Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
Fair.
He has at least become aware of this and seems to be improving, although I think Kish's examples are pretty significant. (The one with the deva always stands out to me-- a literal servant of Celestia is telling you they have something important to say and to just stop and listen, and more than once you're like "No, I know what you're going to say; I don't need to listen to you.")

Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
Panel 11 is what's killing it for me. I don't see Eugene acting that way, with a sincere smile as a response to Roy shooting the idea down permanently and then accepting the apology. That being said, I won't be surprised if it's Eugene. I just reverted back to thinking it's legit Julia. If it's not, it's definitely not anyone else.
Panel 10 is what has me thinking Kish et. al. may be correct, between "up here" and the delay on "my... family's burden."

Quote Originally Posted by Tubercular Ox View Post
Okay, so, having one example doesn't equate to having confidence that Rich is pursuing that example, but what if Rich were going for the storyline where the son who wants his father's respect only earns it after giving up on wanting or needing his father's respect? Movies with this subplot usually have a scene of the father looking on as the son lives an independent life, never communicating his respect to the son but letting the audience know that the son helped the father grow. Eugene is already set up for that, looking from afar is his thing.

If Rich were doing that, and if this is Eugene disguised as Julia, then the Giant could be setting Eugene up to learn that Roy has a different personality and different ideas when he's not burdened by their relationship. There's friction right now because Eugene is still burdened by the relationship, but he's trying, darn it, whatever his motives for trying are.

If this is what Rich is doing, he wants us to see these scenes so that Eugene doesn't pop up in the denouement and say, "I forgive you, son," with nothing behind it.

On the other hand, maybe Rich wants the opposite of that. Or maybe he wants 95% of that then subvert it hard at the end. I could write just as long a post about Sabine, but probably not about "It's just Julia" since that's a null hypothesis and null hypotheses are hard to defend positively.
What would Roy need Eugene's forgiveness for?

As far as what this part of the story is about, I agree that Roy has moved past wanting or needing Eugene's respect, but I have my doubts it's going to go in this direction, because everything I've seen of Eugene suggests that his respect is not even a particularly desirable thing to have.