i do not want to dig a hole but i am too much of a laura bailey pc enjoyer to not make this post so:
selfishness ≠ a lack of kindness
selfishness is a theme that has come up with all of laura's main campaign pcs. that doesn't mean that her characters are always making selfish choices or that they don't care about the rest of the people they're with or that they're not good. it's just that, for the most part, the first thing they're thinking of when they take action or make choices is themselves.
in jester and vex both it is more typical and obvious selfishness. vex's developed because she needed it to keep herself and vax alive and as safe as possible and it grew into a behaviour that she had to actively work to avoid. it's evident in her greed, her theft of the broom, her reaction to her own death which relied heavily on i'm okay/i survived to which keyleth reminded her that she wasn't the only one who had to witness and reckon with her death. in jester's case, she grew up in an environment that literally trained her to make every decision based on two things - her mother's opinion and her own. so, when she's out in the world without marion for the first time, her choices are those that will benefit her and her actions are those that consider her own thoughts and not really many others' (aside from the traveler's).
it isn't a criticism of either vex or jester to say that they are characters who act selfishly. in fact, i'd argue that to claim otherwise does a great disservice to exactly how immense both of their character arcs are. because the nuance of both jester and vex is that they are selfish, and they also hold extreme room for self-sacrifice and empathy. vex is much more brash than jester is, and jester is much more trusting than vex, but both of them are characters who begin with selfish impulses who grow with them. neither ever truly shed those impulses, but they use them in new ways, typically transforming them into impulses towards things that are in the best interest of the party.
you may have noticed the lack of imogen in this post about laura bailey pcs and that's because of two reasons. one, we are an unknown amount of time into her story, i can't analyse her development the same way i can vex and jester's. two, imogen's selfishness isn't the blatant quasi-self-aware selfishness that we see in things like jester complaining about her lack of money to caleb or vex stealing a broom. instead, imogen's is very internal, like a lot of laura's character work with imogen. it is a bit similar to jester’s in the sense that it comes from a lack of awareness moreso than vex’s practiced behaviour, but imogen’s is a lot more tied to inherent beliefs she has about the world and the people in it.
as a consequence of her powers, imogen sees people's thoughts as their entirety, she holds it above their actions to be the truth of who they are - to act against what they think or to say something that doesn’t cohere with what they’ve thought is akin to lying, so for her to act empathetically is to act in tandem with what someone else’s thoughts are, not how they act, which is typically not all that wanted. the same as vex’s greed and jester’s naivety, this is a trait that makes narrative sense and it’s one i find quite compelling, especially when read in the vein of someone struggling through trauma that has made them assume that the world is against them. imogen’s cynicism is coherent cynicism, i can’t say that in a similar situation i wouldn’t have the same predisposition towards the world.
the part that is particularly self-interested comes in if you look at how imogen has actually been treated in the campaign (quite well) in comparison to the cynicism that she’s developed from her past (something that speaks to a world out to get her). certainly, a bunch of shitty things have happened to imogen in the time we’ve known her, but the same can be said for everyone in bell’s hells and pretty much everyone in exandria at this point in time. but, in a fight to save the aforementioned world, imogen’s focus was getting her mother back on her side. which, while very consistent with her character and a choice that i enjoy, is a very selfish one. the fun thing (to me, obviously) about imogen is that she has, more than most, an insight into the opinions of others and she also tends to seek others’ opinions out and genuinely engages with them and supports their choices. but she still very much acts towards what she thinks is best. it’s one reason i enjoy looking at the dynamic between her and orym as one between foils, as orym tends to be stalwart in his beliefs and doesn’t care too much for other’s opinions if he’s already sure of his own, but his actions tend to favour collaboration and protecting others.
as i mentioned earlier, imogen is a harder case to look at because she is still in the process of her story. however, the circlet is clearly influencing how she interacts with the world and in the wake of the solstice, the hostile reaction towards ruidusborn people has started to become more and more apparent and i’m interested to see what route that ends up leading imogen down and how it will influence her relationship with the rest of bell’s hells. (for better, i think, based on recent conversations, but if it's for worse i will be just as seated and excited).
all of this is just to say, please stop assuming that claiming a character has a trait you think is a bad one is criticism or a hate post. in light of the fact that i know that people who don’t believe this will continue to not believe this, i’ll encourage anyone confused about the ability of a character to be good and kind and selfish all at once to look to what the text itself says, specifically scanlan’s words to pelor when asked what vex means to him:
“Her name is Vex, and she is greedy and mean sometimes, and she can steal a lot. She’s a little bit not the greatest person, but her flaws highlight everything that is right about her, which is she does all these things to protect her friends and her family. She would give her life for any of us and for anyone who was truly in need. And she’s not perfect but she’s the most perfect of all of us.”
would you look at that... an ability to be a multitude of things, some in conflict with one another. i know that's hard for fandoms to believe, especially about female characters with agency, but i promise its true!
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I'm obssessed with two things today
(btw this is a sydcarmy post)
1. When Syd tells him she needs his full focus she lowers her voice to a whisper (‼️) and when he answers he's also whispering; Nat shows up at the same moment and he says "I understand" in a low voice and then calls out to Nat in his regular voice. They sound SO MARRIED I'm going crazy
2. When they're under the table, Syd says she's afraid of fucking up and Carmy says "I fuck up all the time", then she says "Not like this". I MEAN
(putting on my tinfoil hat)
What does that mean????? I got the feeling Carmy meant fucking up exclusively in a work-related sense, like he did all throughout the season and in the past when she quit. I think she understands that's what he meant, but then she says "not like this", so what does she mean??? Could she possibly be talking about her feelings for him? She made a point of saying she was not jealous of Claire, but her facial expressions when she was saying this tell another story and that little "yeah?" when Carmy says Claire is great was just SO. TELLING. (HERE COMES THE TINFOIL HAT) So what if she got involved with a coworker before? Or she had unrequited feelings for someone and "fucked up" because she couldn't deal with it without getting things mixed up? Or what if a coworker had feelings for her and things got awkward because she didn't reciprocate? (bonus tinfoil points: that's why she's wary of Marcus).
Back in season 1, Carmy says the people she'd worked for said she's "impatient" and we see that with her offering the risotto to the food critic; Carmy is her boss and told her the dish was not ready, but she did it all the same (afterwards she is shown to be aware of her mistake and selfconscious about the whole thing because she tries to smooth things out with him by dismissing the review). When she brings him the dish she is also is visibly anxious while trying to play cool. I think all the little hints throughout the story so far show that even though she is avoidant and a bit emotionally repressed, Syd is very, very eager about things, and, like her father said, she always jumps head first into things; she's very passionate, very driven, and I think she would be capable of bulldozing through people to make things work and to realize her vision. At the same time, I think she FEELS things too much (unlike Carmy, who is also passionate, but a lifetime of trauma made him bury his feelings), and sometimes these feelings just come out to the surface without her bring able to stop them and I think that's what she meant when she said she was afraid of melting and fucking up; not exclusively work-related stuff, but also not being able to (in her eyes, at least) master her feelings and them getting in the way of her professional life.
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Thomas: I love you so much, I would burn this city to the ground if you wanted
Martha; what if I want the city to be better?
Thomas, immediately putting his trust fund into charity, infrastructure and quality of life improvement programs: then I will make it so
THOMAS WAS SO REAL FOR THAT, don't you just love the helpless and dooming hope the waynes keep having for Gotham:)))
Not to mention, Couples that look good in blood together
STAY together
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I think Sasha complicated feelings towards Marcy this ep was very interesting to see actually and ppl are once again missing all the hints of Sasha's true feelings towards her friendship with Marcy
First of all the ep started with Marcy showing her favorite movie to the girls and them (in her vision) ignoring her interests. It's totally natural for Marcy to be hurt and sad over this and hold a little grudge (even if subconsciously) over them and how they treated her
Sasha is changing and becoming a better person FOR SURE but we also have to remember that above all else Sasha is a child and human, she obviously has flaws and, while doing her best to control them, it doesn't just disappear so fast over years and years of having this behavior
Sasha is controlling, selfish, quick to anger and very hypocritical and even if she is making progress to make her qualities outshine more, her flaws are still something that she can't just let go completely. That's totally normal specially to a KID trying to change
But the thing is that Sasha even tho saying that she didn't cared about Marcy's movie, she still remember the plot that marcy told her perfectly!
Sasha even tho she said that she didn't know if she could save her friendship with Marcy, was worried about her and was the one that mentioned her THE WHOLE TIME. She was the one that brought the topic of her to even start all of this !
And look, I know it sounds really angering hearing Sasha of all people not wanting to forgive Marcy after spending the whole season talking about 2nd chances... SPECIALLY considering her own mistakes...
just because sasha made her own wrong doings this doesn't mean she isn't allowed to be hurt
BUT
And if she didn't care about Marcy why would she even mind and be SO bothered about the idea of their friendship not lasting anymore??
"Let's say you're right"
Sasha is very reluctant to accepting that she's wrong and that she committed mistakes and even with her redemption we know that she still has a hard time forgiving others (and herself)
Sasha truly cares about Marcy but considering her attitude in s2 with Anne's "betrayal", we should've know better and see this little stubborn part of her coming from a mile away.
But even with all her anger, all her resentment and all her sadness, Sasha can't help but worry about Marcy all the time!
Hell! Why would she even create this rebellion who's one of the goals is to rescue Marcy if she didn't CARED about her?!?! And this is her goal all the ep!!
.........
AND HERE COMES THE MARCY'S GRUDGE THAT I MENTIONED EARLIER!
The core knows how hurt Marcy was by her girls, SPECIALLY, Sasha's indifference to a lot of Marcy's ramblings and actions
And so does Sasha.
So that's why she's the only one truly hurt at this scene bc she KNOWS that this message was directly to her and how she treated Marcy (before AND during amphibia)
And THATS why their fight next EP is so perfect
Sasha trying her best to get Marcy back to show how much she meant to Sasha, how much she cared about her!! This has so much potential!
Look how Sasha has her guard down in this fight... Almost like she doesn't want to truly hurt Marcy... But also is going to make an effort to get her back.... Splendid!!!
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