I feel like you and @intolerablexsacrifice had a chit-chat cause I was yelling about this at him on Discord after posting that little trifecta of horrors on Thomas and the impact of realizing Flint = McGraw = The man who killed his parents fucking knew them.
And as outlined there it – is not a rational response. As time passes he absolutely reaches a point of acceptance and in regards to Alfred, he is admittedly fairly indifferent. He understands that, and there is just enough viciousness in him to feel vindicated in knowing his father died trapped and afraid, at the hands of a man who knew his crimes. In the heat of the moment though, there is only one thing that stands out – with James and Miranda both – and that is the fact they treated his mother like fucking collateral. If not a downright tool to torture Alfred by – and while we know that is not the case as viewers – Thomas has no reason to believe otherwise. No reason to believe they showed her mercy, because these are the same people he, up until the moment of revelation, had no reason to think capable of killing her to begin with so it is like an immediate 180 in his mind.
And for a minute. A hot, horrible minute – he sees them as the monsters England forged them into. For a hot minute the premeditation necessary to execute their operation and to commit their crime against his mother ( because his father doesn’t count – in the heat of his fury Thomas feels nothing for Alfred and that is telling. Because while there are days he grieves for the unsaid, the unspoken, the unresolved – ultimately he knows himself vindicated, avenged in his father’s death. He knows he does not regret that he is gone, only that the relationship they had was not the one he wanted ) marks them in his mind as unforgivable.
And depending on how he learns of her involvement – I honestly cannot say his response would not be violent. I know he struck James. I cannot honestly say he would not lash at her too and I hate that such violence is a genuine response, but it is. I can’t say he would be able to think past his anger and his grief to some kind of rational point. I do know that, regardless of how he learns this, he will walk out. Whether he lashes out or not, he will leave, because he will need time to consider precisely how he feels about it.
Finding a balance with Miranda and James again after that would not be easy. When it is just James, we know for a fact James wouldn’t hold Miranda accountable. We know he’d place that noose around his own neck, and that in many ways she would remain the martyr between them. He can forgive James, because James is all that is left, because if he doesn’t then what the fuck was Miranda’s sacrifice for?
But when she is right there, capable of putting her own voice to it, there’s no way she’d let herself stand as the martyr between them. And what is more – there is less incentive on Thomas’ end to be forgiving of either of them which – really makes me wonder if he would even make himself try.
Ocean Archive 