Clarence

A man or boy?

He's a man all right. Height-wise, wears men's clothing, has a man's job, fathered a couple children. Just immature as so many men seem to be!

He seems to be a cliche, having a strong overbearing wife then having an affair with a younger woman
Claudia. Claudia saying they are madly in love and his wife doesn't understand him.

Clarence is a troubled person. He is not dumb about what his life partner is all about. He even has moments of honesty when he sees his wife's toxicity to their children. But a wimp he is!

Clarence is a difficult character to like. He is manipulative and selfish. I don't think he is a wimp but rather an opportunist. He wants the lifestyle and "fame" that Lydia offers but it belittles him and, thus, he has the affair to bolster his ego.

This poor emotionally impoverished man is just pathetic. The affair with Claudia was so obvious, that I'm sure that Lydia knew about it from the moment that Claudia set foot in the house. I didn't care for him at all -he had no backbone and no clue about what life was about.

Clarence sort of grew on me. He seemed just nice at first, someone to talk to and even criticized Lydia for taking away Kate's big night out. But I think Claudia was the aggressor in that relationship but does that make Clarence a wimp? Eventually, the barbs between him and Lydia were a bit much. But I felt Clarence was just a laid-back scholar who tried not to get himself into trouble. Although how he thought he could hide Claudia is a puzzle. Maybe they all qualify for their own giant therapy group.

I'm not so sure that Lydia cared about his having an affair.