r/netflix • u/AnotherDarnDay • 2d ago

Discussion Unknown Number High-school Catfish Spoiler

What the hell did I just watch? And what the hell was this person thinking?

I'm in shock that someone would do such a thing to their own child. And that she doesn't seem to have any focus on what she actually did.

The daughter didn't seem to grasp what her mother did when they told her but the father acted on it right away.

Was she totally jealous of her own daughter?

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35

u/galactabat 2d ago

"jealous of her own daughter" might be putting it lightly. she was a few cards short of a full playing-deck if you ask me.

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u/AnotherDarnDay 2d ago

I feel the daughter let it go why too easily. Like it hasn't fully processed. If my mama told me to kill myself I'd never have spoken to her again

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u/Suffrage100 2d ago

Abused children usually still love their mothers and want to be with them. They're always looking for their love and approval. Of course, it's not safe for her to be with Kendra. Maybe when she's an adult, she can break free from her mother's manipulation.

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u/OkVermicelli3588 2d ago

And sadly no siblings to lean on. What a tragedy.!

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u/_chicksareforfags 2d ago

totally, to me it was extremely similar to people who leave cults. well more even, how people stay in cults in the first place. They isolate you, make you feel like they're the only ones who love and value you, make it seem like others are crazy for not believing you.... there are huge issues people who leave cults face after because its not just one relationship you're recovering from, it's how you see your entire world. I'd be a fool to say I could even imagine what that feels like. The fact that people think the daughter is in on it because she's not as "mad" as they think she should be is heartbreaking. What would you do truly if you found out tomorrow your mom did that to you? like your brain would just shut it out cause reality would be so hard to accept. And then compounded by the fact that this was a childdddd like her brain hasn't even developped fully yet and she has to face a trauma most would never even dream of

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u/Physical_Orchid3616 1d ago

It didn't hit me just how abusive my narc mother was until YEARS later. I didnt cut out contact with her until I was in my 40's. You may not process it straight away, but trust, you NEVER forget

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u/Webbie-Vanderquack 1d ago

If my mama told me to kill myself I'd never have spoken to her again

None of us can really know what we'd do in that situation. She's a child, and we're not children. She's also had almost two years of constant abuse drumming in the idea that she's useless, followed by over a year of love-bombing from her imprisoned mother. And she was very suddenly deprived of a mother who, as far as she knew prior to the big revelation, loved her.

Under those nightmarish circumstances, you can't predict how you might have handled it. And there are other factors too, like trauma bonding.

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u/OkVermicelli3588 2d ago

When you really think about it, honestly her mother probably actually didn’t want her to kill herself. I mean, what would she have done? She probably would have just kept going with it and just got attention that she would feed off of because her daughter had killed herself over the mystery bully! So sick!! And her twisted mind. She probably would’ve thought she had a chance to go after Owen at that point 

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u/Lefty_Country24 23h ago

You're right that it hasn't fully processed. I think you may be underestimating how manipulative Kendra was when it came to Lauren and how attached they were. That would make it even harder to process.

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u/AnotherDarnDay 23h ago

I'm not underestimating anything. I fully know how manipulative her mother is. That's why I said she hasn't fully processed it yet.

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u/LKS983 2d ago

Jealousy plus some variation of Munchausen (attention seeking) made the most sense to me - although it's impossible to know/understand what the hell was going on in this woman's mind.

Even after she was released from prison, she didn't seem to GENUINELY understand that she'd done anything much wrong 😲!

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u/galactabat 2d ago

She definitely downplayed the whole thing...so did her daughter a bit once it was revealed it was her mom.

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u/Physical_Orchid3616 1d ago

At no point in the series did Lauryn really open up about just how deeply the horrible messages affected her, and that shows you just how head worked she's been by her mother

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u/Englishmatters2me 2d ago

I think she wanted Owen..maybe there is some Munchausen syndrome there as well

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u/meowmir420 2d ago

She seems histrionic personality disorder type to me

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u/Key-Step823 2d ago

Oh my gosh yes!!!!