Anonymous wrote:No. Saw the trailer and that was stressful enough

First episode was very tough to watch.

Is Alex’s father the same guy who played Bella’s father in the Twilight movies?

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone else watching this? I'm not finished but it's so different from the book.

Yes. It’s powerful and accurate. Excellent mini series, lot of luck involved in the end. Talking always helps. Expanding your support network always help. Identifying what it is always helps.

Verbal abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse over time can really damage a person and child.

Family court system is @$$ backwards not putting children first and considering this abuse. Or serious and irreparable mental disorders in a parent.

Abuse can cut across any race, income, religion or education level.

It’s very hard but you must #breakthecycle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved it! I’m a bit naive and privileged so I think it helped me see the other side. She just had so many crazies around her that drag her down and I’ve never experienced that.

I loved Nate and wished she would date him. I married a man just like him and he’s such a great dad and husband.

When someone has grown up around unstable people who have addictions and mental illnesses, being around someone totally stable feels uncomfortable. You keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It feels too good to be true. Also, she just wasn't attracted to him, and she was being honest about that, which I respected.

I had a friend in college who was drop-dead gorgeous and smart. Yet she chose guys who turned out to be abusive and controlling. Her bio parents were alcoholics and she also developed alcoholism in college. She ended up as a single mom with two little kids who lived in a rundown apartment while she took odd jobs. She finally met and married a nice guy but ended up divorcing him after having a third child. She lives with the two youngest below the poverty line in a crime-ridden area of town. The only reason I found this out was there was a tv news story about how a kind mechanic donated an old car to her so she wouldn’t have to take her children on the bus.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found Andie McDowell to be really overacting and I'm wondering if she was determined to show that she can really act, after years of people calling her "wooden." I actually never thought she was a wooden actress, just soft-spoken and quiet. The character of Alex's mother is just too much. We get it - she is mentally ill.

I like Margaret Qualley, but her nasally voice is annoying.

But in the show her mom is acting to everyone and lying. She tells lots of lies to everyone about her life. So Andy McDowell is acting about someone acting. I actually found her to be believable. I have a relative with bipolar and so many of the episodes were familiar. And then the mom is an alcoholic too so she’s extra crazy.

My nanny has a mom who is bipolar. She could never depend on her and they moved constantly. Bio dad was also unstable mentally and committed suicide. One man after another and she would leave a job on a whim. Her friends are more like family to her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her dad was relatively stable and offered her a clean, safe place to stay, with backup care for Maddy when she was sick. I kept waiting for there to be strings attached or for him to be a monster. But her only reason for moving out was a realization that YEARS PAST when he was an alcoholic, he hit her mother. He's now sober, a Christian, and keeps on her ex boyfriend to get him to go to AA meetings. I think she was crazy for turning down his help. She should have done almost anything to stay with him and his wife who also seemed kind and stable.

I completely agree with this. I think it’s just people and liberal shows hating on born again Christians mostly.

Except in her book, Stephanie Land left her father’s house with Mia because he hit his wife during an argument about them staying. Wife thought they should stay, he didn’t. I don’t get this whitewashing of the men in the Netflix version.

Anonymous wrote:I found the ending unrealistic for a domestic violence situation. It was more likely that the husband would become more physically abusive and angry after she and the child left. Often the restraining order puts the woman in even more danger. Having her meet him in person was extremely unwise. It’s like they wanted to wrap her story all up in a pretty bow so viewers would feel good.

I liked that they showed her boyfriend as a human. When he wasn't drinking, he was trying to help her find her mom. That's the person she loved. But when he drank, he became someone else. That's why women go back to their abusers so many times. My dad was an alcoholic and he was a yo-yo just like that. I would look for signs to figure out how much alcohol he consumed each day. Weekends were bad because he started drinking Bloody Mary's in the morning. That led to an all-day drinking spree that rarely ended well. I still feel on edge on the weekend to this day.

Anonymous wrote:Still watching and loving it! I’m also a single mom and found her desperation so relatable.

I'm a single mom in a much better place than she was but on occasion, have cried like she did in the trailer. All you need is a few things to go wrong in a row and you're crying on the floor.

I found the ending unrealistic for a domestic violence situation. It was more likely that the husband would become more physically abusive and angry after she and the child left. Often the restraining order puts the woman in even more danger. Having her meet him in person was extremely unwise. It’s like they wanted to wrap her story all up in a pretty bow so viewers would feel good.

So many clueless people on this thread.

Try reading Evicted for more real stories that helps to break it down for you.

I just finished the birthday party ep which was so hard to watch. Take control and kick those morons out!!

Maddy is so, so cute.

Anonymous wrote:I loved it! I’m a bit naive and privileged so I think it helped me see the other side. She just had so many crazies around her that drag her down and I’ve never experienced that.

I loved Nate and wished she would date him. I married a man just like him and he’s such a great dad and husband.

When someone has grown up around unstable people who have addictions and mental illnesses, being around someone totally stable feels uncomfortable. You keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It feels too good to be true. Also, she just wasn't attracted to him, and she was being honest about that, which I respected.

Anonymous wrote:I loved it! I’m a bit naive and privileged so I think it helped me see the other side. She just had so many crazies around her that drag her down and I’ve never experienced that.

I loved Nate and wished she would date him. I married a man just like him and he’s such a great dad and husband.

Remind me the metaphor I read about poverty. You're like a crab in a bucket and they're always trying to bring you back down/into the bucket.

Anonymous wrote:I found Andie McDowell to be really overacting and I'm wondering if she was determined to show that she can really act, after years of people calling her "wooden." I actually never thought she was a wooden actress, just soft-spoken and quiet. The character of Alex's mother is just too much. We get it - she is mentally ill.

I like Margaret Qualley, but her nasally voice is annoying.

Agree that AD was way too over the top. It was too much. She was almost like a caricature.

Love MQ, don't mind her voice. I think she has a lovely subtlety and vulnerability around her.

Anonymous wrote:I found Andie McDowell to be really overacting and I'm wondering if she was determined to show that she can really act, after years of people calling her "wooden." I actually never thought she was a wooden actress, just soft-spoken and quiet. The character of Alex's mother is just too much. We get it - she is mentally ill.

I like Margaret Qualley, but her nasally voice is annoying.

But in the show her mom is acting to everyone and lying. She tells lots of lies to everyone about her life. So Andy McDowell is acting about someone acting. I actually found her to be believable. I have a relative with bipolar and so many of the episodes were familiar. And then the mom is an alcoholic too so she’s extra crazy.