Trying to stay positive last year, for many of us, had absolutely nothing to do with liking/excusing this character, or the things he did, or the writing overall. (Even though I enjoyed it more than what they've given us this year, which is nothing.)
It had everything to do with hoping against hope that it was finally Robert's/Ryan's turn for a serious story and thinking maybe the show had a plan. We were wrong, we trusted them when we shouldn't have. Probably because we never thought they were really going to throw Robert under the bus for some guest star after such a brilliant start to his return.
