water under the bridge

She's already tried moving out and it didn't work. She tried sending him to jail and cutting him out of her life completely and it didn't work. He showed up and told her not to bother changing the locks because she can't keep him out. And she changed the locks anyways! Even if it's futile she has to try. There's a fundamental power imbalance between them where Hiram has all the control and even if Veronica wants to keep him out, even if she cuts contact, he keeps finding ways to worm back in. The law can't stop him, she can't stop him, he is simply too powerful. The show ignores that part of their dynamic this episode and it makes it so much more fascinating.

Because instead of what they were going for what we get is something resembling the attitude a lot of people have towards abuse victims, aka why don't you just leave him? It completely ignores the conditions that cause women to feel trapped in these relationships. Financial control, social control, stability, fear of retaliation. And it's usually directed at women who stay with their partners but this episode it's directed at a daughter who won't leave her father and that's kind of even more fascinating because she's literally a high school student. "Just move out and cut contact." should not be her responsibility there should be like. CPS involved. But this is a show where the teenagers have to deal with things they shouldn't have to because almost every adult in their life fails them so of course CPS was never an option.

So instead of what they were going for this episode where Veronica gets someone who tells her the reality that her father will never change and she needs to let him go, we get someone who listens to all the messed up things Hiram has done and then goes hmm. Sounds like you're both obsessed with each other. Are you jealous when someone else gets his attention? (An accusation her father used to manipulate her only recently when she expressed concern and outrage that her mother had gone back to him. You're not concerned because I'm abusive and have hurt her in the past Veronica, you're just jealous. Don't be jealous it's not a nice look on you.) Like Veronica needs to break the cycle this is true but the way this was expressed to her was the most fascinatingly gross victim blaming I've ever seen. She even pulled out Sigmund Freud and diagnosed Veronica with an Elektra complex, which should have probably gotten her license revoked on the spot even though it was mainly just stated to foreshadow Veronica killing him. It's fucked up because accusing her of incest is quite literally a tactic her father uses to undermine her genuine concern and rage at him, to dismiss it and mess with her mind and cast her intentions as something evil and wrong instead of genuine concern and rightful anger. And the guidance counsellor who hasn't even met him reinforces that!

And I'm glad it does miss the mark slightly! I'm glad we get something much darker in it's place. You reach out to an outside adult for help for the first time in 4 seasons and they tell you to suck it up and get over yourself. Just walk away, you're doing this to yourself. Your emotions DO stem from jealousy he's correct. And then they diagnose you with incest and don't seem particularly bothered in doing anything about it or stopping it if it's going both ways. (Which it is! Or rather, it's going one way from Hiram to Veronica. His obsession with controlling her and isolating her and playing with her is indeed emotional incest but that's not what's acknowledged out loud. Instead the blame is put on the child and the accusation is that this teenage girl is obsessed with her father which is a personal flaw on her part and not. A mentality her father is keeping her trapped in by literally never letting her escape him.)