#langmel

*it being her sisters boyfriend

And Frank is staring at her with those big blue eyes and this motherfucker has the audacity to say:

he's dismissive of the labour involved in motherhood and outright says he has it harder than her and the way he talks to her on the phone is strained plus feeling betrayed and attacked by everyone for his addiction

everyone except for mel who looks at him like a god which feeds into his narcissism and desperate need for validation

she's the only one who doesn't question him, the only one who hasn't betrayed him. i can easily see him opening up to her bc he can control the narrative

he can tell her that there's been a misunderstanding, that everyone has overreacted and turned on him for no reason, he can make himself the sympathetic victim he tried to paint himself as with robby and she would believe him bc why would he lie to her?

even the ownership of mel being his intern, his to teach and mould and that power would absolutely go to his head

by all rights, mel is his

robby - his mentor - gave her to him

langdon going to mel when his marriage starts dissolving, going to her for sympathy instead of working it out with his wife bc he needs to be told he's in the right, that she is wrong and should just listen to him. and bc mel only knows - and can only know - his side of the story, she would give him exactly that

when mel tells becca that something happened at work to make her stay late and becca asks if it was her boss she has an almost abrasive reaction; she almost goes rigid and wavers back like a blow before saying no

you know she wasn't thinking of robby as her boss

mel has such a sense of loneliness and isolation, being an adult orphan, the primary carer of her sister; she tries hard to connect with the other interns and repeatedly mentions wanting to be friends (implying she doesn't have any)

langdon giving her any attention at all is attention she wouldn't get anywhere else. she's isolated and emotionally starved of people she doesn't have to take care of; it'd be so easy for her to latch onto langdon's attention and excuse certain things if it means keeping

even it being purely platonic and langdon having no conscious intention of manipulating her or even being toxic; he just sees someone who's finally on his side