...please help. I want to like her, but lately I've been thinking about what she said to Matt.
Now, she's allowed to refuse a relationship for any--or no!--reason. But she does give reasons, so my problem is that her final one really doesn't hold water, as far as I can tell.
First, she claims she doesn't want to start things with him because he is too close to becoming what he hates. Fair enough. Plus, as the writers apparently figured out, she was a bit of a hot mess at the time herself, having just been tortured because people knew she knew at least a little bit about Matt. Good time not to jump into a relationship, I'd say, and the fact that what she says had a lot of validity certainly doesn't hurt.
Then, she says it's because she remembers from Sunday school that the martyrs, the saints, the saviors, all end up bloody and alone. Now that Matt's come to a firmer understanding of where he will not go, and therefore is in less danger of becoming what he hates, you're going to claim that it's his new sense of purpose that is keeping you away? Wow, it's damned if you don't, damned if you do, with her, isn't it?
I'm going to ignore the "bloody" part of her statement, since she's shown absolutely no problem with that particular part of things before (Mrs. Night Nurse, who has just finished patching Matt up and commenting on his shirtlessness), and focus on the "alone."
And the statement is great and genre-savvy of Claire to a certain extent...if she were talking about superheroes. If she were talking about superheroes, it would make sense, because their loved ones get killed off for plot-related purposes all the time, or at least since the Comics Code reign of authority ended. (Usually so the heroes will be pushed closer to the line of "becoming what they hate," obviously.) But that's not at all what she says: she says it's what she remembers from "Sunday school."
Now, my understanding is that Sunday school usually implies a Protestant background, although some Catholic churches occasionally have them (apparently, catechism classes are far more prevalent). So my question is, what kind of morbid Sunday school teacher did Claire have? And what in the world was she studying? Bible stories? Well, not really. There aren't many stories of "martyrs, saints and saviors" dying alone that I can think of, at least not that are actually told in Scripture. Samson, maybe? But he'd been alone (and blinded, ironically enough, and forced to work for his enemies) for years, because of his own sinful foolishness, before he finally managed to kill them off and die in the process. Stephen, the first Christian martyr? Stephen apparently died in the company of God. Kind of the opposite of alone. Elijah spent years on the run, but was finally given a successor to mentor and never actually died. Paul, waiting for his death in prison, wrote about a bajillion letters, many of which are now Holy Writ, in which he obviously continues relationships with friends he's had for years and is thankful for the people who continue to be there for him. I could keep going here, but I think people have gotten my point by now.
In fact, the only example I can think of that fulfills Claire's requirements is Christ Himself, one of whose lines on the cross was "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani," because He was experiencing hell on the cross in the place of those who believe in Him, and that's in large part what hell is: absolute and total separation from God. (According to this Protestant and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, at least). So, in fact, the "martyrs, saints and saviors" are never going to be as "alone" as it is possible to be, if you believe they're going to heaven.
And, Claire, honey? To a certain extent, everybody dies alone. Even if they're surrounded by a million people.
Now, I think what is really a problem for Claire is the whole "playing second fiddle to the needs of a city (or at least Hell's Kitchen)" thing, which they also do talk about. I can maybe understand that (even though she spends her free time patching up a guy because she knows he's trying to help people)? But she doesn't have to justify it by a self-fulfilling prophecy of Matt ending up "bloody and alone." No, Claire, you don't get to drop him like a ton of hot bricks and then claim that it's to help him fulfill his destiny as a "martyr, saint, savior"-type, even if you've tried to use the evidence of poorly-remembered Sunday school classes to back it up. That's being a very bad friend.
And I still wish I knew what kind of teacher(s) Claire had, and what exact material they were teaching. Or maybe I should just chuck it in the "Marvel Universe" box instead, which also holds such things as "Matt and Foggy's strange undergrad/law school" and "Doris Urich with Little Nell's Disease."
Having problems with Claire's "bloody and alone"
Now, she's allowed to refuse a relationship for any--or no!--reason. But she does give reasons, so my problem is that her final one really doesn't hold water, as far as I can tell.
First, she claims she doesn't want to start things with him because he is too close to becoming what he hates. Fair enough. Plus, as the writers apparently figured out, she was a bit of a hot mess at the time herself, having just been tortured because people knew she knew at least a little bit about Matt. Good time not to jump into a relationship, I'd say, and the fact that what she says had a lot of validity certainly doesn't hurt.
Then, she says it's because she remembers from Sunday school that the martyrs, the saints, the saviors, all end up bloody and alone. Now that Matt's come to a firmer understanding of where he will not go, and therefore is in less danger of becoming what he hates, you're going to claim that it's his new sense of purpose that is keeping you away? Wow, it's damned if you don't, damned if you do, with her, isn't it?
I'm going to ignore the "bloody" part of her statement, since she's shown absolutely no problem with that particular part of things before (Mrs. Night Nurse, who has just finished patching Matt up and commenting on his shirtlessness), and focus on the "alone."
And the statement is great and genre-savvy of Claire to a certain extent...if she were talking about superheroes. If she were talking about superheroes, it would make sense, because their loved ones get killed off for plot-related purposes all the time, or at least since the Comics Code reign of authority ended. (Usually so the heroes will be pushed closer to the line of "becoming what they hate," obviously.) But that's not at all what she says: she says it's what she remembers from "Sunday school."
Now, my understanding is that Sunday school usually implies a Protestant background, although some Catholic churches occasionally have them (apparently, catechism classes are far more prevalent). So my question is, what kind of morbid Sunday school teacher did Claire have? And what in the world was she studying? Bible stories? Well, not really. There aren't many stories of "martyrs, saints and saviors" dying alone that I can think of, at least not that are actually told in Scripture. Samson, maybe? But he'd been alone (and blinded, ironically enough, and forced to work for his enemies) for years, because of his own sinful foolishness, before he finally managed to kill them off and die in the process. Stephen, the first Christian martyr? Stephen apparently died in the company of God. Kind of the opposite of alone. Elijah spent years on the run, but was finally given a successor to mentor and never actually died. Paul, waiting for his death in prison, wrote about a bajillion letters, many of which are now Holy Writ, in which he obviously continues relationships with friends he's had for years and is thankful for the people who continue to be there for him. I could keep going here, but I think people have gotten my point by now.
In fact, the only example I can think of that fulfills Claire's requirements is Christ Himself, one of whose lines on the cross was "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani," because He was experiencing hell on the cross in the place of those who believe in Him, and that's in large part what hell is: absolute and total separation from God. (According to this Protestant and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, at least). So, in fact, the "martyrs, saints and saviors" are never going to be as "alone" as it is possible to be, if you believe they're going to heaven.
And, Claire, honey? To a certain extent, everybody dies alone. Even if they're surrounded by a million people.
Now, I think what is really a problem for Claire is the whole "playing second fiddle to the needs of a city (or at least Hell's Kitchen)" thing, which they also do talk about. I can maybe understand that (even though she spends her free time patching up a guy because she knows he's trying to help people)? But she doesn't have to justify it by a self-fulfilling prophecy of Matt ending up "bloody and alone." No, Claire, you don't get to drop him like a ton of hot bricks and then claim that it's to help him fulfill his destiny as a "martyr, saint, savior"-type, even if you've tried to use the evidence of poorly-remembered Sunday school classes to back it up. That's being a very bad friend.
And I still wish I knew what kind of teacher(s) Claire had, and what exact material they were teaching. Or maybe I should just chuck it in the "Marvel Universe" box instead, which also holds such things as "Matt and Foggy's strange undergrad/law school" and "Doris Urich with Little Nell's Disease."