ollibear

It's true. I cannot root for Regina. I do not respect her.

I talk about thirtysomething quite a bit. On that show, my favorite couple is Nancy and Elliot. I recently watched an interview with the actor who portrayed Elliot (Timothy Busfield). When he learned that his character was being written to have cheated on his wife, prior to the start of the series, he told the writers that they could make his character as bad of a husband as they wanted, as long as they made him a good dad, too. Timothy Busfield said he knew that the audience would forgive Elliot almost anything, if he did right by his children. So the writers wrote Elliot to be an amazing dad, and it really did make me root for his character.

Regina does not do right by her children, especially Bay. I'm surprised Kathryn has not sat down with Bay and talked to her about Regina. Kathryn has to see how Regina neglects Bay.

Perhaps Kathryn is too wrapped up in her own mid-life crisis to notice, but to me, what is going on between Bay and Regina is a much bigger deal to Bay's happiness than what happened between Bay and Tank. What happened between Bay and Tank was a critical emergency, but what happens between Bay and Regina is chronic. It's worthy of a Kathryn and Bay mother/daughter talk, too.

There is that moment in Street Noises Invade the House (Season 1, Episode 30) where Regina questions Angelo about whether or not she should be more of a parent to Bay. Angelo tells Regina that Bay is going to be okay, and that's it.

When the show returns for Season 2, Regina is so wrapped up in her romance with Angelo, and then, his baby mama drama, that she forgets all about connecting with Bay. Then, Regina loses use of her hands, and she is worried about her connection to Daphne, but still, she is ignoring Bay. Then, her alcoholism gets in the way, and Regina is downright ABUSIVE to Bay. She is cruel and venomous with her body language, tone, and words.

I don't care if Bay and Regina bonded slightly over one summer, because as soon as Bay returned home for her senior year of high school, Regina neglected her again, this time for her career and Wes and Daphne and Angelo.

Bay and Emmett were never included in those family moments that we saw Regina, Daphne, and Angelo enjoying together. Why couldn't Bay and Emmett have been asked over for dinner one night? It would have been a fascinating to see the whole family together at Regina and Angelo's home, without the Kennish parents.

We could have finally watched Angelo and Emmett interact, too. Regina and Angelo could have shown some interest in Bay and her life. But no.

Then, Regina neglected Bay who was going through complete and utter heartbreak over the death of her father and the breakup with Emmett. And why does she ignore Bay? In order to spend time with Eric and Will.

What kind of mother keeps choosing strangers over her own daughter?

I do not understand the character of Regina. I cannot connect with her or root for her.