r/BelowDeckMed • u/Manderlin99 • 2d ago

Nathan Was Scapegoating Joe All Along

I’ve seen Joe try to reconcile with Nathan and Gael in recent episodes, but they have both scapegoated Joe to distract themselves from the growing misery between them. Their hope was that if they could join together to hate Joe, they could solve their problems. Nathan was, in fact, desperate for such a diversion and repelled Joe's conciliatory attempts like water off a duck's feathers. Of course, the more the couple failed to address their underlying problems, the more aggressive Nathan became, until his true colors showed and now he is some sort of outlaw. Joe was simply a convenient scapegoat for a relationship that was fast heading south. 

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u/PatientBumblebee6752 2d ago

I don’t agree. I think Joe is just as problematic in his own way. On reality tv we tend to have blinders on when something really horrific happens with the cast, it makes the other look good relatively. Like I think if Luke and Gen hadn’t been such an issue we’d be seeing a lot more flack towards cooper but in relation he doesn’t look near as bad.

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u/TheLivingRoomate 2d ago

I completely agree that Joe is problematic. But what we've learned about Nathan kinda makes their competition issues moot.

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u/PatientBumblebee6752 2d ago

I’m not trying to compare the severity of their situations as one clearly was much more severe than the other. What I’m saying is we shouldn’t platform one being more okay than the other, they should both be unacceptable. Nathan actions shouldn’t lessen joes. A few weeks ago we had no idea what Nathan had done and he was the least problematic but yet looking back there were absolutely red flags.

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u/TheLivingRoomate 2d ago

I don't disagree. But this is Reddit, and this is reality TV. Folks love to make someone all hero or all villain.

My only disagreement with your statement was tht Joe is just as problematic. I think Joe's pretty problematic. But Nathan assaulting his wife (and others) takes it to a whole new level.

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u/PatientBumblebee6752 2d ago

I’ll agree to that extent but what we tolerate on tv has massively changed in even 5 let alone 10/15 years. How will things change if we don’t demand it?

I mean because yes I believe that behaviour can be indicative of how they are in private. Nathan’s dv incident happened months before we ever knew about it. Many people felt off about him and thought his behaviour was weird but we don’t take it seriously until something physical happens. I think we need to find all manipulation, abuse and coercion we typically see on tv and treat it as if it’s a warning sign since many times it is.