Firstly my apologies for such a later reply - I've been kind of quasi offline for a few days. But your comment is very interesting. I certainly think that it's an interesting thing to point out that being a caregiver is not necessarily a thing that makes someone inherently kind and selfless. Perhaps that's why I wouldn't frame it so much like that - because he didn't really become Walter's caregiver until guilted into it, and didn't confirm that he was willing to stay until the fourth episode piqued his interest in the ongoing cases, which I suppose plays into his behaviour in Northwest Passage too. *considers*
But he has definitely become a caregiver. For a long time that was his primary motivation in staying; perhaps it's not a coincidence that when he finally has his own reasons for doing so - the picture of him in the machine and the revelations about his own involvement herald more of a return to That Guy who'll break thumbs for answers just because he's angry.
However, to get back to your original point, I do think that attachment, even if not caregiving (although in Walter's case it's definitely that too) is a big part of this. He runs away all the time because he's afraid of abandonment and betrayal given his weird upbringing that he doesn't even remember on a conscious level, but ultimately now he's been forced into a place where he has it I definitely agree about the codependency. Saying that having Olivia in his life is more important than which Olivia that is, makes a lot of sense to me.
It's odd that I really hate the idea of them being "destined to be together" and their meeting as kids being evidence of this, but (and I don't think the show has yet gone here, will go here, nor do I necessarily want it to) the idea that a meeting as kids while in dire emotional straits, knocked them off course and sort of broke them - that their experiences as children and adults led them to this irrational attachment/subconscious belief they should be together even though on a rational and realworld level, they're not really that good a match. Like as a genuinely slightly doomed misunderstanding of the connection they feel to each other. One that, as adults, is misfiring towards romance.
Though again, I don't think the show will actually go there, or even to the less unlikely and more needed exploration of Peter's issues.
no subject
But he has definitely become a caregiver. For a long time that was his primary motivation in staying; perhaps it's not a coincidence that when he finally has his own reasons for doing so - the picture of him in the machine and the revelations about his own involvement herald more of a return to That Guy who'll break thumbs for answers just because he's angry.
However, to get back to your original point, I do think that attachment, even if not caregiving (although in Walter's case it's definitely that too) is a big part of this. He runs away all the time because he's afraid of abandonment and betrayal given his weird upbringing that he doesn't even remember on a conscious level, but ultimately now he's been forced into a place where he has it I definitely agree about the codependency. Saying that having Olivia in his life is more important than which Olivia that is, makes a lot of sense to me.
It's odd that I really hate the idea of them being "destined to be together" and their meeting as kids being evidence of this, but (and I don't think the show has yet gone here, will go here, nor do I necessarily want it to) the idea that a meeting as kids while in dire emotional straits, knocked them off course and sort of broke them - that their experiences as children and adults led them to this irrational attachment/subconscious belief they should be together even though on a rational and realworld level, they're not really that good a match. Like as a genuinely slightly doomed misunderstanding of the connection they feel to each other. One that, as adults, is misfiring towards romance.
Though again, I don't think the show will actually go there, or even to the less unlikely and more needed exploration of Peter's issues.