There's Hope (S1E8 - Season 1 Finale)
There's Hope (S1E8 - Season 1 Finale)
3Description
Andrea has made an intense connection with Hope Ybarra's family, and asked experts, doctors, and the detective so many of her burning questions about Munchausen by Proxy. But she's become increasingly fixated on talking to Hope herself as she comes to realize that it may be her only chance to get the insights she needs. In this stunning season one finale, Andrea travels to Mountain Home, Idaho, to meet with Hope Ybarra.
In this intense, emotional back-and-forth, we hear straight from Hope what life is like for her after being released from prison. We find out what she's up to and what she hopes for from the future. Hope listens to her own family—all of whom she's estranged from with the exception of Robin—talk about what she was like before everything fell apart. She insists that she still loves her children, despite what she did. We see the human being behind the monstrous acts that splashed Hope's story across headlines and landed her in prison for a decade.
Andrea asks Hope what might have been done to help her and what she might say to her younger self if she could go back. Finally, she tells Hope that if she really wants her family back, she should get treatment and offers to help her if she wants that.
Hope is friendly and warm in person, but Andrea is left with the unsettling truth that she hasn't changed.
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"WE" did not make Hope into a monster - she chose to become one Her family is no longer broken apart; they healed as they had to do, without her there to do them harm. I am relieved and kind of proud that the narrator seemed like she was falling under Hope's enchantment, but ultimately did not. Her sharp stern words against instant "forgiveness", against manipulation, against her own irrational hopes, are SO reassuring to hear, regardless of whatever else she has said previously that I thought was misguided.
If you want people to "understand" this pattern of crime, and "address" the patern of crime, and help the victims of this type of crime, then maybe recognize the humanity of children - and recognize that the law, the "experts" and "professionals" do not recognize the humanity of children even if they say a few patronizing words now and again. Recognize that PERPETRATORS are not VICTIMS. Recognize that abusers and torturers are not "disempowered women" - they are adults who have the lives and deaths of other human beings in their hands. Recognize that the "experts" are sometimes - even often - wrong, they sometimes have an agenda. Stand up to the "experts". Challenge them. Investigate their agendas before giving them a platform. Most of all, prioritize the survivors of this abuse. Do not think that forcing them to "understand" the "pain" their abuser was in is of any value to anyone except the abuser. Do not make celebrities and sympathetic characters of these manipulators and abuser