S23.E04: Ashley

[shantown]

Quote

Ashley was a straight-A student with dreams of attending university; her hopes were dashed when her stepfather introduced her to meth and heroin as a teenager.

Airs 11/08/21 (10:01-11:04pm) on A&E

[Pi237]

Wow, she didn’t stand a chance with that family. Her mom had a weird sunny disposition while describing the horrific childhood this girl had. And Dad seemed checked out.  I think I’d do a lot more than just shrug if my daughter’s stepfather was feeding her drugs and raping her.   No one fought for this girl.  I hope she finds the fight within herself before she kills herself. 

[Pandora]

Wow, she checked all the addiction boxes for a young woman—missing family (especially dad) due to their own addiction—check. Older male who rapes her—check. (Bonus creepy points for making her French toast afterwards.) Older males who feed her drugs—check. I guess Tamika, the “street mom” who picked her up after Ashley fled the airport  is worth bonus points too.

At least her family and sober friends didn’t seem enabling at the time of the intervention. Otherwise she doesn’t seem to have much of a chance if the only reason she checked into detox is because she ran out of drugs. Very sad story.

[TVbitch]

I could not watch the injection scenes. Yikes. Compared to older seasons, this season it seems like every episode features multiple generations and extended family drug use. I guess that is a sign of the times. 

Couldn't mom have called the police and had them remove Ashley from the step-dad's house. He was no longer actually her step-dad if they were divorced. She was still a minor. That was crazy. I guess mom was relieved to have Ashley out of her hair so she could focus on her own drug use.

Donna did not seem very involved. In this episode, and the last one with Jesse, I wish Candy was still around to bring her fierce  loving momma bear energy. It seems to be what some of these kids are longing for. I also wonder about turning the interventionee over to Inga for the drive to the airport and plane ride. There is no relationship there, so it was easy for Ashley to "disappoint" her and flee.  

[pasdetrois]

Why didn't the parents aggressively intervene when stepdad was abusing Ashley?

Candy and Sylvia have the ability to soften the approach to get past the defenses of the intervention target. It seems to me that an immature, addled, angry addict or alcoholic is primed to bolt if the interventionist is too demanding.

But Ashley isn't done with her love affair with drugs.

[hookedontv]

Poor Ashley, what a life. That's a LOT of hard living in 20 years, and it shows on her face.

Did anyone else think she strikes a resemblence to Reese Witherspoon? 

[theajw]

That was one of the least convincing "yes, I'll go to rehab" statements ever and I've been watching this show from the first episode.  I knew she was going to bolt before she got on the flight.  And even her eventual trip 10 weeks later to detox, I knew she was going to leave because she wasn't invested in the process.  

I also didn't have high hopes for Ashley because none of the family members could give an ultimatum since none enabled her.  The only people that could--Tamika, Danny--were addicts themselves.  

Sad.  

[tljgator]

5 hours ago, theajw said:

I also didn't have high hopes for Ashley because none of the family members could give an ultimatum since none enabled her.  The only people that could--Tamika, Danny--were addicts themselves.  

Yeah, given that she didn't have a source of income and consumed such a huge volume of pricey drugs, I presumed Tamika the "street mom" was pimping her out for drugs (as I'm betting her stepdad and others, sadly, had done for years) in addition to her basic petty theft sideline. The cynical side of me thought Tamika or Danny (or both, or others) sent her to detox to get cleaned up enough so that she looked better to be an earner (she was rough looking by the end there -- open bleeding sores from all the skin-popping, etc.)...and then she went right back to it. 

So many sad cases that haven't worked out this season. Man.

[Empress1]

On 11/11/2021 at 7:32 PM, tljgator said:

Yeah, given that she didn't have a source of income and consumed such a huge volume of pricey drugs, I presumed Tamika the "street mom" was pimping her out for drugs (as I'm betting her stepdad and others, sadly, had done for years) in addition to her basic petty theft sideline.

When she said she didn’t really pay for drugs, I assumed she was trading sex for drugs. Petty theft wasn’t buying all that.

On 11/11/2021 at 9:51 AM, pasdetrois said:

Why didn't the parents aggressively intervene when stepdad was abusing Ashley?

I didn’t understand that at all. Your daughter tells you her stepfather made her do meth and you … do what? Nobody calls the cops, CPS, nobody says “I’ll come get you?”