Ted Jr.: "The best part of waking up, is Fauxlger's in your butt."

[Skyfall]

Thread title courtesy of Sarah!

Edited June 22, 2014 by Skyfall

[radishcake]

OMG, I just spit coffee out on my keyboard. Dang it Sarah & @Skyfall! 

[bluebonnet]

That's the best line of any recap I've ever seen.  Making coffee in the morning will never be the same.  

 

For some reason, I find Teddy Jr (and by extension Tawny) the hardest to get a read on.  On the one hand, I can sympathize with what appears to be his struggles with feeling replaced by this man he never knew.  It was sort of heartbreaking when Janet told him not to call her mom.  Then his worry that his job was in jeopardy now that Daniel was released.  Here he was living his life pretending it was all real (after all, Janet's not his real mom and the shop doesn't technically belong to him) when suddenly the blinders were ripped off without his consent.  

 

On the other hand, there's this undertone of dread when he's on screen.  His relationship with Tawny is uncomfortable, as though there was something more going on before Tawny started to feel this connection to Daniel.  His antagonistic behavior towards Daniel, while understandable, also starts to come off with a hint of villainy.  It's not that Ted Jr. is just uncomfortable getting to know this stranger or what he's gone through, or worried how this stranger will affect his life.  It's more that behind his facade, there seems to be a man about to snap in a very violent way.  

 

Anyone else having a hard time getting a read on Fauxlger butt?

[Fisher King]

Perfect thread description for Teddy! Brilliant.

[bourbon]

I think it would have been very easy to write and play Teddy as a cardboard caricature we've seen 100 times.  He's a small town "big fish" who peaked at age 18 and has been coasting on high glories for a decade.  He struts around like cock of the walk with his nice car and pretty wife, but he's full of self-loathing because he knows all he'll ever be is the assistant manager of a failing tire store.  But they've made him so much more complex than that. I don't think I ever really lost sympathy for Teddy despite being the sort of guy I would probably hate IRL.

 

His poor behavior is rooted in his insecurities, and his insecurities are understandable: the fear of losing his step-mother's affections, the fear of losing his job, the fear of the physical danger Daniel puts them in.  The only time I ever really thought Teddy crossed the line was before the coffee incident when he was taunting Daniel about being raped in prison. Even then, I could understand that Teddy was acting out a fear that Daniel posed a (very real) threat to his marriage.  

 

I don't like Teddy, but I don't ever find him less than sympathetic or at least understandable.  

[Skyfall]

That's the best line of any recap I've ever seen.  Making coffee in the morning will never be the same.

It came at the perfect time too as I was struggling to come up with a title for this thread.

[John Ramos]

Interview with Clayne Crawford here. "Relaxed douche face" is my new favorite thing.

[Armchair Critic]

I was watching TV out of the corner of my eye and when the Papa Johns commercial came on the owner reminded me of Teddy

[pdub]

The coffee scene was really something (love the thread title, too!).

 

Ted Jr had been asking, and then badgering Daniel about prison, asking if he'd been raped in prison. Daniel pretty much says yes, and then Ted asks if he fought back or if he just "enjoyed" it, as if there's no other reaction possible. I think Daniel wanted him to know that sometimes things aren't that black and white. Fresh from death row and his prison experiences, I think those traumas bubbled up and he was virtually unable to stop himself from showing Ted Jr a world he knows nothing about.

 

Ted is filled with insecurity. He greatly fears being a failure, thus the rim rental venture (is that really a thing?). The tire store belongs to his step mother, and now that Daniel is out, will he inherit the business? He's unsure of his wife's affections. To me, he's the very archetype of the "fragile male ego," so afraid of being wrong or of being made fun of or of being perceived as a failure. What a wonderful character!

 

I wanted to wring his neck when he told the sheriff about the coffee incident, then then I literally started muttering, "Tell them you make it all up!!" when the Senator got brought in on it.