#dddads

Me: I’m listening.

Someone: Okay, so it’s about the cult ending-

Me:

“Aw come on Joe… you know I hate my picture being taken.”

I couldn’t help myself. I just keep thinking of Robert wearing the blue sweater and then my hand slipped.

So I heard that the devs stated that Joseph is bi and comfortable with his sexuality, which is fine, but like... he didn't give me that vibe?? The story they were trying to tell clearly struck me as this:

1. Joseph is a gay christian man married to a woman probably due to internalized homophobia or pushing from his parents. He has kids for the same reason, probaby believing having children would "fix" him. He still loves his children very much despite his initial reasoning for having them.

2. Mary is angry. She knows she's married to a gay man which is why she gets so mad at the dadsona in the "walk Mary home" sequence. She's jealous because even though they haven't done anything romantic yet, Joseph has been hanging out a lot with the dadsona and she suspects something is up.

3. Joseph and Mary are clearly both miserable. Joseph is trying to lose himself in his responsibilities in the church and community and finds solace in the dadsona. Mary copes by drinking with Robert and flirting with other guys (even though she doesn't go home with them). Joseph probably believes Mary may be cheating on him already because they don't communicate. He's frustrated with her constant binge drinking even though he never says so because he probably blames himself.

Intermission: I just want to state that I am not biphobic in the slightest. I just can't see Joseph as bisexual even if the devs did state that it's canon. It doesn't make sense.

4. Robert is definitely mixed up in things. He tells the dadsona Joseph is a bad person out of bias for Mary, even though it's very likely that he is the one who initiated the heavily implied affair if the whole thing went anything like it did with the dadsona. He may feel guilty for it and is pinning it on Joseph instead. Mary probably doesn't even know he and Joseph slept together, because if she did she would probably not like Robert.

5. Joseph feels guilty that he can't love Mary the way he should. He does love her, but not as his wife, though he's really, really trying. Mary knows this, because again, <i>she knows she's married to a gay man</i>. She's frustrated that he's using her as an attempt to "fix" himself or seem "normal" despite still being fine with the other dads' sexualities.<i> He is the only one who he thinks there is a problem with.</i>

6. Even after he finally starts to address how he feels and he and Mary decide to end things, he runs back to his life in the end not because he's using the dadsona but because he's scared. He's afraid of what will happen because he's been repressing this side of him. He's afraid of what the church will think; what his kids will think. He's afraid to be happy. He stays with his wife because it's familiar to him despite the fact that neither of them are happy.