BBC Couples Therapy - Borris & Jessica

[ITSJUSTBRIDGET]

I’ve been obsessed with this programme for a couple of years now. It’s absolutely fascinating.

im half way through the new season and I’m absolutely appalled by this guys behaviour towards his wife. It’s clearly he is a very abusive manipulative man. His wife is unwell with the stress and anxiety of it all and he just cannot empathise. I want to reach through the screen and give her a hug

I agree about Alison, maybe she improves before the end of the series, but every word that comes out of her mouth seems to be laced with vitriol, anger, poison and contempt

How her husband puts up with it, I don't know, but maybe that was how he was treated as a child and it feels like home.

I’ve watched it all now I think (18 episodes?) and if it’s not too much of a spoiler I didn’t see much of an arc of character development. I got the sense that she learnt to hold herself back by the end but that the same explosive thoughts/reactions were just under the surface.

I love the mondo and kyle arc wont spoil it but i cheered for him a bit.

Me too

When her husband tried to talk about his losses, the grief, she did not allow him one second to speak. And then started almost crying about her dad! Wtf. She stole any opportunity for him to reflect and brought her dad into it.

I was wondering what was going on with her. She had limited self awareness. I didn't find her vindictive, just totally on another planet.

Mondo was my favourite. Such a beautiful spirit. Taken such advantage of.

I've watched it all now and I don't remember her saying this to them?

I didn't really get how Boris and Jessica's relationship transformed anyway, when they'd come back to the session

I saw it that Jessica had totally 'got' him at long last and the narcissist was able to wallow in his rightful glory while she accepted being subservient to him indtead of fighting it. Made me sick. Glad they later split up.

Absolutely - they were not fixed, she just had decided to never challenge him, say and do the “right” thing and he knew he had got her exactly where he wanted. That’s what had made him so happy. Disgusting human being.

I think the whole of the last excerpt of Jessica and Boris’s return to therapy was bullshit concocted by Boris to make sure he left the right impression on the viewers. He couldn’t bear that he might have come across as a loser in the therapy show. Jessica is not stupid and must have known it was a charade. For some reason she went along with it. Thank goodness she’s now escaped.

How do we know Boris and Jessica split up?

Ooo, I've found my people. I adore this series too and just finished the new episodes. Yep, Boris is terrifying and a narcissist. I like Rod, Alison was draining

Yes, she was like a pressure cooker with steam coming out! I think she acknowledged what was wrong but don't think she'll be able to control it! Hopefully Rod will speak up a bit more and shut her down when needed.

Alison was very open to change though. I couldn’t help wondering if Rod’s passivity and placidity hid a lack of engagement or even sabotage of the relationship by distancing himself emotionally. As long as Alison was creating drama Rod didn’t have to do anything as all the focus (and blame) was on her.

Totally agree! Alison was in a huge amount of pain - it wasn't just anger and frustration, she was extremely sad and grieving too. She did a lot of work on herself but obviously still had a lot of work to do, which she seemed committed to. I liked Rod a lot but I'm not surprised that she found his passivity frustrating.

I agree I thought Alison really tried and wanted change. Boris was awful.

Help! We’ve been catching up and we’re watching S3. We got to the last one last night but DH said he was too tired to watch it so we went to bed. AND TODAY IT’S BEEN TAKEN OFF IPLAYER!! 😭😭😭😭
can anyone tell me how it all ended for Brock & Kristi, Sean & Erica, Christine & Nadine and…. Who were the last pair?

God I've no idea it was that long ago! 😆

Oh no!! I’ve only just discovered this series (through this thread) and I’m so glad I just finished watching series 3. Sorry Bob, I know that’s hard on you but I know exactly how you must feel.

So Brock and Kristi stayed together and moved into their apartment - we saw them unpacking. Sean and Erica - that’s the couple where she had the high flying job, he didn’t work and cheated on her? If so, they too stayed together (I think they understood each other more - certainly I understood him better as I thought he was a total a-hole at first). Nadine and Christine split up. The other couple, can’t remember their names but it was the woman with self esteem issues and the guy who had a tough background (I really liked them) - also stayed together and were intimate again.

Anyone else jump in if I’ve got anything wrong or you can add something!

Look who's back and trying to salvage his reputation 🙄

My wife and I had couples therapy on TV. It nearly wrecked our marriage | Relationships | The Guardian

I've just read this and immediately wanted to see if anyone else had too! Just the longest and most self indulgent way to say "I'm not the bad guy, I was right about everything and here's why". Notice that they turned the comments off, probably one of his conditions, couldn't bear anyone disagreeing with him.

"nearly wrecked". My god she's still with him

Love how one of the photographs in this article is him at the forefront, in the foetal position with his back turned to the rest of his family. Narcissist? Moi?

Why did the Guardian give him such a long article? All of which just confirmed his raging narcissism?

If he wanted to stop people thinking he was the worst partner in the world, this article just made it worse.