Do people on this thread not realize emiotnally abusive and maddening a affair can be to the person being cheated on? In this show Gemma has the added dimension of betrayal by people she believed were her friends. Yet people on this thread are shocked she started acting like a crazy person.
so she decides to cheat with her neighbor, who happens to be MARRIED.
makes no sense.
At that point, she thought her marriage was over. With the blackmail, she was doing what she had to do to get the financial information about her individual and marital assets. She had been kept totally in the dark about where her money was going. There was no other way to find out what was going on.
Her instinct to seek out the financial truth was spot on. She had been supporting the whole family for several years while her husband took everything, even forged her signature on a new mortgage and raided the funds left to her son for his education by her dead parents. Once she knew the truth, she realized who her husband really was. He was not only a liar and a cheat in their relationship, he was also a liar and cheat with their money.
There were certainly other ways for her to find out what was happening with the family finances. She chose to cheat on her husband with a "friend's" spouse. It's interesting how we need to either vilify or sanctify her. She is neither villain nor saint. She definitely took advantage of the accountant guy's long-standing lust for her. After discovering that he and his wife visited France with hubby and the mistress, I'm sure it felt like poetic justice dished to all concerned; husband, accountant and his wife. I mean, seriously, the woman stood in Foster's kitchen, 'you don't want to be one of those women who checks his phone and breaks into his email. You should choose to trust him.'
That's the part which feels abusive to me. There's the affair, which is a betrayal and then the cover up, which just takes it to a whole new level. I could see myself sitting a SO down and saying, 'Look, I know you're cheating and I hate it, but we can figure it out. Just please, don't lie to me, don't force me to catch you. Let's just acknowledge what's up and find a way forward'. It's the gaslighting that comes with them trying to cover their asses which is the most egregious. Everything they say and do to make you doubt your own judgment and perception, it's just crazy-making and humiliating. If that happened to me, I'm not sure I would know what 'enough' was when it came to taking retribution.
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Simon was a disgusting sociopath, and everything Gemma did to get hers back and do him in was justified. Unfortunately Tom suffered collateral damage, but it was Simon who created the entire situation in the first place. My sympathy is completely with Gemma. The issue with Tom, even at the conclusion of Series 2, will certainly resolve itself in time. He and Gemma will be happy together, while Simon rots wherever he is, or cons some other poor woman.
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