Sweetpea season 1 episode 6 (finale): A key Rhiannon question

Sweetpea season 1
Photo: Starz

As we look towards the Sweetpea season 1 finale on Starz a little later this week, could we actually see Rhiannon and Julia become friends? That’s a crazy thing to consider in a way, but Ella Purnell’s character did actually free her from her abusive husband.

Now, here is where things get a little bit complicated. In Rhiannon’s mind, we absolutely do think she believes that she and Julia could be BFFs, mostly because she struggles to see anything beyond her own personal world-view. It is one of the things that is the most interesting, and also complicated, about the character. She lives in her own delusions, and she may think that she really helped Julia for the rest of her life now.

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Yet, none of this answers a question from earlier this season — given that she hated Julia for so many years, why didn’t she just kill her when the opportunity arose? Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, here is how Purnell explained it:

Oh God, that’s such a good question. I think it’s partly what I said earlier about how she can’t let go of her trauma. Her trauma has become a part of her identity. There’s a strange sort of phenomenon in psychology about how our brains will always prefer a familiar hell than an unfamiliar heaven. It’s this thing our brains do to keep us safe. And they do that by trying to predict what’s going to happen so that we can prepare for the worst. So if you’ve been struggling a lot, and you hold on to this, this trauma is part of your identity. It’s “that’s the reason why I am the way I am,” instead of processing, healing and moving on from it. This is very common and it’s nobody’s fault.

I think in that moment when she can’t kill Julia, it’s because if she kills Julia, she has no one else to blame for her life being sh—y. If she kills Julia, that means she actually has to do better and get better. And I don’t think she can do that…

Ultimately, when Rhiannon saw her as a victim in her own way, her mindset changed even further. Of course, there is no guarantee things remain this way forever, and we would not be shocked at all if some sort of bloody showdown is imminent.

Related Be sure to get some more news now entering the Sweetpea finale

What do you think we will see for Rhiannon and Julia entering the Sweetpea finale?

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This article was written by Jessica BunBun.

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