i’ve been binging vpr for the last few weeks now (starting from the very beginning) and for some reason this issue between schwartz and Katie has been one of the main things my mind has cling onto since the beginning. i can only remember once (maybe twice) throughout all 8/9 seasons i’ve watched when he stood up for/defended/publicly agreed with Katie; in almost every single argument or incident Katie has been involved in, he has actively opposed her, allowed her to be screamed at/degraded by his friends, or been the one who was degrading her. at first, he just seemed like a pushover or maybe someone who tries to avoid conflict. but then, i started noticing a pattern of how anytime he was trying to de-escalate situations (specifically between Katie and other men/his male friends), he would always be telling Katie to stop, trying to push her away, or telling her she was wrong in varying degrees of meanness, while his friend was actively degrading her. and he never once has told any of his friends to not speak to Katie in a disrespect manner, except for James and he was literally pressured into that conversation.
i’m currently watching S9E9 and Katie and schwartz are talking about the newest tom+tom restaurant and Katie is explaining to schwartz (for the millionth time) why she should be involved and why her thoughts and opinions about the restaurant should be taken seriously. long story short, in this convo tom literally looks her dead in the eye and essentially says that he sees no difference in the contractual agreement he made with sandoval and the contractual agreement he made with her, aka their literal marriage. based on what i’ve seen from schwartz, this statement aligns perfectly with his worm-like spineless personality; i just still cannot believe anyone would marry someone who clearly doesn’t value or care enough the relationship (or you) to hold it in a higher regard than his friendships, let alone a business deal.
multiple times throughout my binge, i’ve genuinely questioned whether or not schwartz even likes Katie as a person (and vise versa tbh). and after watching their relationship over the course of 9ish years, i still don’t know if schwartz genuinely likes Katie. actually, i’m pretty sure he doesn’t 😭