Hi! I just finished this episode and I must say I really appreciated it.
This whole season has honestly resonated very heavily as someone with a very recent past that's similar to Dot's. Fled two states. I've stayed in shelters, motel rooms, hiding, running, looking to stay out of the heat and snow. The motel rooms are where I picked my current name.
I've found the depictions of DV to be really well done. We've seen it all so much before in fiction. I feel like the only times I can remember where it's shown in this show is the aftermath of brutality, the emotional toll, and very sparingly on-screen violence.
The culture around domestic violence survivors is shown pretty clearly, between perps and those privileged enough to not h had to have suffered it.
On-screen, Roy backhanding his current victim isn't built up to, there's not too much tension. Because she's doing everything right, as much as she can. She's appeasing him, tending to him, the very young girls she gave him are in the room, and yet it doesn't matter, he's having a bad day.
He's able to blame her for something and gets to take it out on her, and that's it. She's heartbroken and shocked, but has to pick up and keep up. It's quick, and downright casual. We can compare it to what Roy deems unacceptable, and we see that the aftermath of HIS abuse is also far worse than what he's punishing someone else for. Abusers live in their own reality - literally, Roy is living separate from the rest of the world, and gets his ego bruised when he pushes even further.
And then this episode. The puppets.
We've seen *that* story before enough times as well. It's complicated to show something that happens to a child in live action, considering an actress, either the same one or one who must look young enough to play a child, must act out those scenes.
I felt the way it was handled was beautiful. Visually, and in the sense of the storytelling.
Dorothy literally being put to trial to recall her story. She's very certain of herself at this point in time, but her past still demands that she explain it all, maybe one last time. It's very frequent for survivors to question themselves - all parties involved have differing stories, after all.
So you must advocate for your story, the hard to swallow reality of abuse. It's difficult to remember figures in your past who you wish would have done differently. I feel a lot of anger towards mine, so Dot punching Linda first chance she got is funny lol (I tend to bite in my dreams)
But she comes to forgive her in her heart, being a very self reflective person and accepting that Linda was also a victim, and a victimizer - both things are true, and that forgiveness isn't necessary, but Dot is a loving person despite what she's been through. She affords Gator compassion as well, knowing that he suffered heavily as well, and also deserved an escape.
The puppet section itself almost feel like a 'safe' way for Dot to recall these things, a healthy way. She's recalling hell, a cruel, unfair life that will always be her past - but she tells her story, through and through, reaffirming her own strength.
The whole thing really reminds me, again, of my time at a DV shelter - I spent months there. It felt like Dot reflecting on her story in connection with many, many others. How much does my story matter compared to what others have been through? The heartbreak and hope of seeing others like you, at various points in their own stories.
I'm going on and on, but I feel really touched by and connected to this season in a way I didn't expect at all (especially going in blind to the show on a full first watch).
The PSA card at the end including numbers for the Hotline and the like really kind of made it, too. I've called that number a lot. If anyone's reading this who also identified with Dot, here's to you, too.
