User blog comment:The Esper/Ranting With Esper: The Triangle/DxG/@comment-1756703-20110323110710

Just a couple things I want to comment on...

First of all, I believe that in TDA, Duncan and Courtney only acted as dysfunctional as they did because of misconceptions they had about each other. Courtney believed that Duncan had already cheated on her with Gwen, while Duncan didn't want to allow his feelings for Courtney get in the way of him winning (as what happened with Trent and Gwen earlier in the season, when he began throwing challenges for her). After all, you saw how Duncan was avenging Courtney by bullying Harold, right? And you saw how happy Courtney was at first when she saw the beginning of that clip of Duncan daydreaming about her in the second Aftermath? Well, had it not been for Geoff instigating all that drama on that same Aftermath, Duncan and Courtney probably would have gotten along much better.

Secondly, I don't believe for a second that Courtney got back together with Duncan at the end of TDA only for the money. If money was the sole factor, then how does that explain the alternate ending where she gets back together with him even though he lost? Not only that, but given how much Courtney seemed to genuinely care about (and miss) Duncan next season in TDWT, it just doesn't seem like she was simply being a gold digger. If that were the case, then she wouldn't have been nearly as heartbroken as she was when she found out that Duncan cheated on her.

Lastly, I don't blame Courtney for acting the way she did after she found out about the affair. I mean, come on... she was stabbed in the back by both her boyfriend and a girl she was starting to become good friends with, and at the same time! What's more, both of them never showed any hint of remorse about it to Courtney! It seems to me like Courtney simply didn't want either of them to get away with what they've done to her, and it certainly didn't help matters that Duncan was now obviously out to torment her for reasons unknown. If anyone was acting like a villain, it was definitely Duncan.

What I don't understand about the whole triangle is who amongst the three the writers intended the audience sympathy to go to. Courtney was the one who got hurt the most by it, but if she was the one meant to garner the audience sympathy, why did Duncan and Gwen remain a seemingly happy couple by the end of the season? That's what frustrates me the most; the implication that a relationship that began from cheating will work out in the end, and poor Courtney is left to suffer in its wake.