babydraco

Jack Benjamin and TJ Hammond weren't really "basically the same person". Not now that I think about it. Yes, they're both the gay children of politicians and each have a "good" twin. But otherwise...

TJ is out, and his parents are fairly supportive of him in that regard. Do they take his life goals seriously? Definitely not, but no one is allowed to take pot shots at his sexuality. Jack, not so much. In fact, his parents will do anything to keep him from coming out, including killing people. So if TJ wants to kill himself so badly, I'd love to see him handle Jack's life.

TJ: I came out to my family and it was mortifying.

Jack: My mother slapped me and my dad yelled at me until I burst into tears.

TJ: I was outed while my father was president. People said horrible things about me in the media.

Jack: I tried to come out and my mother had my boyfriend murdered. Also, my dad called me a slur on live tv and then tried to have me thrown in prison.

TJ: I had an affair with a married Republican and people found out.

Jack: I was locked in a bedroom and forced to procreate with the woman I was basically forced to marry. In fact, I might still be in there, the audience doesn't even know.

TJ: My family wouldn't loan me money to open a club and then didn't bother showing up to the opening anyway.

Jack: My dad made me crawl on the floor and kiss his feet in front of my mother, my girlfriend, my sister and some random dude she was dating. He told me he didn't love me and that I'd be dead if I screwed up again.

TJ: I tried to kill myself.

Jack: I got shot.

Sebastian Stan feels that Jack had "a stronger sense of self". I gotta agree. Jack's whole problem is his desire to hold onto his basic sense of self in the midst of people who want him to be anything else. It's an epic battle of will between Jack and his parents.

1) He wants to be king.
2) He wants his parents attention and approval.
3) He wants a boyfriend.

He can really only have one of those.

TJ doesn't seem to know what to do with himself, or who he's supposed to be.

Jack has a job. He's career military. He liked his job and he was good at it. He's been sidelined by a traumatic event, and then other events sort of take over, but he did have a real career of his own, a productive role in society that he felt comfortable in.

TJ's an addict, his whole arc is built on his struggle with addiction. Jack is not. I mean, personally, I think he might be bordering on becoming a functioning alcoholic, but he can pull it together when he needs to, and I might have different standards for what counts as "too much drinking" anyway.

TJ could be cynical and snarky, but Jack was mean and propelled through life by resentment and vengeance like some kind of male Blair Waldorf. I think Jack would eat TJ alive.