dynamics on his terms. he takes what heās given with everybody, but he doesnāt have to do that with frank.
so he sort of explodes in this uncharacteristic way. itās weird to have dennis snap like that.
he harshly sets the boundary that frank has no say in who dennis is, that frank and his relationship is equal from the jump, because thatās literally the only person he can do that with. frank is on the outs with the two people that hold the most power over dennis, so there is a freedom to treat frank however he pleases.
dennis set the boundary with frank, because ironically, for all his faults and assholish tendencies, frank is the only person there in the position to accept dennisās terms.
