#and he lives in such a bubble where nobody (but higgins slay higgins) questions how things are

[coachbeards]

Doing a little rewatch 2.01 and wondering if you had any thoughts on Beard relationship to therapy / his reaction to Dr Sharon's introduction "She seems fuuuuun". Do you think he's just like Ted about it or having this reaction because that's how his bestie reacts?

i think beard and sharon is such a fun concept that was/is incredibly underutilized!!

to me, beard has had quite a bit therapy in his life due to his addiction and trauma (I actually wouldn’t be surprised if at some point, therapy was actually a mandated recovery tool after his release).

he used to go a lot after his release, but I think there was definitely a point where he stopped attending therapy. I think he started getting better in therapy, and in his brain at the time that meant he could stop going to therapy…and got worse and worse, but he didn’t want to go back.

he’s also definitely someone who is a tad bit hypocritical and doesn’t always practice what he preaches, because he could be happy and proud of ted attending (and even thinks ted SHOULD go aka “that’s your only experience with therapy?” when ted told him about his and Michelle’s marriage counseling like. he definitely thinks ted should be in therapy for real), but he wouldn’t do the same. like. They had an on grounds therapist for an entire season and I HIGHLY DOUBT he ever even went near her office.

I think also he had a fear of honesty,,, even tho he’s an incredibly honest person lmao. most people in his life refuse to talk to him about jane, for example, and that’s something beard appreciates, because being faced with reality is terrible. I think there’s a part of him that knows that if he goes to talk to sharon, he’s gonna be forced to confront how things are with jane, and how his mental health has gotten worse, and that’s a terrifying concept to him. (See how beard doesn’t even like talking with Jan Maas, the most brutally honest person in richmond).

like sharon would see him and make him bring his walls down and that’s ,,, so scary. so he avoids her like the plague imo.

I think beard is someone DEEP in denial and stuck in his various mental health struggles (I.e jane, his addiction, he projected his own issues onto Nate for a very long time while refusing to look deeper into why he was feeling like that, etc),,, that he won’t go and fix anything about it. it also reminds me how beard never actually really opens up to anyone about jane,,,,, no one at Richmond, anyways. Not the diamond dogs. he is more willing to talk to Mae, or Mary the redhead, or pray to god, but he will not rely on any of his actual friends. It goes back to his fear of honesty, and how he’s soooo in denial about things,,, yeah.