How To Destroy Everything

In this special bonus episode, we hear Toughen Up from the shared perspective of Stephen’s sisters, Lisa and Sheila. Hear how they navigated a childhood of fear, loss and abandonment, and more importantly, where they are today.
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In the season finale, unable to carry on alone, Eugene finally surrenders and moves into an Assisted Living facility. He’s not there long before he is hospitalized and enters into a steep decline. Before he passes away, Stephen’s father finds his version of peace with “All we’ve been through as a family…”

Danny and Darren then agree that Toughen Up is ultimately a story of forgiveness, with Stephen describing it as a love letter to his family.

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It’s 15 years later and Eugene’s wife Helen dies very suddenly, leaving him very much adrift. At the urging of a priest, Stephen’s father learns to ask for help at the gravesite, then pushes on alone.

In our interview, Danny and Darren learn how Stephen struggled, self-medicated and began to heal his past in the years since his mother’s passing.

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With Stephen off to college, his mother strikes out on her own, renting a room in a house and scoring her dream job. Not long after, however, Maureen is diagnosed with terminal cancer and eventually makes peace with Eugene and her past. After her ashes are scattered at sea, she delivers a message to Stephen in a dream.

Then, Darren looks back on Maureen’s life and wonders if she truly found peace.

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In this seventh chapter, we find a mid-life Maureen facing her fears and calling upon her brother, Jimmy, to finally teach her how to drive. Then, Eugene shocks the family with a surprise marriage announcement. After Sheila leaves the nest for college, Stephen is left at home with his mother, doing his best to fill the role of "Man of the House."

Then Danny relates to the role reversal that took place between Stephen and his mother and Darren makes an observation about the sheer resiliency of this family. 

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