Apple doesn't fall far from the tree...
I think the dinner-scene was so well thought out and written. On the surface level the dialogue focuses on the fact that your child's behaviour is not the parents' fault, "you have to seperate the child from its parents", while simultaneously showcasing the exact opposite.
Mauren having a go at the only sane person on this show (Joanna, who is not yet a fully grown adult but somehow has more sense and guts than the adults at that table), all because she utterly failed to give Ruben any kind of meaningful support. What kind of behaviour is that?! What a sorry excuse of a mother.
Lori sits there smirking, undermining her son, winding the whole thing up on purpose. Lori also very well knows that her son is not straight, and what does she do with this knowledge? She uses it as a weapon, instead of supporting him. Also: Great that she did not want to spoil his Oxford interview with the cancer news, no, she only wants Niall to jeopardize his whole future in general by emotionally blackmailing him into lying on the stand. Great mum!
Apple and tree, undeniable connection.