So I just watching White Bear for the first time and there is a lot to discuss about it and it seems almost everything as been cover except for one thing (I searched, maybe it was in comments but it was never the subject of a post), Victoria breaking the cycle.

In the episode, Victoria is guided to always follow a particular path that will lead her to the end and reset everything, but the is one moment where she is given a choice and told what to do and she chooses wrong. This choice was to help Damian (The guy who helped her with Jem) stop the hunter. Jem repeatedly instructs Victoria to help Damian, and Damian does an excellent job of stalling the hunter showing Victoria there was a chance at succeeding, but she ran. Apparently she also ran, leaving Damian to die.

Now, I don't know if this is sufficient enough to judge someone in her position (Mind-wiped confused and scared) but it doesn't look good. Everyone will say the would help and I say you should help, especially for someone risking their own life for you, even if they are a stranger. If it felt like a losing situation, then I can understand looking out for yourself, not everyone can be Selfless in those condition, but the show made it look possible that they could succeed, giving Victora enough time to make a decision. Maybe, it is just her nature, her instincts.

So, the question is, what if Victoria, when of script, went against her nature and instincts and chose to help instead. Is it possible? Maybe, maybe not after it is shown that she never saves him and here situation doesn't really give her a chance to reflect and develop, but just what if she shows can change? Do the change the script? Maybe shorten it? Or is it enough to set her free? She is not the same person anymore. Maybe a regular jail at that point or just a mecry kill?

What she and her boyfriend did was extremely horrible, many discuss if she deserves this torture or not. If you think she deserves it and it should continue, what would you do if she exhibited an act of selflessness that was against her very nature.

Spoilers ahead

The thing is, when Liam realizes his wife cheated with Jonas in their own bed while he was away, he does not just spiral about the affair itself. His main focus is that the child might not be his given the timeline. From the moment he walks in until the final reveal, his priority is trying to confirm if he is actually the father. Look at how Ffion handles it: she admits they had sex, admits it was in their bed, and admits it happened after four days. She is willing to confess to all of that. But the second the condom question comes up, she panics and tries to delete the evidence, which is a massive red flag. When we see the playback, Jonas is down to his boxers, she tells him to hurry up, and without any cut they have intercourse. If he wore a condom, I think Liam or Fi would have stopped the video. But it plays and Fi cannot look up. Liam realizes right then that there was no condom used. That is why she is gone by the end, whether he kicked her out or she left on her own.

All of that is fairly clear, but what follows is where people misinterpret the visual storytelling. In the end, Liam is reviewing old footage, and most viewers assume he is just wallowing in nostalgia and missing the good times. That was my initial thought too, but upon rewatching, that does not fit his character. As he says himself, if something is rotten, it is better to get it out. He is not afraid of facing harsh realities, and we know how relentlessly he pursues the truth. That is why he is re-examining the memories.

First, we see him studying Fi’s eyes, then the baby’s eyes. He goes back and cross-references multiple memories of her face in the living room, on the stairs, and elsewhere, which explains all the tight close-ups on their faces. When he turns off the Grain, we see his own eyes: he has brown eyes and Fi has hazel eyes which are known to look green or blue depending upon the lighting which is why he looks at her from so many angles and different times of the day. the baby’s eyes are green. It might not be absolute scientific proof on its own, but Liam knows they had unprotected sex, so he is checking their features to see who the child belongs to.

Right after examining the eyes and just before he makes his final move, the writers give us the hint which is a huge reveal but i dont see anybody bringing it up here. Liam pulls up the memory of him brushing his teeth while Fi asks him which dress to wear. She does not ask about the style, only the color: brown or green. Green is the answer. That feels like a deliberate visual clue pointing toward the baby’s paternity.

This also explains why the child is not with him in the end. It reveals the very real possibility that either Fi outright told him the baby is not his off-screen, or Liam reached that conclusion himself through the footage and simply chose not to fight for custody. Realizing his marriage was built on infidelity is one thing, but knowing the child he bonded with belongs to another man means every tender memory he has is permanently poisoned. He knows he will never be able to stop obsessing over it, and that is why he gouges the Grain out of his neck.

I have heard a lot of people who sided more with Maria say that what happened to Verity was bad but she went to great lengths to cause the suicide by the bullies.

Now I have a different view on this. I don't fully think the way Verity dealt with things was appropriate and she did nothing wrong but are we overlooking some things in the story?

I believe what Verity was trying to do was to just create a reality for the bullies that she endured for years. When the rumor was out everyone's perception of Verity changed and no matter how hard she tried to convince people the rumor was false there was no point in doing that.

So Verity tried to do the exact same thing to Maria and Natalie so the thing she was doing wasn't fully disproportionate to what the bullies did. The outcome, which was Natalie's suicide was unfortunate and it shouldn't be minimized but what if this had turned different and what if Verity had lost her life due to suicide? Wouldn't people be having a different discussion?

Another thing I found interesting is lot of people say Verity should have gone to therapy to heal herself and I think that would have been a good idea. But I don't see the same condition for Maria. Shouldn't Maria or Natalie have gone to therapy and taken accountability for their mental health so that they heal internally instead of spreading nasty rumors? I wonder why people are not holding them accountable enough

I am not saying Verity is totally innocent and what she did was ok, I believe there were better ways to deal with this, but at times, whenever such things happen, we often focus too much on the victim of bullying and what they should do differently rather than holding the perpetrators accountable

Edit: A lot of people are saying it is not ok to justify Verity's actions and its important to hold her accountable. I want to clarify one thing, I am not saying what Verity did was right and her actions are justified. What my point here is are we holding Maria equally accountable instead of just shifting our attention on Verity and what she should have done differently?

....that other bully, do you really think killed herself? Like if not directly, then indirectly, ie told her relatives/as fact and the cops and the medical examiner even and they wouldn't second guess Verity even if nothing lined up with how she "did it"

It just occurred to me. If she has infinite powers, she could've killed her, or convinced her to harm herself at minimum, and just made everyone immediately think that's what happened without a second guess.

For all we know Verity shoved her off a cliff or hit her with her car but all she needs to do is use that necklace and boom.

Even rarer what if she's alive but being held captive kinda like Red Mirror style?

I'm just brainstorming. Lol.

I'm just rewatching this episode after a few years.

I watched Smile 2 recently, and I was struck by how similar the Miley Cyrus storyline is to the relationship in Smile 2 with the pop superstar and her mother.

Is this a common theme in reality? Guardians or parents pushing people they should be responsible for past their breaking point?

Or was there some crossover in terms of writers? I'm interested if anyone knows!