Welcome To Plathvile: Ethan Plath Is Playing The Victim (He’s Been A Bad Husband)

Welcome To Plathville’s Ethan Plath has been playing the victim in his relationship with his wife, giving her all the blame when he’s a bad husband.

Welcome To Plathville season 5 has explored Ethan Plath’s relationship with his wife, Olivia Plath, but tends to show his relationship troubles as Olivia’s fault rather than his own. Ethan and Olivia’s relationship has been rocky in recent years, especially after Ethan’s family has chosen to ostracize Olivia for their perception of her actions. In the past, Olivia has been close to Ethan’s family, though things weren’t easy in her relationship with her mother-in-law, Kim Plath, or her father-in-law, Barry Plath. In recent years, Olivia’s had a better relationship with her sister-in-law, Moriah Plath, but things changed after the two had a falling out before Welcome To Plathville season 5.

Olivia’s been the center of drama according to the Plath family, but while they’ve continued to villainize their daughter-in-law, their son has been getting little flack for their relationship. While Olivia gets called out for the problems in her marriage with Ethan, he typically gets minimal flack about the problems in their marriage. Though Olivia is called out for her role as a dramatic wife, Ethan fills in his own dramatic moments and ensures that the relationship has rift after rift. Welcome To Plathville viewers are aware that Ethan is more than a victim when it comes to his relationship.

Ethan’s Been Insensitive To Olivia’s Traumatic Experiences

In the past, Ethan and Olivia have bonded over some of their shared experiences. It’s common in relationships for partners to bond over having shared experiences or shared trauma and can even make connections somewhat easier when they’re built on a difficulty the couple has faced together. Despite knowing they’ve both been dealt tough hands, Ethan and Olivia have had a hard time bridging the gap when it comes to Ethan acknowledging Olivia’s past trauma. While some of the experiences she’s dealt with have been more recent, Ethan has even discounted things Olivia’s dealt with far in the past, like childhood issues she’s shared with him.

More recently, Olivia has been dealing with the death of her younger brother, Micah Meggs. While Olivia and Micah’s relationship hadn’t been close for years due to her falling out with her fundamentalist family, Olivia took the news of Micah’s accidental death quite hard. Losing her younger brother was a shock to her system, and Ethan didn’t seem to be present in her life during one of the most difficult times she’s ever faced. For Ethan, it didn’t seem like a priority to be there for Olivia when she was dealing with something so life-altering. Ethan’s insensitivity to Olivia’s tough times has been telling about their relationship overall.

Olivia Feels Lonely But Ethan Doesn’t Seem To Care

There have been several times in recent episodes of Welcome To Plathville where Olivia has spoken openly about feeling lonely, but hasn’t had Ethan to lean on. The pair took a leap and moved to Minnesota together, leaving their native Georgia behind and finding themselves completely isolated and away from their families. For Olivia, this wasn’t exactly new. Olivia and her family haven’t all been close for years after she chose to leave their stringent religion behind. While Olivia’s used to not feeling close with her family, she isn’t used to complete isolation. Moving to Minnesota has been difficult for both Ethan and Olivia, as they both lack support systems.

Without anyone to lean on outside each other, the couple has had to turn inward and put their struggles on each other. For some married couples, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but could cause stress to even the healthiest of marriages. Without people outside their relationship to turn to, Olivia and Ethan’s stress has compiled into something much larger and unmanageable. With Olivia feeling isolated and alone and Ethan likely feeling the same, her sharing that she’s been feeling lonely in their new home would be tricky for Ethan to resolve, though he could try to help his wife or support her in finding an outlet.

Ethan Frames Olivia As The Bad Guy To His Family

Although Ethan and his family have a better relationship than Olivia has with her own, things have been rocky between the eldest Plath son and his family for a while. From his difficult relationship with Moriah after her feud with Olivia to his decision to leave the area and move away with Olivia, things have been tough for Ethan when it comes to the rest of the Plaths. While Ethan has been making decisions alongside his wife that aren’t necessarily convenient for their family as a whole, he’s been doing what he can to use Olivia as a scapegoat rather than taking the blame for himself.

Whether Ethan is deliberately blaming Olivia for the issues he faces with his own family or he’s doing it unintentionally, it’s clear that Ethan has drawn a line when it comes to the Plath’s relationship with Olivia. Ethan has chosen to frame his wife as the bad guy to his family, allowing them to speak poorly about her and blame her for the issues they face collectively. While Olivia may be at fault for some things, it’s highly unlikely that she’s anywhere near as bad as the Plath family makes her out to be. Rather than fighting to ensure his family treats his wife with respect, Ethan lets the Plath family throw Olivia under the bus whenever possible.

Olivia Gets Blamed For The Couple’s Disagreements When They’re Both Involved

Because Olivia is so publicly positioned as the villain when it comes to her marriage with Ethan, she often gets the most public backlash about their relationship. Rather than Ethan sharing equal weight about their relationship issues, he’s chosen to take the backseat when it comes to his marriage with Olivia. While his wife gets blamed and dragged for their disagreements both online and by the rest of his family, Ethan gets to remain comfortable and retain his innocence in the situation. While the public blames Olivia, they should be blaming both her and Ethan when it comes to their marital issues.

Ethan Knew Olivia Had Differing Views Going Into Their Marriage

Although Ethan and Olivia fell in love and decided to get married at a young age, they both felt they were ready for the commitment of a marriage. The couple were so certain in their love for one another that they felt they’d be together forever. Marriage, especially in fundamentalist religions like both Ethan and Olivia grew up in, tends to happen quite young. Still, it was somewhat of a surprise that Ethan and Olivia chose to get married as young as they did. Both felt they were ready for the commitment of a lifetime, so they jumped in with both feet.

When Ethan chose to marry Olivia, he was aware that some of their fundamental beliefs surrounding marriage, relationships, and religion were different. Ethan, though his family had become more relaxed as he grew, still held some of the firmer beliefs he’d grown up with. Though Ethan was aware of how different his and Olivia’s views were, he still felt confident in marrying her and decided to go through with it. In a preview for upcoming Welcome To Plathville season 5 episodes, Ethan seems to be questioning his choices. The blame there is on Ethan, who entered his marriage knowing he and his wife disagreed on important topics, instead of Olivia.