Originally Posted by
Dazzle
Mona, you're struggling to make sense of it because you can't see the wood for the trees. To most of us not heavily invested in whether Phil loves Shirley or Sharon, it appears that he's happy in his marriage with Sharon for the time being despite everything that's gone before. He still cares for Shirley (after all they've been friends for years) and might want a relationship with her again in the future, but I don't think any more can be said than that from what's been played out recently.
There's no point picking at every plot hole because the writers are only human and not every single scene can make perfect sense. There's lots of writers and things get missed or forgotten. You analyse every word and look exchanged between Phil and Shirley, and I'm afraid a fictional story just isn't going to stand up to such close scrutiny. The writers intend a scene to be played a certain way, but that can then be interpreted quite differently by the director of the scene and the actors (who might have been thinking about something completely different during filming when they give a look that you ascribe to true love). You just can't expect perfect consistency in those circumstances.
Also, you have to remember that in real life people are often inconsistent too. We're humans and not robots.
You asked in an earlier post what I'm seeing that you're not. The answer is that I can be more objective about Phil/Shirley/Sharon because I feel a great deal less strongly about them than you do.
