S5 Jason & Marjorie - super confused
Why was Marjorie was seen by Orna and seemingly everyone here as the one contributing the most to the dynamic in this relationship? Jason was not just rigid in his own behaviors, he was trying to push his rigid standards and behaviors onto her as well.
For example, he picked a specific time of day to scoop the cat litter, and she said that's fine for you, but it doesn't have to be quite that strict for me. And the most flexible he wants to be for her time is for her to have a one hour window?
A bigger example: He changes his eating habits and starts telling her "how much protein a 44 year old woman should be eating" and asking what gym she's going to join and who she's going to go with. Excuse me? She never asked him to be her personal trainer. That is controlling and inappropriate. This is never acknowledged; he merely says that she has feelings about it because she tried to to do the same "and failed." Bro! That is really unkind. When the weight watchers story finally comes up and he says OH, if I'd known that I would never have said anything... but dude, you should never have said anything to begin with. That was always out of line. I was really confused as to why Orna never called him out here.
Orna's advisor point to Marjorie's "sharp and shaming way of dealing with his rigidity" as the issue here. Ouch. I'm not saying she gets a gold star but if you step back, she was just trying to hold the line between what he was allowed to control (himself) and what he wasn't (her).
Also, with the cat litter thing, Jason volunteered the idea of taking turns, proactively picked his own day, and then came back the next week and rewrote history, saying he never signed up for a particular day and "got roped into it." I was shocked Orna let him off the hook there.
Am I truly alone in seeing this dynamic through a different lens? I'm mystified.