[MistyEagle]

Originally Posted by schwarmereione (View Post) Have you watched "Breaking Bad"? Walter White did not start out as an anti-hero. He was a highly sympathetic family man facing a conundrum. Yet as I say, many viewers will defend his actions (some of which are heinous) as being justified and seem not to have noticed how far the goalposts have shifted on the character.

No, I haven't watched that show. I had House M.D. analogy in mind. From the very first episode he had been depicted as a super-jerk, tormenting all people around him, but still extremely likable, until they had made him drive his car into Cuddy's dining room in Season 6 finale. Fans and critics outrage was unexpected by TPTBs and forced David Shore to give lots of damage control interviews and address this issue in the first episode of Season 7.

Pushing Alicia beyond the limits of likability seems to be a conscious (JM says viewers will hate Alicia) decision of Kings, which I totally don't understand. I can only hope they know what they are doing (they have already intentionally destroyed Kalinda....), because hypocrisy and betrayal are not easily redeemable things. Are we supposed to be irritated with her root against her, or what?

Originally Posted by schwarmereione (View Post) . When one has been victimised (whether it's public humiliation, crime, ill-health, whatever you want) it's very hard to throw off that feeling the second your circumstances improve. I think in most cases it takes time and removing victimhood from your identity is a gradual process. While that's happening it's very easy to excuse your own entitled behavior because of what happened to you.

And we are expected to sit for 7 seasons and watch how Alicia doesn't battle her Stockholm syndrome? Since she keeps going back to Peter again and again...

Originally Posted by schwarmereione (View Post) . I think the woman in S4 who is confidently backing herself professionally and taking the risk of starting a new firm has much to admire. (I just hope she fixes things with Kalinda while doing it.)

Others may see that as her desire to be the First Lady of Illinois outweighing loyalty.

[Alwayshappy]

I don't really think Alicia has ever wanted to be First Lady, it was never a true desire for her. She never cared much for politics, and she's always hated it ( see the first seasons ), and the only reason she changed her mind was because of Peter, and because she wanted to help him. I never got the impression she did everything in her carreer and personal life, just so she could become First Lady, lol.

Alicia has always been a complicated character, but let's face it....to me...she's really realistic. She's not as open as she once was ( which is completely understandable ) and yes, she changed throughout the seasons, but that's also quite realistic. A human ( especially a fictional character ) has a lot of sides ( including flaws ), so it's impossible to say we have already seen all the sides of the character. You may not like her, but to me, she has earned the right to be selfish for a while, and to be quite honest I don't thing she's a really bad character or selfish all of the time. She still cares for cases, and people, and she's afraid to hurt Will and Diane, for leaving the firm. If she was as selfish as some people claim she is, she wouldn't even feel sorry for them.

She's grown so much throughout the series and I LOVE that. She's so much stronger now, and still always there for her kids if they ask her ( and when they don't ask her, lol ), and she even learned to love Peter again, a man who cheated on her multiple times.

[hannahwrites89]

Originally Posted by Alwayshappy (View Post) I don't really think Alicia has ever wanted to be First Lady, it was never a true desire for her. She never cared much for politics, and she's always hated it ( see the first seasons ), and the only reason she changed her mind was because of Peter, and because she wanted to help him. I never got the impression she did everything in her carreer and personal life, just so she could become First Lady, lol. Alicia has always been a complicated character, but let's face it....to me...she's really realistic. She's not as open as she once was ( which is completely understandable ) and yes, she changed throughout the seasons, but that's also quite realistic. A human ( especially a fictional character ) has a lot of sides ( including flaws ), so it's impossible to say we have already seen all the sides of the character. You may not like her, but to me, she has earned the right to be selfish for a while, and to be quite honest I don't thing she's a really bad character or selfish all of the time. She still cares for cases, and people, and she's afraid to hurt Will and Diane, for leaving the firm. If she was as selfish as some people claim she is, she wouldn't even feel sorry for them. She's grown so much throughout the series and I LOVE that. She's so much stronger now, and still always there for her kids if they ask her ( and when they don't ask her, lol ), and she even learned to love Peter again, a man who cheated on her multiple times.

I've been following the discussion silently, and I couldn't agree more with that. I do appreciate she grew stronger and more 'distant' in a way. I also think she's slowly finding a way to deal with her relationship with Will. It's been going on for four years, it makes sense to me. She still doesn't quite know how she feels in the end, and what she wants with him, but I think we'll see her figuring that out in this season with the explosion and all that.

This move of leaving the firm seems a bit rebellious. Something she never really did in her twenties and thirties, or so it seems. It's a learning curve and I love watching that.

However, I do agree with some of you saying that she seemed very flat this episode. I would have liked to see a bit more stress coming from the parking garage thingy, and perhaps a bit more emotion at the end with Will. That did seem a bit too flat for me. But I guess they'll make up for that in the coming episodes.

[Kiki17]

Originally Posted by MistyEagle (View Post) And we are expected to sit for 7 seasons and watch how Alicia doesn't battle her Stockholm syndrome? Since she keeps going back to Peter again and again...

Before I waste my time responding to this. Are you being funny or sarcastic? Cause if you are not I really would like for you to give me some evidence anywhere in the show where you seen Alicia feel threatened or scared for her life?

Going by this description: "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.”

"These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness"

More reading on it BTW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Feel free to give me some evidence then I will respond.

[MistyEagle]

Originally Posted by Kiki17 (View Post) Before I waste my time responding to this. Are you being funny or sarcastic? Cause if you are not I really would like for you to give me some evidence anywhere in the show where you seen Alicia feel threatened or scared for her life? Going by this description: "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.” "These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness" More reading on it BTW: Stockholm syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Feel free to give me some evidence then I will respond.

Sarcastic. Actually, I was responding to schwarmereione's post about victimization and removing victimness from one's identity.

I don't really believe that victimness is the issue Alicia has to fight. And of course I don't think Peter has ever harassed her physically; that's nonsense. But. Abuse doesn't have to be physical; emotional abuse is not much better. For you, as an AP shipper, the reason why Alicia keeps going back to her husband is pretty obvious: it's love, right? But for those, who are not in the AP team, these reasons are obscure. A's undesire to be like her mother does not appear too convincing. Those, who are not AP shippers, think that while staying with Peter Alicia constantly runs the risk of going through a public scandal and humiliation again, and she's aware of that risk (she says so, when P asks her to renew the vows). And

in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims

, one may come to a crazy idea about emotional Stockholm syndrome's being behind Alicia return to Peter.

[Alwayshappy]

I'm not a big Peter/Alicia fan, and I don't exactly what Alicia to end up with him, but when Alicia wants to renew her vows with Peter, with the full knowledge that he once cheated on her multiple times, and is able to do it again ; it only proves how much she loves him, because she wants to overlook his flaws, and just look at the progress he made since S1. I recently rewatched S1 and it's so clear that Peter is a different person in that season. Right now he admitted his mistakes, he started to pay for it, and he changed to be a better man, try it anyway. That's why Alicia wants to stay with him, even knowing he might cheat on her again. Besides....if she would enter a new relationship ( even with Will ) there would be chance of that man cheating on her aswell....

[schwarmereione]

Originally Posted by MistyEagle (View Post) Sarcastic.

Right, so you base your arguments on shows you haven't watched, psychological concepts you appropriate but don't understand, and respond to posters with sarcasm. But we should take the time to reply as though you are engaging in a dicussion...

Does FanForum have a "block poster" function?

[MistyEagle]

Originally Posted by schwarmereione (View Post) Right, so you base your arguments on shows you haven't watched, psychological concepts you appropriate but don't understand, and respond to posters with sarcasm. But we should take the time to reply as though you are engaging in a dicussion... Does FanForum have a "block poster" function?

I certainly watch The Good Wife. Do I need to watch Breaking Bad to have an opinion on Alicia Florrick? By the way, my sarcasm was not aimed at you or your post or your thougths. I respect everyone's opinon. It just reflected my disappointement in the once very much liked fictional character and in the way it is being developed by the TPTBs and in the pace of this development. Apparently you misunderstood me. So did Kiki. Maybe that's because English is not my first or even second language.

And since when personal attacks on the posters have become appropriate?

[springrain]

Originally Posted by MistyEagle (View Post) I certainly watch The Good Wife. Do I need to watch Breaking Bad to have an opinion on Alicia Florrick? By the way, my sarcasm was not aimed at you or your post or your thougths. I respect everyone's opinon. It just reflected my disappointement in the once very much liked fictional character and in the way it is being developed by the TPTBs and in the pace of this development. Apparently you misunderstood me. So did Kiki. Maybe that's because English is not my first or even second language. And since when personal attacks on the posters have become appropriate?

Don't worr y, its fine. We can agree disagree.

[MistyEagle]

Originally Posted by springrain (View Post) Don't worr y, its fine. We can agree disagree.

Thanks. I actually liked the schwarmereione's thoughts on the victimness, although I disagree with them.

[springrain]

Originally Posted by MistyEagle (View Post) Thanks. I actually liked the schwarmereione's thoughts on the victimness, although I disagree with them.

We would like to hold on our different opinions.

[Kiki17]

Originally Posted by MistyEagle (View Post) And since when personal attacks on the posters have become appropriate?

I really would like for you to point to me where anyone is personally attacking you. I am merely calling you out and asking you to provide some evidence.

Apparently you misunderstood me. So did Kiki. Maybe that's because English is not my first or even second language.

And thats completely fine but perhaps when you throw terms around like "stockhol syndrome" you should have a grasp on what it means.

After reading this by you:

I don't really believe that victimness is the issue Alicia has to fight. And of course I don't think Peter has ever harassed her physically; that's nonsense. But. Abuse doesn't have to be physical; emotional abuse is not much better. For you, as an AP shipper, the reason why Alicia keeps going back to her husband is pretty obvious: it's love, right? But for those, who are not in the AP team, these reasons are obscure. A's undesire to be like her mother does not appear too convincing. Those, who are not AP shippers, think that while staying with Peter Alicia constantly runs the risk of going through a public scandal and humiliation again, and she's aware of that risk (she says so, when P asks her to renew the vows).

I now have a better idea of what you are trying to argue. (I still completely disagree with you about using that term, Stockholm syndrome because I believe is directly connected to abuse/violence and fearing for your life.) Now if you want to argue that Alicia going back to Peter is emotional abuse, thats completely fine, but has nothing to do with Stockholm syndrome. And sure you can throw that I am an AP shipper and thats why I can't see the emotional abuse, and yet I still believe there is SO much more to why Alicia went back to Peter then what you describe here. There are multiple reasons why Alicia decided to go back ranging from love, duty, responsiblity, trying not to be like mom, tratdion, etc. I am not denying Alicia has suffer a great pain, and if she is unhappy and suffering I want her to do what she wants. But I can't stand her and basically agree with an argument that claims Alicia is willing doing this to herself, I think that simplifies the matter way to much. I also feel it totally dimishing watching the show as a whole, because has Peter character not changed? Has he continue to hurt Alicia all four seaosns? I think is easy to argue something like that if you dislike what Peter did, but you also have to accept that Peter's has developed.

Also by your argument, Peter would be holding her "captive emotionally" and I just don't see any sign of that?

Others may see that as her desire to be the First Lady of Illinois outweighing loyalty.

Also this kind of contradicts, are we claiming Alicia is a bystander who is being emotional abuse by Peter YET you say she picked Peter because of her desire for power. Is she making her own choices or not?

Originally Posted by springrain (View Post) Don't worr y, its fine. We can agree disagree.

Yes we can but we also have the right to ask for some evidence to arguments.

Does FanForum have a "block poster" function?

You sure can.

[TeamWilson]

I'd have to agree with Kiki on the "Stockholm syndrome" argument. I get that you didn't meant it literally, but I think we can all agree that Alicia has held all the cards and all the power in the A/P relationship since season 1. If Peter had told her in s1 "look, you're my wife, I'm your husband, that's that" and 'forced' her to stay with him, she would've laughed in his face and showed him the door. She was tired of being Peter's doormat (like she said to Jackie, being the doting housewife for 15yrs while he was out doing god knows what with god knows who) and the whole scandal eruption really hardened her as a person. She wasn't going to take his crap anymore. Even as an A/P shipper, I would surmise that had it not been for their children, Alicia would've been long gone and let him rot in jail without a second look back.

Now, she did of course stick around (for various reasons; the kids, not wanting to be like her mother, maybe a smidge of sentimental reasons, memories, etc) but I would say that I don't think love really factored into it much, at least in season 1.

I would certainly argue however that I do believe the character of Peter has changed over the course of the last 4 years; probably making the most development in season 1; which led Alicia to decide to really try to make the marriage work. But again, I feel like Alicia has always held the power and Peter for the most part (even now, at times) practically walks on eggshells around her because he knows one slip-up and she'll be done with him. With the exception of that scene in s2 where he took charge and said he wanted to share the bedroom again, he's always let Alicia set the pace of their relationship. Which to me, sounds like the opposite of how their relationship was pre-show (which we can of course only speculate about).

Alicia certainly seems to have changed dramatically from the woman we met in the pilot and who we see in flashbacks and I think that while Peter has fallen in love all over again with the "new Alicia", that a lot of what Alicia is hanging onto is the love she had for the "old Peter", if that makes sense. She has a lot of fond memories, and of course there's their children, etc. But to this day I still don't believe she's given their marriage an honest and true real second chance. And one can argue that he doesn't deserve a second chance, and I couldn't disagree with that. Obviously none of is could say what we would do in her situation because ultimately, until you're in that situation, you don't know. Alicia said it in the beginning to Kalinda, she had watched these women before do the exact thing she's doing now and she always said that would never be her, and then it happened to her. I would like to see their marriage explored in season 5, and for Alicia to embrace and acknowledge the changes that Peter has made to see if what they have is in fact worth fighting for.

It can also be argued that she hasn't given Will a real chance either, and I would whole-heartedly agree. And I would honestly be okay with it if Will/Alicia are meant to be end-game, provided they do it right and not continue to make Will Alicia's consolation prize. She should give her marriage to Peter everything she's got (if she honestly wants it to work, and right now I think she does) and if it doesn't work out and she realizes Will is without a doubt the one she wants to be with, and the one that makes her happy, then great. But, having her go back to Will only because Peter cheats on her, or whatever, to me just kind of cheapens what they are supposed to have together, in my opinion.

I think she needs to get one of these men completely out of her system before she can really commit to one or the other. Leaving L/G is her way of cutting off all ties with Will and this was her own conscience decision. She could've said no to Peter's proposal, and just kept up this tug-of-war with her emotions between the two men, but I think she's trying to grow and develop and she can't do that with one foot in "Camp Will" and the other in "Camp Peter"

In summation, I don't agree that Alicia would do anything if she didn't at least somewhat want it. Whether it's because she's holding onto her old life, or looking forward to embracing a new one with Peter, I'm not really sure.. Alicia is a hard character to read. She's an impenetrable force that only rarely gives the audience a glimpse into what she's feeling/thinking so it's really difficult to say. I'm just along for the ride.

[Bye11]

Disclaimer: I'm new to the forum but not to the fandom. A friend of mine sent me to this discussion and since I seem to have a lot to say about Alicia I decided to join in the conversation. For those of you who have never read one of my fanfictions you should know that I am a huge fan of Will, so my opinion will be biased in that sense. Since it is going to be a long post, I thought I should say that upfront so that you can choose whether to read it or not

I will break down the idea in different parts as to make it more legible.

Alicia/Peter: Let's start with this thorny issue. So according to what Alicia said to Owen in 4x21, she loves Peter, which means that at a certain point she has re-fallen in love with him. I would speedily agree that the Peter of Season 4 and possibly Season 5 is much different than the one in Season 1, as many of you remarked but here is the deal. I don't see any evidence of this great love. Mostly because it seems to me that Alicia rather than moving towards Peter is pushed in that direction by external factors that are:

a) Common Enemies: I understand the need of the writers to include both of Peter's opponents in Alicia's life since it makes for a more organic and interesting story. I like the idea of Alicia and Peter teaming up to defeat the likes of Maddie Hayward or Mike Kresteva but and it also gave Alicia a role that is more active and less the devoted wife. On the other hand though, it makes impossible to say whether Alicia would have equally supported Peter because he is her husband and she loves him, had his opponents not been people towards whom she harbored a personal hatred.
b) Veronica: Often, the episodes that mark a renewed closeness between Peter and Alicia include Veronica. Now this could be a coincidence but instead it seems to me that each time, Veronica says something that concerns Will and boom, Alicia runs to Peter. She clearly doesn't want to repeat the mistakes that her mother has made which is absolutely a natural course of action but she is extreme in taking this path. Would Alicia have said yes to Peter had not Veronica intervened in 4x21 and in 4x18? Would Alicia had verbalized the concept that she is not with Peter just for the kids had she not been put in the position to comfort Grace? And so on. To me the answer is, at best, a maybe.
Add to that the fact that we have moved from Alicia not knowing why would Peter ask her to dinner after sex to an Alicia willing to recommit in the span on less than one season, and, not at any point, they have discussed about the hundreds of elephants in their room. Even now, are they living together at the house? Wasn't the vow renewal set for immediately after the elections? Has Alicia ever said not on camera that she has forgiven Peter? Unknown.
So you can see why I am skeptical about this great love between the two of them. I'm sure that Alicia feels affection towards him and she certainly wants to love Peter but I am not convinced that she actually does.

Alicia leaving the firm: I would truly like to understand the motivations behind this decision. As most of you mentioned, the lack of Alicia/Kalinda makes Alicia practically unscrutable. Owen is awesome but I don't see her discussing with him about the firm change. To me, the only possible reason she had was to run away from Will. I have read that she had concerns about how Lockhart/Gardner was run before which is certainly true. We have seen her struggle with the morality of certain clients and she certainly was disappointed about the method they had chosen to neutralize the assistants' protests. But I don't see how that could change in the new firm. Certainly, taking with them Sweeney and Bishop does not bode well for the firm being on the "right" side of cases. As for the managerial difference, what Cary said in 5x01 shocked me. He said that one of the things they didn't like about L/G was how decisions were made by fiat by Will and Diane. This is new information to me. Indeed, the only major decision NOT taken by fiat by Will and Diane was the witholding of the partnerships and we saw how well turned out. Cary might not be aware of Will and Diane not agreeing with that decision, but Alicia certainly is because Will told her and he also told her that the equity partners can outvote them. So where did all this desire for a new type of democracy come from? She and Cary are setting up exactly the same dynamic.Two name partners that might disagree in the minutia but could (it's still untested) agree on the main points and a slew of equity partners (I assume that since they're giving startup money, they are equity partners) that are not easily controllable. Carey in particular seems insufferable and Alicia is already seeing that. Moreover, starting on her own will also mean that she won't be able to take some of the cases, as she was discussing with Cary. All this to say that none of the other reasons for her to leave the firm seem tenable to me.
Ergo I am back to thinking that she did purely to escape from her attraction to Will.

Alicia/Will: I have read that there's been quite a dispute over whether Alicia can be hated for her decision and the consequences that it will have on Will. I've said more than once that I hate Alicia for what she has done to Will and although the verb might be excessive for a fictional character, I'll preserve my right to use it because it has a certain flair over dislike that would probably be more accurate. My whole preamble was actually to drive this point home. If I'm not convinced that Alicia loves Peter and that she's leaving for any external reasons that leaves that she's doing this merely because Will is a threat to her family unit and to her wish not to become like Veronica. If that's true that makes her quite a selfish human being. Her situation is much different than that of Cary. Cary doesn't owe anything to L/G, other than the fact that he's been hired two times. The mentorship relationship with Diane is much different than the one Alicia has with Will. That Cary is taking clients away is, as he put it, "the circle of life". Alicia's situation is much more complicated than that.
First of all, Will and Diane offered a job after five interviews in the lowest period of her life in which her name came with the wrong kind of baggage, at least at the beginning and we know that she's been hired over a better candidate "on paper". Does this mean that she should just be grateful for the rest of her life? It depends on one's sense of loyalty. In any case, probably not. Will himself has never asked at any point for Alicia's gratitude, and has hidden most of what he has done for her and her family (I still want Alicia to discover that Will could have avoided the Grand Jury and all that mess if he had turned in Peter one day) precisely because of that. Even taking gratefulness out of the picture, and not taking as granted that she loves Will (as I personally think), that still leaves the fact that she's Will's friend. That has never been questioned. Indeed, Will seems to be her only friend at the moment. So if she cares for him as a close friend, how can she do that to him? And by that I mean, not only is she leaving and staying mum about it (I'm sorry but Will swayed the conversation doesn't seem convincing to me. If she truly thought that Will had to know, she would have found a way to tell him), she's lying to his face, she's putting his firm on the brink of bankruptcy again (or so I'd assume considering the number David Lee was using in Red Team/Blue Team) after having seen how much he and Diane have fought to preserve their firm. And this time, it's not even sure that he'd have the other part of the dynamic duo. She knows how much the firm means to him, and she's still doing that to him without even having a conversation with him, without trying another way to defuse that bomb that seems to be the attraction between the two of them. Alicia's life is fully in her hands. She doesn't owe Will gratitude or love, but she owed him at least her friendship, considering what a good friend he's been to her.
He trusted her completely and she's throwing that trust away. Hurting him was certainly not a goal of hers, but it's heavy collateral damage, of the sort she cannot avoid considering. She's being incredibly selfish towards Will and I, for one, am left wondering if Alicia can actually be a friend for troubled times. Which is not a desirable question for me to have towards the person I'm supposed to root for.

Wow, that turned out even longer than I thought. I apologize, being brief has never been one of my qualities

[MistyEagle]

Originally Posted by Kiki17 (View Post) I really would like for you to point to me where anyone is personally attacking you. I am merely calling you out and asking you to provide some evidence.

I meant post #67, but, really, all that is mostly likely just a misunderstanding.

And thats completely fine but perhaps when you throw terms around like "stockhol syndrome" you should have a grasp on what it means. .... I now have a better idea of what you are trying to argue. (I still completely disagree with you about using that term, Stockholm syndrome because I believe is directly connected to abuse/violence and fearing for your life.) Now if you want to argue that Alicia going back to Peter is emotional abuse, thats completely fine, but has nothing to do with Stockholm syndrome.

OK, OK. The term was just as ironic as the entire phrase; I didn't mean physical abuse or life threatening situations. schwarmione made her/his point about victimness and getting rid of it from one's life being a gradual process. I, being extremely disappointed with the presented in the show tempo of the emotional development in Alicia's life, replied "sarcastically" that seven years is way too much for the process. That's it. I really didn't expect such a strong reaction to the irony.

And sure you can throw that I am an AP shipper and thats why I can't see the emotional abuse, and yet I still believe there is SO much more to why Alicia went back to Peter then what you describe here. There are multiple reasons why Alicia decided to go back ranging from love, duty, responsiblity, trying not to be like mom, tratdion, etc. I am not denying Alicia has suffer a great pain, and if she is unhappy and suffering I want her to do what she wants. But I can't stand her and basically agree with an argument that claims Alicia is willing doing this to herself, I think that simplifies the matter way to much. I also feel it totally dimishing watching the show as a whole, because has Peter character not changed? Has he continue to hurt Alicia all four seaosns? I think is easy to argue something like that if you dislike what Peter did, but you also have to accept that Peter's has developed.

Yes, I agree, but she also has love, duty, and responsibility to L-G in general and to Will personally. Apparently at some point she had to choose between her family and L-G. I'm OK with that. But I truly do not understand why she chooses Peter over people who saved her life (figure of speech here) and always protected here since then. Sorry, I don't believe she loves Peter. (RK also says so). Moreover, I detest the way she leaves. Does this have to involve lies, betrayal, or theft? OK, you choose Peter over Will, that's fine but why stabbing Diane's back?

Peter who hurt Alicia so badly, I strongly hope, is not the present Peter, but we cannot be sure of that. We can surmise from the flashbacks that everything was seemingly OK between them before the scandal (apart from the whole Amber Madison thing), or it would not become such a surprise to Alicia. And everything is seemingly OK now. But how can we be sure there is no new big surprise from Peter coming? We have no sign of this yet, but neither had Alicia before the scandal...

Also this kind of contradicts, are we claiming Alicia is a bystander who is being emotional abuse by Peter YET you say she picked Peter because of her desire for power. Is she making her own choices or not?

See, that's the problem. Alicia is being portrayed so cryptically (this has been discussed earlier in this very thread) that fans no longer understand her and keep guessing the reasons of her actions. Disappointed fans (including myself) sometimes come to such crazy and contradicting ideas as dependence on the emotional abuser or desire to be First Lady of Illinois.