beta
I’m not saying his behaviors are excused or justified, but the backstory really does put into perspective why JK acts the way he does. It’s simply trauma.
He was physically and emotionally abused (neglected by his father and abandoned by his mother.) The psychological and sociological effects that abuse victims have definitely tracks with JK. He doesn’t navigate relationships in a deep way, they’re mostly superficial, transactional, and built on control because he never had any as a child. When no one teaches you how to love safely, you learn how to protect yourself.
And his backstory totally explains why he never drank at any of the team black gatherings and why he’s practically on his hands and knees begging Dan to stop drinking. It’s a trigger to him ALSO, it makes so much sense why he has a soft spot for elders, they were the only people that were there for him when no one else was.