OMG, this was rough. I feel for Dean. I actually felt nauseous when Ellen was counting while he rushed to take his clothes off. I seriously can't deal with adults being treated like naughty children, I guess. I can intellectually understand why this society works the way it does, I guess, but my emotional reaction is anger and resentment. That's probably my knee-jerk do the opposite of what I'm told part of me, but I'm also seriously squicked by family's need to know everything about everyone's business being more important than any sense of privacy or sensitivity to Dean's feelings in this case. No one cares if he's embarrassed or humiliated. Their need to know is more important.

I'm disturbed by Dean's inability to value himself or balance his value with the needs of others. Ellen just sees his unwillingness to get undressed as him being rebellious, not as feelings of embarrassment or humiliation at being examined in front of everyone. No one seems to take into account that maybe his lack of value stems from being treated as though he has no value. Like, he's been telling them in his defiant way forever that he doesn't like the way they treat him, but they just see it as defiance of authority. That's what I come away with here.