The concept here hit me very close to home. VERY close.
I met the girl in grad school at St. Louis University, just after having been discharged from the Coast Guard. She lived in next room at the dorm. We had a great four months, then, after working the following summer at a camp in another state, she suddenly told me she was leaving for California. Like Carlye affected Pierce, this girl figuratively broke my legs. As a caustic, arrogant jerk, he deserved it. I didn't.
Three years later, she suddenly popped back into my life. We had a rather rocky several more months before she again split for the West Coast, after we'd had a vicious argument because I was trying to convince her to stay in St.Louis. We haven't seen each other since, thank goodness. But I used the experience and its manifestations as the plot for a novel, which I adapted into a script. The book was published, and I've been trying to sell the script.
As I said, in this episode, Pierce deserved what he got. because (1) he IS a big conceited a**hole, who totally dismissed another man's career choice, and (2) he was trying to get a married woman to be unfaithful to her husband who, as a Navy commander, was doing his duty.
While I can't have any sympathy for Pierce, I certainly have empathy for his situation. As for Carlye, she made the correct choice by, once-and-for-all, cutting ties with the self-centered Pierce and maintaining a marriage with the right guy.