i cant help feel sorry for karen

[carlydunham]

does anyone else?? she tried to make it up to her sons and she didnt exoect them to forgive her right away

[Nova]

My only problem with Karen is that she sounded like she cared too much about Sean and Daniel, clearly her leaving wasn't as clean as she wanted it to be. With her being built up as wanting to escape from the life laid out for her I was expecting her to be stone cold about how it affected the family and the only reason she'd open up about why she left is because its a waste of Sean's time to be angry over someone who should have been a nobody to him long ago.

She's there out of a moral obligation as their bio mother but beyond that they are nothing to each other. The sooner she's assured they do not need to rely on her the sooner she can get back to her life that they aren't part of.

[Tomee]

I didn't feel "sorry" for her per se, but I didn't hate her either, if that makes sense? I thought her character was interesting and well written. I was hoping she wouldn't have special powers or be involved with the cult or whatever crazy theories have been floating around. She's just a regular person who regretted her decisions and ran away. It's quite ♥♥♥♥♥♥, but it's realistic and happens in the real world. You still make snarky remarks even when you do listen to what she has to say so that was once again, well written and I figured Sean would gladly accept help, even from Karen after everything he's been through. At a point where he's been humiliated numerous times and beaten to a pulp over and over, does accepting help from her sound that bad? I don't think so.

[darkdisciple1313]

Guilt only goes so far. Eventually, everybody just needs to come to grips with the fact that the past is over, they're living in the present, and if they have any hope of a pleasant future, they need to forgive (even if they don't forget) what happened.

Life is too short to be engaging in the never-ending play-off system that is the You Should Have Done This, But Didn't, And You Ruined My Life game. In the end, nobody wins anyway, so why bother playing?

For this game, though, Karen is just typical of a certain mind-set: selfish in general, but willing to admit she could have done better but chose not to. Her kids can hate her now if they wish, since they're just kids. When they grow up some more, and childish actions are hopefully beyond them, they'll see that staying angry isn't worth it. Life sucks that way, and the first step towards maturity is realizing that the past can't be changed.

Then again, since Daniel could presumably destroy the universe as we know it, forgiveness might not be in the cards. So maybe Sean better forgive her now before they all end up as floating islets of proto-matter. Like in 28 seconds.

*poof*

Ah, too late...

[Eli Parker]

I like Karen, she sorta reminds me of Chloe if she became a mother. At least in Karen's defense she tried to change, and she made sure their father was a truly caring father, that worried about the bond of brotherhood for his sons.

[walkswiththecrows]

Once a parent leaves a child's life early on. The damage done lasts a lifetime and nothing can replace the void left by the lack of parental love and guidance. Thats why its so important to be extra careful before becoming a parent and bite the bullet once you do become a parent..

You can mess up your life however you want but to mess up a new life thats something extra messed up and evil. I think Karen is a sociopath, with rare glimmers of humanity

[JJGR]

Originally posted by Hobbes:

Absolutely not.
She is exceptionally selfish. She left her children because she wanted to find *her* happiness and did not give a crap about her kids and how it would affect them. Like others have said, I understand where she is coming from, but what it boils down to is that she is selfish. The way she talked suggested that if she could do it over, she'd do it again. She now wants her cake and to eat it too. I think it could be healthy for someone like Sean to move on and start anew with her, for their own sake, but I don't think she deserves it.

Selfish and immature, as I said in a previous post. When you have sons, the priority is no longer you.

[darkdisciple1313]

Originally posted by JJGR:

Originally posted by Hobbes:

Absolutely not.
She is exceptionally selfish. She left her children because she wanted to find *her* happiness and did not give a crap about her kids and how it would affect them. Like others have said, I understand where she is coming from, but what it boils down to is that she is selfish. The way she talked suggested that if she could do it over, she'd do it again. She now wants her cake and to eat it too. I think it could be healthy for someone like Sean to move on and start anew with her, for their own sake, but I don't think she deserves it.

Selfish and immature, as I said in a previous post. When you have sons, the priority is no longer you.

You're being gender-specific, since they are indeed sons, but I'd have been interested to see if she'd reacted the same if Sean and Daniel had been instead been Shauna and Danielle. Maybe she figured she'd have been a lousy mother to boys, but she might not have been if they had been daughters instead.

Given what we've seen, I get the feeling she'd have been a lousy mother no matter what. She probably also hates dogs, the monster...

[julian.varanel]

Setting aside any opinions on the quality of her character, I think Karen is probably one of the most well written and crafted characters this season. Her portrayal is nuanced, having both depth and realism. The interaction with Sean also helped to define his character as well. The anger that he's displayed about his mother over the previous episodes is even clearer now. It was quite obvious that Sean and Karen probably had a very good relationship. I had the feeling that they were a pretty tight mother/son duo. You can sort of even see remnants of what that may have been like. In their attempt to spring Daniel from the church, they seem to fall in to sync with one another pretty easily.

Just another small touch that I appreciated: when Karen gets out of the car to meet Jacob, she introduces herself as "Karen" not as "Sean's mother". Little details like that highlight how masterfully her character is depicted.

[Max Caulfield]

Originally posted by carlydunham:

does anyone else?? she tried to make it up to her sons and she didnt exoect them to forgive her right away

You won't find any sympathy from me for Karen... I say this as a mom to 3, who once *did* have big dreams... But guess what, I think my kids' lives are more important than me having to prove myself to the world...

[Max Caulfield]

That being said, I think Karen's character is well written, and the nuances between she and Sean are a nice touch. And yeah, playing as Sean, I let her have it...!

[Max Caulfield]

Originally posted by julian.varanel:

Setting aside any opinions on the quality of her character, I think Karen is probably one of the most well written and crafted characters this season. Her portrayal is nuanced, having both depth and realism. The interaction with Sean also helped to define his character as well. The anger that he's displayed about his mother over the previous episodes is even clearer now. It was quite obvious that Sean and Karen probably had a very good relationship. I had the feeling that they were a pretty tight mother/son duo. You can sort of even see remnants of what that may have been like. In their attempt to spring Daniel from the church, they seem to fall in to sync with one another pretty easily.

Just another small touch that I appreciated: when Karen gets out of the car to meet Jacob, she introduces herself as "Karen" not as "Sean's mother". Little details like that highlight how masterfully her character is depicted.

^ Absolutely...