This is a really interesting ongoing conversation about the MC but it needs to be said that at this point he only seems to be at the midpoint of his character arc. This is, in fact, a very important point in that arc. The MC was introduced to us as a total waste of space so we shouldn't have been surprised about what came later. He was in initially so concerned with verifying that the woman he spent the night with was cisgender that he couldn't be bothered to even converse with her with anything except grunts and gestures. It really told us everything that you needed to know about him. Then he was rude and mean to the lawyer, blunt and uncaring with Deb, and we were off to the races. But the question we have to ask now is has he undergone character development? I believe so.
Forgiving Deb in this chapter is a huge step in the right direction, although I do understand why some may choose not to do it. She has as many problems, if not more, than he does. But in choosing to forgive Deb he may also take a step toward forgiving himself. After all, it is obvious that despite how loud he has been in blaming others for the state of things he has been blaming himself for destroying his family ever since his father caught him with Deb. The reason why he has never had an ounce of forgiveness for others is that forgiveness has to start at home so to speak. This is why his conversation with his father is this update is vitally important. Since that wound has been open and festering all these years he hasn't been able to heal from anything else.
Now I'm not defending MCs actions to this point. He is a caustic asshole and I fail to see what his female family members see in him. But that they do feel for him is as obvious as it is sad. If his character is to be salvaged then he is going to have to change. This much is clear. But he doesn't strike me as a static character. If he is, this story is doomed. But if he is a dynamic character who is able to face and perhaps finally admit his own flaws he may be able to pull his family back together. I do have hope for him. Perhaps misplaced hope as he is stubborn and implacable, but it is there.
If there is a consistent, underlying theme to the MC it is to be found in the title of the game. He is ex-military, an ex-husband, and an ex-convict. These are all things he used to be. Identities that he has shed. But he has not, as yet, left those in the past and made peace with who he is now in order to form a cohesive current identity. Too much in all three of his former lives remains unresolved. He is constantly in crisis and turmoil because he cannot reconcile his self-image with the person who exists now. I can understand this as I have struggled with it myself.
So it remains to be seen if he will grow and change through the course of these events, but if he does not why bother to tell the story at all? I think that we will see a big change in his entire paradigm starting in this upcoming update.
