Jr. knows his best defense is the truth — and the tapes will prove him right over and over again. Jr. has never deliberately bad mouthed his father; while his father never misses an opportunity to walk over his son in public.

“I saw a scared child who was trapped with no way out. He was trying to reason with an insane man masquerading as a father figure. There is no rationality involved. Jr., I thought, wanted to run or start crying a few times, but he held it together.”

Didn’t think of that at first, but you may have something here. Although, like I said the body language was very telling. Jr. stayed open and calm the entire time. Rather than choking back tears, I felt Jr. was biting back on some nasty comments. He was not going to give Sr. what Sr. so obviously wanted.

Sr.’s level of delusion was confirmed when he talked about going back to the tapes for the past three years to prove how he never talked bad about Jr. That was when Jr. said, “You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to go back that far.”

Like I said, I saw an adult trying to deal with a spoiled and petulant child. Unfortunately, the child was supposed to be the father. It is apparent that Jr. has grown up a lot over the past three years.

I was working last night and had to watch the show in DVR this morning. My DVR cut off the end of the show. Sr. called and Jr. answered and Sr. wanted to build a bike together — and it stopped. Did Jr. say anything or respond? What happened next?

Yes, now we know the Living Terror that is Paul, Sr. What an ugly brute of a man. All bluster and no human intention. He lives to beat people down. He just can’t stop himself from belittling Jr. at every opportunity.

It was a mighty mistake for Jr. to enter the lion’s den. OCC swallowed him whole and spat him out a second time last night, and for what end? We could’ve told him precisely what was going to happen before he stepped foot inside the door. What was he thinking? Why tread on the memories of the horrible past by sitting on them in a room with his tormentor? He did it because the producers told him to do it.

When I saw Jr. sitting there with Sr. — I saw a scared child who was trapped with no way out. He was trying to reason with an insane man masquerading as a father figure. There is no rationality involved. Jr., I thought, wanted to run or start crying a few times, but he held it together. I don’t blame him for that fight or flight response — it is clear he was terrorized growing up by his bullish father and instead of turning toward his dark side example, the son turned away and toward the sky, and the light, to become everything opposite of what his father became. Jr. will have to realize there is no healing to be had, and the only way to find happiness is to race the other way like Mikey, and to cut off the old man before he kills you.

The person who needs to quit the show is Sr., not Mikey, because without the show, neither Mikey or Jr. or any of his staff would have anything to do with him. There would be mass resignations at OCC since there was no more Discovery money, or fame, to be had on the show and Sr. would truly be met with the sledgehammer of reality that he so rightly deserves: A well-deserved beheading of his faux leadership. Discovery owns Sr. and Sr. knows it — that’s why he keeps pressing Jr. for resolution… because Discovery wants it, not him. You really think Sr. cares about anybody but himself? Without the show, he wouldn’t care if Mikey or Jr. lived or died. He only cares because his TV bosses demand that he “care.”

Rick stays for the TV money. Stop the show, and Rick is out and on his own in a split second. That’s Mikey’s problem. He needs the money and he wants the fame, but he is tired of being pressed into “false” situations that involves this never ending pater drama — and that’s why he uses coded language to us that “in order for him to heal with his father, he needs to be off the show,” when what he’s really saying the only way he can absolutely, 100% cut him off, is to quit so he doesn’t have to deal with him in presumed circumstances created for the dramatic arc of the TV show. Can we blame him for quitting? The only escape for survival for Mikey is to run — even if it means giving up his livelihood. I fully expect Mikey to be back, though, once the money and the bottles run dry. He needs the TV teat to support his slovenly habit of action, and that’s why Discovery was fine with letting him “quit” for a second time for an end-of-season cliffhanger. Jr. knows he’ll be back, too, because he could barely contain a laugh every time Mikey said he was leaving. Yeah, right.

1. Mikey is back on the sauce, having fallen off of the wagon. Listening to his goodbyes to everyone at PJD, I heard him slurring several of his words. He was more awkward than usual. Having a brother who is an alcoholic, i recognize the signs of a functioning alcoholic. I hope Mikey gets himself cleaned up and sober.

2. I don’t get his quitting in the first place, especially his conviction that it is the only way to have a relationship with his father. Nice to see Paulie support him, but I think even he felt some trepidation about the whole thing. His “artwork” is not much to brag about. Not sure about the whole “pasta” thing. What else does he really have but the show?

Now to my main point(s) –

My respect for Paulie climbed another notch. He was willing to approach Sr. at OCC to have another sit down. It was very clear to me from the beginning that Sr. wanted Paulie to let bygones be bygones, forgive and forget. Of course, in Sr. world that means that Paulie accept 100% of the blame for the fallout. Several times you could clearly see Paulie choke down or bite back on what he really wanted to say in an effort to achieve full clarity.

Sr. displayed full arrogance during the whole conversation. If you look at his body language, it speaks volumes. Legs crossed, leaning back in the chair, and at one point even propping his feet up on the table. I found his offer to review the tapes interesting, and Paulie tried to throw him a lifeline saying “you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to go back that far.”

Then he dumps it all on Paulie, tossing off a lame, “If your feelings got hurt in the past, I apolgize.”

Paulie thought about it, and ACCEPTED the apology, and told Sr. POINT BLANK:

“I’ll take that apology as a start.” And HONESTLY let Sr. know, “A lot of pain there, dad.”

To which Sr. replied, “And not on my part. I don’t feel no pain.”

Paulie was the only adult involved in the conversation. Sr. just abdicated ALL responsibility and threw it all on Paulie.

He also whined that Jr. didn’t come running back to him with open arms. After all he has CHANGED and never says anything bad about Paulie. Except when he does say bad things, like about them not respecting his step-mom. And the shots at how Paulie designs bikes. And the shots . . . you get the point.

Paulie pointed out, “I never say anything bad about you.” Though he did throw in the caveat “unless it is true.” Paulie’s comments about Sr. almost ALWAYS happened when he was talking to Mikey or someone else about his relationship with his dad, and always boiled down to the fact that Sr. would avoid all blame. And damn if that isn’t EXACTLY what happened in that conversation

I admire Paulie for trying to mend fences. I admire him even more for swallowing a LOT of resentment during that conversation. He came off like a mature adult.

Apparently, Sr. has decided to take his management model and apply it to his relationship with Paulie. “You do all the work, and just let me know when I can come out and add a small tweak before I take all the credit.”

God knows why I keep letting myself get sucked back into this thing. Every time I think I’m done, I get pulled right back in.

On a side note –

What is the deal with Rick? Am I mistaking things, or did he throw out a few shots at Jason and Sr.? I know he resents Jr. too much to ever work for PJD, but I just have to wonder why in the hell he sticks it out at OCC. Especially with his own shop in Pennsylvania. Sr. must give him one hell of a lot of money, because without Rick, OCC would crash and BURN.

Looking forward to the feedback.

My initial response in these comments was really more sarcasm than real anger though. Freedom of speech doesn’t mandate a venue and it doesn’t trump Free Association. Nor can Akismet be held accountable for users’ suborning of its features or be forced to change their model.