So what about Nader, I ask myself, wincing at the thought that I actually spend time thinking about this.
The more Clotso talks, the less I believe her. This has always been the case, and this has never changed. However, the stakes have never been this high before, and this time people beyond herself will get hurt. That is fairly new for this saga; up until now, she was the only real victim of her own self.
Yesterday, as I was watching her "story", I was struck by how few accusations she was actually making. At least two thirds of her bloated, rambling soliloquy was devoted to one single incident that happened months ago; the infamous drug-fueled "fight" she has been stewing about ever since. Most, if not all, of the alleged physical violence seems to have occurred that one night, and she even has implied a few times that her behavior that night was awful as well. She has since broken up and returned to him within a day or two three separate times now. So why, all of a sudden, is it an issue now? Maybe it is his newfound YouTube "success", maybe not. But it doesn't seem to be because of continued violence. Yesterday was her one chance to claim he is repeatedly violent to her, and she did not.
The whole plot almost seems hackneyed now; like a knockoff version of a sub-Trisha Paytas. I wouldn't put it past El Fatso to attempt to 'script' her channel; such accusations have been leveled at her before by a rogue mod. What I doubt is her ability to actually pull it off convincingly. Then I remind myself that I'm not convinced; everything is a lukewarm, stinking mess that lacks that whiff of authenticity.
If we brush aside the idea that this is all a retarded version of scripting drama, the alternative is a lot darker. She really might be spiteful and crazy enough to take one ugly incident, extrapolate it and embellish it and flat-out lie about it, and use it blithely as fodder while she eats cheese salads and pickles. Just another day at work, without any concern for the person she is trashing.
The more she spoke yesterday, the more the image of Nader as a shadowy, drug-dealing, brutal thug dissolved for me, the direct opposite of what she intended. I see Nader more now as an aging drifter-type, the kind any expatriate meets in foreign lands. They have one good skill that gets them travel visas, they spend years or decades avoiding life back home, drifting from country to country. They tend to be hard-drinking, hard-partying types, constantly on the lookout for hookups with native girls, and often succeeding in the quest. Generally these types tend to be younger, in their 20s and 30s, and they eventually get tired and go home. Others never do. But if you are hitting 40 with looks like Nader's, it gets harder to get the chicks. Some resort to Tinder or other means while simultaneously lowering their standards, others marry a convenient native, others cross into no-limits pansexual territory. I'm not saying this is what Nader is, but he reminds me a lot of this type the more I know him. The only thing that doesn't fit completely is the stabby thing, but I still have not seen irrefutable evidence that it happened or happened in the ways it has been speculated.
So if he is just an aging expatriate party boy with a temper, Clotso is doing quite a number on him, knowing full well how the internet amplifies everything. But she's not only messing with his reputation, he's also messing with his psychological well-being, which is probably not the sturdiest to begin with. He might actually not be an especially violent person, but boy is she goading him into turning her face into pulp.
And this is why you don't want to be friends with Chantal or date her. She destroys people. She has already played a big role in ruining Peetz, and she's attempting to do a number on Shannon. She made Bibi miserable, but he is the exception, escaping more or less on his own terms.
Her life is fragmenting, like a meteor entering the atmosphere in flames. This is a messy intermediate phase before we enter the Final Phase, and it is a long one. She is going to take as many lives with her as she can, in her own way. However, if Nader is the violent psychopath she implies, then enraging him doesn't seem very smart. And if he isn't, then the poor guy is screwed.
The good news for society here is that now that the police are getting more and more familiar a presence at the villa, a comeuppance may draw nearer. We can only hope we see her in double-handcuffs in a livestream; that would be epic.
