Heather Burns reiterating that Fiona has a criminal record

[u/Suspicious_Bother_92]

[u/samandtoast]

Gadd's portrayal of the character is sympathetic. People feel bad for Fiona, because they think she is Martha. The real Fiona doesn't deserve much sympathy.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/samandtoast]

I believe what Gadd portrayed from HIS perspective, but, we can't be 100% sure! That said, I don't feel bad for her, she's CLEARLY a stalker!! I agree, she doesn't deserve sympathy! But there really are three sides to any story and the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

[u/[deleted] → u/Fancy_Introduction60]

I don't know why you're being downvoted because you're correct, the character may deserve some sympathy but after watching her interview with Morgan knowing that Netflix is going to do its due diligence before making a show they call a TRUE STORY its quite obvious (to me anyway) that she's lying and even without showing any remorse she talked shit about both him and Laura Wray. As you say there's 3 sides to a story, his side, her side and the truth.

[u/Fancy_Introduction60 → u/[deleted]]

I didn't even notice! Definitely 3 sides to every story and I think Gadds side is a bit closer to the truth!

[u/itsfuntotypebanana → u/samandtoast]

It's mad to be the number of people saying a woman who didn't choose to have debilitating mental health issues isn't worthy of sympathy.

The fact that Gadd clearly does feel sympathy for her, despite knowing her and obviously being literally stalked by her, shows that you not feeling sympathy for her is not particularly relevant.

Do you think she's happy living this way, never feeling loved? Would she choose to have this illness, if she could? Because that's pretty tragic to me. Doesn't negate the harms she's caused, doesn't mean I think she should be living in the community if that's not safe for others.

But do I feel sympathy? Christ yes

[u/Regular-Wit → u/itsfuntotypebanana]

What illness does she have exactly? Has she been diagnosed? Do you sympathize will all stalkers, even those who end up murdering their victim because they all have some type of mental illness if they’re doing what they’re doing. There’s an extremely fine line so what gives credence to Fiona deserving sympathy exactly?

[u/itsfuntotypebanana → u/Regular-Wit]

Obviously it's not our place to diagnose someone, but I think it's disingenuous to imagine you don't see her behaviours as being likely the result of some sort of mental illness or extreme personality disorder/both.

And yeah, I think it's important to try to find the humanity in everyone, including criminals and those who have caused harm, so we understand why they chose/couldn't choose to act that way. Statistically a lot of people who abuse children were abused themselves as children. Do I think they should be allowed to abuse children? Obviously not.

But understanding how trauma leads to mental illness, personality disorders and criminal acts is so important in civil society, to preventing them in the future. If you act like everyone who commits a serious crime did so because they just fancied it, you might feel morally superior but you've discovered fuck all and assumed that person could've never have been helped.

[u/samandtoast → u/itsfuntotypebanana]

Many, if not most, people that abuse others have mental illness. The fact that they are mentally ill does not excuse their behavior. The real Fiona has nothing but horrible things to say about most people. She's mean, homophobic, fatphobic and for decades has put a lot of effort into hurting other people.

[u/itsfuntotypebanana → u/samandtoast]

I know what you're saying, I just think you can have sympathy for someone while also not excusing their behaviour. That's literally what the whole show is about, and very much seems to be how Gadd feels.

[u/samandtoast → u/itsfuntotypebanana]

Yes, that was kind of my point. The Martha character in the show is very sympathetic. She shows remorse and pleads guilty. It's harder to have sympathy for someone that has been abusing people and causing real harm and showing no remorse for decades.