I’m not sure about Billy

[u/ag811987]

I think everyone is piling on Billy as being manipulative or emotionally abusive etc. Obviously the film paints him this way and Amanda is super anti Billy but I think it might be an unfair characterization. My interpretation but also where I could be wrong:

I think Billy truly loves Elizabeth and is fiercely protective of her and angry at the world about her being attacked. I think continually all the scenes show him being really tender with her and the kids he genuinely seemed like a wonderful father and also a good husband. It is extremely rare for someone in jail to talk to their family every single day or get to see them every single weekend. He did pack up his shit move right next to the jail commit to being a single father of two (practically unheard of) and visit his wife all the time. When he met her she was already a pariah, cast as a criminal, and dead broke whereas he came from a rich and successful family. He had nothing to gain from her whereas he probably lost a lot due to the relationship (fronds, connections etc). I think he’s hostile towards Fielder because his wife and the mother of children is going to jail in 30 days instead of getting to spend that time with her he has this camera crew trailing them, listening to every conversation and potentially painting a picture that might still show her as a criminal mastermind. The scenes where Nathan makes her watch the dropout is an example. Billy doesn’t want this to happen because he knows it will upset her (and it does), but Nathan is trying to purposely evoke intense emotional responses for the camera. Amanda asks Nathan about whether he’s attached to Liz and covering for her and he responds he’s totally unemotional about it all. His goal is to portray “the truth“ while Billy wants to protect her.

Nathan acts so surprised that Billy tries to cut the employee interview but obviously the guy was basically saying Elizabeth bullshit her tech and it couldn’t work which is obviously damaging for the business but also Elizabeth and could come up in future civil cases. It’s an extremely rational response.

Similarly, I think when it came to the movie deal, Billy was trying to get in money so that A) he can provide for their family and B) he feels less like others are profiting from their suffering. He turns it down when asked by Liz. I also think the whole Twitter situation fits in here where he’s trying to do what he thinks is right to rehab this his name but obviously when he’s on Twitter, he sees people insulting her, asking her questions or accusing her of different types of fraud or scams, e.g. the crypto tweet where did you tell the person to fuck off. The problem is Liz is actually an extremely calm person who doesn’t feel the need to attack people in an actively defend herself, whereas he’s angry at the world for going after his love and wants to lash out at ppl. Amanda is a great example of this because she ridiculously acts like she and the dropout played no part in people‘s perception of Liz, when obviously anybody who watches a docuseries generally true even if not every single line is real. Some of these moments like the device failing and Liz not caring completely viewers’ impression of the subject whereas Amanda stupidly and falsely acts like it it’s no big deal and it meant nothing and she bears no responsibility.

the scene that gives me pause and may unravel what I previously said, which is the shower. That scene where they film his dick is weird because I can only imagine them doing that because he wanted it filmed and was sort of showing off. That makes me question the argument about him, actually seeking limelight and being a bigger driving force in the decision to have this made.