Grace Thoughts

Grace's transformation in tua is fantastic, and I'd like to talk about it, so I will.

S1. She's obviously created to be a specific image, but comes across as a well-loved doll, if a stereotypical doll nonetheless. She's clothed and pressed neatly and finely, respected and loved by the children she cares for, viewed as a member of the "management triangle" by Pogo and Reggie. She's kept limited (Lord knows Reggie loves to suppress) and not given free will that she's clearly capable of, but there's the sense that she's cared for and respected in her own problematic way, probably as much as Reggie is capable of (again, weird seeing S2, but we'll get there)

S2. Reggie clearly Does respect and value this Grace, they talk about sharing lives and he looks genuinely emotional. But in the original timeline he... remakes her as not a scientist, but a mother? Along with changing her accent which is a hilariously pretentious choice. Question is; did Reggie value her Scientific mind, or value her Nurturing one? She was able to form a strong bond with Pogo, teach him to do incredible things. Perhaps Reggie is so scientifically advanced that her scientific intelligence wasn't what impressed him, but her ability to nurture and teach was, a skill set Reggie decidedly does not possess.

OG Timeline: Did he construct Grace into Mother of the Year Every Year Ad Infinitum (in his mind, I actually don't think she's a perfect mom, but thank christ the kids had her.) because of respect for her natural nurturing ways as he saw her? It's still wrong that he created her at all in plenty of senses and removed bits of her personality to suit, but that is very Regginald of him. Also, what happened to OG Grace? We may never know...

Now, in the timeline spawned by the 60s: Grace grows to question Reggie, she never might have without Diego tipping her off, and also giving her some likely not-common-for-the-time-period respect. Her and Reggie face a fallout point, and we all know Reggie doesn't like to be questioned, disobeyed or not have things go his way and resorts to drastic measures.

So that leads us to, S3: For Starts: this Grace seems to have a very different physical appearance; compared to S1 and S2 her hair is less lustrous and more plainly kept, her clothes are less flattering and more basic. She seems less like an upheld stereotypical ideal and more like the slave that she truly is, negating any respect for her 'nurturing' or 'scientific' mind. Even the children have no love or respect for her. She's sidelined and the kids are actively cruel to her often.

So Reggie was so pissed off about Real Grace getting a reality check about him in S2 that he did her an even greater disservice when recreating her as a robot. Did he create her out of cruelty rather than misguided affection this time around, and spare her little other resources? Either way he was still obsessed enough with her to create her, even when we know there were other nannies (did these ones get offed by the Sparrow kids like the Brelly ones did? R.I.P the nannies). Either way, Grace was always going to be made.

Grace's transformation really shows us in yet another way just how sick, twisted and cruel Reginald's mind is. If they try to make him 'nice' and 'redeemable because it was all for love' in S4 I will flip a table.