Character Study - Frank and Kevin’s Relationship
Frank and Kevin’s father-son relationship is one of the most important on the show. They fight constantly and yet both seem to have a desperate need to be accepted by the other. Kevin obviously loves his father, though like any teenager, is mouthy. Though Frank always seems to be the one to escalate things.
The answer as to why this is comes from Frank’s relationship with his own father. Frank mentions often that he hated his dad, though we have yet to learn exactly why that is. Either way, this relationship has coloured his perspective of father-son relationships in general and causes him to project his own issues on to Kevin. He often assumes Kevin outright hates him, which ironically couldn’t be further from the truth. Kevin quite obviously adores his dad, and simply wants their relationship to go back to the way it used to be when he was little.
That seemingly heartwarming scene from season 1, where Frank tells 2-year-old Kevin that he’ll always love him even if they don’t get along in the future, is actually pretty sad. He feels the need to tell such a young child this because he isn’t just anticipating the typical teenage fighting, he thinks Kevin will eventually grow to hate him. The groundwork for this is laid out early on in the very first episode. During a fight, Kevin tells Frank “I fucking hate you!” (Of course, we all know teenagers or even just kids, in general, say this all the time, Kevin even seems to regret it as soon as it comes out of his mouth.) Frank, however, takes it very personally. He steps outside to cry, and to me, I interpret this as a moment where he thinks the inevitable day has come. This was the event that started their season 1 arc in motion, where they try and repair their relationship.
In season 2, he even tells Kevin that he already knows he hates him and that it’s okay. Kevin is obviously surprised by this and clarifies that he does not hate him.
Back to that first episode, while he’s crying he’s looking up at an airplane. This obviously foreshadows the reveal later in the season that Frank always wanted to be a pilot. But is it also because Kevin being born was what prevented him from doing so? In this moment, is he thinking that giving up his dream wasn’t worth it because, in his mind, his son that he gave up everything for doesn’t even love him?
Kevin is a pretty typical teenager in many ways, but sadly for him, his behaviour is often misconstrued by his dad as much more vindictive than it really is. He’s mouthy, but he’s also a very loving and emotionally vulnerable person. One thing he really seems to need is emotional support and he really doesn’t get it from anywhere, save for on occasion. Frank instead gives this support to Maureen, presumably because she’s a girl. Though he doesn’t see that Maureen is way more independent and emotionally stable than her older brother. An exception to this seems to be Kevin’s panic attacks. But of course, he even abandons Kevin in favour of Maureen during one.
In season 2 Frank becomes totally neglectful of his kids because of his new job and his marriage falling apart. We see how this affects Bill, and Maureen to some extent. One of the most frustrating scenes for me personally was when Kevin decides to tell Frank about what had happened with Cutie Pie, and gets totally dismissed. It’s mainly frustrating because if Frank was less frantic, and Kevin had picked a different time, Frank probably could’ve helped him, like, a lot?? In fact, I bet he would have even confronted Cutie Pie. (And as much as I loved Vic’s talk with Kevin, I would have been equally happy with Frank being the one to help him out. Though, the reveal of Vic’s sexual abuse was obviously something they were building to since season 1.) Season 2, on the other hand, is obviously building to something involving a reveal about Frank’s childhood. Whatever it is, I hope we see Frank and Kevin become closer, like they were beginning to in season 1.