Everyone remember that scene from Married With Children? The one where Al Bundy meets the librarian from his school years after he had graduated?
The librarian character admits that she could have retired from her job a decade ago but she chose to stay on the off chance that Bundy would return, all so she could see the type of failure he would become. One line in particular stands out because it really hammers home the kind of pathetic person she is: "Your shame is my gold watch."
That's Allison's attitude in a nutshell. She lives to hold grudges and is almost crippled by her inability to move on with her life. A decade will pass, her looks will continue to wither, furthur pushing her into irrelevancy, and she'll still be on social media gritting her teeth and lashing out at people for perceived slights. There's a lot you could say about Doug in regards to his ineptitude and ego, but the one thing I can say that's positive about him is his ability to move forward. He doesn't linger on past mistakes and doesn't allow his failures to bog him down. He doesn't hold grudges and goes out of his way to avoid unnecessary drama online. In a way, his approach to life almost seems to echo the speech Al Bundy makes in that clip:
"So you think I'm a loser? Just because I have a stinking job that I hate, a family that doesn't respect me, a whole city that curses the day I was born? Well, that may mean loser to you, but let me tell you something. Every morning when I wake up, I know it's not going to get any better until I go back to sleep again. So I get up, have my watered-down Tang and still-frozen Pop Tart, get in my car with no upholstery, no gas, and six more payments to fight traffic just for the privilege of putting cheap shoes on the cloven hooves of people like you. I'll never play football like I thought I would. I'll never know the touch of a beautiful woman. And I'll never again know the joy of driving without a bag on my head. But I'm not a loser. 'Cause, despite it all, me and every other guy who'll never be what he wanted to be are still out there being what we don't want to be forty hours a week for life. And the fact that I haven't put a gun in my mouth, you pudding of a woman, makes me a winner."