r/netflix 10d ago

Discussion Unknown number unpopular opinions Spoiler

Reading the comments here, most people agree Kendra is a psychopath and pedophile, which: yes absolutely. And I agree she needs to be locked away for a much longer time (and studied). But there are some other takes I had that I don’t see reflected. What do you think, and what unpopular opinions do you have? Please share:

  1. Yes, obviously Kendra was fixated on Owen, even when he was still a little prepubescent boy (sick). And she was jealous of Lauryn for being with him. That’s all the comments I’ve read. But I believe it went much deeper than that. She was also deeply jealous that her daughter was growing into a pretty teenager who had her whole life ahead of her and hadn’t fucked up her marriage, finances and life like Kendra had. Owen was the target of her fixation but It wasn’t only about Owen. There’s a lot more going on. [Editing to add this thought: Kendra would have been happy to see her daughter or Owen die by suicide, so she could get closer to the other one and play the hero/get more attention).

  2. I’m sorry but Owen’s parents/mother are not the heroes people are making them out to be. Why in the free world would they not take the kid’s phone away? He was being harassed into a place of suicidal ideation. They are terrible parents for letting him just deal with it while the mom pranced around pretending she was a star on Law & Order

  3. Lauryn’s dad was an incompetent father and has some secrets of his own. I believe Kendra is a master manipulator but what the hell must he have been doing to not see signs that something was terribly wrong? I think he was having affairs/a double life or at the very least was willfully burying his head in the sand. What do you mean you trusted your wife to handle your daughter’s severe sexual harassment and abuse? You didn’t think you should help? You didn’t think the situation warranted all hands on deck? Where the hell were you the whole time? And all he could say about Lauryn now is that she’s “growing” and will be a “beautiful woman.” Something is also off with him.

  4. Regarding Lauryn's non-emotional reaction to what her mom did to her: Lauryn never had close friends and was always quiet and withdrawn, per her peers. Owen said she was trying to isolate him from his friends so it was just “the two of us”. As far as we saw, Kendra was her primary parent, with barely any paternal involvement. Kendra’s sociopathic ways are normal to Lauryn because it’s all she knows. (I hope she gets a lifetime of therapy.) During the confession conversation, either she was in shock and, as any 15 year old child would be, confused and unable to process the emotions on the spot (and also focused on following an authority figure’s directions to call her dad) …or she knew or suspected her mom was behind this.

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u/pandorabach66 10d ago edited 9d ago

I actually agree with all this except maybe I'm conflicted about Lauryn's dad. I think he was definitely avoidant and burying his head in the sand but I also had the impression he was working all the time.

I think you are 💯 about Owen's parents. wtf would you not at least change the kid's number? I think Mom was enjoying being involved in the drama a little too much.

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u/MiserableCourt1322 6d ago

According to the NY article he didn't really know anything about the texts for a long time because all school communication ran through Kendra. Ppl who knew them said he basically relied on her for everything and bought every excuse for why they were in such financial trouble.

Honestly I got the impression Kendra picked a co dependent partner who she could easily manipulate. There was a big power differential in terms of career and money. She was a college grad with a job in IT and he was oil change tech. Even if she was at the lower end of an IT salary she was easily making double what he did. Her not bringing in any income and Lauryn being involved in travel sports would send them into poverty real quick.

u/Clarknt67 5h ago

I feel like we would easily see and understand a woman being manipulated by a controlling malignant husband. The dynamic can reverse genders too, unfortunately. He was blind yes. But probably trusted her and was struggling to be the sole provider.