American Perspectives: Ma Zhaixing learns of Prince Bo's Betrayal ("The Wolf" Ep. 26)

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...And he has to be a dick again, which he really, really, really doesn't want to do this time.  Because Emperor of Yang is testing him, he has to show a willingness to throw Ma Zhaixing away.  The Emperor wants her dead, but Prince Bo's plan is to throw her away, and get her angry enough that she will kill him.  He also wants Ma Zhaixing to kill him because he wants to pay for what he had done to her family.

Ma Zhaixing finds out from Ma Jing, after being captured by Prince Bo, that he was the one who assassinated her family.  It obviously does not go well, and like many women who have experienced betrayal trauma in one form or another, she is a complex cocktail of emotions.  She's angry, devastated, horrified, partially in denial.  She does not want to believe her childhood best friend and sweetheart is capable of doing something so cruel.  As someone who has been through betrayal trauma a few times myself from someone I trusted to get through his rough patch in an ethical matter, I completely understand.  It's not something you just heal from at the snap of your fingers, and if you try to bury it to keep the peace, the smallest things will trigger it at the most unexpected of times, leaving you feeling angry and vindictive for days.

I can only imagine her crying all night, struggling to breathe, and throwing up.  What I like about Prince Bo, though, is he knows he did wrong, he owns it, and he wants Ma Zhaixing to kill him because there's no way he can fix it.  In this sense, the damage is fully done.

I consider this show to be a perfect show for those of us still healing from the impact of betrayal trauma.  It's the perfect revenge show where the male offender does take ownership of his actions, and does not hide behind victim blaming excuses.  He knew he fucked up.  And from this point, just like in the aftermath of betrayal trauma, it gets way worse before it gets better.

Once it gets better, however (spoiler alert), they do come out of it stronger.  When I talk about betrayal trauma, I'm not  talking about the extreme actions of Prince Bo, which I consider to be more symbolic than literal.  I'm not even just limiting it to the aftermath of Sexual Infidelity.  With the instant gratification offered by Social Media, and gender issues really coming to a head globally, I would say the aftermath of Emotional Infidelity, and maybe a spouse with Pornography addiction are the worst.  They are about as insidious as psychological abuse, and this show has really helped me heal with some of my betrayal trauma issues.