Question to everybody: is Kathleen the darkest/worst character?
I'm not so sure: how about Warren? August? how about that member who beat a girl and she got hospitalised?
What do you think?
I've been going back and forth on whether or not to post this for some time, but I will make the clearly controversial statement that Kathleen is not "evil", rather she is a libertarian crossed with the civilian equivalent of a drill sergeant, and in many ways a life coach, which might be part of the reason she and Veronica have the greatest animosity to each other as they're essentially the same profession using extremely different philosophies to achieve their goals.
Let's look at her background. We know that Kathleen, like all other sadist/BDSM adults, had to discover this facet of her character, and in this discovery, she realized how "freeing" this epiphany was to learn what/who she truly is, and decided to embrace it whole-heartedly. However, she quickly learned that her "true self" was not socially acceptable, thus she was ostracized, and learned that she had to wear a mask, and hide her true self. Over time, as she naturally sought out "compatible" partners/playthings, she also discovered that most, and eventually everybody, also wears a mask, hiding their true selves. I describe her as a libertarian because she eventually forms the philosophy that society requiring everyone to always wear a mask is not only a fabricated society that enforces lies is logically bad/evil, but that a good society would permit everyone to openly live as they see fit, provided of course no actual/non-consenual harm is brought on another party. Given her "alpha" character, she naturally seeks to then be the agent of societal change. Her husband doesn't seem to be compatible with her BDSM desires, so I believe she married him as a means to enact societal change, or to increase her own power standing to provide enough resources to construct her own little "perfect society", which she has found, to an extent, at the Club, though August, Chuck, and the patrons, don't let her fully embrace herself, so she takes what she can.
Moving up to her "modus operandi," although she may appear heartless, that's part of her act that I'll get to in a second, she genuinely cares, as we see with her concern over the well-being of the house girls, and how she sends Edwin after Hana. If she was truly a sadistic heartless bitch, she would have gleamed at the thought of Hana stewing and growing angrier, especially if this wrankled August's plans. Like any life coach, driven by the philosophy that everyone would be happier and healthier if they just all dropped their masks, Kathleen seeks to improve the livelihoods of those whom she influences. However, while typical life coaches as Veronica use encouragement to drive their clients to the goal, Kathleen, like a drill sergeant, uses antagonism to drive the person, which some will claim is more effective, as we can see with Veronica. Through the competition so far, Edwin has taken the encouraging route with Veronica, which is effective in getting her out of a glum, but doesn't actually motivate her to win; rather it is the thought of taking down/beating Kathleen that envigorates Veronica to not just survive, but to dominate. Veronica would not feel this way if Kathleen treated her the same way Edwin does, or Hana would, thus she might run out of resolve before the finish line. The other thing that good life coaches and all drill sergeants do is push an individual beyond their perceived limits and discover their true limits, which are also pushed further with time, and this is what Kathleen is doing by pressing the Carnations' fears, anxieties, inhibitions, and resiliency. The last exhibition particularly pushed Veronica beyond what she previously thought she could handle, forced Felicia to admit and have a better understanding of her own self, and tested Rosalind's own resolve. The secret to drill sergeants, that every military recruit discovers months or years later, is that the drill sergeant was actually their strongest ally on their road to success, but that he/she must always maintain a facade of "the enemy" in order to create the animosity, that "fire that refines and reforges the metal", to make them stronger, and that is exactly what Kathleen is doing. The counter-argument to this type of training is of course the emotional scars it creates, and this is an accurate objection, but one can't deny that the Carnations are stronger in Week 3 than they were in Week 0. No, she's not doing this out of altruism for the Carnations, but again out of her belief that this will make a better society, even if that society does not extend beyond the walls of the Club. Her influencing of Edwin does better solidify said culture in the Club, as the Carnations are temporary, and even a little outside if Edwin does indeed become a successful doctor. Now, Kathleen is also a realist. Although she is not a fan of the patrons' extreme treatments of the house girls, she knows that everything she's permitted to be and do is dependent on the Club doing financially well, so she tolerates as much as possible, but tries to place fail-safes (like giving Dahlia such autonomy to watch out for the girls and do necessary staffing swaps, and praising Edwin for "occupying" one of the girls). However, the threat of becoming a house girl helps her in motivating Carnations to push harder for victory.
Is she bad? Yes if you hate anyone who uses that "drill sergeant" tactic; No if you consider "bad" as pure nihilist. I consider August dangerous, and does a lot of bad things (actual crime), but he's not "evil", as he doesn't have any destructive goals. Warren is a typical selfish thug with no true power, so his personality dictates compensation via undisciplined dominance, thus he is "bad". Girl-beating patron is definitely evil as in BDSM 1) any physical strikes must be consenual and 2) know where the threshold of too much damage is and NEVER cross it (a la Edwin's treatment of Harper on his birthday). Comparatively Kathleen is definitely in the good category as all the Carnations have given general consent, her spider thing with Veronica actually did no physical damage to her whatsoever, and she even got Veronica's consent for the big dildo. Now one can argue that the consent was forced, but this was a question of Veronica's priorities: did she take the actual painful dildo, or the harmless spider, and she chose pain over fear (with the spider, I can't say that I blame her as I always skip those frames to "get it off" as fast as possible).
