#langdonposting.

- samira does know how to cook. but, she doesn’t get to often. i don’t think she particularly likes to unless she’s doing it with someone else. much of her experience cooking was as a kid alongside her aunties and cousins. sometimes with her mom and dad. however, when she entered college / med school until now in her residency, she doesn’t really get a lot of time to.

- frank doesn’t really have a passion for cooking. he’s super into one pot meals or ten minute meals. something fast. he likes baking because abby and him do it with the kids. on his own, he probably wouldn’t. but, he enjoys it with the kids. it gets seriously messy really fast.

i have somewhat of a theory (and i don’t want to boil their friendship down to this sole reasoning because like w any dynamic and this one specifically, there’s nuance, and also mel deserves so much better than that)— but i believe frank thrives off the attention he receives and loves being liked. so, while not malicious or manipulative in intent, it’s another reason he latches onto her. she’s awed by him, praises him, is excited to work with him. and it makes him feel good and seen and superior.

i also think he tells himself that his pain med dependency enabled him to be a present father when work was especially tiring. his back was in pain which after a long day of being on your feet and shifting patients from gurney to bed, etc etc-- that pain would make him irritable, more tired, and to him, unable to carry out what he felt was his role.