So here’s the thing about what “Kath Maxwell” represents. Google co-conscious DID. It’s not the same as “multiple personality disorder” melodramatized by Hollywood. A lot of us with cumulative traumas stemming from childhood have this. Each traumatic event causes the brain to—

—want to protect and preserve that child, teenager, etc. by creating another self and repressing the former (this is LAYMEN’s and feel free to correcT me). According to my therapist, my RP character, for example, is an alter. She’s 100% me before I was raped. It’s why writing—

—with characters who’ve incurred sexual assault is something I’ve deliberately avoided because who I am now does not wish to expose her to ANY of that.

Back to Joan Ferguson: had you noticed she softened up TO THE POINT OF TEARS around only those who remind her of, say, Jianna?—

—We were shown a broken woman after the S3 prison fire, in the psych unit, but only glimpses. Whoever that was, she wanted HELP. But got a predatory perv doctor instead. Vera herself said “you wouldn’t remember me visiting you because of your state”. And NOW we saw what actually—

—goes on in this woman’s head: a fight for inner identity dominance. What if this entire time GOVERNOR Joan was not the True Joan, but the dominant alter out to protect herself, others like her, and others she deemed innocent, worthy, etc?

(Never forget her fondness for Liz).—

—What we saw was her choosing to literally BURY the Governor while unconscious; she was dressed in the same straight jacket as the post-fire scenes. The sadistic and condescending way “she” spoke of HERSELF, as she’s treated many deemed inferior (Jodie Spiteri). —

—If she BURIED Governor, metaphorically they’re telling us that True Joan (or a New Joan, as being buried alive likely caused another split) fought and WON dominance. She clung to the Kath Maxwell name bec it was her most recent association with identity, NOT bec she’s “faking”.—

—I think, because this series is called Wentworth: REDEMPTION, we are going to see Joan Ferguson minus all of the horrors she’s stayed conscious of. That soft girl who would surface around Doreen and sometimes Vera.

I don’t think she’s faking. I think she’s quite shattered.

Leaving this here, bec it was originally a point I was trying to LEAD to and I digressed

https://twitter.com/kikischecter/status/1295794832644833281?s=21 https://twitter.com/KikiSchecter/status/1295794832644833281

ALSO: maybe the Governor was a refined version of her father. Maybe he did a lot more to her than verbally/emotionally abuse her. Because when she needed to use Kaz, she did it through something called TRAUMA BONDING. It served two purposes. Use, AND Bond. https://twitter.com/kikischecter/status/1295796843985678343?s=21 https://twitter.com/KikiSchecter/status/1295796843985678343

Both had abusive fathers yet both still looked up to them. With internalized self-loathing.

And the cherry on top by someone far more emotionally eloquent than I -

“So swayed by the horrors of human nature than she became a horror herself”

“Her original sin was just being different.”

Just cry with me, y’all. Thanks for the insights, T.

Someone tell Pamela Rabe we have no choice but to stan harder than we ever have before and that episode 8x04 “Revenant” was one of the best in the entire series solely because of her versatility and the haunting nuance she continues giving our “broken monster”! #Wentworth

GUYYYS.

When Joan asked “who am I?” Governor Joan said “YOU. ARE. ME.” notice she did that gesture she ALWAYS used to make while seemingly talking to herself through a solution - the grounding technique of placing her finger to her third eye.

THE GOVERNOR IS TOTALLY AN ALTER.

“So pathetic. Without me, you’re nothing. You’re worse than nothing. You’re a ~victim.”

WBK the way Joan spoke down to inferiors was how she felt about her own perceived weakness but watching her treat herself like this... I’m so thankful the writers are showing all this.

I just rewatched the scene where it shows her burying her Governor self and reaches for Kath Maxwell’s ID. What if after Murphy dug Joan up she was SO DEEP IN PSYCHOSIS and didn’t even REALIZE she was killing the real Kath Maxwell bec she thought she was burying the Governor

Adding this to support the DID theory: there was NO Jianna in her flashback montage.

https://twitter.com/kikischecter/status/1296136817067143169?s=21 https://twitter.com/KikiSchecter/status/1296136817067143169