It's pretty damning throughout the entirety of the confidant that Maruki is utilizing his power dynamic to benefit him.

There's something (at times less than) subtlety sinister about a student who is going through trauma becoming their therapists' support beam. Even Morgana recognizes you are not receiving counseling— you are going to him to help with his research.

Throughout the next rank of the confidant Maruki talks about how he saves a cat from a tree despite it clawing the everloving fuck out of him: it's a direct metaphor for how he sees people (and animals, I guess) as things that need saving even if they refuse to accept the help.

It's with those two ideas combined that I really wanted to talk about transference/countertransference in his relationships.

Maruki has two intrinsic facts about him:

He sees people as in need of a savior

He has no boundaries in his own life

Dr. Karen Maroda has a fantastic textbook on this interesting commonality in therapeutic practice. (The Analyst's Vulnerability, if you're in practice settings it's a great read. I wouldn't suggest this to non-therapists, though, it's kind of obscure media that is intended for advanced practice.)

Most therapists go into practice because they have significant empathy, are natural caregivers, and have significant personal trauma. Our motivations for being within our profession must be dissected, analyzed and worked through so that we don't impact our clients with our problems. This is a blind spot in a therapist's work: We have a need to care for others, and if we let that care for others matter more than our client's independence, autonomy and self-made goals… Well… We end up pretty similar to Maruki.

Diverting a bit to the impact of visuals here:

Maruki intentionally looks really similar to Joker. It only makes it more clear how much he projects onto him. Maruki sees Joker as a younger version of himself. Smart, gone through difficult times, deserving of love and support… Because he sees himself so much in Joker and has zero ability to introspect on the subject, he ends up coming off as someone who is not only looking to parent him but also looking to be parented by him. This is the countertransference. His feelings about his client overpower the purpose of the relationship, and he instead removes all boundaries so he can feel like the relationship fulfills his own needs.

Imagine seeing a young child that reminds you of yourself. Most of us immediately get the gut feeling to take care of them, to support their interests and to give them a lot of yourself. However, that kid doesn't ask for that. If you are in a position where that is holding power over them, your sadness over their rejection will prevent them from rejecting you. Joker is a good guy, and he receives some benefit from this relationship. But, honestly, Maruki is just using him to feel good about himself. (I'm also going to point out how ironic it is that he teaches about the halo effect when he is doing something very similar, himself.)

Side note: It's so depressing to me how he views counseling as a profession. He sees it as lacking and something to do because we don't have something "better". Therapy works because human connection works. Regardless of modality, intervention, skills taught… Therapy only works when a true (professional) human relationship is built. This has been the case since the birth of humankind: we have always sought out the care and support of each other. Therapists just have education and research backing up their skill sets. Therapists have existed in informal contexts in all cultures throughout existence, because we need guidance and empathy. Nothing will ever replace that, no medication, no treatment.

Anyway. This is honestly where it gets interesting for me, personally. He also projects his image of Rumi onto Sumire. Rumi and Sumire are also visually similar, intentionally.

However, instead of pushing Sumire and Joker together like he's playing dolls… He does that to Joker and Akechi.

We aren't really told how he found out about what happened in the engine room, or, how much he knows about Akechi. Though, it's likely through his "actualization".

We do know the vow he made to Joker…

That occurred on the same day he gave this description of Rumi, his high school sweetheart...

Which, taken out of context, couldn't you imagine this being pretty similar (very far from exact, he's projecting, after all.) to a description that Joker may give or imagine about Akechi? Just food for thought.

There's a couple of implications here, I think the first is that if Maruki is being authentic in his statement of bringing Akechi back to this reality… Well. Then he sees them as Adam and Steve. Which is honestly fucking nuts. If he actually used his skill to bring Akechi back, it is because he does not want Joker to feel the same, (to him) identical pain that he felt when losing Rumi's love in his life.

The other implication lies in the cookie study he mentions a few times. Is it so wrong to change someone's perceptions in order for them to be happy? Is it so wrong to lie about being the one to bring Akechi back so that Joker is happy? If providing someone a single cookie so they enjoy the cookie more is ethically fine… Then how far can we push until we lie, manipulate and skew reality so that someone sees something as good? Perhaps so far that you lie about how someone's cherished person is, in fact, not dead.

When working with people we tread ethical grey areas. If we don't have a sense of ethics, a therapist can easily push the boundary until the tin of cookies is no different than a life-altering lie to achieve your own goals.

Regardless of either implication: He uses Akechi as leverage. If he can convince Joker to accept his reality by keeping Akechi in Joker's reality— then in his own way he is keeping a love alive that is (in his eyes) like the love he had once had. He would fulfill his own deepest wish through someone he sees as a proxy for himself. Much like a stage mom may push their child to pursue activities and careers that their child may never want, he pushes Joker to make the "right choices" so he can be happy through Joker's happiness, and never his own.

Akechi leaves it off pretty well on the subject.

The rate of suicide for people with schizophrenia is remarkably high with a lifetime risk of between 5-13%. Factors include being untreated, putting them at risk for behaviors of neglect and danger to self as well as the intensity of the symptoms and how it impacts the individual. For some, the nature of their psychosis is so severe that they rather choose death. For others, their hallucinations told them to do harmful things to themselves. And still for others, their symptoms of schizophrenia were so severe that depression and other issues may or could have been overlooked.

Whatever it was for Paul, it happened. And what’s significant about his suicide was that it was a mortal sin against Catholicism. Catholic belief states those who take their own life are not permitted to enter Heaven. Whatever led him to his end, it was severe enough that his faith was no longer a deterrent. But he did appear to be praying before he fell. Maybe he was asking God for forgiveness.

Overall, Steven’s portrayal of Paul, a man with schizophrenia, was excellent. Although I do see people who have more severe symptoms in my line of work, I do see some people like Paul too. Like I said, it’s a spectrum and everyone has a different course of treatment.