Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20190119003858/@comment-17344148-20190123213444

HotSwappableGaming wrote: Alhazad2003 wrote:

PTSD doesn't affect everyone the same way, some people handle it better than others. Yang was not only fighting Adam, but her own fear on top of it, and it she let it overtake her she would've died.  That's something a good part of the FNDM don't realize, they wanted to see Yang panic so badly that they never considered what would've happened as a result. So Yang couldn't let fear overtake her, or both she and Blake would've died. And then Adam would've taken his own life, since he was at the end of his own rope. So instead of one death, there would've been three.

BlizzardDragon wrote:

PSTD is not uniform, nor is it solely to cower and fear. To assume so is frankly insulting to those with real PTSD. Some will have flashbacks, some will break down, some will fly into a berserker rage, and some will be so numbed they lose all emotion. It is not the same for each person. Likewise for Yang, as her PTSD has manifested as fear, nerves, and anger. None of which was crippling due to working with Tai to some extent, and pushing herself to fight despite it affecting her. You both have managed to miss my point, completely. I chose my wording VERY deliberately. I didn't say 'Why does she have PTSD?' or 'Her PTSD isn't realistic...' I said "You don't give a character severe PTSD"

So let me arrive at the point: You don't GIVE a character a debilitating syndrome and NOT have it actually effect them as a weakness. Or if you do then it's just a waste of time. Why show us so many scene's of Yang freaking the fuck out when she thinks she sees Adam just to have her not go through anything like that when she actually sees him? It's a poor writing decision. The ONLY remedy at this point is she still has the shakes and nightmares. If this is it then it was a COMPLETE waste of writing potential. Hence my other deliberate word choice of calling the episode not awful, but disappointing.

I've volunteered in watching people or provide help to victims of calamity, as well as that I studied psychology- clinical psychology to be specific, so I have a good grasp on PTSD... just hear me out...

My good guess is that they deliberately chose Yang to just shake and all that, because they need to get the plot going and to remove an extra character. If she fails to remove said character, it meant going to the next volume with a dead weight of a sub-plot and an unnecessary character. I think RT intended the fight scene as something rushed.

However, they could remedy this by expanding it further at the next volume. With Adam gone, they can worry about him no more, and that means Yang could start doing a step forward in recovery. Not immediately, or course, but realistically, she can since her stressor and/or source of trauma was removed.

In story writing, the plot is made there to distract the attention of the audience especially when it comes to subjects like this one. Heavy plot makes a good distraction against slow burn character development, or if it's halted altogether.

They already have a Leviathan to fight against. If they prolonged the Adam fight, then they'll end up adding another episode or two, and it'll overshadow said Leviathan fight. Since there could only be one, and chose the Levi-monster, it also meant sacrificing the Adam fight scene.