Dev told us his story will have a heavy dark end and all you guys come up with is that Hutch reaches a level of self confident out of nowhere and can cope with everything and anyone. That's just not going to happen. This story is not about Hutch!
A dark heavy end is fine. Having written quite a bit myself, I believe readers, to be truly engaged, there needs to be someone or something to root for. In that scenario, I can absolutely see Hutch gaining the upper hand "eventually." After all, every person has a limit from which they rise or spiral into oblivion.
Obviously, Christian is the "evil" in the story. Vivian, while complicit, is manipulated by Christian. Christian is also manipulating Hutch (duh!), and I hope the author doesn't just leave it at surface level and have Hutch continue to be manipulated to the end. That would be WAY too shallow. I'm hoping (praying even) that we get a more complicated Hutch, one that, over time, begins to twist the circumstances to his benefit.
Christian's niece, the one who's nice to him (I believe it's his niece, I'm not sure typing this, so forgive me if I'm wrong), is a good way to start. Hutch mentioned that he's "open" to a different relationship. The word "open" is weighted in the way he brought it up out of nowhere. Now, the question is, will the game move toward "scorched earth" where Hutch destroys both Vivan and Christian? Will it end with revenge on Christian and forgiveness for Vivan? Or heaven forbid, Hutch is destroyed.
I would be disappointed if Hutch remains a cuck to the end. Shallow story, and honestly, a failed ending. It has to have some depth for Hutch to make it anywhere near believable. A dark heavy end, like I mentioned, is fine, but if it's Hutch that goes down, it will be a failed attempt at writing. If I wanted that, I would rewatch Uncut Jems. What a waste of time that movie was.