Sushi in what appears to be a house (rather than a restaurant). I wonder... is Jill is trying to upstage Josy and offer the MC her own homecooked meal? He did mention that back on their first date (though not specifically that it was with Josy).
I also wonder who posted this. If it's the MC, that might indicate the interminable blackmail plot is finally over Which would definitely be grounds to party!
Still, can't get too carried away. Need to stay calm while we wait patiently.
Nah, my money's on Bella.
I don't disagree, seeing someone's life ruined by a lousy upbringing is tragic.
But even if I don't blame that person for being the way they are, the problem is that they're still the way they are. It's very likely that Quinn would not have learned to manipulate and exploit others if she was raised by Neil instead of Rox, but in the end we still have to deal with the Quinn who grew up learning to manipulate and exploit. Even if she's capable of changing with the help of others, it's going to a slow process and she's going to be a nasty piece of work in the meantime.
Can Quinn change? I certainly hope so. But the evidence so far isn't good. While it's cliche to say Quinn needs to want to change, it's nonetheless true. And right now, Quinn absolutely wants to stay the way she is. It's not like Quinn has never been offered kindness before. The HOTs treated her as a friend, and we've seen how she responded. Tommy likewise considered her his closest friend and even offered to be her fall guy should it ever come to that. Yet when Tommy called her out on her fuckup at the prep party, Quinn immediately lashed out and utterly dismissed his criticism. Even when he returned and apologized for his mistake, she still refused to admit she had been anything but 100% in the right. Kindness only counts in Quinn's eyes so long as it's strictly on her terms; justified criticism is tantamount to betrayal.
And that's why I dislike the Quinn's path thus far. If Quinn is ever going to change, the first step has to be for her to accept that her current attitude is wrong. Yet Quinn's path is all about validating her choices: not just being a DIK, but do drugs with her, never take someone's side against her, and back off the moment she doesn't want to hear something. I don't think Quinn's ever going to change if we act that way.
If there's a way to help Quinn without being on her path, I'll certainly try to take it. But there's only so much I can do when Quinn herself is dead set against it.
(And just to be clear, my distaste for Quinn is not the same as distaste for her as a character; the game is definitely better for having Quinn in it!)
An interesting notion for sure, but I'm afraid I can't agree.
First off, I've never believed Quinn is actually letting Riona smoke for free. I think that was just a lie to justify her behavior to Tommy; you'll note she explicitly asks Tommy not to corroborate the story. If Riona really was smoking off the books there'd be no reason to pretend the shortfall was unexplained back when we first learned about it. After all, if Quinn just wanted to motivate Riona, surely reminding her of her role in the problem would be more effective than slapping her.
Secondly, I can't help but notice that Quinn didn't slap Mona when she lost her nerve. Mona was fighting alongside Quinn too (over Riona's objection no less!), and she was far less calm than Riona. So why did Riona need such drastic action while Mona just got a sob speech and some blackmail?
To me, the key distinction is that Riona flat out defied Quinn whereas Mona was in full obsequious mode. As I said above, Quinn reacts extremely badly to criticism, so I think Quinn just lost her temper when Riona called her a fucking idiot. Mona, despite being physically incapable of keeping any secret, kept apologizing to Quinn and agreeing to do as Quinn asked, so Quinn never felt the need to lash out at her. That's my take, anyway.
As for Quinn really caring about Riona... maybe? The problem is that Quinn is such a self-centered person that it's difficult to tell genuine affection for Riona
as a person apart from affection for what Riona represents
as a tool. By in large Quinn has no use for Riona's advise and ignored Riona's concerns about being followed; the one time she did listen to Riona was after Riona threatened to quit. I don't think it's fair to say unequivocally that Quinn doesn't care about Riona as a person because we've never seen a situation where Quinn had to deal Riona as a person and not as a tool. But I do feel that every time we've seen Quinn deal with Riona, Quinn's first and foremost concern has always been about herself and not Riona.
To me, that's a far cry from affection. YMMV of course, but I think people looking for hidden depths in Quinn are mistaking potential for reality. Quinn may change someday, but for now I think she is precisely what she appears to be on the surface.