User blog comment:Paper Lantern/I blame Duncan/@comment-1037137-20130829000852

This was all triggered by Duncan, yes. But Gwen played into his scheme, she pretty much surrendered herself to him even though she knew full well what she was doing was wrong and that nothing good would come of it if it were discovered, which it was inevitably going to be. Courtney more than anything was the victim in this, and it's never been elaborated why Duncan was suddenly so eager to betray her for Gwen when 1) He did not leave TDWT out of malice for Courtney; 2) Her attitude was part of the reason he was so madly attracted to her before; 3) He spent almost the entirety of TDA denying any romantic feelings for Gwen. They had Duncan betray Courtney and seduce Gwen and expected us to play along without questioning any of this. Again, he didn't leave TDWT because he hated Courtney, no he was frustrated with both girls because of their bickering with each other. And he hated the idea of singing in the season. So nothing about his betrayal of Courtney adds up.

He's fully to blame for the entire thing and should be rightly punished for it. But that does not undermine the fact that Gwen must share the blame as well for having let herself fall for a guy who has a bad reputation for being openly hostile to everybody else when he feels like it, and that she was betraying her new best friend in doing so.

How else was Courtney supposed to react? Frankly, I think her reaction was pretty realistic. Yes, she went overboard with it later and I can't excuse that, but given what happened the desire for revenge is understandable. Gwen and Duncan showed less and less sympathy for what they did as time went on.

Courtney may not be a saint, but she's not the guilty party here. And she was finally becoming nice before Duncan backstabbed her upon his return. It's his fault she was set off again.