i truly love a lot of aspects of this show but sophie's sexual abuse by her gymnastics coach has been completely ignored and it constantly pulls me out of the show because every other storyline has been handled with nuance. some decisions made by characters in the show are absolutely inappropriate and uncalled for, but they're also realistic and human. the way that paul responds to laura's sexual abuse is clear - even if he never tells her that it was rape, he makes it clear that she was forced into something by an older man. the real heart to heart they have about an older adult taking advantage of a teenager was sincere, and something i'm frankly surprised by for the mid aughts. but after sophie told paul that not only had her gymnastics coach had sex with her but she'd essentially been assaulted by a boy at a party while entirely too drunk to consent, these were never dealt with. i get that sophie's suicide attempt was taking precedence but also: telling sophie's mother that it's okay for sophie to start gymnastics again, with the coach who took advantage of her? telling her she wasn't sexually abused in this episode??? i know the context it was said in matters, as it's implied that she wasn't sexually abused in early childhood by her father, BUT. but. that just isn't enough to make this okay. i don't think that the show adequately deals with sophie's depersonalization issues, or the fact that her only sexual experiences have involved her literally detaching from reality to cope with them occurring. even a therapist with shitty boundaries would report the disclosure about the coach, i HAVE to believe this to have hope for society. it's just such a shitty storyline to go undealt with for so long given the reality of sexual abuse in gymnastics.
Review by hannahBlockedParentSpoilers2021-05-27T06:02:03Z
i truly love a lot of aspects of this show but sophie's sexual abuse by her gymnastics coach has been completely ignored and it constantly pulls me out of the show because every other storyline has been handled with nuance. some decisions made by characters in the show are absolutely inappropriate and uncalled for, but they're also realistic and human. the way that paul responds to laura's sexual abuse is clear - even if he never tells her that it was rape, he makes it clear that she was forced into something by an older man. the real heart to heart they have about an older adult taking advantage of a teenager was sincere, and something i'm frankly surprised by for the mid aughts. but after sophie told paul that not only had her gymnastics coach had sex with her but she'd essentially been assaulted by a boy at a party while entirely too drunk to consent, these were never dealt with. i get that sophie's suicide attempt was taking precedence but also: telling sophie's mother that it's okay for sophie to start gymnastics again, with the coach who took advantage of her? telling her she wasn't sexually abused in this episode??? i know the context it was said in matters, as it's implied that she wasn't sexually abused in early childhood by her father, BUT. but. that just isn't enough to make this okay. i don't think that the show adequately deals with sophie's depersonalization issues, or the fact that her only sexual experiences have involved her literally detaching from reality to cope with them occurring. even a therapist with shitty boundaries would report the disclosure about the coach, i HAVE to believe this to have hope for society. it's just such a shitty storyline to go undealt with for so long given the reality of sexual abuse in gymnastics.