S15.E07: Ginjer

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

A former military woman suffers from a Dilaudid addiction and dates men who will enable her.

[Primetimer]

The only thing midseason-premiere subject Ginjer (...we know) likes more than swearing is Dilaudid.

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[Toaster Strudel]

Ginjer's mother rubbed me the wrong way, starting with how she made it sound like Ginjer's hit and run had caused only a scratch on the pedestrian.   Ginjer too, she made it like the pedestrian magically jumped in front of the car.

After rehab it was strongly hinted that there was something seriously wrong with Percy. Mmmmm.

[Enero]

37 minutes ago, Toaster Strudel said:

Ginjer's mother rubbed me the wrong way, starting with how she made it sound like Ginjer's hit and run had caused only a scratch on the pedestrian.   Ginjer too, she made it like the pedestrian magically jumped in front of the car.

After rehab it was strongly hinted that there was something seriously wrong with Percy. Mmmmm.

Really? Can you elaborate? I just saw the BSOJ say that she dumped him, but I wasn't paying attention during her confessional after her 90 days in rehab. I was doing something else.

All that said,  it made absolutely no sense that Percy would try to have a real relationship with a drug addicted prostitute he'd just met. Ginjer didn't mention anything about him working so I think he was into something illegal too, don't know if he was doing drugs, but he appeared to be living off the money she made tricking. 

I take issue with the episode saying Ginjer was former military. Yeah she was in ROTC in high school, but that's hardly serving in the armed forces. This was a boring episode but I do hope she stays clean so that she can be there for her kid. 

Edited June 20, 2016 by Enero

[Setlist]

Percy seemed nice. But also, he found her on the sugar mama website. He tried to play that off, but... Come on, man. 

I do wish Ginjer (yes, ugh) the best. She seemed to have a really good head on her shoulders. 

[Toaster Strudel]

I think they said Percy worked as a medical assistant.

[Toaster Strudel]

What was said about Percy is this:

Ginjer: "I don't feel like it's a good idea for me to go back to a situation where I can't save somebody else" and "I need to work on me, you need to work on you."

Ken: "If he doesn't get the help then you're going to be a prisoner."

Intriguing, is it not?

[JennB]

A chyron said Percy was a medical assistant teacher, which I guess means he teaches classes about becoming a medical assistant, not that he's an assistant teacher to medical professors.

So which of Ginjer's brothers was letting his kids hang out with her so much, knowing she was an addict and sugar baby? Did he just need someone to provide free childcare?

[pasdetrois]

Yeah, there's more to Percy's story, although I suppose it's possible that Ken meant that Percy needed treatment for codependency, not addiction. Still, I'm pretty sure Percy's initial interest in the relationship was free regular sex. Perhaps he did a cost/benefit analysis: pay $400 a pop, or contribute financially to the household but get lots of sex.

Ginjer's biggest challenge will be that felony conviction. Hopefully the rehab center and her probation officer can help her find decent-paying work.

Did Brayden's father and Ginjer's brother know she was using and turning tricks while she was babysitting? Holy cow.

[lallalla]

I am waiting, with morbid fascination, for next week's episode, featuring a "paranormal expert" who drinks up to a gallon of vodka a day!

In my searches for forums/message boards about Intervention, episodes involving alcoholics in particular, I came across a sub-Reddit (on Reddit) of people devoted to/succumbing to/lamenting/(many) celebrating their addiction to alcohol. Some claim to drink a handle to two handles of hard alcohol per day, they post breathalyzer photos of having above a .35 BAC and celebrate it...the heartache and yet celebration of an addiction is almost train-wreck like in its ability to keep my morbid attention and think, "..but by the grace of god, there go I..."

Many hopes for all those suffering to get the help they need to be happy and healthy in life without substances. Bless their friends, family, and co-workers for the on-going fallout.

[farmgal4]

19 hours ago, Toaster Strudel said:

Ginjer's mother rubbed me the wrong way, starting with how she made it sound like Ginjer's hit and run had caused only a scratch on the pedestrian.   Ginjer too, she made it like the pedestrian magically jumped in front of the car.

After rehab it was strongly hinted that there was something seriously wrong with Percy. Mmmmm.

Toaster, I must have slept through the part about there being something wrong with Perry, because I didn't see/hear ANYTHING that indicated that.  What are you referring to exactly?

[farmgal4]

10 hours ago, Toaster Strudel said:

What was said about Percy is this:

Ginjer: "I don't feel like it's a good idea for me to go back to a situation where I can't save somebody else" and "I need to work on me, you need to work on you."

Ken: "If he doesn't get the help then you're going to be a prisoner."

Intriguing, is it not?

I think those comments were related to his need to work on his codependency with Ginjer and his being held prisoner by her addiction and the codependency it causes.  That's my take on it anyway.

[mythoughtis]

My take on Percy is that he had self esteem issues.  As Ken said, it's not normal for a guy to be ok with his girlfriend having sex with other men in their bed for money for drugs.  Especially if he is a medical assistant instructor at a college.   

My BSOJ cut off after it said that Ginjer transferred to a sober living facility.. so I missed the part about her breaking up with Percy.  Did it say anything else?

She's a bright person, if she could go back to school, she could get a job. . She will have transportation  issues since she can never get a drivers' license again. There had to be more to the accident story - she served 3 years in prison, but the pedestrian had nothing but a 'laceration' on her head?  I don't think so.  Especially after her brother said he realized she had 'no morals' after the accident.  Of course, this is the same brother that left his kids with her on a regular basis, and he's not concerned about her lack of morals?

Did you catch the part where she told Ken on his visit that she hadn't had any real contact with anyone of the family for the time she was at rehab - only contact with Percy.  Maybe that is what Ken meant by his prisoner comment, maybe Percy was not helping the family communication.  Think there was some odd vibe with that whole family.  This addict situation was just weird.  She was very clean, very well dressed, very well spoken, lived in a decent home, had contact with her family, carried on sensible conversations with the  producers. Her family seemed to resent her being around, except to be used as a babysitter. 

[grisgris]

Interesting episode. When I read/heard Ginjer's backstory, my first thought was why didn't anybody step in during the MRSA episode and explain to the physicians about the issue with dilaudid?

There was something definitely off with Percy. If he truly was an educator in the medical field, he surely would have knowledge of the extreme health risks he was being exposed to, not to mention what harm Ginjer was doing to her own body. He seemed like a decent guy so it was odd that he was looking for "companionship" through a sugar baby. Hmmm ... he may resurface on one of the co-dependent shows!

ITA that Ginjer seemed to be a cut above the usual addict of the week. No history of childhood sexual abuse, living out of a squalid motel room, bleeding the family for money, etc. Her family seemed relatively normal, if not a little distant. I hope that she can stay clean and turn her life around.

[le bordel chaud]

I liked Ginjer a lot. She's one of the brightest, most self-aware addicts I've ever seen on this show. There was no delusion, histrionics, nor violent tendencies anywhere to be found. She was very realistic about everything going on in her life. I really hope she can stay well and build a healthy life for herself and her son.

Her family seemed all sorts of off, though. They also all looked inbred. I felt sorry for Percy as well, although it is easy for me to see why he fell for her. He seemed to care about more than just easy sex IMO. But of course their relationship was all sorts of fucked up and could never work once she got well.

This was a very interesting episode just because of how with it Ginjer was. It's interesting that at least someone else found it boring. I find it much more compelling to see addicts that aren't so stereotypical acting. It rings a lot closer to my own personal experience.

Edited June 22, 2016 by delicatecutter

[Canada]

What a messed up bunch of people.  Seriously.  Horrible family members, terrible doctors, disgusting preying men.  Ginjer really had no chance.  I hope she stays the hell away from all of them, only having contact with her son and no one else who was shown to be in her life.

[IvySpice]

Quote

After rehab it was strongly hinted that there was something seriously wrong with Percy. Mmmmm.

Something is seriously wrong with everybody in the episode. Her mom was a cheerleader for that relationship. What?? Who moves in with a drug-addicted prostitute? Who leaves their kids with the same? What mom thinks all that is great news 5 months in?

BTW, that's tricking, honey. Sugar babies are not paid by the pop. I don't care which website you used to find your johns.

I agree that Ginjer was smart and self-aware and cool. She needs to live somewhere with public transportation, Uber, etc. Being dependent on others to work and live is not good for her sobriety.

[candall]

That was a weird one, mainly for all the sketchy details left unsaid. 

I don't know what Percy's deal was--he apparently made a salary, paid the rent and handed over the rest to Ginjer to supplement the tricking that funds her drug habit.  And I was not necessarily as pro-Ginjer as others here.  We've seen lots of addicts looking at prostitution as the last step down they don't want to take, but Ginjer's pretty nonchalant about being a "sugar baby"--sounds so cute--with "two or three regulars," all the while checking her phone for whatever john is popping up next.

Seems like Percy was the only thing standing between sweet, clean show Ginjer and back alley blowjob Ginjer.  But he hadn't even known her, prior to meeting her as an addicted website hookup.  Maybe she really does meet the sugar baby standard, to Percy.

 

The hit & run, Percy, the family--too much of the story felt glossed over.  Followup!

[Soobs]

The backstory of her addiction was interesting. She was smarter than her brothers so they decided to take her down a peg by calling her fat. Then she gets a painful illness and is prescribed magic pills that make everything better until they don't. Her mom seemed totally clueless and the dad and brother seemed... I guess I'd say emotionally unintelligent. They didn't seem to have any empathy or manners when it came to her. Her dad was still calling her fat when they looked at old pictures and the brother leaving his kids in her care. Both of these events seemed like the males in her family were boundary busters. Dads don't need to make comments about their daughters bodies ever. Good or bad, it's creepy as hell. Good for her for cutting contact with them.

[teapot]

I always thought that a "sugar baby" was a young woman whose lifestyle was paid for by an older man....wining and dining and clothes and trips, kinda glamorous.

meeting strangers online for a quickie once in a while kinda just sounds like run-of-the-mill prostitution to me.

[azshadowwalker]

23 hours ago, teapot said:

I always thought that a "sugar baby" was a young woman whose lifestyle was paid for by an older man....wining and dining and clothes and trips, kinda glamorous.

meeting strangers online for a quickie once in a while kinda just sounds like run-of-the-mill prostitution to me.

What's the difference? Scummy men who prey on desperate women so they don't have to treat a woman like a human being. Nothing glamorous about either style of tricking. I have known women who worked the streets for their drugs, women who had a "daddy" or two, and women who worked the strip clubs. The clubs usually gave you stalkers. The friend who had a couple "daddies" ended up being murdered by one of them and left for her two young sons to find. The ones who worked the streets ended up with HIV and Hep C. All very exciting, glamorous stuff. 

[Nomen Nescio]

Sugar Babies bring to mind Ashley Dupré aka Kristen aka the chick who brought down Eliot Spitzer not some skank with bad teeth and track marks on every visible part of her body. Sugar Babies bring to mind expensive hotel suites, not some lower shitbox low to lower middle class house. If she thinks she's better than the streetwalker, it's the dilaudid talking. By the way, I'm surprised no one has figured out that she has not one, not two, but THREE hit and run arrests (take a look, she's a different age each time) http://florida.arrests.org/search.php?fname=ginjer&lname=&fpartial=True She doesn't need treatment. She needs prison. A lot of it. What happened to three strikes, anyway?

[Tabbygirl521]

n/m

Edited March 19, 2017 by Tabbygirl521

[Justme4]

On 6/19/2016 at 11:29 PM, Enero said:

Really? Can you elaborate? I just saw the BSOJ say that she dumped him, but I wasn't paying attention during her confessional after her 90 days in rehab. I was doing something else.

All that said,  it made absolutely no sense that Percy would try to have a real relationship with a drug addicted prostitute he'd just met. Ginjer didn't mention anything about him working so I think he was into something illegal too, don't know if he was doing drugs, but he appeared to be living off the money she made tricking. 

I take issue with the episode saying Ginjer was former military. Yeah she was in ROTC in high school, but that's hardly serving in the armed forces. This was a boring episode but I do hope she stays clean so that she can be there for her kid. 

Percy had a job in some sort of medical field.  She was short on money and he said he wasn't getting paid until such and such a date.  He wasn't living off of her tricks but she sure lived off of his as much as she could.