I don't agree. I see the situation in a different way. Everything that happened in childhood can be attributed to the behavior of children their age. Especially at the age of puberty when relationships become strained simply due to a hormonal surge. All this time, parents did not interfere in the children's relationships, probably due to their busy lives. Although they probably should have (this is just my opinion). After graduation, MC is already old enough to choose his own path.yours seems to me to be a fairly superficial judgment.
practically everything negative that happens in the story is their responsibility.
Jaye's relationship with her brother is ruined when the latter decides to stop accompanying her to school and basically avoids attending her so she can make new friends. the parents know the situation reassure MC, who will be 6-8 years old at the time, that they will explain it to Jaye. apparently they don't, and if they do they are not at all clear as Jaye doesn't know anything when MC 15 years later explains it to her. and given that at the time the two siblings were precisely 6-7 years old any excuse about sexual tension between the 2 is really not credible.
then, as you say, they decide to let things take its course and because of that they accept that their son as soon as he comes of age goes around the world, to very dangerous places (and they know where he is from time to time) where he often risks his life in really borderline situations.
so after they made sure that the childhood between the 2 was marked by misunderstanding, after they gave MC 5 years of sabbatical, they give him their blessing. they set all the stage for MC and Jaye to never regain a relationship, but at this point they are also okay with their relationship becoming something more.
if there is a scenario of resentment and misunderstanding that MC can let Jaye drown at sea, it is only because of their conscientious parenting
by the way, Sara in particular is also terrible professionally. she has a co-worker with an unhealthy fixation on her, which she doesn't realize, falsifying the results of her work, and even that she doesn't realize, making herself co-responsible for a scam.
and even now the completely instinctive imprint has remained in the company: an unknown journalist who appeared out of nowhere is brought up to speed in the midst of a legal war, experimental treatments are being conducted without any respect for the rules, and always out of politeness there is even an offer to clone a dog. the Prizer, in reality, would distort them in any court of law, third world included
but let's drop that last part, which is part of the cartoonish spirit of the story being told.
remains that every difficulty in the relationship between Jaye and MC stems from conscious choices of their parents, who made it impossible for 2 children to have a normal and frank relationship
Regarding the restoration of relations. Perhaps you didn't read it carefully. His parents called Alex repeatedly and tried to persuade him to return. Especially at the beginning. They made no obstacles to restoring the relationship.
Why they needed a face-to-face meeting to say what they know about their relationship with Jay, I don't know, and that's my main gripe with the plot in this one.
I also disagree about Sarah’s lack of professionalism. Amanda's investigation revealed that she was unaware of Derrek's deliberate falsification and sought out this falsification before leaving Praiser.
In general, I cannot call the upbringing that Sarah and (I forgot his name) gave to their children terrible. It definitely wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible either. The biggest mistake that parents made (in my humble opinion) was that they did not talk enough with their children about their problems and experiences. However, I see this attitude of parents towards children quite often in modern realities.