@jerottblyth I was writing this in the replies of your “ a glimpse of BJ's post-series white picket fence” and then I got annoyed with the limit, so!

I just rewatched the episode with Hawkeye's ex that he didn't marry (twice), and BJ talks about how he's never even been tempted by another woman, vs later on cheating once (I believe in s5 -- the first BJ episode I really commented on, because it surprised me at the time and I couldn’t place him or it), and then later on him considering leaving Peg for the reporter... 

and then I watched some bits of Inga (s7 -- the last of the relatively what I call “good boy BJ” seasons, and the season that ends on all the main cast family members meeting one another, which idk, I just place at an interesting juncture narratively) in which he talks about himself and Peg as equals/her as a woman who has a mind being a good thing, and how that contrasts with the especially 8-onwards intense reactions he has to her growing into a more and more independent person -- changed beyond the person he knew before he left, changed without him, changed to no longer needing him, changed into a reality he cannot return to and pick up from as if he never even left in the first place (not that I read BJ as conservative for the day technically, but that she’s not the person that said goodbye to him and that manifests in unintentionally sexist ways, where he gets upset by her just living her life, when he needs her to be a symbol of unchanging normality that turns back on the second he’s back in the picture and youknow... that’s fucked up sir)

I think it fits with the weariness of the later seasons: BJ s8-onwards getting more cruel and lashing out more, and him and Hawkeye increasingly acting like an unstable relationship in which Hawkeye often plays the role of the placating wife to an emotionally unpredictable husband. I make it heterosexual on purpose, my headcanons about BJ do veer more towards him having a het read of whatever is going on between him and Hawkeye -- first evidenced that one time he was physically violent, and Hawkeye was both an outlet and a consoling partner and BJ was jealous of not getting to be a partner to Peg/father to Erin, and jealous of Trapper’s relationship to Hawkeye at the same time??? 

Long story short there is a trajectory for sure, from the man who arrives to the guy I’m seeing now (one more episode left before the finale!), and yeah, I definitely like to read it as the fantasy-of-home bit by bit falling to pieces around him, and also the guilt at all of that heroic all-American fantasy of war not being what the reality is, and maybe feeling like an idiot for believing in any of it in the first place (he had that line where he mentioned that he had the chance to not get drafted and he wanted to do the honourable thing, or something along that phrasing, and he has a few episodes in which he does try to play hero of a kind, like in BJ Papa San and he gets very upset when he can’t save the day), and of course the guilt at all of his personal failings, especially -- I decide to headcanon -- the fact that he did cheat. The evil of the situation seeped into him and made him a “lesser” man than what he was 

and all of that manifesting his pettiness (which was clearly something that was already there, although pointed in the direction of acceptable targets like Frank or bad guys of the week, or that old friend he had who was Also A Dick and how that suggests some of BJ’s past, or even Charles, soz Chuck -- because BJ is a Good Guy Honest). 

And now I’m on my rewatch at the same time, and almost finished s4, and looking at it from the pov of that trajectory, it’s very fun looking for early-season-in-hindsight cracks in the “good boy persona”

and with all of that, I do enjoy currently joking about how he’s the end-series villain (Frank is gone, Charles isn’t the main source of conflict, Margaret has long since developed into the love of my life...) but the most interesting thing about it is of course that the story doesn’t end with a villain, it just ends with broken people, from what I see -- BJ is not a bad guy, certainly not in comparison to the likes of someone like Frank, he’s just... not coping at all. And some of the things he does are seriously messed up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does more things like that before the end.......

I do like seeing how different characters break, and BJ’s breaking is oh so very messy/shrapnel filled

Tell me more about BJ’s Trapper Complex?

okay rn I cannot find any of the posts about this that I love. I'm not finished watching the show but I've read a lot of posts about this that convinced me

So, for me, it's based on a mix of canon and headcanons. A lot of it is his vibe honestly.

I think the biggest canon thing people point to is that BJ destroys the gin still because Trapper and Hawkeye made it and is jealous; when the still is remade, it essentially erases that last trace of Trapper because it's BJ and Hawkeye now. BJ is very aware of how jealous he is of a man who isn't even here. He's Hawkeye's best friend/life partner - and yet the lingering reminder of Hawkeye's previous best friend/life partner is something that silently hangs over his head.

BJ's extremely conscious that he is Trapper's replacement. (Hawkeye even tells him this, when discussing the lack of personhood in a war when people are swapped out like parts) Even if BJ doesn't verbally acknowledge his jealousy or frustration of inherently being compared to Trapper, I just know he's thinking about it. (Which, in his early seasons, there's a lot he thinks about but never says. King of Repression.)

imo from day 1, BJ tries so hard to impress Hawkeye. But unfortunately for BJ, the timing of their meeting is all wrong. Hawkeye is focused on and devastated by Trapper. From day 1, BJ gets eclipsed by Trapper's shadow. And sure Hawkeye is compassionate and kind; but there's wary disconnect there that BJ has to have noticed, especially as he gets to know Hawkeye better

Henry's death was bad but he got to say goodbye, even though he hadn't known how final it would be. He had time to process the separation, throw him a party. (And then mourn, which is another topic and the thought of him having a breakdown so bad that that's why he's on such a long R&R is! sure something!) Whereas the suddenness of Trapper leaving was something he didn't have time to brace for. He never got to say that goodbye. It's about the wound that never gets closure.

It's not BJ's fault that he arrives right as Hawkeye's going through this. But once you get to know Hawkeye, you'll notice the ways that he tries to keep his emotional distance even though he really, really cares about people.

Now let me circle back to BJ and how he tries - and how he has to try bc Hawkeye's put up a slight barrier - to impress him, whereas Trapper never did. Trapper's antics were accepted with a lot more enthusiasm bc Hawkeye hadn't lost his best friend/life partner yet and had no reason to try to not get as deeply attached to someone who might - and will, eventually - leave. Hawkeye in seasons 1-3 would adore BJ. But they meet in s4. Hawkeye's just that very day experienced being unexpectedly left behind. There's no time to recover! He has a break down but ultimately throws up a good show of bravado, right up until BJ sees the war and gorey death in whence Hawkeye drops the act and reaches out with (what he does best) genuine compassion because at the heart of it Hawkeye cares so so much. BJ sees this horror and among the horror is one of the kindest, most competent men. He's met the real Hawkeye with no shields up. Nothing but authenticity. And then once they're done, Hawkeye throws his shields up and puts the bravado act back on. Of course BJ is going to notice.

Of course he's going to think about it, connect it to Hawkeye and his "I missed him by ten lousy minutes" and to every time Hawkeye drops his guard to risk letting people hurt him - because he will and he does, and he'll always do so bc he will always risk suffering if it means caring for these people, if it means being a real person as the war increasingly takes and takes and makes Hawkeye strive to remind himself and others that they are real people

There's no way that BJ - who's seen the real Hawkeye from day 1 and then tries so hard to impress that so very good man - will not wonder, will not figure out the unspoken wound Hawkeye has. And the thing is, it's hard to heal it when it keeps getting ignored and pushed aside. He doesn't have time to process it. And so it lasts.

Now in a place like 4077 and with a person like Trapper? Even when Hawkeye doesn't talk about Trapper, BJ hears things. Picks up that he was so important to Hawkeye.

And no matter that BJ does manage to impress Hawkeye, that BJ does manage to become best friends/life partners with Hawkeye - Trapper was there first and (worse) might still have been Hawkeye's best friend/life partner if he'd never gone. It's like following a great act in a talent show. Intimidating and there's no way BJ isn't thinking about that he's being compared to Trapper. Whether or not anyone means to, it'll just happen. Because he is that following act, because he is Trapper's replacement.

Basically BJ's Trapper Complex is: 1. that BJ knows that he will be compared to Trapper - and if someone else doesn't do it, then he'll do it for him. 2. He worries that it's a competition for Hawkeye's love (even though he knows it isn't and that Hawkeye is very capable of love abundant) and that he's going to lose. To somebody who isn't even here! And so he has to win and - like a voyeuristic narrator - is very, very aware of this.