like. right now he’s back from prison, in vic’s spare room. six years before that he was in the mill, which - although he felt like it was - wasn’t his, it was aaron and liv’s. before that he was in the pub (also not his, technically diane’s/chas’s) or again vic’s spare room (bless her for always taking her big brother in). before that, with chrissie at home farm (her family’s, not his). and before that? in london, probably just random flats, short-term things, nothing permanent.

and if you rewind even further - teenage robert never got stability either. every time he did something jack (or andy) didn’t like (sometimes deserved - ahem, katie - but sometimes not -sarah), he’d get exiled. off to spain for a couple of months, stuck in a caravan, constantly displaced. even as a kid his life was unsettled: moving farms, losing houses, jack dragging him from one "fresh start" to another. even italy when he was a toddler. like, jack sugden provided this boy no consistency, ever.

so it makes sense that as an adult, "home" is always conditional. at best, he occupies other people’s spaces: tolerated, sometimes welcomed, but never his own. even when the show does nod at it (like in 2016, where aaron ended literally every argument they had by kicking robert out), it never really digs into how damaging that is. because that dynamic puts robert at a constant disadvantage: robert has to stay on everyone's good side, walking on eggshells, because he is one wrong decision away from being homeless. even with vic now - she loves him, yes, but she still dangles his housing over him ("get it together or you're out").

part three of ‘people appreciating robert jacob sugden’