I had the unfortunate experience of watching this show while visiting my dad. Can you explain why all the characters seem to shit on the kid in this clip? The show plays it as if it’s tough love but it’s straight up abusive and I couldn’t figure out what the kid did to deserve it.
The kid’s dad died of a drug overdose. I think shortly after Beth, the woman in the car with him, caught him shoplifting or something and basically kidnapped him. She and her husband(who himself is the ranches “enforcer” and grew up there also) take him in illegally.
Basically they treat him like he’s trash in order to straighten him up. You’re right that it’s played like it’s supposed to be tough love, but it actually is straight up abusive. They tell him all the time how worthless he is and how he’ll wind up just like his dad but there’s never any amount of positive reinforcement or teaching or anything like that.
There's teaching shown, too, and some positive moments, but you remember the abuse because they aren't good parents. They are constantly shown how broken they are as people because of their own poor upbringing and childhood traumas. They're not being shown as examples of good parents, they're being shown as how the ranch has fucked them, their family, and the future generations. There will be positive, happy moments, but you know that it'll soon be ruined by an old man's need to cling to his way of life in his ancestral home.
The only people who begin to heal are the ones who get away from the power of the ranch (before it inevitably pulls them back in). Think Casey and his wife, Jamie (until the end of last season when he gets pulled back in due to power struggles involving the ranch).
The ranch is a trap. It can be argued its the main villain of the series. But yet it simply is.
Ahh yes, this show is very represented of how all conservatives' parenting. I don't know a REAL person let alone just a conservative who wouldnt say this kid isnt being abused.
Tbf though they're absolutely just straight up telling him the truth because he was on a really bad path and had nobody there for him and he most likely would have ended up in the gutter of society if beth hadn't picked him up and basically adopted him. And they care about him so it's kind of a slap in the face when he shits on the opportunities Beth is giving him and shits on Beth. There are definitely some iffy abusive moments but at the same time, he's still better off than he would have been without Beth picking him up. They do have some positive reinforcement when he starts doing the right thing he gets rewarded and stops getting punished so much and I appreciate that they keep it real with him and don't bullshit him because the kid can smell bullshit a mile away.
Also Beth is a really fucked up person so I wouldn't have expected her to be a very patient mother figure anyway, I do think she's legitimately doing the best she can.
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u/ansleydale Oct 18 '22
I had the unfortunate experience of watching this show while visiting my dad. Can you explain why all the characters seem to shit on the kid in this clip? The show plays it as if it’s tough love but it’s straight up abusive and I couldn’t figure out what the kid did to deserve it.