u/lyradelaqua

I have so many questions.

1. How on earth do they not ask Saliha how Eylul came to be in her custody?

2. How does Ates not suspect, or at the very least, question Muzzy how she knew Eylul died?

3. Why is Cemal so bad at digging up information and still the right hand man of Ates, despite failing every single time? Like he failed to see Asli's reality and even when he knew, he said nothing. His security is shit, Nezir got in, Hyder got out. He fails at literally everything he does.

4. Why don't they try to find out how the test they did on Eylul's grave was compromised? It's not rocket science that someone sabotaged it, should they not be asking who and why?

5. If they found Asli guilty based on cctv footage of the wedding night, how did they miss Muzzeyen letting Nezir in?

6. How do they miss Muzzeyen and Saliha meeting secretly?

7. Why are Ates and Cemal so naive and gullible when it comes to Muzzeyen?

8. Why is no one trying to find Hyder when he is the one person who can answer all questions?

9. Why don't they seek therapy for Eylul and themselves?

10. Why does Hazar blame Ates for whatever his father supposedly did?

Why am I still watching this?

I am simply going by the TV show, haven't read the books. It's a long post and might have spoilers. The post is pointing out how Claire's character's perspective is portrayed as the absolute truth and everything else is judged based on her moral code, even though it is highly unreliable because of the below mentioned flaws she has. It has nothing to do with her character's gender. It would apply to any character of any gender, if they behaved the way Claire does. If you are of the opinion that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Claire and her character has no room for improvement, maybe this post is not for you. It asks a question if Claire will change her ways assuming you agree that she needs to. If you don't, do not try to answer a question I did not ask.

I am on the Season 3 episode 9, and so far, Claire has been insufferable. There is absolutely no sign of any improvement in Claire's attitude towards and treatment of those around her. The first two seasons, I thought it was still understandable because she was in the 18th century not by choice, but by accident. She probably couldn't help looking at everything from a 20th century lens(although it feels more like a modern day 21st century feminist). However, when she goes back after 20 years, it's her own choice. She knows very well how those times are different and her modern day instincts and impulses often land her and eventually everyone around her, especially Jaime in deep trouble. But she still continues to push her modern sensibilities in the 18th century, not giving a flying fig about who gets hurt in the process.

She is also a terrible mother. She just up and leaves her child behind without a care, especially after the recent trauma Brianna has been through, losing the man she loved as her father and then discovering it's in fact an 18th century highlander, only to then have her absent mother, who spent her entire life living in another world, abandon her to go back to that other world. Claire even says to Jaime later that she was ready to die at Culloden moor with him, knowing she was pregnant with Brianna at the time.

She claims to love Jaime, but doesn't care before acting reckless which always lands him in serious jeopardy. She doesn't listen to the warnings from people who know the times they are in much better than her and causes a mess, and then he has to go and rescue her and pay a heavy price. After suddenly dropping back into Jaime's life 20 years later, she has the audacity to judge Jaime for wanting a family again, without trying to understand the kind of pain and trauma and loneliness he has endured over the last 20 years. On top of that, she has lived a full life in Boston, had a great career, and had a family. Her hypocrisy has no limits. Her first reaction to every conflict or problem is to lash out at Jaime, run away or judge him without understanding his side of the story first.

Her treatment of Frank is equally appalling. It wasn't his fault she was thrown back in time. He waited for her, while she chose to go back to Jaime, even when she had the chance to return to Frank. He accepted her with the child she was carrying and was patient with her despite her coldness and contempt towards him, even though it wasn't his fault that she had to leave her beloved Jaime and come back. She begrudges him for making her let go of the past and not speak about it, while she is green with envy when he decides to find love elsewhere after years of her being distant, and even after mutually deciding to lead separate lives. She isn't around to take care of Brianna because of her med school and practice, but is furious at Frank and even threatens to expose his affair when he, who has been a real father to Brianna in every sense but one, decides to leave for London and wants to take his daughter with him, not by force, but because she can choose to leave on her own, only to abandon the same daughter eventually to run back to Jaime. Frank had his issues too, but he tried his best to make a life with her again, while she wasted no chance to proclaim her love for another man in front of him.

I can appreciate that she is a complex grey character, a deeply flawed heroine. But the show tries too hard to make her likeable, and it has the exact opposite effect.

Does her character ever acknowledge these issues and improve or does she continue to be the same self-righteous pigheaded hypocrite the entire show? Because if it's the latter, her character alone would make it impossible to continue watching an otherwise well made show.

Edit: A lot of commenters are branding me a misogynist because I pointed out the flaws in Claire's character, all while they have no problem listing similar issues with Frank or Jaime or other characters without calling themselves misandrist. All I can say is if Claire was a man, and he behaved as Claire does, I would call him a self-righteous, pigheaded hypocrite too. My problem is with the character, not their gender. In fact, it is not even with the character, it's great to have a layered, complex character. It's about attempting to not let the imperfections of that character be, it's about making them the sole moral high standard despite the flaws.