TJ- Relapse, Jo- Recovery. Simple as that
Agreed I thought i’m going insane with the sudden change of narrative everyone has
i dont think tj ALWAYS planned to do this though. his plans were clearly different before jason's funeral. when ian attends the funeral, tj tells him his plans are ruined bc of him. we can assume then that tj going into hiding wasnt really in his plan. when ian kills those men after jamie sends him on an errand, we again see tj saying his plans are ruined, and that he now needs ian to return w him. but then ian doesnt. so we can assume there mightve been tweaking there too. as for leaving the gang, i do think it wasnt always his plan. he wouldnt have bought the california house otherwise, yknow? i think theres a lot of stuff we dont know yet, and a lot of monologues we're yet to see.
i DONT* think leaving the gang was always his plan
It's so sudden that it's making it obvious TJ is not it
also also !!! u mentioned smth rly interesting. u said tj has always needed power and money to 1) keep ian by his side 2) keep ian safe. i hope u will acknowledge how we HAVE seen tj let ian go, after jasons funeral. ian wants to come back to the gang, but tj refuses (disappears from his life, actually). tj wasnt planning on meeting ian had ian not messed up his plans. so there goes the need for 1 right? and 2 is no longer valid either bc well. who does tj need to protect ian from? he killed them all. the question does still remain about when exactly his plans began to change, but again im pretty sure we're gonna see more.
You're getting downvoted by people who don't like that you're making sense
So again, TJ's actions serve as a constant reminder of his reckless selfishness. He keeps Ian when he wants, but then ghosts him when he feels that it's better this way, no prior communication, with Ian left in the dark yet again at the whims of a man he loves but cant communicate with for the life of him. These messed up plans, usually are messed up because these two never communicate and act on their own accord with no harmony between their actions. These are men in their mid-thirties who have known each other for 20 years but most of their conversations consist of licking each other's trauma wounds and having sex because their dependence on each other is not conducive to growth, but to confusion and chaos. Undoubtedly we'll see more as chapters move forward but it is genuinely mind-boggling to see how characters with so much history can be so disjointed and the only time we see them in balance is when their clothes are off, it feels too shallow for a story that is exploring the topics of drug abuse, gang violence, homophobia, and healing.
yeah thats like.. the biggest point of tj's character. he admits it himself when he says he's never learnt how to do this (referring to communicating properly). i see tj as someone who never even developed properly (thanks jason). as opposed to ian, who wasnt fed bullshit by jason and is more.. normal. i guess. its the whole reason this manhwas a love triangle. though i also think the characters COULD be written better, it goes for all three of them. in fact, imo ians the least developed character so far (not that i dont love him).
I already responded to one of your comments but I saw that you mentioned another thing that I wanted to touch on so sorry for the extra responses (I promise im not attacking you lol). But I agree with you in that his plans have definitely changed overtime due to many variables, Ian's actions being the main one and it brings up what I mentioned in my first response to you, which is that these two DO NOT communicate at all!! So much grief could have been avoided if these two did something as simple as giving each other a heads up but of course that would make too much sense and it wouldnt move the plot along. My biggest gripe is the fact that along with this lack of communication, their own lives are contingent on each other's actions, theyre aware of that, and still lack the wherewithal to communicate. TJ bought a house for him and Ian, sold it, and to this day Ian STILL has no idea about it whereas Chiwoon acknowledged that it wasn't even Ian's style. That doesnt spell healthy partnership to me in the slightest. I'm not mad that TJ reached this conclusion bc it seemed obvious from the jump, but im mad at how quickly and clumsy that shift was, especially when you think back to that bathroom scene. And the fact that Jo had such a huge part in forcing TJ and Ian to converse says a lot too. A 20-year relationship being shaken by a man Ian has only know for a few weeks says for more about the 20 year relationship than it does about the week old one.
See the thing is, it's not even fair to blame Jason because the real shift is seeing as how TJ uses Jason's orders as his own vantage point to keep Ian locked in lol. Jason is definitely a big contributor to all the mess when he order TJ to kill Jang, but it was TJs own volition to uses his power over Jason wanting a proper protégé to keep Ian within arms reach. When Ian said he wanted to leave, Jason was just going to let him leave without any fight because even he knew Jan wasn't made for that life, but TJ told Jason to make Ian pay a fake debt, TJ had the lawyers get Ian two years in prison, and accidently ending up with a broken leg and ruined racing career. Other leg incident, I dont even know if Ian is aware of those other two things yet, those are stuff you cant pin on Jason cause he wouldve let Ian leave for Miami a long time ago.
oh no, i dont blame jason for the actions tj took. thats on him, period. he sucks for that. i do blame him for turning tj into this emotionally stunted shell of a person. tj was what? 19? when jason let him join the gang. mind u, jason alr had his eyes on him. he wanted him. he influenced him rly rly badly. we've seen it in the flashbacks. we've seen the shit jason said, we've even seen it from ians pov when jason offers him a motorcross career. "i'll raise him well" ummm..??? girl ... like im so glad hes dead. anyway. my point is, tj was repeatedly told to keep his heart closed off, to not let people get too close etc etc. this is why imo he lacks i guess what jo has. or even ian does, though he sucks at communication sometimes too. but if ur saying tj has been selfish, has never communicated, has prioritised what HE thinks is right and not asking ian what he actually wants, then i totally agree dw. i would ALSOOOOO like to point out the house u mentioned in ur other reply. ik people were like. see? tj doesnt know a single thing about ian bc ian doesnt want a house like that. but i dont think that was it. in one of the early chapters, jason actually says smth like when they're older, hes gonna get them all a house to live in. and then jason apologises bc he never was able to. once again, this is what tj learns from him: u care for someone, u build them a house. he's pretty pathetic actually if u think about it LMAO. but then later, he sells the house (for funds) but imo it was pretty symbolic.. like him moving out of jasons influence yk? i also think most of tj's development has been after jasons death which idk i dont think is a coincidence.
So are we supposed to applaud TJ for doing what Ian had been asking him to do for more than 10 years now??? I'm sorry but this whole wedding arc is a rushed messed. It seems obvious that TJ was going to eventually reach this point but why is it cheaply undoing really puvotal elements of his character?
His entire story has revolved around keeping money and power to keep Ian safe and in proximity, so it begs the question: when TJ realized he was losing Ian during that bathroom argument a few chapters back, why the hell didnt he run then? Or better yet, what was the point of keeping Ian in the gang for all these years if you were already planning on climbing to the top to burn it down? Could TJ have not done that while Ian went off and had a successful racing career? He just seems like a very selfish character whose actions are constantly painted as "selfless" and for Ian. In truth, TJ wanted to keep Ian in proximity no matter the means and Ian has suffered for it.
When Ian tried leaving, he ended up with a broken leg, 2 years of prison time, and a debt he never actually had to pay. But now that TJ is conveniently done with the gang, you expect me as a reader to see that and go, "great! Now let Ian drop the life he's established with Jo, Toby, and his job to run back to TJ and start fresh?" That's asinine. It's like seeing a girl make all this progress but watching her immediately revert to nothing when her shitty ex is back in town.
If doyak wants the series to end that way, then by all means. But this story is literally centered on Ian's healing journey, and for there to be any healing, he has got to move on from TJ. Now do get me wrong, I love TJ as a character, but he has always been an extremely selfish man led by his own trauma where he constantly strips Ian of any autonomy for his own future even when these decisions are for "his sake." I've said enough as this point by my god.... I'm tired of being forced believe that TJ is this changed man when he in fact has always been a contradiction: a compass for his crew even though he himself was lost, and an anchor for his men all while seeing that pressure actually cause Ian to drift further from him...