YMMV / Cutler Series

• Alternative Character Interpretation: How would have Dawn turned out had she been raised by the Cutlers instead of the Longchamps?
• Jerkass Woobie: Lillian Cutler, for all that she put Dawn through, also suffered hell all her life; her father dying before she was born and her mother dying giving birth to her, constantly being called cursed by her fanatic older adopted sister, her younger adopted sister and childhood sweetheart both dying young, being raped and impregnated by her adopted father and not being able to raise her daughter, and then being forced into a marriage to a man that she hates.
• Moral Event Horizon: Philip crosses this when he can't get over Dawn being his sister so much that he rapes her. He crosses it further when he rapes her daughter, even after deluding himself into thinking that Christie could've been his daughter with Dawn.
• Tear Jerker: The end of Darkest Hour, where Lillian learns that her family's old servant Henry (who acted like a surrogate father towards her) has died and she imagines the Meadows as it was when she was a child before it deteriorates before her eyes. It ends with Henry's spirit(?) giving her comforting words.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Betty, Richard, and Melanie Cutler. In Twilight's Child, Betty marries into the Cutler family when she becomes Philip's wife and she wins everyone over by her naturally docile personality. She noticed problems with Philip in their marriage but rather than accuse Dawn of anything, she blames herself for everything wrong. Having the twins doesn't make things much better since Philip still continues to ignore them in favor of Christie which leads Betty into spoiling the twins to make up for their father not being there and might contribute to her sudden personality change in Midnight Whispers where she's cast in an antagonistic light. It's also easy to sympathize with Richard and Melanie because their cousins being there makes it all the more painfully obvious how little their father cares for them, especially Melanie. It doesn't help that Christie seems to regard them as nothing more than freaks for their close relationship with each other, but the relationship developed since they don't really have anyone else they can count on. They're clearly meant to be antagonists for how poorly they treat their orphaned cousins, especially Richard toward Jefferson, but it's hard to put all the blame on them with the way their parents have been.
  • Fern Longchamp might also qualify for this. Being taken from her family as a baby seems to have damaged her emotionally. Though she admits that she lied about her adoptive father molesting her, her aberrant behavior and preoccupation with sex may suggest that she had experienced some form of sexual abuse. Dawn and Jimmy seem to write her off as an Enfant Terrible before she has even entered high school. Though they have to worry about her influence on Christie and Jefferson, they still could have tried to get her counseling, if for no other reason than to help her get used to living with a new family.
  • Laura Sue Cutler has shades of this when you consider that she was raped by her father-in-law which would explain why she preferred to live in a fantasy world rather than face reality. It doesn't help that rather than get her help, her husband and mother-in-law seem more content to just let her live in her fantasy world and indulge in her psychosomatic nature.
  • As haughty as Clara Sue is, it's hard to not have some sympathy for her especially when people constantly make comments about her weight. Dawn's arrival ends up shaking up the family as she finds out that she was more or less a Replacement Goldfish for Dawn who quickly becomes a favorite for everyone except their grandmother. She also is more or less forced into submission by an older sibling who provokes her temper out of glee by revealing that she's also the result of an extramarital affair and one that makes her not a Cutler by blood at all. And then she dies in a truck accident where she was just the passenger.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Dawn. Many of the things that happen to her are often a result of her just not thinking things through and being too gullible. She gives Philip entirely too much trust despite his abhorrent and predatory behavior as well as letting him stay at the hotel with her family (which leads to him raping both her and Christie), underestimates Clara Sue's anger toward her as well as provokes it out of glee (which leads to a miscarriage when Clara Sue attacks her), foolishly believes that Michael would provide for her when she gets pregnant with his child, goes along with Lillian sending her off to The Meadows when Lillian clearly despises her, is rather patronizing to her sister-in-law Betty (calling her plain and saying that it would be easy for Philip to pretend she's her), and even rushes into her own death without thinking about Christie and Jefferson.

---