i love the jokes about Matt chaining Jay to his radiator and stuff but I wanna say, a core part of Matt is that he doesn't actually want to totally take away Jay's autonomy. like he could if he wanted, I believe in his ability to. but what Matt wants is to be chosen by Jay over and over in the same way he chooses Jay over and over. he'll do stuff to manipulate this decision obviously lol. and argue. The Buffet was entirely an exercise in getting Jay to realize how much he needs Matt. and he doesn't stop Jay from getting a job. he even relents and apologizes for his freakout. it's not about the job interview, it's about Jay confessing that Matt doesn't fulfill all his needs and that feels like being shot with a gun. he didn't stop Jay from going to a party, he just turned up and made Jay choose him again, even if Jay wasn't aware of it. Matt presented a choice between him and Kayla and wanted Jay to choose correctly, he didn't block the exits. Matt just needs to be chosen and so Jay needs the freedom to choose and this is the Matt torture nexus because even as Jay will always come around, he will keep Matt doubting for the rest of their lives. it's great, it's really great stuff. that's why there's no radiators in Jay's future and why I'm less into the characterization of Matt as being that brand of controlling

Yes!!!!!! And further I think this reading also makes the events at the beginning of the movie so much more devastating and meaningful from a characterization standpoint because here is a Matt who KNOWS that when push comes to shove he wouldn't be able to stop Jay from leaving, his absolute worst fear is ultimately out of his control by design because what he really wants is to be CHOSEN by Jay. When you think about it, as far back as the webseries when he pretends to hang himself but also specifically in the Buffet (one of the only other times he has concrete evidence that Jay is planning on leaving him for real) he is sooo hyper vigilant about it. He immediately sniffs out that something is up even before he reads the letter, before Jay has really said or done anything to indicate anything is out of the ordinary. Matt is clearly just operating under the weight of such a constant, all consuming fear of Jay leaving that he notices before there's even any real evidence of it happening to cite. Which makes the early parts of the movie completely debilitating for me to even think about tbh. Like Jay gave every indication that something was up, he was so wet and miserable before walking up to his room, didn't want to play, barely said anything at all. Matt still didn't think anything was going on. Matt instantly believes it after his initial blowup when Jay says he was taking the RV to do something with him instead of sneaking. Jay tries to do some weird drastic goodbye scene in the middle of the movie theater when Matt thinks he's just getting up to go to the bathroom and Matt still doesn't bat an eye. I don't even know if it's just because Matt has gotten more comfortable and trusting in Jay to never actually be able to go anywhere or if it's because he has had to gaslight himself into that blind optimism to keep himself sane but either way he almost let Jay walk out of his life multiple times that day before even noticing. Those moments through the lens of this post and this, I believe, very accurate reading of Matt make me so dizzy I have to sit down somewhere lol