I’d say this is highly debatable — when you give your woman a free pass in a situation like this, you’re still setting very clear boundaries. A free pass doesn’t mean anything goes — because by Tony’s logic, “tomorrow” Vi could pack her bags and go to the Bahamas with Chris for a month. After all, if she gets bored, she’ll come back… right?
I didn’t want to bring this up earlier, because it’s a matter of interpreting words — literally or metaphorically. But given that SC liked Tony’s response, it means we’re talking about metaphorical “coming home.” I don’t know if that was intentional or accidental, but from what I understand, swinging couples (in varying degrees) who want to stay together usually define very clearly what is and isn’t allowed.
When a partner crosses the agreed boundaries, the relationship can fall apart instantly — even during sex — despite being a swinging couple.
So marking “coming home at night” is a very concrete statement. In cultural (not necessarily sexual) terms, spending the night together is a fundamental part of building or maintaining a family.
In one stroke, Hutch loses her on every level.
The real question is — does Hutch also think of “coming home at night” metaphorically?
And honestly, even for Vi this is a rushed decision (for now, she’s still in the phase of reluctant but desired sex).
I think you're looking too much into things here. First off, an easy one - the dev liking my post doesn't mean he is saying I'm correct, so don't read anything into that.
For the rest of it, remember that the idiom "at the end of the day" is different to the pretty specific "coming home at night", and also that we're not talking about a swinging couple here. I don't think Hutch or Vivian would ever think that's what they are, certainly not at this point, anyway.
I also don't think that either of them think what was said means Vivian is free to go off with Christian for an extended period of time. I don't think that's likely to happen at any point. Probably the most you'd likely get is Christian wanting to take Vivian away for a weekend or something, to schmooze with clients, but I imagine Hutch would think that is going too far and would argue it even if Vivian feels okay with it. Even that is probably a longshot though, and there's no indication so far that any clients are far enough away for it to be a possibility (of course there's no indication
not though, either).
I still believe that Vivian will mostly be sleeping in her own bed, but she might not get to it until the early hours of the morning, possibly even later in the morning - for example getting home at the crack of dawn as Christian drops her off on his way into work early (and we've had a preview already that could suggest that, I think). By not taking "at the end of the day" to mean literally "by midnight", that's the sort of thing I was suggesting could potentially happen without "breaking that promise". Hutch would likely still be pretty pissed at that too though, and probably throw the words back at Vivian as they argue about it.
Ultimately, what they will very quickly need is another conversation, where they absolutely do not talk in code, so they can make sure they are on the same page. Given how things have gone so far though, I'm not really expecting them to do this. I think Hutch is probably too hurt and betrayed but reluctantly accepting, and Vivian is too ashamed and wants to minimise Hutch's pain. Fully admitting it all by calling it what it is might still be a step too far for them both at the moment (and remember that Hutch said he doesn't want to know any details, as well).