Jasper1975

Of course writers, and showrunners. Even actors like the drama of it. They don't necessarily react like fans do. We love our characters, and couples and we don't take kindly to angst that we don't think is warranted. Especially when they screw up our favorite couple. Of course we're going to look at it differently. Of course we often don't like them messing with our couples. So we're inclined to hate everything. But still, they look at it as a challenge and making things interesting. At the time, it all looked worse than it does with hindsight of twenty years LOL.

I look at Max actions slightly different now. I see it as grieving and the burden once Alex dies. Also spending time with Tess let her play with his mind. Neither were thinking that rationally, but Liz had the better excuse. Max was a teenage boy felled by hormones, and weakness around a certain blonde when Liz who was faced with a similiar temptation; resisted. Of course she knew of the baby by the end. So, that was awesome birth control and restraint. She stopped herself with Sean. Max didn't. He often was a mess when he didn't have Liz with him on something.

It was a hell of a time. But the way Max was reacting most of all with Isabel. Liz was her own obsessive self, being not nearly as abrasive. She had a clear mission. She was solving Alex's death, and even then was turning off Maria before she found something that turned Maria around.

Yeah, writers don't necessarily see something the way fans reading or watching something does.