Thread by @baddestmamajama

Wait wait wait (TED LASSO SPOILERS to follow, mute if desired!) is the prevailing feeling that Ted actually *did* mistreat Nate?? Is that the take? Because I sincerely and seriously disagree, if so.

Nate definitely genuinely feels mistreated, for sure, but that doesn’t mean he was mistreated. Ted was the first person to treat him like a human being, a valuable contributor, and he never stopped doing that. The problem was Nate wanted to be the *only* one treated like that.

I’m getting this take from this article, as well as the actor’s list of big Nate moments where he cites “microaggressions” from the others. vult.re/3DnBaRJ

Micro-aggressions are a real problem, of course, but the ones cited don’t actually seem to be them. In one, the actor says not getting a free nespresso is a microagression- but none of the coaches got one, it was just for the players. It wasn’t targeted at him at all.

Obviously the actor is allowed to justify his actions however he wants, and OF COURSE Nate would see that stuff as a personal attack…but Nate is also wrong. He’s acting from insecurity wearing an arrogance overskirt. Outside of his perspective, he isn’t being mistreated.

The scene between Ted and Nate is so good, because Nate is so obviously hurt and genuinely upset it takes Ted aback, but the subtle lesson there is we aren’t always reliable narrators of our own experiences, and Nate is mistaking his trauma-inspired feelings for objective truth.

This is sort of what I’m talking about. This is just not true! It’s absolutely how Nate *perceives* what’s happening, but no one is intentionally hurting him or excluding him. Nate is absolutely wrong to feel this way!

There is just something odd about this take, a suggestion that cruelty and outright betrayal is justified by perspective, even if the perspective is skewed. It feels like a read that favors the actual abuser’s explanation, because they’re the maddest and loudest.

“Finds himself stuck” No he doesn’t! He *believes himself to be stuck* in their shadow. The framing of perspective vs reality is so important when you’re talking about a person doing damage!