#fallouttv

This is a woman who's previously been portrayed as incredibly intelligent and calculating, manipulative, strong willed, ambitious, stubborn and not above using her position and outward professional appearances to her own advantage.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think any of that means she's heartless or evil. I do think she loves her family and that's a huge part of why she does the things she does. It's also a huge part of what makes her motivations so compelling.

But I think it would have been incredibly interesting and complex to have Barb really commit and double down on her goals and beliefs. To have her genuinely believe this is the only way to save her family and better the world as a whole.

Prior to episode 6, I'd had the impression that she was figuring that if they didn't drop the bombs themselves, then someone else would. And she thought that if they were the ones to do it themselves, at least they'd have a set timeline and plans in place to handle it more safely and effectively. I really liked the notion that Barb made this decision based on a twisted idea of mitigating risk to her family. It's horrible, but it did make sense in a fucked up way.

The way that Barb talked about how she waited on tenderhooks for Coop to come home from the war, and how war never changes, to me implied a belief that war would always be present so long as ppl with opposing world views or desires did (something inherent of humanity). Which is why the idea of waiting until the death of everyone topside with opposing ideas appealed to her. Better to hole up in safety with a community of shared values than be exposed to the inevitable horrors of human savagery and war.

Sure, it's absolutely flawed thinking, but that was part of what made her character so interesting to me. She was a force to be reckoned with. Dangerous because she was wildly intelligent, brutally pragmatic, and wholeheartedly devoted to a flawed cause. It was incredibly raw and human, and I loved that.

But with the implication that none of these decisions or ideas were her own, I feel they have removed Barb's agency.

She's now reduced to being just a helpless, frightened woman who's following orders. A mouthpiece for some shadow figure (likely a male). And for me, that holds far less appeal and intrigue than if she did these things of her own accord. It's a trope that's been done far too often imo, and I'd much prefer to see something more nuanced/layered and complex. I'll always prefer a flawed and complicated character over one who fits neatly into a set of prefabricated boxes.

I'll say it again, for the ppl in the back, LET WOMEN BE BAD!! Lol

All that said, I could be entirely wrong about all of this. It could be that the writers are still playing us. Maybe none of what Barb told Cooper is true at all. Remember, we see almost all of the Barb flashbacks through Cooper's eyes. And when we see Barb in the elevator being told under thinnly veiled threat by Wilzig that she should suggest dropping the bombs themselves in that board meeting, this is the story Barb told Cooper. The next scene shows us Cooper asking Barb who was threatening her, implying the previous scene was what she told him.

She could be lying. Attempting to convince Cooper that she isn’t the monster he believes her to be because she "didn't have a choice". I do believe Barb loves both Cooper and Janey, so she wouldn't want her marriage to blow up. And given how much she's already lied to him about, I wouldn't put it past her to have been lying here as well in an attempt to smooth things over and placate him. Make him drop the whole thing. Have him fall back in line and stop making things so difficult for her.

Gosh, I really do hope it turns out to be something along the lines of the latter. That'd be a twist that I could absolutely get on board with.