Reviewer: It Was Me Signed [Report This]
Date: March 27 2024 1:15 AM Title: Chapter 13: The Prelude to the Trial

Ooh, are we going to get a little giantess courtroom (or block around the courtroom) drama soon? I love a good fictional legal battle, and it might be fun to see what that silly government will get up to next!

This chapter made me think back to the beginning of the previous one, with Thomas and Jeb sitting at the dinner table (and at breakfast time, no less!). It makes sense to me that Jeb can't see what Trish sees in the former psychologist, not because it's hard to see but rather because I'm not sure Jeb has the emotional capacity to understand it. I think he's a good person who loves his daughter, but he seems a hard man that would struggle to comprehend having to rely on someone emotionally.

I bring this up because I feel like we see in this chapter that value in Thomas that Jeb just can't grasp. As I was reading it, I kept thinking back to how Trish was a couple chapters ago, before making up with Thomas. How would that Trish have handled the government's tactics here? Honestly, I don't know if she ever would have even made it to the courthouse. She would have assumed that everyone saw her as a monster and either have been too embarrassed to show up or, if she did actually make it into town, would have been so emotionally spent, malnourished, and uncoordinated that she would have easily made one of those mistakes the government was hoping she'd make.

But Thomas gives Trish the confidence to be herself, and because of that, kind of like what we saw between Melanie and her, other people are starting to see the real Trish as well. Thomas assured her that people will fall in love with her once they see her for who she is, and Nancy proved him right. That whole interaction between the two women was incredibly sweet, and it was touching to see how grateful Trish was to have earned Nancy's trust, let alone the little (er, normal-sized) woman's support.

As far as shady plans go, the government's wasn't a bad one. The odds were in favor of her getting frustrated and looking scarier than she really is by trying to get into the building. Agent Grisham surely knows enough about Trish by now to know that she's not an actual threat, but he clearly expected her to cause at least some property damage, if not express outright frustration in a way that would terrify the media. Good on Trish for not falling into that trap. Also, I thought it was funny that she actually wanted the judge in company to be at least a little afraid of her (but, of course, wasn't willing to do anything to make them feel that way).

One segment in this chapter that I found particularly well written was the short one in which Trish wakes up Thomas in the middle of the night seeking comfort. I love the fact that she didn't say a single word during that conversation; it conveyed a sense of vulnerability that now line of dialogue could match. It also matches her general meekness, which is part of her charm and sets her apart from pretty much every other giant character written about on this site. She's willing to be assertive and domineering and even enjoy being so because of how happy it makes Thomas, but this quiet, reliant (I like how she matched his deep breathing in order to fall asleep) demeanor is her true nature. It's incredibly cute, too!

After saying that, however, I have to admit I'm loving Trish's evergrowing confidence! Despite her nerves and needing Thomas's support to get over them, the confidence with which she handled the media (especially after seeing that Thomas was right about people liking her) was pretty impressive. Between that and her genuine nature (that "Oh, hi!" she gave to Nancy even made me smile), there was no way the government was going to be able to shape the narrative here.

Like I said before, I'm really curious to see what else the government has up their sleeve. They're playing dirty, and I'm wondering if they might drag in a certain ex-girlfriend to make Trish and/or Thomas look bad (I'm not sure how they would make her seem relevant to the case, but I wouldn't put it past them to find a way). The accommodations made for Trish ought to be pretty interesting as well.