User blog comment:Paper Lantern/I blame Duncan/@comment-1363526-20130829022400/@comment-1363526-20130829060947

It's a thing called being pushed too far. Especially for someone who didn't even want to be in the competition but ended being dragged back in a sack, being immediately ordered around probably doesn't help in matters.

And just pointing out, at the point in which he tried to talk things through, he got a plate of spaghetti thrown at his head and a kick to the groin from a person flailing on the ground like a child. If Courtney were to act like how she was supposed to act in TDI, she would have at tried to maturely talk things through, but as you can see, TDA ruined that for her. ([[Get a Clue|I want a prize!) And if she really were to be an even slight reflection of her former self, she wouldn't have fallen for the next guy to chat her up nicely.

And a relationship like Duncan and Courtney's is like a rubberband, and can only be stretched so far until it snaps. It can't just keep going on and be so easily reconciled, that's just too much of a suspension of belief.

And really, Duncan accepting being bossed around totally goes against his character. They had an entire episode about that. Why would Duncan stay with a person who essentially doesn't like or accept who is entirely? Doesn't it make sense that he get with the person he is completely compatible with and actually has mutual interests? And conversely, just because Courtney gives some slack when it came to Duncan's hair doesn't mean she will with anything else. And even if she does, it should be unconditional that she try to accept who he is, especially if they have a "serious" relationship.

They all acted like children in this situation (moreso on Courtney's part, in my honest opinion), and they all handled it terribly. Realistically (love using that word when talking about TD), Courtney treating a person like Duncan the way she did throughout the series should have expected a fallout like this. No, she doesn't deserve to be cheated on, but Duncan also doesn't deserve to be in a relationship like that.

The one bad thing that Duncan really did (again, in my opinion), was cheat in a relationship that was already hanging by a thread. A terrible act, but not enough for him to get all of the blame, considering this pretty much had been boiling over for the past two seasons.