NAYRT - I agree any relationship with Matt is going to be problematic, it's not ever ever ever going to be a normal relationship, but I don't think it was a parasitic relationship at all because pulling injured people out of dumpsters was something Claire was probably doing before she ever met Matt. Her actions in Jessica Jones cement those life choices as normal. She lives her own life on the fringe, she's not shown as a well-rounded person at all even tho she means well, and she obvs is on board with her job but to hear her tell it, she's very much in the same angry place Matt was when he was hearing people cry out for help every night and he wasn't doing anything about it. Claire has some anger issues of her own after spending all her time as a nurse and hearing the stories of what's happening in the city and helping people who come to see her but not being allowed to ever cure the disease, only help with the endless parade of symptoms. It's got to be frustrating to her, and she says she really wants to believe in what Matt's doing, but she's also the one to leave the city so he can't ask for her help which I thought was a shit thing to do. She KNEW he wasn't going to stop trying to save people and he was going to risk his life doing it, and keep in mind Claire's the one to throw the L word so damned quickly at Matt (which obvs surprises him, and you'd think he'd know how she feels about him but he doesn't) however she felt about him wasn't enough to get her to stay to see it through with him even as emotional support if not physically, and I felt like she ran because she was too close to the situation. Too close emotionally to Matt. All the other stuff, helping him, patching him up, is her MO.
When Claire chooses to help Matt, for the first time she gets to have a hand in finally helping to cure the disease via Matt, and she takes it until the backlash hits her in the face, literally. And even then she wants something more with him, even after she's beaten and bloodied and Matt goes to rescue her (which I kinda feel like that's a 'give' from Matt and not just a 'take' yknow) so I don't see the parasitic relationship you reference. Claire is getting something out of patching Matt up and making him capable of getting back onto the playing field; what she doesn't get is a relationship commitment from Matt. If their relationship was so parasitic, wouldn't Claire have bailed much earlier? Especially if she has such a good head on her shoulders as people are wont to say about her? Matt didn't trap her in the relationship, he tried to protect her and kinda maybe freaked out a tiny bit when she brought up the L word, and THEN Claire decided to leave town. She didn't walk away until it was obvs Matt/Claire wasn't going to be a thing and she's the only one to actually say she'd been wondering about Matt from a romantic perspective. Matt kisses her ONCE, and I believe her really really liked her, but love doesn't seem to have been on his agenda for her. I like Claire but I do have problems with her (and every other character in all these shows, and hallelujah for layered characters, thank you writers) and the timing of her deciding to bail on Matt looks a lot like she'd have stayed if he'd made an emotional commitment to her. It even comes up in Jessica Jones when she says she 'has - HAS' Matt as a friend/OTHER, the way Jessica and Luke are. I'm glad Claire left Matt, I'm sorry on the timing for it, but I was a little crabby about the way she offered Matt's help so blithely to Jessica Jones not even knowing what kind of danger she could have been exposing Matt to. I thought WOW, that's a lot of balls on Claire to leave the city when Matt needs her support but then Claire goes to help someone else she doesn't even know and also offer them Matt's help, too. WOW.
Re: Having problems with Claire's "bloody and alone"
When Claire chooses to help Matt, for the first time she gets to have a hand in finally helping to cure the disease via Matt, and she takes it until the backlash hits her in the face, literally. And even then she wants something more with him, even after she's beaten and bloodied and Matt goes to rescue her (which I kinda feel like that's a 'give' from Matt and not just a 'take' yknow) so I don't see the parasitic relationship you reference. Claire is getting something out of patching Matt up and making him capable of getting back onto the playing field; what she doesn't get is a relationship commitment from Matt. If their relationship was so parasitic, wouldn't Claire have bailed much earlier? Especially if she has such a good head on her shoulders as people are wont to say about her? Matt didn't trap her in the relationship, he tried to protect her and kinda maybe freaked out a tiny bit when she brought up the L word, and THEN Claire decided to leave town. She didn't walk away until it was obvs Matt/Claire wasn't going to be a thing and she's the only one to actually say she'd been wondering about Matt from a romantic perspective. Matt kisses her ONCE, and I believe her really really liked her, but love doesn't seem to have been on his agenda for her. I like Claire but I do have problems with her (and every other character in all these shows, and hallelujah for layered characters, thank you writers) and the timing of her deciding to bail on Matt looks a lot like she'd have stayed if he'd made an emotional commitment to her. It even comes up in Jessica Jones when she says she 'has - HAS' Matt as a friend/OTHER, the way Jessica and Luke are. I'm glad Claire left Matt, I'm sorry on the timing for it, but I was a little crabby about the way she offered Matt's help so blithely to Jessica Jones not even knowing what kind of danger she could have been exposing Matt to. I thought WOW, that's a lot of balls on Claire to leave the city when Matt needs her support but then Claire goes to help someone else she doesn't even know and also offer them Matt's help, too. WOW.